This page is the single authoritative 4Zones privacy policy. It explains how 4Zones handles information when you install and use the app.
Nothing 4Zones reads or stores is ever sent anywhere by 4Zones. There is no 4Zones server, no account, no analytics and no advertising. The one thing that can leave your device is a report you compose, read and send yourself, from your own email app — see section 2.
4Zones does declare the INTERNET permission, and the reason is narrow enough to state exactly. Android requires that permission for any network socket, including one that never leaves the device — and 4Zones opens exactly one kind: a connection to your own phone or tablet's Wireless debugging service, on this device, used to start the app's own privileged helper each time it needs starting — after the device restarts or 4Zones is updated. After that connection the helper keeps working with Wi-Fi switched off entirely.
Every address 4Zones connects to is checked against your device's own network addresses and refused if it is not one of them. That check is in the app (LocalInterfaces.isLocal), it runs on every address the app discovers, and a release build of 4Zones stops if any of its code could connect to an address that has not passed it. There is no address of any server in the app, because there is no server.
You can check the permission list yourself on the app's store page or with aapt2 dump permissions on the APK. It declares nine: INTERNET and five others for the one-time setup described above (finding your device's own debugging service on the local network, being allowed to check its addresses on Android 17 instead of Android showing a device picker that lists other devices on your Wi-Fi too, holding a multicast lock while it looks, reading which network connection is active, and showing the notification you type the pairing code into), one for that notification's foreground service, one generated by Android's own AndroidX libraries, and one that lets the optional Shizuku app talk to 4Zones.
4Zones has a diagnostics screen with two reports on it. Neither is ever sent by the app.
The first, Copy report, is derived facts only — your device model, Android version, how many desktops and displays it found, and whether the parts of 4Zones are working. It deliberately contains no app names and no identifiers, so it is safe to paste into a public forum.
The second, Send full diagnostics, is what 4Zones actually saw — and that does include the names of apps you had open, their window layout, and any workspace names you typed. It exists because 4Zones is verified on two devices and Samsung DeX behaves differently across many; when it goes wrong on a device we do not have, this is the only thing that explains why.
4Zones does not send it, and cannot. The whole report is shown on screen for you to read first. Pressing Send hands the text to an app you choose — your own email app, if you pick one — with the report already prepared for [email protected]. You can read it again there, edit anything out, send it, or close it without sending. Nothing is attached automatically, nothing is prepared in the background, and nothing is ever sent because something went wrong. If you never press it, nothing about your apps leaves your device.
One thing worth knowing, because we cannot control it: Android's share screen puts contact shortcuts along its top row, and choosing one of those sends to that contact rather than to us — it replaces the address we asked for. So the destination is written into the report itself as well, and it is worth a glance at the recipient before you send. A report that reaches the wrong person can be forwarded; we would rather you knew that than assumed the app had it covered.
4Zones saves what you set up, so it is still there next time:
All of it is in the app's private storage. None of it goes into Android backups or is copied to a new device, and uninstalling 4Zones deletes it. None of it is sent anywhere by 4Zones.
You can export your workspaces and settings to a file (Settings → Backup → Export…). You choose the name and the place through Android's file picker. The file holds only what you set up — no setup or device details — and it leaves your device only if you move it.
4Zones uses an Android accessibility service for one purpose: to receive its own keyboard shortcuts on a connected keyboard. Android passes key presses through such a service; 4Zones acts on its shortcuts and lets every other key go straight through to the app you are using. It does not record, keep or send what you type. It cannot read the content of your screen or of any app — it does not ask Android for that permission. Android lists it as able to perform gestures: that is declared only because Samsung DeX otherwise stops sending shortcuts to it on an external monitor, and 4Zones never performs a gesture, tap or swipe for you. You are asked before it is turned on, you can decline, and the app works without it — tap a zone instead. You can turn the service off at any time in Settings → Accessibility.
Everything else 4Zones keeps while it is running is held in memory and discarded when the app's process ends. It can include window details such as app package names, display and task identifiers, and timestamps. That is the material section 2's full report is drawn from — it is on your device either way, and the only question is whether you choose to send any of it.
4Zones performs privileged window operations in one of two ways, both entirely on your device and both over local inter-process communication. If you have Shizuku installed, 4Zones uses it, exactly as it always has. If you do not, 4Zones starts its own privileged helper, using the connection to your device's own Wireless debugging service described in section 1. Neither path involves any other device, and neither involves any network once it is running.
Pairing gives 4Zones the same access a computer has over ADB. 4Zones uses it only to read and arrange your windows and desktops. You can remove it at any time in Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging → Paired devices. After that, 4Zones cannot start its helper again unless you pair it again; a helper that is already running stops when the device restarts or when 4Zones is uninstalled. If you use Shizuku instead, the access is Shizuku's, and you can withdraw it for 4Zones in the Shizuku app.
Every third-party component packaged into the app is listed, with its licence, in the app itself: Settings → Third-party notices.
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or 4Zones, please contact the developer at:
Support Email: [email protected]