Privacy Policy
Sidekick needs no account, shows no ads, and never sends images of your screen anywhere – what it reads from the game is kept on your phone unless you send it to me in a report.
In Short
- No account, no ad tools, and I don’t sell your data.
- Screen images are processed on your phone and never stored or sent.
- Your Collection, teams, and battles stay on your phone, and in your own Android backup if it’s on.
- Reports reach me only when you send one, and attachments only if you tick the box.
- This website uses Google Analytics only if you allow cookies.
Who Makes Sidekick
Sidekick is made by Marek Magoń Consulting (“I”, “me”), a one-person business in Poland. I’m the controller of your personal data, so I decide how it’s used and I’m responsible for it.
The quickest way to reach me is in the app: Settings → Improve the App.
This policy covers the Sidekick app for Android (“Sidekick: Great League Coach” on Google Play) and the website pvpsidekick.com. For a short overview, see How It Works.
How Sidekick Reads Your Screen
To work over the game, Sidekick needs two permissions:
- Display over other apps – to show its cards over Pokémon GO.
- Screen capture – to see the game. Android asks for your consent each time you turn Sidekick on, and Sidekick shows a notice while it’s on.
On Android 14 and newer, you can share just one app – choose Pokémon GO. On Android 10–13, Android always shares the whole screen. Sidekick then only uses what it sees in Pokémon GO, but the text of a notification that pops up during a battle may end up in that battle’s notes on your phone.
Each screen image is processed on your phone: Google ML Kit turns it into text right on the phone, and Sidekick checks the colors of a few pixels, for example on HP bars. Images are never saved or sent.
Sidekick doesn’t ask for your location, contacts, camera, microphone, or files. Its notifications (the notice that it’s on, cup reminders, achievements, and my replies to your reports) are created on your phone.
What Stays on Your Phone
Sidekick keeps these in its private storage on your phone, which other apps can’t open:
- Your Collection, teams, achievements, and settings.
- What it reads from the game, such as Pokémon names, CP, and appraisals.
- Your battle history and after-battle reports. Opponents are recorded only as Pokémon species and attacks, with no trainer names or other identifiers.
- The raw text it read during each battle, used to re-check old battles after updates.
I can’t see any of this. If Android backup is on, Google may copy your Collection, settings, battles, and reports to your Google account, without the raw battle text. Moving to a new phone with Android’s transfer tool can copy everything.
You can delete a battle in Battles. To delete everything, clear Sidekick’s storage in Android settings or uninstall the app. Share in List Generator passes the image to the app you choose.
What the App Sends Over the Internet
Sidekick has no accounts or sign-in, no ads or ad tools, and no analytics of its own. It goes online only for these things:
- Screens, updates, and game data. The app loads its screens, updates, and fresh game data, such as PvPoke rankings and cup schedules, from my server at Vercel. Each time it starts or checks for updates or replies, the server sees your IP address and user agent, which shows your phone model and Android version.
- Text recognition statistics. Google ML Kit sends Google technical data: phone maker, model, and Android version, app version, a per-installation ID, speed, and error codes. According to Google, this doesn’t include images or text from your screen, and it’s used for diagnostics and usage analytics (ML Kit data disclosure).
- Reports, only when you send one.
- Purchases, only if paid features are offered.
Bug Reports and Ideas
In Settings, Improve the App lets you send me a bug report or an idea. Nothing is sent until you tap Send. A report includes:
- Your message and the part of the app it’s about.
- The app version, your phone’s user agent, and screen size.
- A random installation ID and a random report key, which my server stores only in scrambled (hashed) form.
- Attachments, only if you tick Attach What Sidekick Read from the Game (off by default): the text and numbers Sidekick read around the problem, from that battle or the last Pokémon screens you opened. Never screenshots or trainer names, and only text that looks like the game’s own.
Reports are stored as issues in a private GitHub repository (GitHub, Inc.). I use an AI assistant, Claude by Anthropic, to help me sort them and draft replies, so Anthropic processes their content too. The app uses the report key to fetch my reply.
To stop spam, my server limits reports per installation and per IP address, keeping the IP address only as a short scrambled code, in memory, for a short time.
To delete a report you sent, ask me in the app.
Paid Features
If Sidekick offers paid features, such as a subscription:
- You pay through Google Play. Google handles the payment under its own privacy policy, and I never see your card details.
- To unlock the features, my server checks your purchase with Google and gets only what it needs for that, such as the purchase status and dates.
- You can cancel any time in Google Play.
I’ll update this policy before paid features launch.
The Website and Cookies
Hosting
The website is hosted by Vercel, whose servers log your IP address and browser details (user agent) to deliver pages and keep the site secure.
Google Analytics
The site uses Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages help, but only if you choose Allow Cookies in the cookie banner. It records things like the pages you view, how you arrived, and your device, browser, and approximate location. If you choose Reject Cookies, it stays off, and the site deletes any Google Analytics cookies it set before.
The provider is Google Ireland Limited, and data may be transferred to Google LLC in the USA under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. According to Google, Google Analytics 4 doesn’t log or store the IP addresses of users in the EU. Analytics data is kept for 14 months, and Google signals, which links visits to signed-in Google accounts, is off.
You can change your choice any time with , which is also at the bottom of every page.
What the Site Stores in Your Browser
| Name | Purpose | How Long |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics cookie: tells visitors apart | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_<ID> | Google Analytics cookie: keeps track of your visit | Up to 2 years |
| Theme | Local storage: remembers dark or light mode | Until you clear it |
| Cookie choice | Local storage: remembers your choice in the cookie banner | Until you clear it |
Local storage stays in your browser and isn’t sent anywhere.
Who Else Handles Data
| Company | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Vercel Inc. | Hosting my server and this website |
| GitHub, Inc. | Storing reports |
| Anthropic PBC | AI assistant that helps me sort reports and draft replies |
| Text recognition statistics (ML Kit) | |
| Google Ireland Limited | Website analytics, only with your consent |
| Google (Google Play) | Distributing the app and, if paid features are offered, payments |
| My email provider | Delivering email sent to me |
Google Play may also show me app statistics and crash reports from phones that share diagnostics with Google.
Some of these companies process data in the USA, under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the EU’s standard contractual clauses. I don’t sell your data or share it with anyone else, unless the law requires it.
Why I Can Use Your Data
| What | Legal Basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Running the app: screens, updates, and game data | Contract – providing the app you use (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Server logs and spam protection | Legitimate interest – keeping Sidekick working and secure (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Text recognition statistics | Legitimate interest – reliable text recognition (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Reports, ideas, and emails | Legitimate interest – fixing problems and answering you (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Report attachments | Your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Website hosting | Legitimate interest – running and securing the site (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Google Analytics | Your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Paid features, if offered | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
Beyond what your phone sends when it connects, giving me data is optional: reports, attachments, and analytics are your choice.
How Long Data Is Kept
- On your phone: until you delete it or uninstall Sidekick.
- Server logs at Vercel: kept briefly by Vercel to run and secure the service, under Vercel’s own policy.
- Reports, attachments, and emails: up to 12 months after the matter is closed. You can ask me to delete yours sooner.
- Google Analytics: 14 months, as above; its cookies up to 2 years unless you delete them.
Your Rights
Under the GDPR, you can:
- Get a copy of your data, and have it corrected or deleted.
- Limit how I use it, or object to uses based on my legitimate interest.
- Get data you gave me in a common file format.
- Withdraw your consent any time: for analytics with Cookie Settings, for attachments in the app. This doesn’t affect earlier use.
- Complain to a data protection authority: in Poland, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych), ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warszawa, uodo.gov.pl, or the authority where you live or work in the EU.
Most of your data is only on your phone, where you control it. For data I hold, such as reports and emails, ask me in the app. With no accounts, I may ask for details that show the data is yours, such as a report’s text and date. I’ll answer within one month.
Sidekick makes no automated decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects.
Age Limit
Sidekick is for people aged 18 and over, as set out in the Terms of Use. If you think a child has sent me a report, tell me in the app, and I’ll delete it.
Changes to This Policy
When Sidekick changes, this policy may change too. I’ll post the new version here with a new date and, for important changes, let you know in the app.