Dandelion the unicorn smiling in a sunny meadow of dandelions

SillyCam privacy policy

Effective 4 October 2026.

SillyCam is a camera app with silly effects, made for young children to use with a parent or grandparent. In short: the app collects no information and cannot use the Internet. It saves the photos and videos it makes only on the phone, and never sends them anywhere itself.

Who we are

SillyCam is made by TCP3. Questions about this policy or the app: privacy@tcp3.com.

No Internet access

The app does not have Android's Internet permission, so Android does not let it send anything off the phone. It has no ads, no analytics, no tracking, and no accounts or sign-in. Some libraries inside the app could otherwise send usage statistics; their upload parts are removed, and without the Internet permission they could not send anything anyway. Purchases are handled by the Google Play Store app on the phone, not by this app (see "Purchases").

Camera, microphone and faces

  • The camera picture is processed on the phone to draw the effects. It is never sent anywhere.
  • Some effects find the points of a face and its expression (for example an open mouth or a blink), or the outline of a person, in the camera picture to place ears, glasses or a new background. This happens on the phone, picture by picture, with models built into the app. The points, expressions and outlines are not saved and never leave the phone. The app does not recognise who anyone is.
  • The microphone records the sound of a video while the shutter button is held. The sound is saved in that video only. If the app is not allowed to use the microphone (Android's app permissions), videos are silent.

Photos and videos

Photos and videos are saved only on the phone, in the Gallery album "Dandelion Camera" (the folder Pictures/Dandelion Camera; on Android 10, videos go to Movies/Dandelion Camera). Earlier versions saved to DCIM/Dandelion Camera, and the very first ones to the album "Silly Camera"; the app still shows both. Photos and videos carry no location.

The app never sends them anywhere itself. Its Share button is behind the grown-up check and opens Android's share sheet; the app the grown-up picks receives the photo or video and handles it under its own privacy policy. The album is part of the phone's Gallery, so other apps that a grown-up has allowed to see photos and videos (for example a photo backup such as Google Photos) can see it too, and may copy it. That is controlled in the phone's settings, not by this app.

Crash log

The app keeps a technical log on the phone: reports of crashes and other errors and, on Android 11 and later, Android's record of the last few times the app closed and why (for example, closed by the user or to free memory). Each entry has its date and time, and the log has the app version, the phone's make and model and the Android version. It contains no photos, videos or sound. It stays on the phone: the app has no way to send it anywhere. Uninstalling the app deletes the whole log.

Settings

The app keeps a few settings on the phone: the last effect and camera, the grown-up switches, and a note of any effect that crashed so the app can skip it. If a grown-up sets a grown-up code, the app keeps it scrambled (as a hash, not the digits). Only the app uses them.

Purchases

Optional upgrades are one-time purchases made through Google Play, with the Google account on the phone. Google Play takes the payment, under Google's own privacy policy. Google Play tells the app which upgrades that account owns, with a purchase record the app checks on the phone. The app keeps only the list of what is owned and, if Google Play stops listing an upgrade, the time it first noticed, so that a passing glitch never takes an upgrade away. It never sees payment details, or the account's name or email address. Purchases are made in the grown-up area.

Information you send us

If a grown-up emails TCP3, TCP3 receives the sender's email address and whatever the message contains. TCP3 uses it only to reply and to fix problems in the app, and does not share it with anyone else. It is deleted once it is no longer needed for that, or sooner on request to privacy@tcp3.com. Please don't send photos or videos of children, or personal details that aren't needed.

Children

SillyCam is designed for children aged 5 and under and 6 to 8. The app collects no personal information from anyone, children included. Sharing, settings and purchases are for grown-ups: they sit behind a grown-up check that asks a multiplication question, or a code the grown-up chose.

Keeping and deleting information

  • Photos and videos stay in the Gallery until someone deletes them there. The app has no delete button, and uninstalling the app does not delete them.
  • Uninstalling the app deletes its settings, its crash log and its list of purchases on the phone. Purchases stay with the Google account and are found again after a reinstall.
  • The app's own data is left out of Android's backup and out of transfers to a new phone, so it is not copied anywhere.
  • Emails sent to TCP3 are deleted once they are no longer needed, or on request (see "Information you send us").

Security

  • Everything the app keeps for itself (its settings, the crash log and the list of purchases) is in its private storage on the phone, which Android does not let other apps read.
  • The app has no Internet permission, so it cannot send anything off the phone. It hands a photo or video only to Android's share sheet, after the grown-up check, and the app the grown-up picks then handles it.
  • Photos and videos are in the phone's shared Gallery album, protected by the phone's screen lock and by Android's permissions for photos and videos.
  • The live camera picture cannot be captured by screenshots or screen recording. Test versions sent to invited testers allow it, so the app's store videos can be recorded.

Permissions

  • Camera: to show the picture and take photos and videos.
  • Microphone: to record the sound of videos.
  • Storage (Android 8 and 9 only): to save photos and videos to the Gallery.
  • Google Play billing: lets the app ask the Google Play Store app on the phone to sell an upgrade and to say which upgrades the Google account owns. Google Play handles the purchase itself. It does not give the app Internet access.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version comes with an app update and replaces the published copy, with a new effective date at the top.

Contact

TCP3, privacy@tcp3.com