Scope and who is responsible
This policy covers the Downsample app for iPhone and Android, its online features, downsample.app, beta distribution, and support messages. Lambda Audio is responsible for personal information sent to Downsample's game server and to support. Music servers you connect and third-party services you choose have their own operators, practices, and policies.
Information stored on your device
- Progress. Career progress, equipment, cosmetics, Galaxy runs, and settings are stored on your device. They aren't synced to our server or to a cloud backup, so signing in or restoring purchases doesn't restore them, and removing the app or clearing its data can erase them.
- Music and analysis. Songs you import from Files, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, another Files provider, or your device's music library are copied into Downsample's private storage. Downsample also keeps downloaded and cached audio, artwork, and the note charts it builds from each song on your device.
- Sign-in details. For each music server you connect, Downsample saves the server address, your username, and the access token the server issues. These are kept in encrypted storage whose key is held in your operating system's secure storage. Downsample's own account token and the random identifier for your installation are stored in secure storage too.
- Diagnostics. A log of recent errors and crashes, which you can open under Settings › Notifications & Data › Error log.
- Queued items and preferences. Bug reports and score submissions waiting to send when you're offline, and your usage analytics choice.
Your music sources
Downsample analyzes songs on your device to build their note patterns. Your audio isn't uploaded to Downsample's server.
- Your servers. When you connect Plex, Jellyfin, or an OpenSubsonic-compatible server such as Navidrome, Downsample sends the sign-in details and requests needed to browse and stream to the server address you enter. That server's operator controls its logs. Plex sign-in also goes through plex.tv, which lists the Plex servers on your account.
- Streaming catalogs. Audius streaming is on by default. ccMixter and Internet Archive streaming are off until you turn them on under Settings › Music & Library › Manage Sources. While a catalog is on, the app requests track lists and audio directly from that service, which receives your IP address and those requests.
- Your device's music library. If you allow access, Downsample reads your device's music library so you can import tracks. Songs protected by an Apple Music subscription can't be imported.
- Included tracks. Tracks that come with Downsample are downloaded from Downsample's server.
Downsample's game server
Online features use Downsample's game server at drift-api.headroommusic.app. It receives the following.
Account and sign-in
- Online features use an account created from a random identifier generated for your installation. The server assigns a player tag and stores your display name.
- Signing in with Apple or Google is optional and protects purchases. The server checks the sign-in token from Apple or Google and keeps only the account identifier from it. It doesn't store your name or email address.
- The app creates a signing key on your device for score submissions. The server stores the public half.
Scores, leaderboards, and Galaxy
- A score submission includes the score and run details (mode, difficulty, accuracy, combo, grade, and play time); the song's title, artist, and length; the music source and that source's ID for the song; your display name and profile items; and the generated level and replay data used to check and replay the run.
- The server also stores Galaxy runs, your Galaxy match history (“flight log”), pilot ratings, and ghosts, which record the timing of your best run on a song so other players can race it.
- Your Galaxy flight log is private by default. Under Ranked expedition sharing you can publish detailed dossiers, and separately choose to share equipment snapshots and songs and exact levels.
Friends, challenges, and safety
- Your friend code, friend requests and friendships, rival challenges and their results, and the players you block.
- A player report is sent as a bug report. It contains that player's ID or tag, their display name, and what you write.
- Your votes on and reports about community charts. To confirm a community chart matches your copy of a song, the app sends an audio fingerprint of that song.
Song identification
Song identification is on by default and can be turned off under Settings › Music & Library › Song Identification. It creates an audio fingerprint on your device and sends it, with the song's length and music source, to Downsample's server. Only the fingerprint is sent, never the audio. The server looks up fingerprints it doesn't recognize with AcoustID, which matches them to MusicBrainz recording data, and may look up artwork in the Cover Art Archive. Confirmed fingerprints are kept so the same recording can be recognized later.
Bug reports
A bug report contains the category, severity, description, and steps you enter, plus the app version, platform and OS version, language, and build type. Technical details are attached unless you turn them off: device and build information, recent errors and app activity, settings, which music source is connected, purchase status, and the song you were playing (title, artist, length, and source). The report screen shows exactly what will be sent. Passwords and access tokens are removed, but error messages can still include details such as a server address. Reports are linked to your Downsample account when the app has one.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, the app registers a push token with Downsample's server. The server sends notifications, such as when another player beats your Daily Signal score, through Expo's push service.
Purchases and items
Purchase-backed balances and items, such as Nova and paid cosmetics, entitlements, and purchase records are stored on the server so they can be restored. Purchases aren't offered during the beta.
Server operations
The server uses your IP address in memory to limit request rates. Its request logs record the route, status, and timing, not your IP address. Server errors are reported to Sentry. Database backups are kept for 14 days.
What other players can see
Your display name, player tag, emblem and profile items, scores and leaderboard positions with the song's title and artist, Galaxy standings and run summaries, pilot rating, and ghosts are visible to other players. Friends see challenges you send them. Galaxy dossiers, equipment snapshots, and song details are visible only if you publish them.
The Downsample website
downsample.app is hosted on an IONOS server and routed through a self-managed Pangolin reverse proxy. Cloudflare provides DNS only, so site traffic doesn't pass through Cloudflare. IONOS and the proxy may process connection data, such as your IP address, browser details, requested page, and time, to deliver and secure the site. The web server keeps a size-limited access log that is overwritten as it fills.
The website has no analytics, advertising, tracking pixels, cookies, or third-party scripts or fonts, and no forms. If you use the motion button on the home page, your choice is saved in your browser's local storage. Beta requests are made by email.
Other services
- Sentry (crash reports). When crash reporting is configured in a build, Sentry receives crash and error reports, device and build information, performance traces, and recent app activity, linked to your Downsample account ID. The app removes passwords and tokens it recognizes and doesn't attach your IP address or other default personal data, though Sentry sees the connection's IP address when it receives a report. Turning off usage analytics doesn't turn off crash reporting.
- PostHog (usage analytics). Usage analytics is on by default. While it's on, PostHog receives usage and gameplay events (such as songs started and finished, modes, difficulties, results, and app opens), app and device information, a random analytics ID, and your Downsample account ID. Session replay is off. Turn analytics off with Settings › About Downsample › Share usage analytics; this stops new collection.
- Apple and Google sign-in. If you choose to sign in, Apple or Google handles the sign-in under its own policy.
- App Store, Google Play, and RevenueCat. The beta doesn't offer purchases. When purchases are offered, Apple or Google handles payment, and RevenueCat receives your Downsample account ID and purchase and transaction information to verify and restore purchases. Downsample never receives your payment card details.
- Expo, Apple, and Google push services. Deliver notifications using your push token.
- AcoustID, MusicBrainz, and the Cover Art Archive. Receive fingerprint and recording lookups from Downsample's server for song identification, and the Cover Art Archive may serve artwork to the app.
- Plex, Audius, ccMixter, and the Internet Archive. Receive the requests described under Your music sources when you use them.
- TestFlight and Google Play testing. Apple or Google handles beta enrollment and may share crash, feedback, and usage information with us through its developer tools. To join the Android test, you email us your Google account address; we use it to add you to the tester list in Google Play and to reply.
- Email. We receive the messages and attachments you send to support@downsample.app. Our email provider processes the addressing and delivery data needed to deliver them.
Why we process information
We process information to provide the features you use, such as leaderboards, Galaxy, friends, song identification, and purchases; to keep scores fair and prevent abuse; to fix bugs and understand how the game is played; to answer support and beta requests; and to comply with legal obligations. Depending on where you live, the legal basis may be performance of a contract or steps you request, consent, compliance with law, or our legitimate interest in operating a fair, secure, and reliable game. You can withdraw consent for optional processing at any time without affecting earlier processing.
Retention and deletion
Local data stays until you remove it in the app, clear the app's data, or remove the app, subject to your operating system's backup and restore behavior.
Server data is kept while your online account exists. Some short-lived records are deleted automatically: retry records for score and chart uploads after 30 days, and song lookups still pending after 7 days. A fingerprint that can't be matched is discarded, and only a one-way hash of it is kept, for up to 30 days. Older Galaxy leaderboard submissions other than your best are removed over time. Database backups are kept for 14 days.
To delete your online account, open Settings › Account & Language › Session and account data › Delete Online Account & Data. This deletes your account and display name, friends, requests, blocks, challenges, ghosts, ratings, Galaxy flight logs and sharing preferences, chart votes and reports, push tokens, and server records of items, entitlements, and purchases. If you signed in with Apple or Google, the server also asks RevenueCat to delete its customer record. Leaderboard scores, Galaxy runs, and charts stay on the server, permanently anonymized as “Ghost Pilot.” Bug reports you sent are kept but no longer linked to your account; email us to have them deleted. Progress on your device isn't affected.
Bug reports and support email have no automatic deletion schedule; ask us and we'll delete them. Sentry, PostHog, Apple, Google, RevenueCat, IONOS, our email provider, your music-server operator, and other services you use keep their records under their own settings and policies. Deleting your account or turning off a feature stops new data from Downsample but doesn't erase what a provider already holds.
Your choices and rights
- Turn off usage analytics, song identification, or any streaming catalog in Settings.
- Remove connected servers and their saved sign-ins under Settings › Music & Library › Manage Sources.
- Decline or withdraw notification and music-library permissions in your device settings.
- Turn off technical details before sending a bug report.
- Delete your online account in the app, as described above.
Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, or objection regarding information we control, and to complain to your local data-protection authority. Email support@downsample.app. If you can no longer open the app, include your player tag. We may need enough information to verify and fulfill your request.
Children
Downsample isn't directed to children under 13, and children under 13 shouldn't use its online features or contact support. If you believe a child under 13 has sent us personal information, contact us so we can delete it.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy as Downsample changes. Material changes will be dated here and, when appropriate, mentioned in the app or release notes. Email support@downsample.app with privacy questions. The support page explains how to get help, and the terms of use cover use of the app.
External policies: IONOS, Cloudflare, Sentry, PostHog, RevenueCat, Expo, MetaBrainz (MusicBrainz), Plex, Audius, Internet Archive, Apple, and Google.