Last updated: August 18, 2026
Gear Catalog is a personal equipment inventory app -- a visual catalog of studio gear (guitars, pedals, amps, and shop equipment/tools) for the owner's own reference, maintenance planning, and insurance documentation.
WHAT THIS APP COLLECTS
Everything you enter -- item names, models, serial numbers, purchase prices, purchase dates, notes, and photos -- is stored only on your device, in a local database. It is never uploaded anywhere unless you explicitly choose to sync it to another of your own devices (see "Local WiFi sync" below). There are no user accounts, and we never see or hold a copy of your catalog.
To protect against losing that data if the app is ever uninstalled or reinstalled, it also automatically saves a periodic backup copy (on Android, to your device's Downloads folder; on Windows, to a folder under Documents) -- a local file, never uploaded anywhere. This can be turned off in Settings.
BACKEND INFRASTRUCTURE WE OPERATE
Unlike a purely offline app, Gear Catalog does rely on two small pieces of backend infrastructure we run -- neither of which ever receives your catalog, photos, or personal information:
An eBay search proxy (a Firebase Cloud Function) that relays eBay Browse API requests so eBay's API credentials never ship inside the app. It forwards your search criteria to eBay and returns the results; it does not log or retain what's searched.
Firebase Remote Config and Cloud Storage, used for operational configuration (see below) and, only if you opt in, crash diagnostics (see below).
NETWORK ACCESS THIS APP USES
Reverb and eBay market-value lookups. To estimate what an item is currently worth, or to search for matching items on your wishlist, the app sends a generic search query (brand, model, condition, year, keywords, price range) to Reverb's public listings API directly, and to eBay's Browse API through the proxy described above. Neither request ever includes your name, photos, serial numbers, or any other personal or identifying information. These checks aren't only on-demand: opening the app also opportunistically checks any due wishlist items and watched listings in the background of that session, without a separate button press -- this isn't a scheduled operating-system background job, only something that can happen while the app is actually open.
Firebase Remote Config, at startup. Each time the app opens, it contacts Firebase to fetch operational configuration -- currently, the affiliate tracking ID used for Reverb links. The Remote Config SDK itself keeps its own on-device cache for offline resilience, as part of how that Firebase service works. This exchange doesn't include any catalog, wishlist, or personal information.
Local WiFi sync (optional). The app can discover other devices running Gear Catalog on the same WiFi network and transfer your catalog or wishlist data directly between them. Every such transfer requires the receiving device's owner to explicitly approve it on-screen at the time of the request. This traffic stays on your local network over a plain (unencrypted) local connection; it never touches the internet or any server we operate.
Automatic local backups (optional). Not a network request -- a local file write, listed here for completeness. A backup copy is periodically saved outside the app's own storage, including once automatically shortly after the app opens if a day has passed since the last one. Nothing is uploaded anywhere. Can be turned off in Settings.
Crash diagnostics upload (optional, only after a crash). The app keeps a small technical log on your device -- which internal functions ran, how long they took, whether they succeeded, plus device model and OS version. It never contains item names, photos, notes, prices, serial numbers, search terms, or any other catalog or wishlist content. This log is only ever uploaded -- to a private Cloud Storage bucket we operate, which the app itself can only write to, never read from -- if the app detects that it crashed the previous time it ran. Can be turned off in Settings.
No other network access happens. There are no analytics SDKs and no ad networks. Beyond the startup Remote Config fetch and the opportunistic wishlist checks described above, nothing runs unprompted in the background collecting information.
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE
Gear Catalog participates in the Reverb and eBay affiliate programs. If you follow a listing link from this app to Reverb or eBay and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This has no effect on which listings are shown or how they're ranked.
PERMISSIONS THIS APP REQUESTS, AND WHY
Camera -- to let you photograph equipment for its catalog entry. Optional; the app works without a camera.
Internet / WiFi state -- for the Reverb/eBay lookups, Remote Config, and local sync described above.
Notifications -- to alert you, entirely from checks that already ran on your own device, when a wishlist item becomes available or crosses a price threshold you set.
DATA SHARING
We don't sell, rent, or share your data with anyone. Your catalog and wishlist content never leaves your device except through local WiFi sync you explicitly approve. The only things that leave your device to reach infrastructure we operate are: generic marketplace search criteria (Reverb and, via our proxy, eBay), the Remote Config exchange at app startup, and -- only if enabled and only after a detected crash -- the technical diagnostic log described above.
DATA RETENTION AND DELETION
Your catalog and wishlist content lives only in local storage on your device -- the app's own storage, plus the automatic backup copies described above if that's turned on. We hold nothing of that content on our end, ever. The one exception is diagnostics: if a crash log is ever uploaded, it's retained in our private Cloud Storage bucket (device model, OS version, and internal operation timing only -- never catalog or wishlist content) until deleted. Uninstalling the app removes its own local storage; backup copies in Downloads/Documents are left behind intentionally and can be deleted by hand like any other file.
CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
This app is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect data from children.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this same location with a new "last updated" date.
CONTACT
Questions about this policy: bigben@gearcatalog.net