AceBuddy
Made in the UK

Small tools that
stay on your phone

AceBuddy is a one-person workshop. We build phone tools that do one job well, keep your data on your own device, and do not ask you to make an account.

Pixel-art illustration of a wooden signpost on a hilltop path at sunset, pointing along the trail.
First app

Thataway

A Bluetooth finder for the earbud down the back of the sofa, the ring that rolled under a chair, the keys with a tracker on them.

It points

Most finders warm up and cool down while you crawl around the room. Hold the phone to your chest, turn slowly on the spot, and Thataway reads how the signal rises and falls as your own body blocks it. Then it gives you a bearing.

When the turn was too rushed or too noisy to be sure, it says so rather than sending you at a wall.

It cannot phone home

Thataway ships without the internet permission. Android will not let it open a connection, so this is not a promise we are asking you to take on trust. There is no account, no sign-up, no adverts and no analytics.

What you name and star stays in the app's own storage. Delete the app and it goes with it.

What it will not do

It finds things that are powered on, advertising over Bluetooth, and in range. A dead battery is invisible to any app of this kind.

It cannot see items on Apple's or Google's own finding networks, which are closed to everyone else. Distance in metres is an estimate from signal strength, and walls and bodies bend it.

In testing

Thataway is being tested with a small group before it goes on Google Play. If you want to be one of the testers, say hello.

Ask to test it Read the privacy policy

How we build

Three habits, kept because they make the tools better rather than because they sound good on a website.

Ask for less

Every permission an app holds is one it can misuse or leak. Thataway asks for Bluetooth and nothing else, and its Bluetooth scan is flagged so Android will not let it work out where you are from what it sees.

Keep it on the device

A tool that never sends your data away cannot lose it, sell it, or have it taken. Where a job can be done on the phone, we do it on the phone.

Say what it cannot do

Every finder has limits set by physics and by what the big platforms keep closed. We would rather write those down than let you find them out while hunting for your keys.

Say hello

Questions, bug reports, or a request to join the Thataway test group.

acebuddyai@gmail.com