[UPDATE: AYANEO Response] AYANEO in the Spotlight for the Wrong Reasons After AYAWindow Discovery

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[UPDATE: AYANEO Response] AYANEO in the Spotlight for the Wrong Reasons After AYAWindow Discovery

https://retrohandhelds.gg/ayaneo-in-the-spotlight-for-the-wrong-reasons-after-ayawindow-discovery/

AYANEO’s AYAWindow App Sparks Privacy Concerns — But Is It Actually Spying?

A recent discovery on GitHub has thrown AYANEO under the spotlight—not for pre-order chaos or shipping delays (though those are familiar headaches), but for something far more unsettling: suspicious screenshot behavior in its AYAWindow app.

Users with rooted AYANEO Pocket DS devices found over 1,200 auto-saved screenshots stacked in a hidden cache folder (`com.ayaneo.gamewindow/cache/snapshot`). Even weirder: the folder updates in real time, even snapping photos of open screenshots—like a recursive surveillance loop. One user reported 12.5GB of data transmitted since November.

AYANEO quickly responded, acknowledging a bug in the screenshot caching system, clarifying that:

  • Screenshots are for internal task manager thumbnails (normal behavior)
  • Data isn’t uploaded or shared
  • The high data usage stems from Android grouping network traffic under the system UID (shared with apps like “Phone”)

But doubts linger. The Tencent-hosted `bugly.qq.com` domain—used for crash reporting—was spotted transferring data from the Pocket DS, while other models (like ACE or DMG) don’t show the same folder. Why? Is this version-specific? A regional rollout quirk?

While AYANEO seems cooperative and transparent for now, the lack of prior disclosure about screenshot capture—and why it’s only on the Pocket DS—leaves users just a little too exposed for comfort.

We’ll keep an eye on the fix—and your privacy. 🕵️‍♂️

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