Privacy Policy

Affiliate Links & Commissions

Some links on HandheldHQ are affiliate links. When you click one and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is identical to going directly to the retailer.

We participate in affiliate programmes run by:

• Amazon Associates — Amazon.com and regional Amazon stores.
• CJ Affiliate — various hardware and accessories retailers.
• Impact — game subscription services and selected storefronts.
• Fanatical — PC game keys and bundles.

Affiliate relationships never influence our scores or recommendations. If a product scores poorly, we say so — regardless of whether an affiliate link exists for it.

Amazon Associates disclosure: HandheldHQ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Analytics

If we use analytics, it is privacy-light tooling such as Plausible Analytics. Plausible is cookieless, collects no personal data, and does not track you across sites. The data we see is aggregate-only: page view counts, referrer domains, and device types.

We do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or any third-party tracker that builds individual profiles or retargets ads.

Local Storage & Browser Data

HandheldHQ stores two small pieces of information in your browser's local storage:

• Device preference — which handheld you're currently browsing for (e.g. Steam Deck or ROG Ally X), so pages can highlight the right compatibility info automatically.
• In-game settings checklist progress — which optimisation steps you've ticked off on a game's settings page, so you can pick up where you left off.

This data lives entirely in your browser. It is never transmitted to our servers, never shared with third parties, and you can clear it at any time by clearing your browser's site data for handheldhq.io.

We do not use advertising cookies or tracking cookies of any kind.

We Do Not Sell Your Data

HandheldHQ does not sell, rent, or trade any personal information to third parties — because we don't collect personal information in the first place. We don't run account registration, email sign-up, or comment systems that require you to identify yourself.

If that changes in the future, this policy will be updated and dated accordingly before any new feature goes live.

Third-Party Content

Some pages may embed content from Steam (game cover art and metadata via Cloudflare's Steam CDN mirror), YouTube, or similar services. These services have their own privacy policies and may set their own cookies when you interact with embedded players. We load embeds in privacy-enhanced mode where available.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email us at contact@handheldhq.io . We'll do our best to respond within a few business days.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, the "Last updated" date at the top of the page will change. Material changes will also be noted in the site changelog. Continued use of the site after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.