Install

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How to install PlayGuard, and what it writes on the SD card. Back to the README.

Where to get it

Pick one:

Homebrew App Store / sphaira's App Store (same catalogue) — Search for PlayGuard once the listing is approved. New releases are picked up automatically.
sphaira › GitHub — The release zip already contains the entry (/config/sphaira/github/playguard.json): after a first install, update from GitHub in sphaira.
Manual — Download playguard.zip from the latest release and extract it to the root of the SD card. The app lands in sd:/switch/playguard/, its files in sd:/config/playguard/.

The optional recovery sysmodule (playguard-rescue.zip) is a separate download — see Locked out?.

Files on the SD card

All in sd:/config/playguard/ (the app itself stays in sd:/switch/playguard/: removing or reinstalling it keeps them). Versions that kept them next to the app had them moved there at their first start.

config.json — Preferences (language, theme, NTP server, Protect PlayGuard with the PIN …); every key in config.md. One that cannot be read is kept as config.json.bad (the previous one as .bad.1) and the settings start again from their defaults; PlayGuard says so once at start-up
profiles/ — Saved play-time limit profiles
exports/ — Activity exports
nand/<system>/ — What belongs to one system, each with its own parental controls: sysmmc/ for the sysMMC, emummc/ for the emuMMC. Inside: history.json the change history (newest 500, a change the console refused included; one that cannot be read is kept as history.json.bad, the previous one as .bad.1, rather than overwritten, and PlayGuard says so once); state.json what Block all games, the extra time, a pending relock and the firmware choice need remembered (config.md); watch.json what PlayGuard last saw of the console, to tell what changed outside it (config.md; deleting it is harmless); backups/ the settings backups (never contain the PIN); cache/ the last play activity read (every account, and each account viewed), shown at once on the next start while the log is read again. The files of a version before these folders go to the first system PlayGuard starts on
cache/ — The game icons (icons/, 16 MB at most, emptied when the console language changes), shared by every system, so names and icons are not read from each game again at every start; the release notes of Atmosphère, hekate and the firmware (sys_notes.json, for Console) and PlayGuard's own (for About); in developer mode, the list of Install another build (dev_builds.json)
github_token — The GitHub sign-in of Send a report online and, in developer mode, of Install another build; deleted by signing out (About › Help & diagnostics › GitHub account, shown once signed in)
previous_build.json, boot_check.json — After a build is installed in place: the name of the build replaced (kept next to the .nro as playguard.nro.previous), and the check of the next start (deleted once its first screen is up)
rescue_report.txt — Left by the recovery sysmodule after it acted, until PlayGuard shows it at start-up (one it cannot read is removed, and PlayGuard says so)
rescue_nonce — A random challenge the recovery sysmodule answers in its report, so PlayGuard can tell a report it wrote from one written by hand (sysmodule/README.md); a new one at every start
logs/ — reports/ the saved diagnostic reports (never contain the PIN or the serial number); crashes/ one file per crash (what made PlayGuard stop); uploads/ one Internet shortcut (.url) per report sent online; play_timer/ the developer tools' play-timer files. How many reports, crash files and links are kept: About › Help & diagnostics (by number, age or size; the newest always stays)