Introduction
Contact Capture ("we", "our", or "the app") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application.
Privacy-First Design: Contact Capture uses anonymous authentication. We do not collect your name, email address, or any personally identifiable information. You never need to create an account or sign in.
Information We Collect
1. Consent for AI Processing
To provide our scanning service, we send image data to Google AI Services for text extraction. We ask for your explicit permission before your first scan. The image is used solely for processing and is not stored. You may decline this permission, though the app cannot function without it.
2. Anonymous Device Identifier
We generate a random, anonymous identifier stored securely in your device's Keychain. This identifier:
- Contains no personal information: It is a randomly generated string (e.g., "device_abc123...").
- Is never linked to your identity: We cannot identify who you are from this identifier.
- Persists across reinstalls: The Keychain preserves this ID even if you delete and reinstall the app, ensuring your scan credits are retained.
- Purpose: To track your scan quota and purchase history without requiring any personal information.
3. Purchase and Usage Data
- Transaction History: We store records of your In-App Purchases (Scan Packs) to ensure you receive the credits you paid for. This includes Apple's transaction ID for each purchase.
- Usage Metrics: We track the number of scans performed to manage free quotas and paid credits.
- Purchase Recovery: If you get a new device, you can restore your purchases using Apple's "Restore Purchases" feature. We use Apple's transaction IDs to identify and recover your previous purchases.
4. Images and Contact Extraction
- Transient Processing: Images you capture or select are uploaded to our secure backend solely for processing.
- No Image Storage: Images are processed in real-time and immediately discarded once the contact information is extracted. We do not persist your photos on our servers.
- Extracted Data: The text extracted from the image is returned to your device and is not permanently stored on our backend servers.
5. Device Contacts Access
We request access to your device's Contacts library for two specific purposes:
- Duplicate Detection: To prevent creating duplicate entries, the app reads your existing contact phone numbers to compare them against new scans. This processing happens locally on your device and your existing contact list is never uploaded to our servers.
- Saving Contacts: To write the new, extracted information to your address book.
- Notes: We access the Notes field of your contacts to append timestamped scan logs and context (e.g., "Scanned on 2026-Jan-26").
Third-Party Services
Google AI Services
We use Google's enterprise AI services to analyze images and extract contact information.
- Data Processed: Image data for Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
- Privacy: Data is processed according to Google's privacy terms for enterprise AI. Images are not used to train Google's models.
Infrastructure (Vercel & Neon)
Our backend services are hosted on Vercel, and anonymous user data (quotas/device IDs) is stored in a PostgreSQL database (Neon).
- Security: All data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Location: Data is processed in secure data centers (utilizing tier-1 cloud infrastructure providers).
Apple Services
- Payments: All financial transactions are processed directly by Apple via StoreKit. We do not process or store credit card information.
- Purchase Recovery: Apple's StoreKit provides transaction IDs that allow us to restore your purchases on a new device without requiring any sign-in.
How We Use Your Information
- Service Provision: To convert images into saveable contact data.
- Quota Management: To maintain your balance of remaining scans.
- Purchase Recovery: To restore your purchases when you get a new device.
- Improvements: We analyze anonymized usage logs (e.g., "Scan failed due to timeout") to improve app reliability.
Data Retention & Deletion
Retention
- Images: Deleted immediately after processing (seconds).
- Anonymous Records: Your device ID and purchase history are retained to maintain your scan credits. Since this data is anonymous, it cannot be linked to your identity.
- Logs: Technical logs are retained for 30 days for debugging. These logs contain metadata (e.g., "Image size: 4MB", "Processing time: 2s") but NEVER contain image data, OCR text, or extracted contact fields.
Data Removal
You can delete all your data at any time:
- In-App Deletion: Go to Settings → Delete My Data to permanently remove all your data from our servers, including your device ID, scan credits, and purchase history.
- What Gets Deleted: Your anonymous device identifier, scan quota, purchase records, and usage logs are permanently erased from our database.
- Local Data: The deletion also clears all local data on your device, including your scan history and cached settings.
- Fresh Start: After deletion, you can continue using the app with a new anonymous identity and the standard free scan quota.
Note: Data deletion is irreversible. Any purchased scan credits will be lost and cannot be recovered.
Medical & Professional Use Warning
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
HIPAA Compliance: This app is NOT HIPAA-compliant. While we do not store images, the transmission of data involves third-party cloud processing (Google AI).
DO NOT SCAN:
- Patient face sheets
- Medical records containing PHI (Protected Health Information)
- Prescription data
INTENDED USE: This app is strictly for digitizing public or professional directory information, such as staff contact lists, business cards, and department rosters.
Security Measures
- Encryption: HTTPS/TLS 1.3 for all network communication.
- Anonymous by Design: No personal information is collected or stored.
- Secure Storage: Device identifiers stored in iOS Keychain (hardware-encrypted).
- Access Control: Strict database policies ensuring each device can only access its own data.
- Ephemeral Processing: "Process and Discard" architecture for image handling.
Children's Privacy
Contact Capture is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:
Email: app.thedifferential@gmail.com
Developer: The Differential App
By using Contact Capture, you consent to this Privacy Policy.