Privacy Policy

Who we are

Scanly is built and run by one independent developer based in Morocco, not a company. That developer is the data controller for the processing described in this policy. “We” and “us” below mean that developer. For any privacy question, email [email protected].

On your device

Document scanning, offline OCR, PDF editing (including signing, compression and passwords), and barcode or QR recognition happen entirely on your phone. Your scans, scan history and exported files stay on your device and are never uploaded unless you choose a cloud AI feature. We cannot see them.

When you use a cloud AI feature

Cloud AI is optional. When you use it, the content you selected is sent over HTTPS to Scanly’s server on Cloudflare, which checks your account and allowance and forwards the content to one AI provider. We don’t use your content for anything other than returning your result, and we don’t sell it or use it to train models.

Each provider processes your content under its own API terms to produce the result. For AI Scan, the uploaded copy of your document is deleted from Mistral’s file storage as soon as it has been read.

What our server keeps, and for how long:

• Uploaded documents and audio recordings are not stored by us; they are held in memory only while your request is processed.
• The result of an AI request (for example a transcript or recognised text) is cached for up to 24 hours, so that if your connection drops you get the same result again instead of being charged twice.
• For Design a PDF, your description, attachments, photo and the generated document source are kept for 7 days so you can ask for changes and regenerate it.
• Expired records are deleted automatically by a scheduled cleanup, and immediately if you delete your account.

Download or export anything you want to keep; after these windows it exists only on your phone.

Your own AI endpoint

If you set up your own AI endpoint (a Pro feature), scans you run with it go directly from your phone to the provider you chose, under that provider’s terms; Scanly’s server is not involved. For Design a PDF, your model writes the document on your provider, and only the finished document source (plus any photo you added) is sent to our server to be typeset into a PDF on Google Cloud Run. Your API key never leaves your phone. Audio to text always runs through Scanly’s server and xAI, even when your own endpoint is on.

What we do keep

To run accounts, subscriptions and fair-use limits, our server keeps a small amount of information that is not your content:

• Account: cloud AI requires a free account. Sign-in is handled by Google Firebase, which processes your email address, an account identifier, and your password or Google sign-in. Our own database stores only the account identifier and your plan.
• Usage records: for each AI request, the feature used, page or minute counts, cost, status and time. These enforce your monthly and daily allowance and help us diagnose problems.
• Subscriptions: for paid plans, the subscription and customer identifiers and email address Paddle gives us, your licence key, and for each device the key is activated on, an app-specific Android device identifier and the device maker and model (to enforce the three-device limit and show you which devices hold your key).
• Password resets: to stop abuse, we count reset requests using a one-way hash of your email address and IP address, not the addresses themselves. If no email service can take a reset message at that moment, we keep your email address for up to an hour so it can be sent again, then delete it.
• Server logs: error codes and usage figures, kept by Cloudflare for a short period. They do not contain your documents or transcripts. One exception: when the AI PDF Designer fails to typeset a design, the log may include a short error message quoting a line of the generated document.

Like every website and app, Cloudflare (our host) and the providers above receive your IP address as part of the connection.

Advertising

Scanly shows no banners, no interstitials, and no pop-up advertising anywhere in the app. The only advertising is an optional rewarded video that you start yourself: once you have used your free monthly AI credits, you may choose to watch a short video to earn a few more. Nothing is shown unless you tap that button, and you can ignore it indefinitely.

Rewarded ads are served by Google AdMob and are offered only on the free tier. If you subscribe to Scanly Pro or Max, the advertising SDK is never started on your device at all.

So that a video is ready when requested, the app loads ads in the background on the free tier after the applicable consent flow. Google AdMob collects and shares IP addresses (which may be used to estimate approximate location), advertising and other device or account identifiers, ad interactions, and diagnostic information for advertising, analytics, and fraud prevention. Google’s use of that data is described in Google’s business privacy notice and its partner policies.

To award the credits you earned, Scanly gives AdMob only your Scanly account identifier, which AdMob passes back to our server when it confirms the video was genuinely watched. Your documents, scan results, transcripts and history are never shared with AdMob or with any advertiser.

In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland we collect your consent choices through Google’s User Messaging Platform before any ad is requested, and personalised advertising is used only where you have consented. You can change those choices at any time from Settings › Privacy options in the app. You can also limit ad personalisation for every app from your Android privacy settings, or reset your advertising identifier there at any time.

Payments

Scanly Pro and Max subscriptions are sold by Paddle as the merchant of record and reseller. The contracting Paddle entity depends on where you are buying from and is named in the Paddle Checkout Buyer Terms. Paddle collects your payment details, handles tax and sends receipts. We never receive or store your card number.

Barcode product lookup

When you look up an EAN, UPC or ISBN code, the app sends only that code number, directly from your phone, to the matching public database: Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts, Open Pet Food Facts, OpenFDA, Google Books or Open Library. That service also receives your IP address as part of the connection.

Service providers

These are the only third parties that process personal data for Scanly, each only for the purpose listed:

• Cloudflare — hosting for our server, database and this website.
• Mistral AI — AI Scan, translation, data extraction and drafting.
• xAI — Audio to text.
• Google Gemini — Design a PDF.
• Google Cloud Run — typesetting designed PDFs.
• Google Firebase — account sign-in, and password-reset emails when Resend is unavailable.
• Resend — sending password-reset emails: it receives your email address and the reset link.
• Google AdMob — the optional rewarded ads on the free tier.
• Paddle — payments, as merchant of record.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal data, and we do not share it for advertising beyond the optional AdMob video described above.
• We do not use your documents, recordings or results to train AI models.
• The app contains no analytics, crash-reporting or tracking SDKs.
• This website uses no analytics or tracking, sets no cookies, and shows no advertising.

Data retention

AI results: up to 24 hours. Design a PDF drafts: 7 days. Account, usage and licence records: while your account exists, and deleted when you delete it. Subscription and billing records held by Paddle are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.

Your rights

You can ask to access, correct, export or delete the personal data we hold about you by emailing [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity first, and we answer within 30 days.

You can also delete your account and its data yourself at any time from Settings › Account › Delete account in the app. See Delete your Scanly account for exactly what is erased and what is kept.

Children

Scanly is not directed to children under 13, or under 16 where that higher age applies. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children below the applicable age.

International transfers

The providers listed above may process information in countries other than your own, including the United States and the European Union. Their processing is subject to the safeguards and legal requirements that apply to them.

Security

All traffic between the app, our server and the AI providers uses HTTPS. If you configure your own AI endpoint with a plain HTTP address, content sent to it is not encrypted in transit; use HTTPS where available. No method of storage or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

Changes to this policy

If Scanly starts using a new provider or keeps anything new, this page will say so before it happens, with an updated effective date.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, email [email protected].