Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11 July 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how pageleaf ("the app", "we") handles your information. The app is designed to be offline-first and private by default: your library lives on your device, and photos are only sent to a cloud service when you explicitly choose a cloud scan option.

Summary

• Your books, page photos, cover images, highlights, notes, and recognized text are stored only on your device. We have no account system, and your library is never uploaded anywhere.
• The app uses your camera solely to photograph book pages and covers, which are saved locally.
• Text recognition runs on your device by default. Two optional cloud modes exist, and you choose explicitly before either is used:
  • Pageleaf AI (free trial): the page or cover photo you scan is sent through our relay to a cloud text-recognition model, which returns the recognized text. Photos are processed transiently and are not stored by us. To enforce the free limit, we keep a random device identifier and a scan count — nothing that identifies you personally.
  • Your own API key: the photo is sent directly from your device to the provider you chose, using your key. We do not proxy, store, or see this data.
• ISBN lookups: when you scan a book's barcode, the ISBN number is sent to Open Library to fetch the book's title, author, and cover image.
• No analytics, no tracking, no advertising, no third-party SDKs collecting your data.

What is stored on your device

All of the following stays in the app's private storage on your phone and is removed when you uninstall the app:

• Book details (title, author, language) and cover images
• Page photographs and the text recognized from them
• Highlights and your notes
• Your settings, including any API key you enter (kept in the operating system's encrypted secure storage)

Camera

The app requests camera access to photograph book pages and book covers. Images are processed for text recognition and saved to the app's local storage. The camera is not used for any other purpose.

Scan options: on-device, Pageleaf AI, or your own key

Text recognition runs on your device (Google ML Kit) by default, and no image leaves your phone. The first time you save a scan, the app asks whether you want to use AI scan; you can change your choice at any time in Settings.

Pageleaf AI (free trial): when you choose this option, the cropped page or cover photo is sent from your device through a relay server we operate (Cloudflare Workers) to a third-party cloud text-recognition provider we select, which returns the recognized text. The current provider is shown in the app and may change as we improve accuracy and reliability. The photo is processed only to produce that text: neither our relay nor we store your photos or the recognized text. To enforce the free-trial limit, the relay stores a randomly generated device identifier and a count of scans used. This identifier is created inside the app, is not derived from your hardware, and is not linked to your name, email, or any account. If a scan fails for any reason, the app falls back to on-device recognition.

Optional cloud text recognition (Bring Your Own Key)

Instead of the free trial, you can use your own account with a cloud vision provider. This mode is off unless you enable it by entering your own API key for a provider you select from the list shown in Settings. When enabled, the cropped page or cover image is sent directly from your device to that provider, using your key, so it can return the transcribed text — it does not pass through our relay. Your use of a provider is governed by that provider's own terms and privacy policy. We do not receive or store these images, and cannot see your API key (it is held in your device's secure storage and sent only to the provider you chose).

ISBN / book information lookups

When you scan a book's barcode, the app sends the ISBN to Open Library (operated by the Internet Archive) to retrieve the book's title, author, and cover image. No personal information is included in this request.

Data sharing and selling

We do not sell your data. We do not share your data with third parties, except for the optional, user-initiated cases above (the Pageleaf AI relay and its model host, your own chosen OCR provider, and Open Library for ISBN lookups), all of which you control.

Data retention and deletion

Because your data lives only on your device, you control it entirely:

• Delete individual books, pages, highlights, or notes within the app.
• Remove a stored API key in Settings at any time.
• Uninstalling the app permanently removes all of its data from your device.

The only data not on your device is the Pageleaf AI trial counter (the random device identifier and scan count described above). To have it deleted, contact us at the address below.

Children's privacy

The app is not directed to children and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone; the only server-side data it creates is the anonymous trial counter described above.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: service.pageleaf@gmail.com