Privacy Policy
The short version: your documents stay on your phone, and we don't collect them.
- There is no account to create and no server of ours to upload to.
- Scanning, text recognition, translation and export all run on your phone.
- The app has no ads and no in-app purchases. Google's on-device ML Kit sends Google technical diagnostics, never your pages or text. See below.
Who we are
PDF Scanner (“the app”) is made by a17lab (“we”, “us”). If you have a question about this policy, write to [email protected].
Your documents stay on your device
The app works with the content you give it: camera captures, photos you pick, files you import, the text recognized in them, signatures you draw, notes, stamps, watermarks, translations and the contents of QR codes and barcodes you scan. All of it is processed on your phone and stored in the app’s private storage on your phone. None of it is sent to us, and we have no way to see it.
The app turns off Android’s automatic backup, so your documents are not copied to your Google account. This also means they are not restored on a new phone: export anything you want to keep.
You can delete a document in the app at any time. Uninstalling the app deletes all of its documents and settings from your phone.
Technical data collected by Google ML Kit
Text recognition, barcode scanning, language detection and translation use Google’s ML Kit, which runs on your phone. Your images and text are processed on the device and are not sent to Google or to us by ML Kit.
ML Kit does send Google technical data for diagnostics and usage analytics: device information (such as manufacturer, model and Android version), the app’s package name and version, a per-installation identifier that is not intended to identify you or your device, performance metrics, feature and error events, and the size and format of what was processed. It is encrypted in transit, and we do not receive it. Google describes this in its ML Kit data disclosure and handles it under the Google Privacy Policy.
Permissions the app asks for
You can change these choices at any time in Android Settings.
- Camera: to scan documents, ID cards and codes. The camera runs only while a scanner screen is open.
- Biometrics: to lock the app, if you turn the lock on. Android handles the check and tells the app only whether it succeeded. The app never receives your fingerprint or face data.
- Internet and network state: for downloading translation language packs and for the ML Kit diagnostics described above. The app does not use the network to send your documents.
Picking photos and files uses Android’s system pickers, which give the app only the items you choose. The app does not ask for access to your photo library, your files or your contacts. Adding a contact from a scanned code opens your contacts app, where you decide whether to save it. The clipboard is read only when you choose to scan a code from it.
Translation
Translation runs on your phone. The first time you use a language, the app downloads a language pack of about 35 MB from Google, and only with your go-ahead. Your text is not part of that download.
If you tap “Open in Google Translate”, the text of that paragraph is handed to the Google Translate app, or to an app you pick, and leaves this app. The screen says so next to the button, and this happens only when you tap it.
When you share a file or open a link
- When you share or save an export, the file goes only where you send it, such as Gmail, Drive or your phone’s storage. Whatever you send it to handles it under its own privacy policy.
- A link from a scanned QR code opens only when you tap it, in your browser. The app checks the link on your phone for common warning signs first. If you tap to look up a product barcode, the number is passed to your phone’s search app.
- Links in the app’s Settings, such as this page or the Play Store, open in your browser or in Google Play. The app may show Google Play’s own rating prompt, which Google Play handles.
If you email us
If you write to [email protected], we receive your email address and what you choose to send. We use it only to reply to you, and we delete it on request.
Children
The app is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.
Changes to this policy
If the app’s handling of data changes, we will update this page and its effective date before the change ships in the app.