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Privacy policy

PaperBox is built so this page can be short and still say everything: your documents are stored on your device, not ours. We don't operate a server for your files, we don't run analytics by default, and nothing leaves your phone unless you choose to share or export it.

Last updated July 19, 2026

1. Overview

PaperBox is an offline-first document scanner and vault. It is designed around one idea: the documents you scan or import are yours, and the app's job is to store and organize them locally, not to move them anywhere. This policy explains what data the app touches, where it lives, and what — if anything — ever leaves your device.

We don't require an account, we don't operate servers that store your files, and we don't collect analytics by default. If any of that changes in a future version, this page will change with it.

2. What we don't collect

  • No accounts. PaperBox doesn't ask for an email address, phone number, or password, and it doesn't create a profile for you anywhere.
  • No analytics by default. The app doesn't send usage events, crash telemetry, or behavioral data to a third party out of the box.
  • No ad tracking. There's no advertising SDK bundled with the app, and your document activity isn't used to build a profile for ads.
  • No document content read by us. We — the developers — don't have a channel to see what you scan, import, name, or tag. There's no server in the loop to see it on.

3. What's stored on your device

Everything you add to your vault — scanned pages, imported files, folders, tags, favorites, and pins — is written to your device's local app storage. This includes:

  • Files and folders. Each file's name, type, size, folder membership, tags, and favorite or pinned status.
  • Settings. Your theme choice, whether previews are hidden, and whether App Lock is turned on.

This data stays in the app's private, sandboxed storage area on iOS or Android. Other apps can't read it, and it isn't synced to a cloud service by PaperBox itself.

4. Camera and photo access

PaperBox asks for camera access so its built-in scanner can capture pages and turn them into images or PDFs. The camera is only opened when you tap Take Picture or Create PDF — it isn't accessed in the background. Photos you import from your library are copied into your vault the same way a manually scanned page would be; the original stays wherever it already lived.

Captured and imported images are processed and stored locally. They aren't uploaded anywhere as part of scanning, cropping, or PDF creation.

5. Face ID and device authentication

App Lock is optional. When you turn it on, PaperBox asks your device's operating system to confirm your identity with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode before the vault opens. That authentication happens entirely inside your device's secure hardware — PaperBox asks the OS a yes-or-no question ("was this the owner of the device?") and never receives, stores, or has access to your biometric data itself.

If your device doesn't support secure local authentication, App Lock is automatically disabled rather than falling back to a weaker method.

6. Sharing and export

Nothing leaves your vault automatically. Data moves off your device only through actions you take directly:

  • Share. Sharing a single file hands it to your device's native share sheet, so you choose the destination — Mail, Messages, another app, and so on. Sharing multiple files packages them into a zip first, through the same share sheet.
  • Export. Exporting a folder, a selection, or your entire vault builds a transfer file containing your files' contents, generated on your device and saved wherever you direct it — it isn't sent to us or to any PaperBox server, because none exists for this purpose.

7. Import and the handshake link

You can bring files into PaperBox in two ways: by picking a previously exported file, or by using a QR "handshake" to move a vault from one device to another. The handshake is generated on the sending device and read directly by the receiving device's camera — it's a transfer between two devices you control, not a hop through a hosted service run by us.

8. Permissions this app requests

For transparency, here are the exact permission descriptionsPaperBox declares to iOS and Android, and nothing more:

iOSNSCameraUsageDescription“camera access to scan documents and capture images”
iOSNSFaceIDUsageDescription“allow Face ID to unlock your vault”
AndroidCAMERA“used to scan and capture documents with the in-app scanner”

PaperBox does not request access to your location, contacts, microphone, or health data.

9. Retention and deletion

Your files stay in your vault for as long as you keep them. Deleting a file or folder inside the app removes it from local storage. Uninstalling PaperBox removes the app's entire local storage, including your vault, following your device's normal app-data rules — so it's worth exporting anything you want to keep before you uninstall.

10. Children's privacy

PaperBox is not directed at children, does not knowingly collect personal information from children, and — since the app doesn't collect information off-device in the first place — has no server-side data to worry about from any user, including children.

11. Changes to this policy

If PaperBox ever changes what it collects or how it handles your data — for example, by adding an optional cloud backup — this page will be updated first, with a new "last updated" date at the top, before that change ships.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy or how PaperBox handles data can be sent through the Contact option in the app's Settings tab.

Back to security overview

This page describes PaperBox's data-handling practices in plain language. It isn't a substitute for legal advice, and if you're operating this app for a business or in a regulated context, it's worth having it reviewed against the specific laws that apply to you (such as GDPR or CCPA).