Privacy Policy

Cataloger AI · Effective October 17, 2026

Cataloger AI ("the app", "we") is made by Bill Harned. This policy explains what information the app handles and who it is shared with. The short version is below; the details follow.

1. What stays on your device

Everything you add to the app is stored on your device: items, categories and fields, photos, prices, quantities, storage places, notes, and imported files. We do not receive it and cannot see it. If you use iCloud or iTunes/Finder backups for your device, the app's data may be included in those backups under your Apple settings.

When you export your collection, the file is created on your device and shared only where you choose to send it.

Optional iCloud sync

The app has an optional setting, Sync with iCloud, which is off until you turn it on. When it is on, your collection (items, photos, categories and fields, storage places, purchases, notes and other settings) is stored in your private iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit, so it stays in step across your own devices that use the same Apple Account. This data goes directly between your devices and Apple. It does not pass through our servers, and we cannot see or access it. Apple handles it under its own terms and privacy policy, and it counts against your iCloud storage. Import logs, which record the rows of files you import, are never synced. You can turn sync off at any time in Settings; your data then stays on that device and the copy already in iCloud remains until you delete it in your iCloud settings (Settings, your name, iCloud, Manage Storage).

2. What leaves your device, and why

AI Fill (AI Pack subscribers)

When you tap Fill with AI or From photo, the app sends to our server:

• the item name you typed, if any;
• the name of your category and the names, types and choice lists of that category's fields;
• the brand you selected, if any;
• for From photo, the photo you took or chose, reduced in size; and
• proof of your active AI Pack subscription (see "Subscriptions" below).

Our server forwards the request to an AI service provided by Anthropic, PBC, which reads it and returns suggested values. Those suggestions come back to the app, where you review them before anything is added to your item. Nothing is sent for items you do not look up, and the rest of your collection is never sent.

Because photos and names may include whatever you point the camera at or type, please do not include personal information about other people.

We do not intentionally store the names, photos or results of these requests on our server. Our hosting provider (Vercel) keeps standard server logs such as time, IP address and request status, and our server briefly keeps an anonymous subscription identifier in memory to apply a daily usage limit. Anthropic handles the content it receives under its own terms and privacy policy, linked below.

Scan a shelf (AI Pack subscribers)

When you choose Scan a shelf and take or pick a photo of several items, the app sends that photo (reduced in size), the name of the category you chose, the names, types and choice lists of that category's fields, and proof of your subscription to our server. Our server forwards them to Anthropic's AI service, which lists the items it can identify and returns suggested values. The app then sends the names and makers of the items it found, with your category's field names, in a second request so their details can be filled in the same way, which our server forwards to Anthropic's AI service. You review the list before anything is added. A scan counts as several lookups toward the daily usage limit. As with AI Fill, we do not intentionally store the photo or the results, and please avoid photographing people or personal information.

Add an item from a link

When you paste a product link into the app, or send one with the Share Sheet, your device downloads that web page directly from the store or website, reads the product's name, brand, price, photo and details on the device, and downloads the product photo from that site. The website receives your device's IP address and the link you chose, as it would if you opened the page in a browser. We do not receive the page.

If you have the AI Pack and use the result to fill your category's fields, the app sends our server a short summary taken from the page (up to about 3,000 characters of its description, specifications and "label: value" lines), the product name, the brand, and your category's field names, together with proof of your subscription. Our server forwards these to Anthropic's AI service, as with AI Fill. Without the AI Pack, nothing from the page leaves your device.

The Share Sheet feature is a small extension of the app. It receives only the link you choose to share and keeps it in storage shared between the extension and the app on your device until the app opens. It does not read the page and sends nothing anywhere.

Sharing category templates

You can share the layout of a category (its name, icon and fields, never your items) as a file. The file is created on your device and goes only where you send it, such as Messages, Mail or AirDrop. We do not host or receive shared templates. A template you open from someone else only adds categories and fields after you confirm.

ISBN lookup (books)

When you look up a book by ISBN, the ISBN is sent from your device to Open Library (Internet Archive) and, if needed, to Google Books. They receive the ISBN and your device's IP address. Book covers are downloaded from them. If you have the AI Pack, the app may also send the book's title and author to our server, and on to Anthropic's AI service, to estimate a typical retail price.

Web image search

When you tap Find Image, the words you search for are sent from your device to DuckDuckGo, which receives them with your device's IP address, and the pictures you pick are downloaded from the websites that host them.

Subscriptions

The AI Pack is a subscription sold through the App Store. Apple handles the purchase, your payment details and your Apple Account. We never see your payment information. To confirm that you are subscribed, the app sends Apple's signed proof of your subscription to our server, which verifies Apple's signature. This proof contains an anonymous transaction identifier, not your name or email.

Camera, photos and Bluetooth

• Camera and photo library: used to scan barcodes and to add photos to your items. Photos stay on your device unless you choose From photo or Scan a shelf as described above.
• Bluetooth: used only to read temperature and humidity from Govee sensors you add. Readings stay on your device.

3. Services we rely on

4. Your choices

• AI Fill, scanning a shelf, adding from a link, ISBN lookup and web image search are all optional. If you do not use them, the app sends nothing to these services.
• iCloud sync is optional and off by default. If you turn it on, deleting items on one device deletes them on your other synced devices. You can remove the copy stored in iCloud under Settings, your name, iCloud, Manage Storage.
• You can delete any item, or all of your data, by deleting items in the app or deleting the app. We do not keep a copy of your collection, so deleting it removes it from us entirely. If you used iCloud sync, a copy may remain in your own iCloud until you delete it there.
• You can withdraw camera, photo or Bluetooth access at any time in your device's Settings.
• You can cancel the subscription in your Apple Account settings.

5. Retention

We keep no copy of your collection, whether or not you use iCloud sync. Anonymous usage-limit counters are held in server memory and are discarded when the server restarts. Provider logs and AI provider handling follow those providers' own policies.

6. Children

The app is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

7. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal information. Since we do not hold your collection or an account for you, there is generally nothing for us to retrieve, but you can contact us with any request and we will respond. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for advertising.

8. Security

Requests to our server use encrypted connections, and our AI service credentials are kept only on the server, never in the app. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

9. Changes

If we change how the app handles information, we will update this page and its effective date. Material changes will also be noted in the app.

10. Contact

Bill Harned
bharned3@gmail.com