PenSnap

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 7 June 2026

PenSnap (“PenSnap”, “we”, “us”) is a mobile app that identifies fountain pens from photos and provides non-binding market value estimates, a personal collection, a wishlist and price alerts. This policy explains what we collect, why, and your rights.

Data controller: Even Rütimann, Switzerland — contact: support@evenruetimann.ch.

1. What we collect

  • Account data. When you sign in with Apple, we receive a stable Apple user identifier and (only if you choose to share it) your name and a relay email address. You may also use the app anonymously; an anonymous account holds only a random identifier until you sign in.
  • Scans. The photos you capture or select, and the attributes our AI derives from them (brand, model, variant, era, nib, condition, estimated value). Photos of subjects that are not a fountain pen are deleted from storage immediately after processing.
  • Collection & wishlist. Items you save, including any notes, purchase price/date and favourites.
  • Corrections. When you correct an identification, the corrected brand/model/variant and an optional note.
  • Preferences. Language, preferred currency, appearance (theme).
  • Subscription status. Whether you have an active subscription/trial and its tier, received from our payments provider (RevenueCat) — we do not receive or store your card or full payment details.
  • Push token. If you enable price alerts, a device push token so we can notify you.
  • Device attestation. A per-install Apple App Attest public key and counter, used to verify requests come from a genuine app instance (anti-abuse). This is not an advertising identifier and is not used to track you across apps.
  • Diagnostics. Per-scan technical metadata (AI model used, token counts, latency, success/failure reason). This is operational telemetry tied to your account for cost and quality monitoring; it does not contain advertising identifiers and is never sold.

We do not use the Advertising Identifier (IDFA), we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites, and we do not sell or “share” (as defined under California law) your personal data.

2. How your photos are processed (AI)

To identify a pen and estimate its value, your photo is uploaded to our backend and sent to our AI vision provider (Google Gemini) via a server-side function. We send the image only to perform your scan. Per our provider’s paid-API terms, your scan content is not used to train their models. The estimated value is derived deterministically from the identification and cached so the same pen returns a consistent value. Identifications and value estimates are produced by automated processing; they do not produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you, may be inaccurate, and you can correct an identification at any time from the result screen (see Terms).

3. Why we use it (legal bases under GDPR)

  • Performance of a contract — to identify pens, store your collection/wishlist, and provide the service.
  • Consent — push notifications for price alerts (you can disable them anytime).
  • Legitimate interests — security, fraud/abuse prevention (rate limiting, App Attest), and improving reliability and cost control.
  • Legal obligations — where we must retain or disclose data by law.

4. Who we share it with (processors)

We use the following service providers, who process data on our behalf under data-processing terms:

ProviderPurposeRegion
SupabaseDatabase, authentication, file storage, server functionsUnited States (us-east-1)
Google (Gemini API)AI identification & valuation of your photoUnited States / global
RevenueCatSubscription management & receipt validationUnited States
AppleSign in with Apple, App Store purchases, push delivery (APNs)United States / global
Expo (EAS)Over-the-air app updates and push notification deliveryUnited States

5. International transfers

Our infrastructure and providers are primarily in the United States. Where data is transferred outside Switzerland/the EEA, it is protected by appropriate safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, the Swiss–U.S. Data Privacy Framework (where a provider is certified), or equivalent mechanisms.

6. Retention

  • Scans, collection, wishlist and corrections are kept until you delete them or delete your account.
  • Non-pen photos are deleted from storage immediately after processing; orphaned images are removed by an automated cleanup job.
  • Operational logs and rate-limit counters are kept only as long as needed for security and diagnostics, then pruned automatically.
  • When you delete your account, your account and associated data are permanently removed.

7. Your rights

Depending on where you live (e.g. GDPR in Switzerland/EEA, CCPA/CPRA in California), you may have the right to access, correct, export, delete, restrict or object to processing, and to withdraw consent. PenSnap gives you direct controls in Profile:

  • Export my data — download your scans, collection and wishlist as JSON.
  • Delete account — permanently delete your account and all associated data.
  • Corrections — fix an identification from the result screen.

You can also email support@evenruetimann.ch. You have the right to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority (in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, FDPIC).

8. Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Access to your records is enforced at the database level (row-level security) so you can only see your own data. We use Apple App Attest and rate limiting to protect against abuse.

9. Children

PenSnap is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you are under the age at which you can consent to data processing in your country (for example, 16 in parts of the EEA), please use PenSnap only with the consent of a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact support@evenruetimann.ch and we will delete it.

10. Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, an in-app notice.

11. Contact

Questions or requests: support@evenruetimann.ch.