CardKeep – Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-09-27

CardKeep is a business card scanner that stores and searches your cards on your own device. This policy explains what the app processes, what leaves the device, and how to delete it.

1. Who is responsible

CardKeep is developed and published by Alpay Kaan Yıkık (listed on Google Play as AKY-SYSTEM). Contact for any privacy question or request: kaan.yikik@gmail.com.

2. What the developer collects

The developer collects nothing. CardKeep has no account, no sign-in, no server, no analytics of its own, no crash reporting and no advertising. We never receive the cards you scan or anything you type.

3. What Google's libraries send

Two components made by Google are built into the app and send data to Google themselves. We cannot switch this off, so we state it plainly:

• Google ML Kit (text recognition and QR code reading). Recognition runs on your device; card images and the text read from them are not uploaded. According to the privacy manifest Google ships with ML Kit, the library sends Google a device identifier, product interaction, performance data, other diagnostic data, other user content and other data types, used for analytics and app functionality. This data is not linked to your identity and is not used to track you across apps or websites.
• Google Play Billing (Android only) and the App Store (iOS) process the optional one-time purchase. Google's billing library also sends diagnostic data to Google.

This data is handled under Google's Privacy Policy (and, for App Store purchases, Apple's). We have no access to it.

4. What stays on your device

Card images, contact fields (name, title, company, phone, email, website, address, notes), tags, statuses, reminders and projects are stored only inside the app's private storage on your device. The card database and the activity log are encrypted (SQLCipher). App data is excluded from iCloud backup on iPhone and from cloud backup and device-to-device transfer on Android, so it is not copied off the device with a phone backup.

The text-recognition models are built into the app, so reading a card needs no download and works offline. On Android, the automatic edge-detecting scanner is provided by Google Play services, which may download its scanner component the first time you use it; if it is unavailable, you can use the plain camera or pick a photo instead.

5. Permissions

• Camera – to photograph business cards. Images are processed on the device.
• Photos – to import a card image you pick. On Android the system photo picker is used, so the app sees only the photo you choose.
• Contacts – only when you tap “Add to Contacts”. On iPhone the app asks once and then only creates the new contact; it never reads your address book. On Android no permission is needed: the phone's own contact editor opens pre-filled and you decide whether to save.
• Notifications – only for reminders you set on a card. They are scheduled on the device; there is no push server.

6. In-app purchase

The one-time Pro unlock is processed by the App Store or Google Play. We never receive your payment details. Whether you own Pro is stored on your device and can be restored with Restore Purchases.

7. Keeping and deleting your data

Your data stays on the device until you delete it.

• Deleting a card or a project also deletes its images and scheduled reminders.
• Settings → Reset Data deletes all projects, cards, card images and reminders, and also the ZIP backups stored inside the app unless you untick that option.
• If you forget your PIN, the reset on the PIN screen deletes the same data including the ZIP backups stored inside the app.
• The activity log is kept by design, so that there is a record of what was added, changed and deleted. Names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses in it are masked; company names, job titles, websites and project names are stored as entered.
• Uninstalling the app removes everything, including the activity log.

Files you exported or shared yourself (Excel, CSV, vCard, ZIP) are outside the app and under your control. From Export / Backup you can export a project's cards as Excel (.xlsx), CSV or vCard, or back up a whole project as a ZIP archive. A backup can be protected with a password you choose (AES-256-GCM); without a password it is not encrypted, and the app warns you before creating it.

Because nothing reaches us, we hold no copy of your data and cannot retrieve or delete it for you. Data sent by Google's libraries (section 3) is kept and deleted by Google under its own policy.

8. Security

Optional 6-digit PIN with automatic lockout after repeated wrong entries, encrypted database, optional backup password. On Android the app's screen cannot be captured in screenshots or screen recordings; on iPhone the app is blurred in the app switcher.

9. Children

CardKeep is a professional tool for adults and is not directed at children.

10. Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address with a new date.