Privacy Policy - Cardinator

This Privacy Policy describes how Cardinator (the "Application") handles your information on both Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad). Unlike traditional wallet applications, our software is built on a foundation of absolute privacy and strict local data containment. We believe that your loyalty cards, membership cards, transport passes, and other personal cards belong exclusively to you.

Core Privacy Guarantee: Cardinator operates completely offline for all core utility functions. We do not use external servers, we do not require account registration, and we have zero access to your card data.

1. Data Ownership and Sovereignty

You are the sole owner of your data. Any information, card images, barcodes, text, attachments, or identifiers you input, scan, or save within Cardinator remain explicitly on your physical device. The developer does not collect, analyze, monetize, or store your information on any external infrastructure. Your data never leaves your device unless you actively choose to share it via the manual, peer-to-peer transfer mechanisms described below.

2. No Account or Registration Required

To use Cardinator, you are not required to create an account, provide an email address, link a phone number, or connect any social media profiles. The Application is fully functional immediately upon installation without collecting any identity-verifying metadata.

3. In-App Purchases and the Pro Version

The Cardinator application offers an optional upgrade to a "Pro" version via a one-time in-app purchase. This transaction grants you lifetime ownership of the premium features without recurring subscription fees.

Payment Processing: All financial transactions and payment processing are handled securely and exclusively by the official billing system of the application store from which you downloaded the Application — Google Play Billing on Android, and the Apple App Store (StoreKit) on iOS. Cardinator does not collect, access, or store your credit card numbers, billing addresses, Apple Account or Google Account details, or bank details.
License Verification: To verify your purchase status and activate Pro features, the Application utilizes the standard, secure platform APIs provided by that application store (Google Play on Android, the Apple App Store on iOS). This licensing check is handled directly between your device's operating system and the store platform's infrastructure; Cardinator maintains no separate user database or external licensing server to track your purchase. Restoring a purchase on a new device is likewise handled by the store.

4. Application Permissions and Usage

To provide core utility functionalities locally on your device, Cardinator asks for specific device permissions. Each is requested only when you first use the feature that needs it, and is used exclusively for on-device processing or direct device-to-device transfer:

Camera (Android and iOS): Used solely to scan barcodes, QR codes, or capture card images when you choose to add a card. Image processing occurs strictly in real-time on your device. No images or video feeds are transmitted over the internet or saved outside the secure local directory of the Application.
Photos (Android and iOS): Used only when you choose to attach a photo to a card or scan a barcode from an existing image. You pick the image through the operating system's photo picker; Cardinator copies only the image you selected into its own private storage and does not browse or read the rest of your photo library.
Biometric Authentication (Face ID / Touch ID / Fingerprint): Used to secure access to Cardinator. The Application utilizes standard system-level authentication APIs provided by your operating system. The Application cannot access, read, or store your actual biometric data; it simply receives a secure pass/fail confirmation from the hardware layer of your device.
NFC (Near Field Communication) — Android only: Used exclusively when you explicitly initiate the peer-to-peer transfer of an applicable card by tapping two devices together. This interaction requires manual, deliberate user action for each transaction. NFC card sharing is not available on iOS.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Nearby Devices — Android: Used to discover and connect to a nearby device when you explicitly start a card transfer via Quick Share (Google Nearby Connections). On older Android versions (Android 12 and below), this discovery process requires the system-level Location permission as a platform requirement of the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi APIs; Cardinator does not access, read, or store your device's actual GPS or network-based location. No location data is ever read, derived, or transmitted by the Application.
Local Network — iOS: Used to discover and connect to a nearby iPhone or iPad when you explicitly start a card transfer via Nearby Share (Apple's Multipeer Connectivity framework, which uses Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth). This permission lets Cardinator find the other device on your local network; it is not used to reach the internet or to scan other devices on your network. Sharing through AirDrop needs no permission from Cardinator: AirDrop is a system feature operated by iOS.

5. Peer-to-Peer Data Sharing

Cardinator includes features allowing you to share cards with other devices. The available methods depend on your platform:

QR code (Android and iOS): A card, or a library of cards without photos or attached files, is displayed as a QR code on your screen and scanned by the other device's camera.
NFC (Android only): A single card is transferred by tapping two Android devices together.
Quick Share (Android): One or more cards, including their photos and attached files, are transferred directly to a nearby Android device over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi using Google Nearby Connections.
Nearby Share (iOS): One or more cards, including their photos and attached files, are transferred directly to a nearby iPhone or iPad over Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth using Apple's Multipeer Connectivity. Both devices must have Cardinator open for the transfer.
AirDrop and the share sheet (iOS): One or more cards, including their photos and attached files, are packaged into a single file (optionally password-protected) and handed to the iOS share sheet. If you choose AirDrop, iOS sends the file directly to the nearby iPhone or iPad you select, using Bluetooth and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi; no Wi-Fi network or internet connection is needed. AirDrop is operated by Apple and governed by Apple's terms and privacy policy. Depending on your AirDrop settings, iOS may complete a transfer over the internet if the two devices move out of range; this is controlled by iOS, not by Cardinator.

Quick Share, Nearby Share, and AirDrop are separate technologies, and Quick Share works only between Android devices while Nearby Share and AirDrop work only between Apple devices. To move cards between Android and iOS, use a QR code.

The iOS share sheet also lists other destinations, such as Save to Files, Mail, Messages, or other installed apps. If you choose one of these instead of AirDrop, the file is handed to that app or service at your direction and is handled under its own terms and privacy policy, which may involve the internet. Cardinator itself never transmits the file anywhere.

All of these sharing methods operate purely on a local, peer-to-peer or direct display basis:

Sharing is entirely user-initiated and controlled.
With QR code, NFC, Quick Share, Nearby Share, and AirDrop, data transfers occur directly between the originating device and the receiving device.
Multi-card transfers can optionally be protected with a password you choose; only someone who knows that password can read the transferred package.
Cardinator operates no servers and uses no intermediary cloud services or third-party networks to facilitate, log, or track these sharing actions.

6. Home Screen Widgets

If you add a Cardinator widget to your home screen, the card information the widget displays (such as the card name, color, and code) is prepared by the Application and kept on your device so the operating system can draw the widget. On iOS this copy is stored in a private, app-only shared container that only Cardinator and its own widget can read. This data never leaves your device.

7. Security and Data Retention

Because your data is stored locally, its security depends entirely on the physical security of your mobile device and your activation of the built-in biometric lock feature.

Important Note on Data Loss: Because we do not store backups on remote cloud servers, your data persists only as long as Cardinator remains installed on your device. The Application also opts out of the operating system's automatic backups — Android's Auto Backup on Android, and iCloud Backup and computer (Finder / iTunes) backups on iOS — so no copy of your data is uploaded to any backup service or included when you restore a new device from a backup. Uninstalling the Application will permanently erase all stored cards and data. It cannot be recovered by the developers. To keep a second copy of your cards, use the Export feature to transfer them to another device you own.

8. Your Rights and Data Deletion

Because all of your data is stored exclusively on your own device, you retain complete and direct control over it at all times. You can view, edit, or permanently delete any individual card — or all of your data — at any moment from within the Application, without contacting anyone. Uninstalling the Application erases everything. The developer holds no copy of your data and therefore has nothing to hand over, correct, or delete on your behalf; your rights to access, rectification, and erasure under data protection regulations (such as the GDPR) are satisfied by design.

9. Third-Party Analytics and Advertising

Cardinator contains no advertising networks and no analytics or tracking SDKs added by the developer. Your behavior within the Application is not monitored, profiled, or reported to any entity, and the Application does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

Barcode recognition on Android: The Application uses Google's on-device machine-learning library (ML Kit) to recognize barcodes and QR codes through your camera. All recognition happens locally on your device. Like most system-provided SDKs, this library may transmit anonymized diagnostic and performance data about the SDK itself (for example, crash and speed statistics) to Google. This data never includes your cards, images, codes, or any personal content, and it is not accessible to the developer.

Barcode recognition on iOS: The Application uses Apple's built-in camera and Vision frameworks, which recognize barcodes and QR codes entirely on your device. No additional third-party SDK is involved and no data is sent anywhere as part of recognition.

Diagnostic reports that you choose to share with Apple or Google through your device's system settings are governed by those companies' own privacy policies and are not accessible to the developer in a form that identifies you.

10. Children's Privacy

The Application is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction). Because Cardinator collects no personal data from any user and requires no account, no personal information from children — or anyone else — is ever collected, stored, or transmitted by the developer. If you are a parent or guardian and believe this policy raises any concern, feel free to contact us using the details below.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect functional adjustments to Cardinator. We recommend reviewing this page periodically. Any updates are effective immediately upon being published on this page.

12. Contact Information

If you have any questions, compliance inquiries, or technical feedback regarding this Privacy Policy, please reach out via the communication details below:

Developer:

ArsAxis

Support Email:

cardinator@arsaxis.com