PDFNest - PDF Reader & Editor PRIVACY POLICY
Effective date: 23 September 2026
Last updated: 23 September 2026
1. WHO WE ARE
PDFNest - PDF Reader & Editor ("PDFNest", "the app") is developed and published by PixelForge Technologies ("we", "us", "our"). Application ID: com.pixelforge.pdf.reader.pdfeditor
Contact: pixelforge.technologies87@gmail.com
This Privacy Policy explains what information the app handles, where that information goes, and the choices you have. It applies only to the PDFNestvAndroid application distributed through Google Play.
By installing or using PDFNest you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the app.
2. SHORT SUMMARY
We have built PDFNest to work without sending your documents anywhere.
- Your documents never leave your device. Reading, editing, annotating, signing, creating, scanning, merging, splitting, compressing, converting, password-protecting and unlocking all run entirely offlin on your phone or tablet.
- We do not require an account. There is no sign-up, no login, and no user profile.
- We do not show advertisements and we do not use any advertising, attribution or analytics SDK.
- We do not track you. The app does not collect your location, contacts, call logs, installed app list, advertising identifier, or browsing activity.
- The only information that ever leaves your device is feedback that you choose to write and submit yourself, and only at the moment you tap Submit.
3. INFORMATION WE DO NOT COLLECT
We want to be explicit about this, because many apps in this category do collect the following. PDFNest does not collect, transmit, sell, rent or share any of it:
- The contents, names, file paths, thumbnails or metadata of your documents, images or scans.
- Your name, postal address, phone number, date of birth or gender.
- Your precise or approximate location, including GPS, Wi-Fi-derived or IP-derived location.
- Your contacts, calendar, SMS messages, call logs or photos other than the specific images you personally select inside the app.
- The Google Advertising ID (GAID) or any other advertising or cross-app tracking identifier.
- Your list of installed applications.
- Passwords you set on your PDF files (see section 4.3).
- Health, financial, biometric or government identification data.
We do not sell or share personal information with third parties for advertising, marketing, profiling or any other commercial purpose. We have never done so and we do not intend to.
4. INFORMATION PROCESSED ONLY ON YOUR DEVICE
The following data is created and stored locally on your device, inside the app's private storage or in folders you can see in your own file manager. It is not transmitted to us and we have no access to it.
4.1 Your documents and files
The app reads PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx, .csv), PowerPoint (.pptx) and plain text files that you open or that are present in the storage locations you have allowed it to read. All rendering, text extraction, editing and conversion is performed by libraries running on your device.
No file, page image or extracted text is uploaded to any server. Files that the app creates for you are written to:
- Documents/PDFNest/ - when you have granted All files access. This folder is visible in any file manager and contains the subfolders Converted, Merged, Split, Compressed, Scans, Edited, Secured, Images and Folders.
- The app's own private external folder - when you have not granted All files access. This folder is removed automatically when the app is uninstalled.
4.2 Your library, history and work in progress
To make the app usable, a local database on your device records:
- Recently opened documents (file path and the time you opened it,
limited to the 200 most recent entries).
- Documents you marked as favourites (file path and the time added).
- Items in the recycle bin (original location, current location, file
name, size and deletion time).
- Text drafts you created with the Text to PDF tool (title, text
content and formatting).
- Signature images you drew and saved for reuse.
This database lives only on your device. It is never uploaded.
4.3 Passwords you set on PDF files
If you use the password-protect tool and you have set up a security
question, the app can remember the password you chose so that you can
recover it later by answering that question.
Where this happens, the password is encrypted on your device using the
Android Keystore system, backed by hardware-level key storage where your
device supports it. The encryption key never leaves your device and is not
known to us. The encrypted value and your security question answer are
stored in the app's local database.
We never receive, transmit or store your PDF passwords. This also means we
cannot recover a password for you. If you lose a password and have not set
a security question, neither we nor anyone else can unlock that file.
4.4 App settings
Your preferences, such as theme, default scan filter, cropping method,
sort order and onboarding state, are stored locally on your device.
5. INFORMATION THAT LEAVES YOUR DEVICE
There is exactly one situation in which the app sends data off your
device: when you voluntarily submit feedback or a feature request through
the Feedback screen in the app's menu.
5.1 What is sent
When, and only when, you tap Submit on the Feedback or Suggest a Feature
screen, the following is transmitted:
- The category you selected (for example Reading, Editing, Converting,
Scanning, Design or Other).
- The message text you wrote (up to 4,000 characters).
- Your email address, only if you chose to enter it in the optional
contact field. This field may be left blank and the feedback will
still be sent.
- The satisfaction rating you selected, if any.
- The date and time you submitted the message.
- The app version (for example 1.0).
- Your device manufacturer and model (for example "Samsung SM-G991B").
- Your Android API level (for example 34).
6. PERMISSIONS THE APP REQUESTS, AND WHY
6.1 All files access (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
PDFNest is a document manager. To show you the PDF, Word, Excel,
PowerPoint and text files that already exist on your device, and to save
the files it creates into a normal, visible Documents folder that other
apps can also open, it needs broad read and write access to shared
storage.
This permission is used only to list, open, create, rename, move and
delete document and image files at your request. The app does not scan,
index, copy, analyse or transmit the contents of your storage for any
other purpose, and it does not send any inventory of your files to us or
to anyone else.
This permission is optional. You can decline it and continue to use the
app. If you decline it, the app will only show files that you import or
create through the app itself, and results are saved into the app's own
private folder instead of the public Documents folder.
You can revoke it at any time in Android Settings > Apps > PDFNest >
Permissions > Files and media, or Settings > Apps > Special app access >
All files access.
6.2 Read and write external storage (READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
These are the equivalent legacy permissions and are requested only on
older Android versions (Android 12L / API 32 and below for reading,
Android 10 / API 29 and below for writing), where All files access does
not exist.
6.3 Internet and network state (INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE)
Used only to deliver feedback you submit, and to check whether a
connection is available before attempting to send it. No document data is
transmitted over the network. The app's document features work fully in
airplane mode.
6.4 Camera
PDFNest does not declare or request the camera permission. The document
scanner is provided by Google Play services, which opens its own scanning
interface under its own permissions and returns only the finished scan to
the app. See section 7.2.
7. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES
The app includes the following third-party components. We have kept this
list deliberately short.
7.1 Google ML Kit Document Scanner (Google LLC), via Google Play services
Purpose: the built-in document scanner - edge detection, cropping and
image enhancement.
Data involved: the camera frames and page images captured during a scan.
Processing location: on your device. Google states that the ML Kit
Document Scanner performs scanning locally and does not upload your images
for this purpose.
Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
7.2 Google Play (Google LLC)
Distribution, installation and updates are handled by the Google Play
Store, which operates under Google's own privacy policy and collects
installation and crash information independently of us.
8. YOUR RIGHTS AND HOW TO EXERCISE THEM
Because we hold no account and no profile for you, the only data we could
possibly hold about you is a feedback message you sent us, and only if you
chose to include your email address in it.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct,
delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, to
withdraw consent, to data portability, and to lodge a complaint with your
local data protection authority. Residents of California have the right to
know what personal information is collected and to request its deletion;
we note again that we do not sell or share personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, email pixelforge.technologies87@gmail.com from the address
you used in your feedback, or describe the message you sent. We will
respond within 30 days.
Deleting local data yourself, at any time and without contacting us:
- Uninstall the app. This removes the local database, the recycle bin,
drafts, saved signatures, saved passwords and the app's private
folders.
- Or use Android Settings > Apps > PDFNest > Storage > Clear data for
the same effect while keeping the app installed.
Please note that documents saved to the public Documents/PDFNest folder
are your own files in your own storage; Android deliberately leaves them
in place after uninstall so that you do not lose your work. Delete that
folder in any file manager if you want them removed.
Items in the app's recycle bin are permanently deleted automatically 30
days after you delete them, and can be removed immediately using Delete
forever.
9. DATA SECURITY
We protect data through the following measures:
- Documents are processed locally, which removes the risk of
interception or server-side breach entirely for your file contents.
- PDF passwords remembered by the app are encrypted with AES using a key
held in the Android Keystore and never exported from the device.
- The app requests no permission that is not needed for a feature you
can see.
No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure. We
cannot guarantee absolute security, but the design choice to keep your
documents on your device means there is no central store of user documents
that could be breached.
10. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
PDFNest is a general-purpose productivity tool intended for users aged 13
and over. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly
collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a
child has sent us personal information through the feedback form, contact
us at pixelforge.technologies87@gmail.com and we will delete it promptly.
11. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the app, in the
services it uses, or in the law. When we do, we will revise the "Last
updated" date at the top of this document and publish the new version at
the same web address.
If a change materially reduces your privacy - for example if we were to
begin collecting a new category of data - we will notify you inside the
app before that version takes effect, and where the law requires it we
will ask for your consent.
Your continued use of the app after an updated policy takes effect
constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
12. CONTACT US
If you have questions, concerns or requests regarding this Privacy Policy
or your data, please contact us:
PixelForge Technologies
Email: pixelforge.technologies87@gmail.com
You can also reach us from inside the app: open the navigation menu and
select Feedback.
We aim to respond to all privacy enquiries within 30 days.