PDFy: PDF Toolkit ("PDFy", "we", "us", or "our") is an offline-first PDF creation and editing app. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.
The short version: the PDF files you create and edit in PDFy stay on your device. We never upload your documents to our servers. We do collect limited technical, diagnostic, and — only when you choose to submit them — feedback data, as described below.
1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Your documents and content
The PDFs you import, create, annotate, sign, merge, split, compress, watermark, or organize in PDFy are stored locally on your device using an on-device database. We do not transmit, upload, or have any access to the content of your documents, images, or signatures. If you use the app's Share or Export features, the resulting file is handed off to whatever destination you choose (email, messaging app, cloud drive, printer, etc.) — that transfer is between you and the destination app, not through PDFy's own servers, since PDFy does not operate a document server.
Information you choose to submit
Certain Settings screens let you send us information voluntarily. This data is only sent when you tap Submit:
- Ratings: a 1–5 star rating and optional written feedback.
- Feedback: a subject and message you write to us.
- Bug reports: a title and description of an issue you encountered.
Each of these submissions is stored in our database along with a randomly generated identifier created on your device (not your name, email, or any account — PDFy has no sign-in system), your app version, your device model and OS version, and, if you've enabled notifications, your push-notification token (so we can follow up if needed). We cannot read or edit these submissions after they're sent, and neither can you — they go directly into a write-only inbox we review manually.
Automatically collected technical and diagnostic data
Like most apps, PDFy uses Google Firebase to understand crashes and general usage patterns. This is collected automatically in the background and includes:
- Usage analytics (Firebase Analytics): screens viewed, features used, app opens, session length, general device/OS/app-version/language information, and an app-instance identifier generated by Google's SDK.
- Crash and diagnostic reports (Firebase Crashlytics): stack traces, device model, OS version, and app version when the app crashes or encounters a handled error, so we can fix bugs.
None of this technical telemetry includes the content of your PDF documents.
Advertising data
PDFy shows ads (currently on Android only) supplied by Google AdMob on the Home screen. AdMob may collect device identifiers (such as your advertising ID), approximate location derived from IP address, and other signals to serve and measure ads, and — where you have not limited ad tracking or have not consented, depending on your region — to personalize them. We use Firebase Remote Config to remotely enable or disable this ad placement; Remote Config itself does not collect personal data beyond standard app/device identifiers needed to deliver the configuration.
Purchase information
PDFy offers optional Premium subscriptions (Weekly, Yearly) and a Lifetime purchase, processed entirely through Google Play Billing or Apple's App Store (StoreKit) — never through our own servers. We do not receive or store your payment card details. We only store, on your device, whether you currently hold an active Premium entitlement so the app can unlock the relevant features.
Device permissions
PDFy may request the following permissions, each used solely to power the feature you invoked:
- Camera — to let you capture a photo to insert into a document (e.g. the Insert Image tool). Photos are processed on-device.
- Photo library — to let you pick an existing photo to insert into a document.
- Storage / files — to import PDFs you already have and to save exported files back to your device.
- Notifications — to deliver push notifications (see below) if you opt in.
2. HOW WE USE INFORMATION
We use the limited information described above to:
- Operate, maintain, and improve PDFy's features and reliability;
- Diagnose and fix crashes and bugs;
- Understand which features are used so we can prioritize development;
- Respond to feedback, bug reports, and support requests you send us;
- Send you push notifications you've opted into (product updates or premium offers);
- Detect and prevent fraud or abuse of our optional Premium purchases;
- Show and measure the performance of in-app advertising (where applicable).
3. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES
PDFy relies on the following third-party services to operate. Each processes data under its own privacy policy, linked below:
- Google Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config) — https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
- Google AdMob — https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
- Google Play Billing (Android purchases) — https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Apple App Store / StoreKit (iOS purchases) — https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
You can generally limit ad personalization at the device level through your phone's system settings (e.g. "Opt out of Ads Personalization" on Android, or "Ask App Not to Track" / limited ad tracking on iOS).
4. DATA SHARING & DISCLOSURE
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share the content of your documents with anyone, because we never receive it in the first place. We share the limited data described above only with the service providers listed in Section 3, to the extent needed for them to provide their service to us, and where required to comply with law, enforce our Terms of Use, or protect the rights, property, or safety of PDFy, our users, or others.
5. DATA RETENTION
Your documents and locally stored app data remain on your device until you delete them or uninstall the app — we have no copy. Ratings, feedback, and bug-report submissions are retained until we've addressed them or until you request deletion (see Section 8). Analytics and crash data are retained according to Firebase's default retention settings, which are generally limited to a rolling window of a few months unless a shorter period is configured.
6. DATA SECURITY
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the limited information we hold, and our third-party providers (Google Firebase, Google Play, Apple) maintain their own industry-standard security practices. Because your documents live on your device, their protection also depends on your own device security (passcode, encryption, OS updates) — we'd encourage keeping these enabled.
7. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS
PDFy is used worldwide, and the third-party services we rely on (Google Firebase, Google Play, Apple) may process and store data on servers located outside your own country, including in the United States. These providers maintain their own safeguards for cross-border transfers, including mechanisms recognized under regulations such as the GDPR.
8. YOUR RIGHTS & CHOICES
Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), including the right to access, correct, delete, or export data we hold about you, and to object to or restrict certain processing. Because PDFy has no account system, most of what we hold about you is the anonymous submission data described in Section 1.
You can exercise these choices as follows:
- Notifications: turn off "Updates" or "Premium offers" notifications any time from Settings → Notifications, or disable notifications entirely at the OS level.
- Ad personalization: use your device's ad-tracking controls, described in Section 3.
- Access or deletion of submitted feedback/ratings/bug reports: email us at parimal@cpabayx.com with details of what you submitted (approximate date and content) and we will locate and delete it. Because these submissions are not tied to a login, please include enough detail for us to find the right record.
- Analytics/crash data: this is tied to an app-instance identifier rather than your name; uninstalling the app and clearing app data resets this identifier.
9. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
PDFy is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information (e.g. via the feedback form), please contact us at parimal@cpabayx.com and we will delete it.
10. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the app or applicable law. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do, and for material changes we'll take reasonable steps to make the update noticeable in the app (such as an in-app notice).
11. CONTACT US
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how PDFy handles data, contact us at parimal@cpabayx.com.