# Privacy Policy
**Last Updated: April 4, 2026**
Welcome to ScholarScan (the "App"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is handled in a safe and responsible manner. This Privacy Policy describes how your information is collected, used, and protected when you use our App.
## 1. Information We Collect
### A. Local Data Processing (OCR and Documents)
ScholarScan is designed with privacy at its core. **All Optical Character Recognition (OCR), document scanning, and text extraction processes occur locally on your device.**
We do not upload, store, or transmit your physical documents, imported PDFs, or DOCX files to any external servers. Your academic materials remain strictly on your device.
### B. Third-Party API Integration (arXiv)
The App integrates with the arXiv API to allow you to search and download academic papers. When you use this feature, your search queries and download requests are sent directly to arXiv. We do not intermediate or store these requests. Please refer to [arXiv's Privacy Policy](https://arxiv.org/help/policies/privacy_policy) for information on how they handle your data.
### C. Third-Party AI Integration (OpenRouter)
ScholarScan offers optional AI-powered features (such as paper summarization, explanation, and Q&A) powered through **OpenRouter**, an AI model routing service. When you use these features:
- The text content you submit (e.g., selected passages from a paper) is transmitted to OpenRouter's servers to be processed by the selected AI model.
- **Your documents, scanned files, and PDFs are never automatically sent.** Only the specific text you explicitly submit for AI processing is transmitted.
- OpenRouter may route your request to underlying AI model providers (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.) depending on the selected model.
- We do not store or log the content of your AI queries on our own servers.
Please refer to [OpenRouter's Privacy Policy](https://openrouter.ai/privacy) for details on how they and their model providers handle your data. By using AI-powered features, you acknowledge that your submitted text will be processed by OpenRouter and the relevant third-party model provider.
### D. Automatically Collected Information & Analytics
We may use third-party analytics tools or crash reporting tools to collect standard analytics information. This includes aggregated and anonymized data about how you interact with the App, device type, operating system version, and crash data. This data is used solely to improve the App's performance, user experience, and stability.
### E. Advertising
The free version of ScholarScan incorporates Google AdMob to serve banner and interstitial ads. AdMob may collect and use certain data, including your device's advertising identifier (such as Apple's IDFA or Google's Advertising ID) and approximate location data, to serve personalized ads.
You can learn more about how Google uses information from sites or apps that use their services by visiting [Google's Privacy & Terms](https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites).
Users who upgrade to ScholarScan Pro will not be shown advertisements, and ad-related tracking will be disabled.
### F. In-App Purchases
If you choose to purchase "ScholarScan Pro" or any other in-app purchase, the transaction is processed entirely through Apple App Store or Google Play Store. We do not collect or have access to your payment information, credit card details, or billing address.
## 2. How We Use Your Information
The minimal information we may collect through analytics or crash reports is used exclusively to:
- Monitor and analyze application usage to improve functionality and user experience.
- Detect, prevent, and address technical issues or crashes.
- Serve relevant advertisements (for free users).
## 3. Data Retention and Security
Because your documents, PDFs, and OCR results are stored locally on your device, you maintain full control over this data. You can delete your documents at any time by removing them from within the App or by uninstalling the App completely.
For the limited analytics and advertising information collected by third-party services, data is retained according to their respective privacy policies.
## 4. Children's Privacy
The App is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information.
## 5. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.
## 6. Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us.