This Privacy Policy explains how WhyShot (“WhyShot,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information in connection with the WhyShot app for iPhone (the “App”). WhyShot is developed by Atakan Eryıldız.
The short version
- Your screenshots stay on your iPhone. WhyShot reads them, works out why you saved them and files them, all on your device. The images, the text in them, and what WhyShot concludes about them are never sent to us or to anyone else.
- There is no account and no server of ours that stores your content.
- We do receive a small amount of purchase, technical and anonymous usage information through the service providers listed below. None of it contains screenshot content.
- We do not sell your data, show ads, or track you across other companies’ apps and websites.
1. Information that stays on your device
When you give WhyShot access to your photos, or share or pick screenshots, the App processes them locally. This includes:
- the screenshots themselves and the smaller working copies and thumbnails WhyShot keeps, so a screenshot is still viewable if you later delete the original from Photos;
- the text recognized in each screenshot (using Apple’s on-device Vision framework);
- what WhyShot finds in them, such as titles, dates, prices, places, links, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and promo codes;
- the category each screenshot is filed in, your corrections, your collections, and the reminders you set.
This information is stored in the App’s own storage on your iPhone. We cannot see it. WhyShot never uploads it, and it does not use any cloud AI service. You can erase all of it at any time in Settings → Delete All Data inside the App, or by deleting the App. WhyShot never edits your photos.
If you use iCloud Photos with “Optimize iPhone Storage,” iOS itself may download a screenshot from your iCloud so WhyShot can read it. That happens between your device and Apple; WhyShot makes no network request for it. iOS may also include the App’s data in your device backups (iCloud or computer), which you control with Apple.
2. Information we and our service providers receive
- Subscription and purchase information. Purchases of WhyShot Pro are processed by Apple. We use RevenueCat to manage subscriptions. It receives an anonymous App User ID generated for the App, your purchase and subscription status, and technical information such as app version, device type and your IP address. We do not receive your name, Apple ID or payment details.
- Anonymous usage statistics. In the App Store version of the App we use PostHog to see which parts of WhyShot are used and whether they work. Events are things like “app opened,” “onboarding completed,” “paywall viewed,” “reminder created,” or counts such as how many screenshots were found in total and per category. They are tied to a random identifier, not to your name, and never contain screenshots, recognized text, titles, places, dates or prices. PostHog also receives technical information such as app version, iOS version, device model, language and IP address (which it may use to derive an approximate country).
- Push notifications. We use OneSignal to send occasional product messages (for example a reminder to finish setup, or an announcement), and only if you allow notifications. Its SDK in the App receives, from the first launch, the anonymous App User ID, your language and time zone, technical information such as device model and iOS version, a push token once you allow notifications, and a few coarse labels: whether you are a subscriber, whether you finished onboarding, and the size of your library as a range (“0,” “1–10,” “11–100,” “100+”), never what is in it.
- Apple. The App Store, Photos, notifications and iCloud are Apple services governed by Apple’s own privacy policy.
- Messages you send us. If you e-mail us, we receive your address and whatever you write, and use it only to reply.
Like any online service, these providers see your IP address when your device contacts them.
3. Features that show information outside the App
These features stay on your device. They do not send anything to us, but they can make titles visible where other people with access to your unlocked iPhone could see them, so some are off until you turn them on.
- Reminders and nudges are local notifications scheduled on your iPhone. Their text is the title of the screenshot and is never sent to a server. The optional “nudge” (off by default) is at most one notification a week about something you saved and haven’t touched.
- Widgets show upcoming reminders and dates. The App writes a small file with those titles and dates into storage shared with the widget on your iPhone. On the Lock Screen, titles are marked private so iOS hides them while the iPhone is locked.
- Spotlight (off by default) adds each screenshot’s title and collection name to your iPhone’s search index, never the picture or its text. Switching it off removes them.
- Shortcuts, Siri, Back Tap and the Action Button can send a screenshot to WhyShot. It is read on your device like any other.
- Sharing a collection sends the titles and dates in it, as plain text, to whichever destination you choose in the iOS share sheet.
- Free Up Space can delete original screenshots from Photos, only the ones you select, and only after iOS asks you to confirm. They go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. WhyShot keeps its own copy.
4. How we use information
- to provide the App’s features on your device;
- to process and verify your subscription;
- to understand, in aggregate, whether the App works and which features are used, so we can improve it;
- to send the notifications you allowed;
- to answer your messages and keep the App secure;
- to comply with the law.
We do not use your screenshots, or anything derived from them, for advertising or to train any model, and we do not have access to them.
5. Permissions
- Photos. Used to find and read your screenshots on this iPhone. You can choose “Selected Photos,” decline access and use the Share menu or the screenshot picker instead (which needs no permission), or change it any time in iOS Settings. The same permission lets WhyShot delete originals when you ask it to.
- Notifications. Used for your reminders, and optionally weekly reviews, nudges and product messages. Change it any time in iOS Settings.
- Calendar and Maps. WhyShot opens iOS’s own “add event” screen and Apple Maps. It does not ask to read your calendar or your location.
6. How we share information
We do not sell personal information. We share information only with the service providers that operate parts of the App for us, under their own terms and privacy commitments:
- Apple: App Store, in-app purchases, notifications.
- RevenueCat: subscription management.
- PostHog: anonymous usage statistics.
- OneSignal: push notifications.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect rights, safety or security, and it may be transferred if the App is sold or transferred to another owner.
7. Retention and deletion
Everything WhyShot stores on your iPhone stays there until you delete it (Settings → Delete All Data, or deleting the App). Information held by our service providers is kept for as long as needed to operate the App and meet legal obligations, and is then deleted or anonymized. Because this information is linked to a random identifier rather than to your name, deleting and reinstalling the App gives you a new identifier. To ask us to delete what is held under yours, contact us (Section 12).
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live (including the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Türkiye under KVKK, and California), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export personal information about you, to object to or restrict processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to your data protection authority. Because we hold only anonymous identifiers, we may ask you for information that lets us find the right records. To use these rights, contact us. We do not sell or “share” personal information as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Where the GDPR applies, our legal bases are performance of a contract (providing the App and your subscription), our legitimate interest in running and improving a secure App, your consent (for example notifications and Photos access), and compliance with legal obligations.
9. Security
Keeping your screenshots on your device is our main protection: we cannot lose what we never receive. Data sent to our service providers is encrypted in transit. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure.
10. International transfers
Our service providers may process information in countries other than yours, including the United States. Where required, they rely on safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
11. Children
WhyShot is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Changes and contact
We may update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will change the date above and, for material changes, tell you in the App. Questions, requests or complaints:
Email: atakaneryldz@gmail.com