Privacy Policy

Information you provide

Buy or Beware does not require a personal app account. To use the private beta, you enter an invitation code supplied to you. The app stores that code in Apple’s Keychain on your iPhone. It is sent over an encrypted connection to our service to confirm access. You may change or remove the saved code in Beta access.

You may choose a product image from Photos or take a photo. A review begins only after you confirm that the selected image may be shared for analysis. The image may include text or other information visible in it. Please do not submit private messages, addresses, faces, financial information, or other sensitive personal information.

How images and reviews are processed

The selected image is sent over an encrypted connection to our service hosted by Render. Our service sends the image and review instructions to OpenAI to create an AI-assisted product review and research relevant product claims using web search. The app does not upload your entire photo library; it processes only the image you select.

Retention

Our beta service processes the selected image in memory and does not intentionally create a permanent image or personal review history. It may temporarily cache a fingerprint of an image and its generated review for up to one hour of reuse. Cache entries can remain in memory until they are checked, replaced, or the service restarts, so removal is not guaranteed at exactly one hour.

We keep a daily total of review requests to enforce the beta’s shared usage limit. The counter contains a date and total number, not an individual tester history. Hosting, AI, web-search, and security providers may retain technical or service data under their own policies and legal obligations.

OpenAI processes submitted images, instructions, generated findings, and related search activity. We request that API responses not be stored for later retrieval. OpenAI may retain abuse-monitoring logs for a limited period under its applicable data-control policies. We do not claim Zero Data Retention.

Your choices

• You can cancel before allowing image sharing.
• You can revoke permission for future reviews in Image privacy.
• You can change or remove the saved invitation code in Beta access.
• You can clear the current image and review from the app by starting another review or leaving the current session.

Revoking permission or removing the code does not undo information already transmitted and processed. To ask about data associated with a review, contact us with enough non-sensitive context to identify the request. Do not email passwords, invitation codes, or API keys.

TestFlight, sharing, and external links

Apple’s TestFlight handles beta installation, feedback, and related diagnostics. Feedback and screenshots you submit through TestFlight may be shared with us by Apple. When you copy or share a completed review, the destination you choose has its own privacy practices.

Review source links open third-party websites, whose privacy practices apply. The inspected beta app contains no advertising or tracking SDK, does not collect an advertising identifier, and does not sell review data.

Service providers

We use service providers, including Apple, Render, and OpenAI, only as needed to deliver and test the app. We select providers that maintain privacy and security protections for the data they process. Their own policies and legal obligations also apply.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the app or its data handling changes. Material new uses that require permission will be explained before they begin. The effective date above identifies the current version.