Paperful AI Privacy Policy

Paperful AI is a private, on-device document assistant for macOS and Windows. Your documents, your searches, and your questions are meant to stay on your computer — and this policy explains the small amount of information that does leave it.

1. Data stored on your device

Paperful AI is built to work locally. The following information is created and kept on your computer, in the app's own data folder, and is not transmitted to us.

• Documents you add. When you drag in a folder, the app reads the text of your PDF and Word files so it can be searched. The extracted text and its vector representations are saved to a local database (index.db). Your original files are not copied, moved, or altered.
• Searches and chat. Your search terms and chat questions are processed locally. To answer a question, the app sends your question and the most relevant document excerpts to the local AI engine running on your machine.
• Preferences. A small settings file (settings.json) stores choices such as theme, language, your session count, and whether the rating prompt has already been shown.
• AI models. The local AI models and engine are stored on your device by Ollama.
• Local analytics counters. Two numbers are kept locally to count how many times the app has been opened and whether this is a first install. These counters stay on the device; only coarse ranges derived from them (for example, "4–10") are ever sent, as described in Section 2.

On macOS this folder is typically ~/Library/Application Support/com.paperful.ai/. On Windows it is typically %APPDATA%\com.paperful.ai\. Deleting this folder removes the local index, settings, and counters.

2. Information that leaves your device

Paperful AI makes network connections for three purposes only: anonymous product analytics, downloading the local AI engine and models, and opening the app's store listing when you choose to rate it. The table below summarizes these.

We do not send your document contents, document names, or file paths; your search queries or chat questions and answers; or any free-form text you type.

2.1 Anonymous product analytics

We use PostHog, hosted in the European Union, to understand aggregate usage and catch crashes. It is configured to collect as little as possible:

• Analytics run in memory only. No cookie or persistent identifier is written, and no person profile is created.
• Autocapture, page views, session recording, surveys, and loading of remote code are all disabled. Do Not Track is respected.
• Only a fixed allow-list of short, categorical properties is ever sent — for example file type, bucketed counts, a response-time bucket, theme, language, the action taken, and an error category. Exact counts are rounded into ranges.
• The page URL, host, and referrer are stripped before sending, and IP-based geolocation is disabled.

The events we collect are: app installed, app opened, document added, document import failed, question asked, quick action used, answer received, answer failed, answer copied, citation clicked, theme changed, language changed, and an app error category. None of these events carry a persistent identifier or any information that identifies you. Within a single session, PostHog may assign a temporary in-memory ID so that events from one launch can be grouped; it is discarded when you close the app and is never tied to your identity. Because no identifier is stored on your device, events are not linked to you or your device across sessions.

Every web request necessarily carries the source IP address to reach the server. We disable IP-based location lookup and do not use IP addresses to identify you. PostHog processes this data on our behalf under its own terms and privacy policy.

2.2 Local AI engine and model downloads

To set up the local AI, the app downloads AI models through Ollama from Ollama's model registry (registry.ollama.ai). On Windows, the first-time setup may also download the Ollama engine installer from ollama.com. These requests go directly from your computer to Ollama's servers and are governed by Ollama's privacy policy. They contain the model name being downloaded — never your documents or questions. After setup, indexing and chat happen entirely offline through 127.0.0.1.

2.3 Platform stores

If you installed Paperful AI from the Microsoft Store or the Apple App Store, that platform may collect install, update, and purchase information under its own privacy policy; we do not receive your personal information from it. If you tap to rate the app, the store's page opens in your default browser.

3. Information we do not collect

• No name, email address, account, or login — the app has no account system.
• No document contents, document names, or file paths.
• No search terms, chat questions, or AI answers.
• No precise location (the app does not request location permission).
• No access to your camera, microphone, contacts, calendar, or photos.
• No advertising, no data brokerage, and no tracking across other apps or websites.

4. How we use information

The limited information described above is used to operate and improve Paperful AI: to understand which features are useful, to measure performance, to diagnose and fix crashes at an aggregate category level, and to keep the app secure and reliable. We do not use it to build a profile of you, to target advertising, or to sell to anyone.

5. Sharing and disclosure

We do not sell or rent personal data. We share the limited data above only with the service providers that make the app work: PostHog (EU) for anonymous analytics, and Ollama for model downloads. We may also disclose information if required by law, but in practice we hold no data that could identify you. Platform stores process install and payment information under their own policies.

6. Data retention

Information stored on your device remains until you delete it or uninstall the app. Anonymous analytics are retained by PostHog in aggregate form according to its retention settings; because no identifier is stored, there is no per-user record to expire. Uninstalling Paperful AI and removing its data folder deletes the local index, settings, and counters.

7. Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to the processing of your personal data, and to opt out of the sale of personal data (we do not sell any). Because Paperful AI has no account and stores no identifier, we generally hold no data that can be traced to an individual, and we may be unable to locate records about you. We will still respond to any request you send to the contact address below.

• Turn off analytics: enable your operating system's "Do Not Track" signal and the app will respect it and send no analytics.
• Delete local data: uninstall the app and delete its application data folder (see Section 1).
• Work fully offline: after setup, you can disconnect from the internet and indexing, search, and chat continue to work.

8. Children's privacy

Paperful AI is a general-audience productivity tool and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app has no account and does not collect identifiers, it stores nothing that identifies a child. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us and we will address it.

9. Security

Your documents are processed locally and are never uploaded to us, so there is no server-side document store to breach. Network connections that do occur — anonymous analytics and AI component downloads — use HTTPS. On macOS the app runs inside the system sandbox. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but Paperful AI is designed so that the most sensitive data, your documents, never leaves your computer.

10. International transfers

Our analytics provider is hosted in the European Union. Service providers may process the limited data described in this policy in other countries. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for such transfers, such as standard contractual clauses.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the effective date at the top of the page. Material changes will be reflected in the app or its release notes. Continuing to use Paperful AI after an update means you accept the revised policy.

12. Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or about privacy in Paperful AI, contact the data controller:

Salih Kagan Durmus
Email: paperfulai@protonmail.com