Privacy Policy

1. What stays on your device

PDFora keeps the following in the app’s own storage on your iPhone or iPad:

• the documents you scan, import, create, convert, edit, fill or sign;
• your library: file names, folders, tags, notes, favorites, bookmarks, reading progress, your reading streak, recent files and the Trash;
• a text index of your documents for in-app search, built on your device (scanned pages are read with Apple’s text recognition, described in section 5);
• up to 10 signatures you save for reuse;
• your settings, such as language, appearance, App Lock and whether you have accepted the AI Processing Notice, and counters for the free uses of some tools;
• from version 1.1.0, your optional Tax profile, kept in the iOS Keychain (section 7).

PDFora has no account, no cloud sync of its own and no server that receives your documents. Because the app shares its Documents folder with the system, your PDFora documents also appear under On My iPhone (or On My iPad) › PDFora in the Files app and when you connect your device to a computer. If your device is backed up to iCloud or a computer, the backup may include the app’s data according to your device settings.

2. Importing, sharing and Shortcuts

When you import files with the system document picker, PDFora receives only the files you choose. When you use Save to PDFora from another app’s share sheet, the share extension copies the PDFs or images you shared into a folder on your device that only PDFora and its extensions can read; the app imports them the next time you open it and then removes the copies.

When you share, export or print a document, it goes only where you choose to send or save it. PDFora’s Siri and Shortcuts actions (such as Scan Document, Open Recent File and Search PDFs) run on your device.

3. Widget and Spotlight

Widget. To show your files on the Home Screen, the app writes a small summary into a container on your device that only PDFora and its widget can read: the names of up to five recent, in-progress and favorite files, when they were last updated, and your reading progress and current page. The widget is not covered by App Lock, so remove it if you do not want file names on your Home Screen.

Spotlight. So that you can find documents from iPhone or iPad search, PDFora adds each document’s name, file type, note, tag names and creation and modification dates to the Spotlight index on your device. The text inside your documents is not added to Spotlight. A document’s entry is removed when you delete the document or it can no longer be found. Spotlight is managed by iOS on your device.

4. Camera, photos and App Lock

• Camera: used only when you scan a document, take a photo to add to a document or count objects in a photo. Images are processed on your device and kept only as part of the documents you save.
• Photos: to create a PDF from photos or add a photo to a document, you pick images in Apple’s photo picker. To preview and import the photos you picked, iOS may ask you to allow photo library access, and you can limit it to selected photos; PDFora reads only the photos you choose. To save pages or web captures as images, the app asks only for permission to add photos, which does not let it see your library.
• App Lock: Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode is checked by iOS through Apple’s LocalAuthentication framework. The app learns only whether the check succeeded; your face, fingerprint and passcode data never reach the app or us. The app stores only whether App Lock is on and when you last unlocked it.

PDFora does not ask for your location, contacts, calendars, microphone or health data, and it does not send notifications.

5. Processing on your device

Many features run entirely on your device, and their content is not sent to us or to anyone else:

• text recognition with Apple’s Vision framework, used for scans, Image to Text, in-app search, suggested file names and signature extraction, and Apple’s on-device image analysis for object counting;
• on devices that support Apple Intelligence (iOS 26 and later, with Apple Intelligence turned on), on-device chat with a document and smart data extraction use Apple’s on-device Foundation Models;
• read-aloud with the text-to-speech voices built into iOS;
• conversions and tools such as PDF to Word, PDF to images, compress, merge, split, rotate, resize and password protection. The app does not keep the passwords you use to protect or open PDFs.

6. Cloud AI features

Some AI features use Google’s Gemini models, reached through Google’s Firebase AI Logic service: chat with a document, multi-document chat, summary, translation, outline, AI form filling and smart data extraction (for Premium subscribers, smart data extraction uses the cloud first). Most of these features require Premium; chat with a document includes a limited number of free messages.

• Your choice first. Before you use AI for the first time, PDFora shows an AI Processing Notice, and nothing is sent to a cloud AI service unless you choose Continue. A cloud request is made only when you start one of these features. You can reset your choice in Settings › AI Data Consent; the notice then appears again before the next AI request. You can use PDFora without AI features.
• What is sent. The PDF you are working with (or the pages you select), up to 20 MB, together with your question or instructions. Multi-document chat sends each PDF you select. AI form filling sends the form, the names of its fields and the information you type for it to use. The connection is encrypted.
• App verification. Each request is checked with Firebase App Check, which uses Apple’s App Attest to confirm that it comes from a genuine copy of PDFora. App Check is not a login and does not identify you.
• What happens to it. Google processes the content to generate the response, under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service and Firebase’s privacy information. We do not receive or store your documents, questions or AI responses on any server of ours, and we do not use them to train AI models. Chat conversations are kept in the app only while the chat is open; results you save, such as a summary, translation or filled form, are stored on your device like your other documents.

Please think before sending documents with highly sensitive information, such as identification or taxpayer numbers, to a cloud AI feature. AI responses can be wrong; see the Terms of Use.

7. Tax forms and your Tax profile

From version 1.1.0, PDFora includes official blank IRS forms W-9, W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-4 and 1099-NEC, obtained from irs.gov and bundled unmodified in the app. Opening them does not contact the IRS or us.

You can choose to create a Tax profile to pre-fill these forms. It can contain your name, address, taxpayer identification numbers (such as an SSN, ITIN, EIN or foreign TIN), date of birth, country of citizenship, business details and similar information you enter.

• Your Tax profile is stored only on your device, in the iOS Keychain, and is set to stay on this device: it is not synced to your other devices.
• It is used only to pre-fill these forms on your device. It is never sent to us, to analytics or crash reports, or to any AI service.
• You can delete it in the app at any time. Because iOS can keep Keychain items after an app is deleted, delete your Tax profile in the app before deleting PDFora if you want it removed right away. If you reinstall PDFora, a profile left from an earlier installation is deleted the first time the app opens.
• Filled forms are saved on your device like your other documents and contain the information you entered. Like other documents, their names can appear in the widget and in Spotlight. They leave your device only when you choose to share, export or print them.

The Tax profile is never used by AI form filling. If you choose to run AI form filling on any document, including a tax form, the form and the information you type are sent as described in section 6, so we recommend not typing taxpayer identification numbers there.

PDFora does not provide tax, legal or financial advice and does not file anything with the IRS or any other authority.

8. Analytics, crash reports and remote settings

PDFora uses these Google Firebase services:

• Google Analytics for Firebase collects the events its SDK records automatically, such as first open, sessions, screens viewed, app updates and, where the SDK records them, in-app purchases (product, price and currency), together with a random app-instance identifier, device model, operating-system version, language, app version and an approximate location derived from your IP address. PDFora does not add the content of your documents, file names, AI prompts or Tax profile to analytics. We use this information to understand how the app is used and to improve it, not for advertising.
• Firebase Crashlytics sends a crash report when the app crashes: the technical details of the crash, the device model and operating-system version, app version, device state such as free memory and storage, and a random installation identifier. Crash reports do not include your documents.
• Firebase Remote Config downloads settings such as free-use limits and the wording of the Premium screen. The request includes a Firebase installation identifier and basic app and device information.
• Firebase App Check uses Apple’s App Attest to confirm that requests to these services, including cloud AI requests (section 6), come from a genuine copy of PDFora.

PDFora does not show ads, does not use the advertising identifier (IDFA), does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission and does not track you across other companies’ apps or websites. Google keeps event-level Analytics data for at most 14 months (aggregated reports can be kept longer) and Crashlytics crash data for 90 days. See Privacy and Security in Firebase, the Google Privacy Policy and how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your device settings, Apple may also provide us with crash reports and aggregated usage information under the Apple Privacy Policy.

9. Premium subscriptions and purchases

PDFora Premium is offered as auto-renewing subscriptions and, where available, a one-time purchase, sold through Apple’s App Store. Apple processes the payment; we never receive your payment card details or your Apple Account credentials. The app reads your purchase and subscription status from Apple’s StoreKit on your device to unlock Premium features. See the Apple Privacy Policy.

10. Web to PDF and Web to Image

When you enter a web address in Web to PDF or Web to Image, PDFora opens that page in Apple’s web view inside the app. The website receives your request directly, including your IP address and standard browser information, and may set cookies or use its own analytics under its own privacy policy. The app does not send the address to us. The resulting PDF or image is saved on your device, or in your photo library if you choose.

11. Support and this website

If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach, and we use them to answer you and fix the problem. Please do not send passwords, payment details or tax identification numbers. Support emails are kept as long as needed to resolve your request and meet legal obligations.

These pages are hosted through Cloudflare, which processes request information such as IP address and browser details to deliver and protect the website. The PDFora pages do not include advertising or analytics scripts. See Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy.

12. Children

PDFora is a general-audience productivity app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

13. Keeping and deleting your data

Information on your device stays until you delete it. Deleting a document moves it to the Trash and removes it from Spotlight; removing it from the Trash deletes the file and its search index permanently. You can delete your Tax profile in the app at any time. Deleting PDFora removes its documents and data from your device, except Keychain items that iOS may keep (see section 7) and copies already in your device backups or in places you shared them to.

Firebase data is kept by Google for the periods described in section 8. Content sent to a cloud AI feature is handled under Google’s terms linked in section 6.

14. Your choices and rights

You can choose not to use cloud AI features or reset your AI choice in Settings, turn camera and photo access on or off in your device’s Settings, turn App Lock on or off, remove the widget, and delete documents and your Tax profile at any time. Analytics and crash reporting have no in-app switch; deleting the app stops them, and a reinstall receives new random identifiers.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or restrict the use of your personal information, to object to its use or to withdraw consent. Firebase identifiers are random and not linked to your name, so we may be unable to match them to you without information from your device. For any request, contact contact@hiennv.dev. You can also contact your local data protection authority.

15. Security and international processing

Your documents are protected by your device’s own security and data protection, and the Tax profile by the iOS Keychain. Requests to Firebase and to cloud AI use encrypted connections. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. We operate from Vietnam, and Google may process information in the United States and other countries under its own safeguards.

16. Changes and contact

If PDFora starts handling data differently, we will update this policy before that version of the app is released and change the dates at the top of this page. For privacy or support questions, contact Hien Nguyen at contact@hiennv.dev.