Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Gathered is published by PickAppsUK ("we", "us", "our"), the data controller for the limited personal data this app processes. If you have any question about this policy or your data, contact us at GatheredSupport@pickapps.co.uk.

Where Gathered is available. Gathered is currently offered outside the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and is not made available in EU/EEA app stores. It is intended for users in the UK and other supported non-EU markets. If we extend availability to the EU in future, we'll update this policy — including appointing an EU representative where required — before doing so.

2. What we process — and where it lives

Almost everything in Gathered is created and kept by you, on your device. Stored locally in the app's on-device database, never sent to us unless you turn on a feature below:

• Card images — the photos you take of business cards and QR codes.
• Vendor details — names, phone numbers, emails, websites, addresses and other fields read from a card or typed in by hand.
• Your notes, categories and events — the personal context you add, and the markets or fairs your cards are grouped under.

This information is processed entirely on your phone. It is not transmitted to us, and we cannot see it.

About the details on the cards you capture

The cards you scan often contain another person's details (for example a maker's name, phone number or email). You decide which cards to capture and what to keep, and that information stays on your device under your control — for most people this is ordinary personal use. If you turn on AI card processing or cloud backup & sync (below), that card content — including any third-party details on it — is handled by our processors only to deliver those features to you, as described in this policy. Please only capture cards you're entitled to keep, and use the details on them responsibly.

Camera and photos

Gathered uses your camera to capture cards and QR codes. We only access the camera while you are on the capture screen, and only to detect and photograph a card. We do not access your wider photo library unless you choose to pick an existing image. Captured images are saved into the app's own storage on your device.

3. Optional AI card processing

Reading a card accurately is hard. If you turn on AI card processing, Gathered can send a card's image and extracted text to our processing partners to improve the result — sharper text recognition (OCR), tidy field extraction, a suggested category, and, where a website is found, a quick look-up to fill in details.

• This happens only for the card you are processing, and only when the feature is enabled.
• It is powered by Microsoft Azure (AI Vision and serverless functions) and Azure OpenAI acting as our processors. They process the card content to return a result to you and do not use it to train their models under our agreements.
• You stay in control of the result. The AI only suggests and fills in fields — it never makes a decision about you that has a legal or similarly significant effect. You review and edit every card before and after enhancement.
• On the free tier, every card you save (up to the 10-card limit) is AI-enhanced at no cost. Gathered Plus, our monthly subscription, enhances every card with unlimited storage (subject to fair use). You can use Gathered fully without AI — manual entry is always available.

4. Optional cloud backup & sync

Your device is the source of truth. Cloud backup & sync is included in Gathered Plus (there's no separate charge for it). If you turn it on, Gathered keeps a mirrored copy of your collection in our cloud (hosted on Microsoft Azure) so you can restore it on a new phone or keep two devices in step. This copy is encrypted in transit and at rest, exists only to serve you, is associated with your subscription, and is deleted when you turn sync off or cancel and remove your data. If you never enable sync, no copy of your collection ever leaves your device.

5. Purchases

Gathered is free to start. Gathered Plus is an auto-renewable monthly subscription that unlocks unlimited storage, AI enhancement, and cloud backup & sync. All payments are handled by the Apple App Store or Google Play under their terms — we never see or store your card number or full billing details. We receive only the confirmation needed to unlock what you bought.

6. Diagnostics we collect

To keep the optional cloud features (AI processing and sync) working and reliable, our servers record basic operational diagnostics — for example that a processing job ran, timing, and error logs — using Microsoft Azure Application Insights as our processor. These diagnostics are used only to operate, secure and improve the service; they are not advertising data and are not used to build a profile of you. The Gathered app contains no third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and we do not use Apple's App Tracking Transparency tracking.

7. Feedback you send us

If you choose to send feedback from within the app, your message — and, if you attach one, a card image — is sent to our support system so we can help and fix issues. Attached images are stored only briefly behind private, expiring links and are then automatically deleted. If you give us an email address for a reply, we use it to respond and do not add it to any marketing list or retain it beyond what's needed to handle your feedback.

8. What we never do

• No accounts or sign-up to use the app.
• No advertising, ad networks, or third-party trackers.
• No selling, renting or sharing your data for marketing or cross-context behavioural advertising.
• No social feed, no public profiles, no contact-list harvesting.
• No building a behavioural profile of you.

9. Legal bases (UK GDPR)

For users in the United Kingdom, where we process personal data our lawful bases are: performance of a contract (providing AI processing, backup/sync and purchases you ask for); consent (which you give by switching on an optional feature, and can withdraw at any time by switching it off); and legitimate interests (keeping the app secure and working, and basic operational diagnostics). On-device data you create is held under your own control and is not shared with us.

10. Sharing & partners

We don't sell your data. We rely on a small set of trusted processors, used only to deliver the features above:

• Microsoft Azure — cloud hosting, AI Vision, Azure OpenAI, serverless processing and operational diagnostics for optional AI card processing and cloud backup & sync.
• Apple and Google — app distribution and payment processing.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of our users and our service.

11. International data transfers

Our cloud services are hosted in the United Kingdom (Azure UK South region), so for most users the data involved in the optional cloud features stays within the UK. Where a partner needs to process data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards — UK adequacy regulations, the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework (where the recipient is certified), and the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) as a fallback — so your data keeps an equivalent level of protection wherever it is handled.

12. Keeping & deleting data

On-device data stays until you delete it or remove the app. Deleting a card removes it and its image from your device. AI card processing is transient: card content is processed to return a result and is not retained by us as a separate store. Feedback attachments are deleted automatically after a short period. If you use cloud backup & sync, your mirrored copy is kept while your subscription is active and deleted when you turn sync off or cancel and delete your data. Uninstalling the app removes all local data; if sync was enabled, delete your synced data first (Settings → Back up & sync) to remove the cloud copy.

13. Your rights

Most of your data lives on your device, so you can exercise much of this directly in the app — view, edit and delete any card, and turn AI or sync off at any time. For anything held by us through sync, purchases, diagnostics or feedback, email GatheredSupport@pickapps.co.uk and we'll help. We don't charge for handling a rights request and won't treat you differently for making one.

United Kingdom

Under UK data protection law you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, and to data portability. You can also withdraw consent for any optional feature at any time. You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

California

If you are a California resident, the CCPA/CPRA gives you the right to know/access, delete, and correct your personal information, and to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell or share your personal information (including for cross-context behavioural advertising), and we have not done so in the preceding 12 months. We also do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. In the last 12 months we may have processed these categories: identifiers (e.g. an email if you contact support; app-store subscription identifiers), commercial information (your subscription status), internet/network activity (operational diagnostics for the cloud features), and the card content you choose to process via AI or sync. We honour recognised opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control (GPC) where they apply. You may use an authorised agent, and we won't discriminate against you for exercising your rights. To make a request, contact us at the address above.

Other US states & other countries

If you live in another US state with a privacy law (for example Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon, Utah and others), or in another country such as Canada, Australia or Brazil, you may have similar rights to access, correct, delete, port or opt out of certain processing of your personal data. Wherever you are, you're welcome to exercise these rights — contact us at the address above and we'll honour them as your local law requires.

14. Children

Gathered is intended for adults (18+) shopping at markets and fairs and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we'll remove it.

15. Security

On-device data is protected by your phone's own security and operating-system protections. Data in transit to our processors is encrypted using industry-standard transport security, your synced collection is encrypted at rest, and our cloud services run on Microsoft Azure's protected infrastructure. No method of storage or transmission is ever completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

16. Data breaches

If a personal-data breach occurs that affects you, we'll act promptly to contain and assess it. Where the law requires, we'll notify the relevant supervisory authority (in the UK, generally within 72 hours of becoming aware) and will tell affected users directly when there is a high risk to their rights.

17. Changes to this policy

We'll update this page when our practices change and revise the "last updated" date above. For significant changes we'll highlight them in the app. Continuing to use Gathered after an update means you accept the revised policy.

18. Contact

Questions, requests or concerns? Email us at GatheredSupport@pickapps.co.uk and we'll get back to you.