Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 November 2026

This policy covers the Prunely iPhone app, the website prunelyapp.com, the beta on TestFlight and email support. It describes Prunely version 1.0.

In short

Your photos and videos never leave your iPhone. Your contacts and the items in your private vault are handled on your iPhone too and are never sent to us. Prunely has no ads, no tracking and no advertising identifier, and it never shows Apple's "Allow tracking" prompt. There are no accounts and we run no servers that receive your data. We collect a small amount of usage data that is not linked to your identity, to improve the app, and you can switch it off in the app at any time. Payments are handled entirely by Apple.

1. Who we are

Prunely is made by Paraschiv Artur, an individual developer based in the Republic of Moldova ("we", "us"). We are the controller of the personal data described here.

• Email for privacy questions: privacy@prunelyapp.com
• Full provider details: Legal notice

2. What the app does on your iPhone

Prunely helps you find duplicate photos, similar shots, screenshots and large videos so you can free up space, and its Tools tab compresses videos, turns Live Photos into still photos, cleans up contacts and keeps photos in a private vault. All of this happens on your iPhone:

• Photo library access. With your permission, Prunely reads your photos and videos, and the information iOS stores with them (such as the date taken, the file size and the type), using Apple's PhotoKit. It analyses them with Apple's Vision framework, on the device, to see which ones look alike and which shot is best. Prunely does not copy, upload or share your photos or videos.
• The scan index. To avoid rescanning everything each time, Prunely stores the results on your iPhone: image "fingerprints" (numbers describing what a photo looks like, not the photo itself), quality scores, file sizes, groups, your keep and delete choices, your keep list and how much space you have freed. It is not synced anywhere. It is deleted when you delete the app. Like other app data, it may be included in your own iPhone backups (iCloud Backup or a computer), which you and Apple control.
• Settings. Your preferences and the count of today's free deletes are stored on your iPhone.
• Items stored only in iCloud. If you use iCloud Photos and some originals are not on your iPhone, iOS may download previews of them from your own iCloud account so Prunely can compare them. This happens between your iPhone and Apple; nothing is sent to us. You can turn this off in Prunely's Settings → Scanning.
• Deleting. Prunely never deletes anything without your confirmation in an iOS dialog. Deleted items go to the Photos app's Recently Deleted album, where iOS keeps them for up to 30 days.
• Video compression. When you compress videos, Prunely makes a smaller copy on your iPhone with Apple's frameworks and saves it to your photo library with the original's date and place. Videos stored only in iCloud are first downloaded from your own iCloud account. The originals are deleted only if you choose to, after the iOS confirmation (they go to Recently Deleted). While it works, a Live Activity on your Lock Screen shows the progress.
• Live Photos → still. Prunely saves a still copy of each Live Photo you choose, then deletes the original after you confirm in Prunely and in the iOS dialog (it goes to Recently Deleted).
• Contacts. Only if you use Tools → Contacts and tap "Continue", Prunely reads your contacts on your iPhone, using Apple's Contacts framework, to find duplicate and incomplete cards. It changes or deletes a contact only when you confirm. Prunely can't read the notes on contact cards (iOS restricts them).
• Contacts backups. Before every merge or delete, Prunely saves a backup of your contacts on your iPhone, encrypted (AES-GCM, with the key kept in the iPhone's Keychain). You can restore it from Tools → Contacts → Backups. Backups are never uploaded and never sent to us. Like other app data, they are included in your own iPhone backup, still encrypted. If you choose "Share vCard", Prunely creates an unencrypted copy for the app or person you pick, warns you first, and deletes its temporary file afterwards.
• Private vault. Photos and videos you move into the private vault are stored only inside Prunely on your iPhone, encrypted (AES-GCM, with the key kept in the iPhone's Keychain). They are never uploaded and never sent to us. They are included in your own iPhone backup, still encrypted: restoring an iCloud backup or an encrypted computer backup brings the vault back on a new iPhone; an unencrypted computer backup can't. The vault opens with your iPhone's own Face ID, Touch ID or passcode, like the Hidden album in Photos, so anyone who knows your iPhone passcode can open it. Whoever can restore your full iPhone backup to a device can also open the vault's files there; the lock protects the vault's screens in the app. Deleting Prunely, or erasing the vault, deletes everything in it. iOS checks Face ID, Touch ID and the passcode; Prunely only learns whether the check succeeded.
• Camera. Only inside the open vault, "Take photo" uses the camera to take photos straight into the vault. They are never added to your photo library. Prunely never records video or sound with the camera and never uses the microphone.
• Face ID and Touch ID. If you turn them on for the vault, iOS checks your face or fingerprint. Prunely never sees your biometric data; iOS only tells it whether the check succeeded.
• Widgets and Control Center. The Home Screen widget and the Control Center control show how much space you can free (a size, never your photos). They read it from Prunely's own data on your iPhone.
• Notifications are created on your iPhone (a reminder 2 days before a free trial ends and, only if you turn it on, a weekly cleanup reminder). We don't use a push-notification server.
• Crash reports kept on the device. Detailed crash reports from iOS stay on your iPhone. They are only sent to us if you choose to attach them to a support email (see section 5).

Prunely asks for access to your photos and, if you want reminders, notifications. Only when you use the matching tool does it ask for three more: Contacts (Tools → Contacts), the camera ("Take photo" in the vault) and Face ID (to open the vault, optional). It never asks for your location, the microphone or permission to track you.

3. What leaves your iPhone, and why

Usage statistics, only if you agree. When you first open Prunely, it asks whether you want to share usage statistics. Nothing is sent before you answer, and nothing at all if you choose "Don't share". If you agree, Prunely sends a small number of usage events to TelemetryDeck, a privacy-focused analytics service based in Germany, so we can see whether the app works well: for example "scan started", "scan finished" and how long it took, which screens and settings you used, "paywall shown", and roughly how many items you moved or deleted (in ranges, such as "10 to 49"). They never say how big your library is or how much space you freed. Purchase events say which plan was chosen and whether a free trial started, a purchase completed or was restored, or a subscription renewed or was refunded; they never contain a price, a transaction number or your Apple Account.

The TelemetryDeck software adds to each event: the app version, the iOS version, the iPhone model, the screen size, your language, region and time-zone setting (as an offset such as "UTC+1", not a place), your display and accessibility settings (such as text size, dark mode or Reduce Motion), the hour and day the event was sent, how many times and on how many days you have used the app and how long sessions last, the date of your first session, and whether the event comes from a test build.

To count returning users without knowing who they are, the TelemetryDeck software takes the identifier that iOS gives our apps on your iPhone (the "identifier for vendor", a random code that changes if you delete all of our apps), scrambles it with a one-way hash on your iPhone, and TelemetryDeck hashes it again on its servers. Only the scrambled code is sent. As with any internet connection, your IP address is visible to TelemetryDeck's servers when an event is sent; TelemetryDeck states that it does not store IP addresses.

These events never contain your photos or videos, file or album names, the dates of your photos, your contacts or anything from them, what is in your private vault, your iPhone passcode, your name, your email address, your Apple Account details, purchase transaction numbers or anything you type. We do not use the advertising identifier (IDFA) and we do not set our own user ID.

This data is not linked to your identity: nothing in it names you, and neither we nor TelemetryDeck can connect the scrambled code to you. We don't call it anonymous, because the scrambled code lets TelemetryDeck recognize the same iPhone again; that is how returning users are counted. In Prunely's App Store privacy label it appears under "Data Not Linked to You": Usage Data, Identifiers (device ID), Purchases (purchase history) and Diagnostics. None of it is used for tracking or advertising.

Performance and crash summaries. If you agreed to share usage statistics and "Share with App Developers" is on in your iPhone's Settings (Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), iOS gives Prunely daily performance and crash reports through Apple's MetricKit. Prunely sends only a short summary to TelemetryDeck: ranges for launch time, freezes and memory use, how long scan steps took, and for a crash just its type (no technical stack traces, no file paths). The full reports stay on your iPhone (section 2).

Changing your answer. In Prunely, open Settings → Privacy and switch usage statistics on or off. Switching it off stops sending immediately, for both usage events and crash summaries.

Legal basis: to the extent this data counts as personal data, your consent (GDPR and UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)), which you give with "Share usage statistics" and can withdraw at any time by switching it off. Withdrawing does not affect what was sent before.

4. Purchases

Subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are sold and charged by Apple through the App Store. We never see your name, email address or payment details. On your iPhone, Prunely receives from Apple only the purchase information it needs to unlock Pro (which plan you have, whether you are in a trial, and when it renews or ends). We don't run a server that receives your purchases. Refund requests you make in the app go directly to Apple. Apple provides us with sales reports and, from people who agreed to share with developers, overall app statistics and crash reports, which do not tell us who you are. Apple's own privacy policy applies to everything Apple does: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/

5. Website, beta and email

Support and privacy emails. When you write to support@prunelyapp.com or privacy@prunelyapp.com, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach. If you use "Contact support" in the app, the email is prefilled with technical details to help us answer: app version, iOS version, iPhone model, language, your plan and whether Prunely has full or limited photo access. You can see and delete these lines before sending. You can also choose to attach the crash reports stored on your iPhone; this is off unless you switch it on. Please never send us photos. We use these emails only to answer you and keep them for 2 years after the conversation ends, then delete them. Legal basis: helping you as a user (Article 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interest in answering requests (Article 6(1)(f)).

Beta testing. If you join the beta, Apple's TestFlight app delivers it. If we invite you by email, we give your email address to Apple for the invitation. Feedback you send through TestFlight (comments, screenshots, crash reports and device details) reaches us through Apple's App Store Connect. Apple's TestFlight terms and privacy policy apply. Legal basis: your request to take part (Article 6(1)(a) and (b)).

Website. When you visit prunelyapp.com, our host Cloudflare processes your IP address and browser details to deliver the pages and protect the site from attacks. We don't receive or keep server logs; Cloudflare keeps this request data only as long as its privacy policy describes (https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/). We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which does not use cookies or fingerprinting and shows us only totals (such as page views and the countries and websites visitors come from), not individual visitors. The website does not set cookies and does not load trackers or advertising. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure website and knowing how many people visit it (Article 6(1)(f)).

6. Service providers and international transfers

We use these providers:

TelemetryDeck and Cloudflare process data only on our instructions under data processing agreements. Our mailbox is an iCloud Mail account, so Apple stores those emails under the iCloud terms and Apple's privacy policy. For App Store purchases, refunds, TestFlight and iCloud Photos, Apple acts under its own privacy policy, not as our provider.

We are based in the Republic of Moldova, outside the EU and the UK, so we access this data from Moldova. Some providers may also process data outside your country. Where data about people in the EU or UK goes to a country without an adequacy decision, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum), as offered in the providers' data processing agreements. You can ask us for details at privacy@prunelyapp.com.

We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it for advertising.

7. How long we keep data

• On your iPhone: until you delete the app (section 2). Contacts backups: the 10 newest automatic backups and every backup you made yourself, until you delete them or the app. Private vault: until you remove the items, erase the vault or delete the app.
• Usage statistics and crash summaries: kept by TelemetryDeck. TelemetryDeck currently has no fixed deletion date and expects to delete old data after about 7 to 10 years. Because the data is not linked to you, it can't be picked out and deleted for one person; switching statistics off stops new data at once.
• Support and privacy emails: 2 years after the conversation ends.
• Website request data: we keep no server logs; Cloudflare keeps request data as its privacy policy describes.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to:

• ask what personal data we hold about you and get a copy (access);
• have it corrected (rectification) or deleted (erasure);
• restrict how we use it, or receive it in a portable format;
• object to our use of it based on legitimate interests, including the usage statistics (or simply switch them off in the app);
• withdraw your consent at any time, for example by switching off usage statistics in the app;
• complain to a data-protection authority.

Write to privacy@prunelyapp.com. We will answer within one month. Because we don't have accounts and the usage statistics are not linked to your identity, we can't find app usage data that belongs to you; switching off usage statistics stops new data immediately, and deleting the app removes everything stored on your iPhone.

Data-protection authorities:

• United Kingdom: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), https://ico.org.uk
• Germany: the data-protection authority of your federal state; list at https://www.datenschutzkonferenz-online.de/datenschutzaufsichtsbehoerden.html
• Other EU countries: your national authority; list at https://www.edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en
• Republic of Moldova (where we are based): National Center for Personal Data Protection, https://datepersonale.md

9. Children

Prunely and prunelyapp.com are not directed to children under 13 (United States) or under 16 (EU and UK), and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, for example in a support email, write to privacy@prunelyapp.com and we will delete it.

10. California residents

In the last 12 months we have collected: identifiers (email addresses from people who write to us, and the scrambled device identifier described in section 3, which is not linked to your identity), internet or device activity (app usage events, website request data processed by our host) and, if you include them in an email, whatever details you choose to send. We use them only for the purposes in this policy and disclose them only to the service providers in section 6. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. You can ask us to tell you what we hold, to correct it or to delete it at privacy@prunelyapp.com; we will not treat you differently for asking.

Do Not Track. Neither the app nor the website tracks you across other apps or websites, so there is nothing for a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal to switch off; our practices are the same whether or not your browser sends one.

11. Changes to this policy

If what Prunely does with data changes, we update this page before the change reaches you and change the "Last updated" date at the top. If the change is significant (for example a new kind of data leaving your iPhone), we will also mention it in the app's release notes.

12. Contact

Privacy questions or requests: privacy@prunelyapp.com
Everything else: support@prunelyapp.com