Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 16, 2026

PurchVault ("we", "us") is a receipt, return, warranty, and expense organization app. Receipts can contain sensitive financial, medical, and personal information, so PurchVault is built privacy-first: your data is collected only to provide the app's features, is never sold, and is never used for advertising.

What we collect and why

• Account data — your email address and name (from email sign-up or Sign in with Apple), used to create and secure your account.
• Receipt content — the receipt images, PDFs, and warranty documents you upload, plus the details extracted from them (merchant, dates, amounts, items, categories, notes, tags). Where a receipt shows how it was paid — "Visa ending 1234" — that appears in the extracted details too. This is the product: it exists so you can search, track, and export your own purchase records.
• Forwarded email receipts — if you turn on email receipts, messages you forward to your private PurchVault address are read to create records. The subject line is kept as the merchant name until you edit it.
• Support messages — anything you send us through the in-app support form, so we can answer you.
• Preferences and reminders — country, currency, notification settings, return/warranty reminder dates, and device push tokens so reminders can reach your device.
• Subscription status — which plan your account is on (Light, Pro or Max) (see "Subscriptions" below). We never receive or store your payment card details.
• Usage counters and processing logs — counts of receipts and AI extractions per month (to enforce plan limits) and technical metadata about AI processing jobs (status, timing, token counts). These logs never include your receipt text.

We do not collect your location, contacts, browsing history, or advertising identifiers, and the app requests no such permissions.

How receipt files are stored

Receipt images and documents are stored in private cloud storage in Canada (Supabase, ca-central-1 region), in folders accessible only to your account. There are no public links: the app accesses files through short-lived signed URLs, and database access is protected by row-level security so accounts can only ever read their own records. Location metadata (EXIF/GPS) is stripped from photos on your device before upload.

How AI processing works

When you scan a receipt, its image is sent from our servers to OpenAI's API, which reads the receipt and returns structured suggestions (merchant, totals, dates, categories). You review and confirm every suggestion before anything is saved as a final record. Per OpenAI's API policy, data sent to the API is not used to train their models by default. AI extraction can be skipped entirely — manual entry is always available.

Withdrawing AI consent: AI receipt scanning requires your explicit permission, which we ask for inside the app before your first scan. You can withdraw that permission at any time in Settings → Privacy & data; scanning then stops until you grant it again. Receipts you enter manually never involve AI.

Email-in receipts (optional, Pro and Max): if you explicitly enable this feature, you receive a private PurchVault forwarding address. Only emails that you (or a forwarding rule you set up) send to that address are processed — PurchVault never connects to or reads your email inbox. The content of forwarded emails (text and receipt attachments) is processed by the AI service described above solely to extract the receipt details, is never sold or shared, and is handled like any other receipt in your vault. Turning the feature off deletes your forwarding address immediately, and mail sent to it afterwards is discarded.

Subscriptions

Paid subscriptions (Light, Pro and Max) are processed by Apple (App Store) and managed through RevenueCat, which links your subscription status to your account using a random identifier. Payment details stay with Apple — we never see them.

Who we share data with

We never sell your data and never share it for advertising. We share it only with the service providers needed to run the app: OpenAI (AI receipt extraction), RevenueCat (subscription status), Expo (push notification delivery), and Supabase (database and file storage hosting, acting as our processor). Each of these providers is bound by a written agreement that requires them to provide the same or equal level of protection of your data as this Privacy Policy, to process it only on our instructions and solely to deliver that service to you, and not to use it for their own purposes. For OpenAI specifically: inputs sent through their API are not used to train their models, and are retained by OpenAI for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring, after which they are deleted. We also disclose data where the law requires it.

Data retention

Your records are kept for as long as your account exists, so your purchase proof is there when you need it — including for however long you or your accountant choose to retain records. When you delete your account, all data is removed as described below.

Your controls: export and deletion

• Export my data — Settings → Export my data creates a complete archive of your records plus uploaded files (very large collections may be split across exports; the archive's manifest lists anything not included) that you can save anywhere.
• Delete account — Settings → Data → Delete account permanently removes your account, records, and uploaded files, and revokes your Sign in with Apple authorization. See the deletion instructions for details and an out-of-app fallback.

Security practices

All traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS). Data is protected by per-account row-level security, private storage buckets, short-lived signed URLs, and server-side enforcement of all access rules. AI and payment provider keys never leave our servers.

Children's privacy

PurchVault is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

International transfers

Your stored data lives in Canada. During AI processing, receipt images are transmitted to OpenAI, which processes data in the United States. Subscription management (RevenueCat) and push notification delivery (Expo) also involve processing in the United States.

Contact (PIPEDA)

PurchVault operates under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact our privacy contact at support@purchvault.com. You may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.