PRIVACY

Your papers stay yours.

A clear explanation of what stays on your phone, what leaves it, and why.

Effective
30 September 2026
Last updated
2 October 2026
Applies to
ShowPapers for Android and iPhone, and this website

Who we are

ShowPapers is operated by Nirbhay Pherwani, Ameya Kulkarni and Aditi Kulkarni (“we” and “us”). We are responsible for the data practices described in this policy. You can reach us at hello@showpapers.app. ShowPapers is available for Android and iPhone; in this policy, “phone” also means a tablet or other device that runs ShowPapers. You do not need an account to use it, and we do not run a server that stores your documents.

Privacy notice at collection

On an eligible new installation, a current regional rule can allow usage analytics and crash reports to start after you continue. Otherwise, they stay off until you choose. Saved choices take priority. Continuing under a regional default records a notice acknowledgement, not explicit consent. You can turn Usage Analytics & Crash Reports off in Settings, Privacy. Advertising Measurement is a separate choice and starts off.

  • Usage and diagnostics: Google Firebase receives random installation and visit identifiers, app interactions, crash reports, task timings, device/app/network details and IP-derived approximate location to help us understand use and fix problems. No document content is added to these measurements. Analytics events are kept for 14 months; identifier-associated user data has a renewable 14-month period. Crash reports are kept for 90 days; performance data for 30 days when associated with IP addresses and 60 days otherwise. Separate BigQuery exports have their own expiration or deletion.
  • Configuration and features: Firebase receives a separate installation ID, technical details and IP-derived country to configure the app, even with analytics off. That ID remains until deleted through Firebase. Using Android Scan sends Google its own technical diagnostics; model downloads send connection details to Hugging Face and its delivery network. Those providers manage their technical records under their own terms.
  • Advertising measurement: Optional Google, Meta and TikTok measurement can receive installation events, advertising or app/device identifiers, technical diagnostics and connection details to measure our campaigns. It requires your separate advertising choice and a configured provider. On iPhone, identifiable provider measurement also requires Apple tracking permission; Apple’s limited aggregate install reports are described below. Provider records follow the retention and rights described below.
  • Your files and messages: Documents and notes stay on your phone until deleted; copies you choose to share go to your selected recipients. Support emails and their contents reach us and are kept only as needed to respond, follow up or meet legal requirements.
  • This website: Cloudflare receives hosting requests. Google Analytics receives visits and clicks with browser identifiers under the separate cookie choices below. Analytics uses the retention periods above; its cookies expire 13 months after your last visit.

We do not sell your papers or use their contents for advertising. Read the Data Details, Retention and Deletion and Provider Information in this policy, or contact us.

The short version

  • Your papers, the details read from them, your notes and your folders are stored on your phone in encrypted storage. The app does not upload your library to us.
  • Scanning, text recognition, reading with on-device AI and filing papers into folders all happen on your phone.
  • A few things do leave your phone: usage analytics, crash reports and performance measurements, according to your choice and the regional defaults explained below; a small configuration check with Google Firebase, which happens even when analytics is off; a one-time download of the on-device AI model on supported phones; optional advertising measurement described below; and any copy you choose to export, share, back up or send to an AI app.
  • This website uses Google Analytics cookies to count visits and clicks. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland they are set only after you accept; anywhere, Cookie Settings at the bottom of each page turns them off.
  • We do not sell your papers or use their contents for advertising. Optional advertising measurement helps us understand which campaigns bring people to ShowPapers, as described below.

Your papers and notes

How your library is encrypted

ShowPapers keeps the files you add (scans, photos and PDFs), the text and details read from them, and your notes, folders, pins, reminders and the names of people you tag on your phone. They are encrypted with AES-256-GCM using keys that stay on the phone: on Android, keys held by Android Keystore; on iPhone, keys kept in the iOS Keychain for that device only. We do not run a cloud document vault, the app does not upload your library to us, and we do not use your papers to train AI models.

Passwords for protected PDFs

After you successfully unlock a PDF, ShowPapers remembers its password securely on that phone so you can open and read it again without re-entering it. Your App Lock setting also applies when opening these PDFs. Remembered passwords are not sent to us, analytics or AI services, and are not included in exported files, collections or backups. The original PDF keeps its password protection. Deleting the paper removes its remembered password; moving or restoring it on another device requires the password again.

What stays inside a file

Each original is kept exactly as you added it, including information stored inside the file, such as the date or place a photo was taken if the file records it. Copies you export or share carry the same information.

Excluded from your phone's own backups

Your library is left out of your phone’s own backups. On Android, device and cloud backup is turned off for ShowPapers. On iPhone, the library is excluded from iCloud and computer backups, and its keys cannot move to another device. To move your library, make a ShowPapers backup, described below.

Settings stored outside the library

A few things are stored without the library’s encryption because they hold no document content or are needed before you unlock the app: settings such as appearance, reminder and App Lock choices; your analytics and advertising-measurement choices, when you made them, the privacy notice you saw, and the analytics details described below, such as the random installation and visit IDs and the version first installed; whether you accepted the Terms; the app configuration described below and its installation ID; and your Ask an AI App preferences, including any Rules for What You Send text you write and a note of the copy you last sent (which app, when and how many items). Advertising components can also keep technical identifiers, queued measurement records and records of previously measured installations in private app storage outside the encrypted document library. Turning advertising measurement off does not erase those existing records. On iPhone, these settings can be part of your device backups; the app-owned analytics installation ID is excluded from backup and device transfer. While you import, export or share, ShowPapers makes working copies in its private storage, outside the library’s encryption. Ordinary temporary copies are removed when their task or sharing period ends, when they expire or during later cleanup. On iPhone, incoming files wait in the app’s protected shared folder until ShowPapers can handle them. Files retained after an import error can remain there for recovery; routine temporary-file cleanup does not remove those rejected files. Removing the app removes its staging storage. If ShowPapers needs an update before you can keep using it, files you share to it wait in its private storage, outside the library’s encryption, until you update and they are added.

Reading papers on your phone

Scanning and text recognition

Text recognition uses PaddleOCR models included in the app and runs on your phone. On iPhone, ShowPapers’ own scanner uses the camera and finds each page’s edges on the phone. On Android, scanning uses the Google Play services document scanner, which Google may download to your phone the first time you scan; the scanned pages come back to ShowPapers on your phone. Google’s ML Kit components in the Android app, including that scanner, can send Google technical information about their own use, such as device and app details, installation identifiers, performance measurements and error codes, for Google’s diagnostics. Google handles it under its own terms, and the analytics switch in ShowPapers does not control it.

On-device AI (Gemma)

On supported phones, with about 6 GB of memory or more (and Android 12 or later on Android), ShowPapers also uses Gemma 4 E2B, an open AI model from Google, to read papers in more detail. What it reads helps ShowPapers name each paper and file it into a folder. It also powers Write With AI and Refine With AI in Notes. The model runs entirely on your phone; what it reads and writes is not sent anywhere.

Downloading the AI model

On a supported phone, after you choose Agree and Continue, ShowPapers automatically downloads its on-device AI model (Gemma 4 E2B, about 2.6 GB) once, from Hugging Face (huggingface.co), a public model host. The download can use mobile data, and you can pause or remove it in Settings, On-Device AI. The request contains no document content and no ShowPapers identifier. Like any download, it reveals your IP address and the standard technical details your phone sends with web requests, such as its operating system and, on Android, its model. Hugging Face and its delivery network handle that request under their own privacy practices. Hugging Face’s policy describes IP and session-location records used to deliver, analyze, improve and secure its services; we do not control its technical records. ShowPapers checks the file’s size and SHA-256 fingerprint before using it.

Dictation

Dictation uses your phone’s on-device speech recognition. ShowPapers does not keep the audio, and it is not sent to us.

Usage analytics, crash reports and performance

Your product analytics choice

To understand how ShowPapers is used and find and fix problems, the apps use Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Performance Monitoring. The Usage Analytics & Crash Reports switch controls these product measurements together. Advertising Measurement is a separate optional choice. Turning advertising off does not turn product analytics or crash reporting off, and neither choice limits the app’s document features.

Defaults by region

Your saved choices take priority. On a new installation in the United States, Australia or New Zealand, a current regional rule may allow Usage Analytics & Crash Reports to start after a notice. Before you continue, Welcome’s Privacy Policy link opens the notice at collection above. If the regional rule still applies when you continue, collection can start without a separate Privacy screen. Continuing records that the linked notice was offered; it is not recorded as explicit consent.

If the app cannot confirm that the notice applies, the rule expires before you continue, or an older installation has no saved choice, the app shows the optional Privacy choices instead. In other countries, product analytics starts off until you enable it. Once that Privacy screen opens, a later configuration check does not dismiss it. Older app versions may also show this screen. Advertising Measurement starts off everywhere and remains separately optional in Settings, Privacy. You can change either choice there at any time.

A choice you explicitly save is kept when you update the app and overrides the regional default. Older installations whose previous collection settings cannot be established require an explicit choice before regional collection can start. Continuing with the switch off keeps collection off, even if a different regional rule arrives later. A regional default-on setting is recorded separately from an explicit permission. Google determines the regional rule from the configuration request’s IP address, not your precise location. A VPN or travel can change the rule. Without an explicit permission, a regional default is used only while the app has a current permitted rule; if that rule becomes unavailable or expires, product collection pauses. This temporary pause keeps the installation identifier so permitted activity can resume consistently.

Before collection starts

Accepting the Terms does not by itself enable analytics or advertising. ShowPapers does not send product events before the applicable choice or regional default permits them, and does not keep earlier events to send later. Firebase’s first measured open can therefore be later than your first use of the app. Where consent is required, collection waits for your choice. For regional default-on collection, we rely on our interest in understanding use and keeping the app reliable where local law permits that basis, with notice and an easy opt-out. The separate configuration check and Android platform services described in this policy have their own limited technical requests.

What usage analytics tracks

Usage analytics record which screens, sheets and dialogs you open and which buttons and controls you tap; how you opened the app, for example from its icon, a reminder or a shared file, and when it goes to the background; where in the app you started something, for example from a folder, from search or from a note; whether actions such as adding, scanning, reading, saving, editing, organizing, searching, exporting, backing up or setting up on-device AI finished or failed, with a general reason, and how long they took; which AI app from the app’s list you chose in Ask an AI App; whether you allowed a permission the app asked for (camera, microphone, speech recognition, notifications or Face ID); how you moved through the first screens after installing; the kind of an earlier unexpected exit, such as a crash or a freeze; and which pages of this website you opened from the app. Each event also carries the app and component versions, a broad operating system version range, whether the phone can run the on-device AI model, a random ID for the current visit that ShowPapers creates (a visit ends after 30 minutes away from the app), and the event’s place in that visit.

What we know about your installation

We also keep a few facts about each installation: the installation version when known, how it was installed (for example from the App Store or Google Play), the app’s appearance, color style, font style and language, whether App Lock and reminders are on, which permissions are allowed, how far it got through the first screens, and a broad age range measured from when usage analytics first started on that installation. That may be later than the installation date. On Android, when the app was installed from Google Play, we record whether the install came from one of our website’s Google Play badges, from Google Play itself or from somewhere else, and nothing more about it; Google Analytics also uses Google Play’s install information to attribute the first open.

What's never included

Values in ShowPapers’ usage events come from fixed lists, version numbers, durations, positions, random installation or visit IDs, or count ranges. Performance measurements can also include exact technical counts, such as the number of pages or papers processed. ShowPapers never puts your papers or images, their titles, types, file names or contents, the text or details read from them, your notes, folder names, the names of people you tag, your searches, anything you type or dictate, dates from your papers, email addresses, your precise location or your advertising ID into its own usage-event parameters, crash reports or performance measurements. The optional collection of advertising identifiers by measurement providers is described below. A crash report does include the technical error message produced by the phone’s system or a software library, which in rare cases could include part of a file’s location on the phone.

What Firebase adds automatically

Firebase adds information of its own: random identifiers for the installation (an app-instance ID for analytics, and an installation ID and a Crashlytics ID for crash reports and performance), your phone model, operating system version, language setting and screen resolution, the app version, and events such as the first open, sessions, time spent in the app, app and operating system updates and, on Android, the app being removed or its data cleared. Google derives an approximate location, such as your country, region or city, from your IP address; Google states that Google Analytics does not log or store IP addresses.

Crash reports

When you first enable analytics after updating an older installation, Firebase may also deliver technical crash reports already stored by that earlier version. ShowPapers requires an explicit choice for older installations whose collection history cannot be established; a regional default cannot trigger this upload.

If ShowPapers crashes, or a task fails in a way the app handles, such as a failed save, backup or download, Crashlytics sends a technical report: where in the app’s code it happened; for a crash, the error details from the system; for a handled failure, a fixed description of what failed; the phone model, operating system version, free memory and storage, whether the app was in the background and whether the phone is rooted or jailbroken; which screen was open, the current visit’s ID, what the on-device AI was doing and the state of its model, whether App Lock was locked and a broad memory class of the phone; and a short list of the screens, controls and app states just before it. On iPhone, ShowPapers also reads Apple’s on-device diagnostics (MetricKit) only to report the kind of a previous unexpected exit; the diagnostic reports themselves are not sent.

Performance measurements

ShowPapers measures how long its main tasks take, such as scanning, reading, saving, exporting, backing up, restoring and downloading the AI model. Firebase Performance Monitoring follows the Usage Analytics & Crash Reports choice. On Android, it also records automatic startup, lifecycle and screen-performance measurements; automatic HTTP instrumentation through the build plugin is disabled. On iPhone, automatic screen and network instrumentation is disabled. Both apps can send selected task durations and technical counts. The app discards its own task trace if the permitted collection interval ends before the task finishes. Firebase’s automatic Android timers can span a change in that permission, and measurements already authorized or queued may finish after collection is turned off. Firebase can add the phone model, operating system, app version, network type, country derived from the request IP, and processor or memory samples. Performance Monitoring also fetches its own technical settings.

Identifiers and advertising

Product measurements are linked to an app installation through random identifiers. We do not link them to your name, email or an account. While usage analytics is on, ShowPapers assigns a random app-specific installation ID to Analytics and Crashlytics so we can relate usage events to crash reports from the same installation. This is not an account ID and does not connect different phones or apps. Google’s advertising storage and use of analytics data for advertising are permitted only when both product analytics and Advertising Measurement are allowed and Google measurement is enabled in the app configuration. Advertising personalization remains disabled. Meta and TikTok do not receive the ShowPapers installation ID or the detailed Firebase event stream. If we export analytics or crash data to our own Google Cloud project (BigQuery), those copies have separate access and retention settings; turning usage analytics off on your phone does not delete them.

Turning analytics off

Turning the switch off stops new app-controlled usage events, removes unsent analytics data, clears the app-owned installation ID, replaces Firebase’s analytics identifier and ends the current visit. ShowPapers stops adding diagnostic context and requests deletion of crash reports that have not been approved for upload. Because Firebase processes reports asynchronously, deletion can complete on a later launch. Reports from intervals when collection was off or uncertain are withheld; if their eligibility cannot be established, the pending batch is discarded. Reports already approved and queued for upload before you turned the switch off may finish or retry, and cannot be recalled. Performance Monitoring cannot erase measurements it has already queued, so some taken before you turned the switch off may still be sent. Remote Config remains separate. Re-enabling analytics after an opt-out starts with a new app-owned ID; we do not reconnect it to the retired ID. Turning analytics off does not limit any document feature.

Advertising measurement

ShowPapers does not display ads. We may promote ShowPapers on Google, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok and use optional measurement to understand which campaigns lead to installations. Advertising Measurement starts off everywhere. A provider can start only when you allow this separate choice and its account details are configured. On iPhone, Apple’s tracking permission is also required for identifiable Google, Meta and TikTok measurement; declining it keeps those paths off. A Remote Config setting cannot override your choice or Apple’s permission. Older app versions may only save the preference without activating a provider. If you enabled that earlier inactive preference, the updated app asks you to confirm the provider disclosure before activating this measurement. A saved refusal remains off.

On iPhone, Apple’s SKAdNetwork can provide delayed, limited campaign-attribution reports without Apple tracking permission. ShowPapers registers an installation for this aggregate measurement only after you allow Advertising Measurement and the app’s measurement configuration permits it. This registration does not access the advertising identifier or start identifiable provider tracking. Apple controls what each report includes and when it is sent; no papers or notes are included. A report from an already registered installation may arrive after you turn measurement off.

Google measurement uses Google Analytics for Firebase and, when linked, Google Ads. It requires product analytics as well as Advertising Measurement to be allowed. Google can use permitted usage events and their supporting app-state and technical information, installation and session records, campaign or install-referrer information and the phone’s permitted advertising identifier to measure campaigns and attribute installations. We keep Google advertising personalization disabled.

Meta and TikTok receive installation and app-launch measurement and the technical information their measurement components need: app and SDK versions, device and operating-system information, language, timestamps, random app/device or session identifiers, a permitted advertising identifier, network and IP information, and technical delivery diagnostics. On Android, the event context can include the identity of the app that installed ShowPapers, such as Google Play, and install-referrer information. Meta can also receive a Facebook attribution identifier when available. This is limited installation information, not a list of all apps on your phone. An IP address can indicate an approximate location. On Android, these components can also send their own technical crash and reliability reports, including an error, stack trace, timestamp, app version and device information. They run in a separate measurement process; these reports concern that process and follow Advertising Measurement, independently of the Usage Analytics & Crash Reports switch. We do not send your papers, notes, document types, filenames, folder names, extracted details, passwords, email address, phone number or our product-analytics installation ID to these providers. Automatic capture of screen text, screenshots, purchases and contact details is disabled. We do not forward the Firebase product-usage event stream or saved-setting properties to Meta or TikTok.

These providers can match permitted measurement information with information they already hold, under their own policies. Our use is to measure and improve campaigns for ShowPapers; the app has no advertising feed. See Google’s privacy policy, Meta’s privacy policy and TikTok’s privacy policy. ShowPapers does not use Adjust or a Reddit measurement integration.

You can turn Advertising Measurement off in Settings, Privacy, without losing any document feature. This stops new optional advertising collection by the app; already authorized requests or uploads can finish, and previously authorized records saved by an SDK may retry if you later enable measurement again. Information already received by a provider cannot be recalled by that switch. On iPhone you can also withdraw Apple tracking permission in the phone’s Settings. Turning advertising off does not change your separate product-analytics choice. Accepting the Terms is not advertising or Apple tracking permission.

App configuration

What the configuration check controls

ShowPapers checks for a small configuration file from Google Firebase Remote Config. It says whether an update is required or recommended; whether on-device AI, the automatic model download, Ask an AI App or Report a Problem is temporarily switched off; how the iPhone scanner starts; which AI apps Ask an AI App lists; and whether to show a short notice from us. It also supplies the regional product-analytics rule described above and the public account identifiers and switches for the advertising providers described in this policy. These settings cannot add an unbundled provider or override an explicit choice you saved or Apple tracking permission. To fetch it, the app uses a random Firebase installation ID created only for this purpose. It is not your advertising ID or a hardware identifier, it is not linked to usage analytics, and turning usage analytics off does not change it.

What the request contains

The request also carries technical details Firebase needs: the app’s identifier, version and build, the Firebase software version, your phone’s language, region setting, time zone and operating system version, and, on Android, the app’s signing certificate fingerprint. On Android, Firebase Installations also sends technical user-agent information, including the app used to install ShowPapers, such as Google Play. Firebase says this user-agent information is not linked to a user or device identifier. While usage analytics is on, Firebase may add when the app was first opened, rounded to the hour. Like any internet request, it reveals your IP address; Firebase can use it to determine the country for configuration rules. It never includes your papers, notes, names, titles, file names, searches or anything you type.

How often it checks

The app checks configuration after it starts, including on the Welcome screen, and when it returns to the foreground. Ordinary feature checks normally run at most once every 12 hours, with retries after failures. Confirming a regional analytics default requires a fresh check when the app enters the foreground or its network changes, and renewal after 15 minutes while it remains open. These checks happen whether or not usage analytics is on. Turning either privacy switch off does not stop this configuration collection, including its installation identifier, IP-derived country and limited installer-app metadata. Without a connection, document features continue with the built-in or previously saved settings; an unconfirmed regional default cannot enable product analytics.

Sharing, AI apps and backups

Exporting and sharing papers

Exporting or sharing creates a copy outside your encrypted library. Export Papers saves or shares a .showpapers file with the papers, notes and folders you select, or shares copies of the original files. A selected note brings its linked papers, and a selected folder brings the papers in it and its nested folders. You choose the destination through your phone’s share options, the Files app or another file location. Add or share another person’s information only when you have authority to do so. A recipient keeps their own copy, which your later changes or deletions do not affect and which we cannot delete.

Temporary access when exporting on Android

When you share a readable collection on Android, Android grants temporary read permission to the recipient you choose. Other installed AI apps do not receive that permission just because you open the sharing options. The copy’s access period is at most 30 minutes; a recipient’s own saved copy can last longer. For sensitive collections, use Protect This Copy and keep its recovery key separate. This access limitation concerns readable collection exports, not protected collections.

What a .showpapers file contains

A readable .showpapers file holds the original files you selected and can also hold the text and details read from them, your notes and folders, and related information such as dates, reminders, pins and the people you tagged. Anyone who gets a readable file can open it and read everything in it. Protect This Copy encrypts the file with a separate recovery key; anyone with both the file and its key can open it, so keep and send them separately. A .showpapers file never holds your settings, keys or analytics choice, and it is not a backup.

Ask an AI App

Ask an AI App sends a copy you review to the AI app you choose. Everything in your library starts selected; use Choose What to Include to send less. The first time, ShowPapers explains that the copy leaves its protection. The copy holds the papers, notes and folders you selected as a readable .showpapers file. So that more AI apps can read it, it may also include a PDF of the originals and a plain-text summary of the papers’ titles and types, the end dates you confirmed, your notes and your folders. Your question and any Rules for What You Send text go with it. Those rules are instructions for the recipient, not a filter: they do not remove attachments or redact document content. Use Choose What to Include and review linked papers to control what is in the copy. On Android you can pick an installed AI app directly; if none can accept the file, you can save the copy and open an AI website in your browser to attach it yourself. On iPhone, the share sheet lists the apps that accept it. That AI service can read the copy and handles it under its own terms, privacy and retention practices. ShowPapers does not connect to an AI service itself, and this is separate from reading on your phone.

For sensitive papers, review the recipient’s privacy and retention practices and share only what is needed. You can instead use a trusted local AI setup configured to keep document content on your device, including any connected tools. Installing a tool or workspace skill locally does not make a cloud assistant local. If you attach a collection to a cloud chat, project or workspace, that provider can process the included content. Check who can access that workspace and its connected tools; deleting the collection in ShowPapers does not remove those copies.

AI app names and icons

ChatGPT and Codex are trademarks of OpenAI. The Claude, Gemini, Cursor and Grok names and logos belong to their respective owners. We show them to identify third-party services, without implying affiliation or endorsement. These icon images are served from our own site; displaying them does not contact those services or send them your documents.

Backups

Back Up Library, in Settings, Backup and Recovery, saves your whole library as one encrypted file where you choose: originals, the details read from them, notes, folders, pins, reminders, the people you tagged, and your appearance and reminder settings. It is protected by a recovery key that only you hold, saved as a key file or written down as a code, and an optional passphrase. Without the key, nobody can open the backup, including us. We cannot recover a lost key or passphrase, or papers that were never backed up. Restoring a backup replaces the library on that phone. A storage or messaging service you use for a backup has its own privacy practices.

Permissions and notifications

Permissions

ShowPapers asks for access only when a feature needs it: the camera to scan on iPhone (on Android, the Google Play services scanner handles the camera), the microphone and speech recognition to dictate, notifications for reminders, and Face ID, Touch ID, your fingerprint or your screen lock for App Lock. Photos and files are chosen through your phone’s own picker, so ShowPapers receives only what you pick.

Reminders and App Lock

Reminders are scheduled on your phone as local notifications. They say only that a reminder is ready, without the name or details of a paper. App Lock uses your phone’s own screen lock and biometrics; we never receive biometric information.

Help pages in the app

Pages on this website that the app opens, such as Help and Feedback, the Terms, this policy and Report a Problem, open in an in-app browser: a Custom Tab from your browser on Android, and Safari View Controller on iPhone. They are ordinary pages of this website and follow the next section, including its separate analytics choice. The app’s own usage analytics can record which of these pages you opened, not what you do on them. Report a Problem adds the app version, the platform and the operating system version to the page address after a “#”. Browsers do not send that part of an address to our server; the page uses it only to fill in the report, and it reaches us only if you send the report.

This website and messages to us

Website analytics

This website and our protocol site at protocol.showpapers.app use Google Analytics 4, a service provided by Google, to understand how visitors find and use it: which pages are opened, how far down a page visitors scroll, which sections come into view, which links, buttons, store badges and theme or gallery controls are used, and on Report a Problem, whether Copy Template or Email Report was used and whether the app filled in its details. The protocol site also records navigation, downloads and whether a validation run succeeds or fails. Each event uses fixed names and labels that we define. The validator and file viewer process selected files in your browser; their contents are not uploaded or included in analytics. We do not send anything you type, the text of a problem report or the app details it contains, email addresses, the address of a page that was not found, or the parts of a web address after “?” or “#”, except standard campaign labels such as utm_source that a link to this site may carry. Of the site that sent you here, only its address, such as google.com, is used.

What Google Analytics adds

Google Analytics also records your browser and device type, screen size, language and an approximate location, such as your country, region or city, that Google derives from your IP address; Google Analytics does not store the IP address itself. It uses the first-party cookies described below. Our website code disables Google signals, advertising storage and ad personalization, and never sets a user ID. We do not combine website analytics with other information about you. Event-data retention follows the settings in our Google Analytics property, as explained below.

Cookie consent

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, Google Analytics does not set or read cookies until you choose Accept in the cookie banner. Until then, Google receives page-view and consent signals without analytics cookies or a persistent analytics identifier. These requests still include technical information such as browser headers, time and a random number generated for that page load. Elsewhere, analytics cookies are on unless you turn them off. If an old analytics cookie remains without a saved choice, we ask you to choose again. Cookie Settings, at the bottom of every page, lets you accept or decline at any time. If you decline, the site deletes its Google Analytics cookies and stops new site analytics events. It does not load Google’s analytics script on later page visits while that choice applies; the site works the same either way. Google determines your region from your IP address, so a VPN or travel can change which default applies. Google’s privacy policy describes its processing.

Our hosting provider

Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes connection information such as IP addresses, request metadata, and browser information to deliver and protect the site. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy. Cloudflare also hosts our protocol site. Its analytics follow the same rules described here. Each website stores its own analytics choice, so you can manage it separately through Cookie Settings on that site.

Emailing us

If you email us, including a problem report, we receive your email address and whatever you include. We use it to respond and handle the issue, retaining it only as needed for that purpose or legal obligations. The report page prepares the email in your own email app; the website does not upload or store it. Please do not email personal papers, recovery keys, passphrases, or screenshots that show personal details.

Cookies and browser storage on our websites

Apart from the two Google Analytics cookies below, our websites set no cookies. It stores:

  • _ga, a Google Analytics cookie: a random identifier that lets Google Analytics recognize your browser on later visits. It expires 13 months after your last visit.
  • _ga_ followed by our measurement ID, a Google Analytics cookie: the number and timing of your current visit. It expires 13 months after your last visit.
  • showpapers-consent-v2, in your browser’s storage: your Accept or Decline choice and when you made it. We keep a choice for 13 months, then ask again where consent is required.
  • showpapers-theme, in your browser’s storage for the current tab: the light or dark theme you picked, until you close the tab.

The browser storage entries are never sent to us or to Google. The Google Analytics cookies are set only as described above and never before you accept in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. Some browsers delete them sooner. You can also remove cookies and site data in your browser’s settings at any time.

Who else handles information

These service providers process information for us under their applicable terms:

  • Google, for Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Crashlytics, Performance Monitoring, Remote Config and Firebase Installations in the apps, Google Analytics on both websites, and, for any separate analytics exports, BigQuery in our own Google Cloud project. See the Firebase privacy information.
  • Cloudflare, which hosts this website and the protocol site.
  • Google Workspace, which hosts our support mailbox and processes messages you choose to email us.

Advertising partners Google, Meta and TikTok handle permitted measurement data under their applicable terms and privacy policies, as described above. Others handle information under their own policies, not on our behalf: Hugging Face, which hosts the on-device AI model and receives the download request from your phone (see Hugging Face’s privacy policy); Google, for the Google Play services document scanner on Android; Apple and Google, for the App Store, Google Play and your phone’s own services; and any person, AI app or service you choose to send a copy to.

Keeping and deleting information

On your phone

Papers and notes stay on your phone until you delete them in the app or uninstall ShowPapers. Deleting a paper removes it, its details, pins and reminders from the app. Uninstalling removes the app’s storage from the phone. Backups, collections and copies you saved or sent elsewhere stay where you put them; we cannot reach or delete them. You can remove the on-device AI model at any time in Settings, On-Device AI.

Information that leaves your phone

Information that leaves your phone or reaches us is kept for these periods:

  • Usage analytics in Google Analytics, from the apps and our websites: event data is kept for 14 months. User data associated with an identifier has a 14-month retention period that renews when new activity arrives for that identifier. Returning regularly can therefore extend how long that user data is kept; it does not renew the age of every old event. Standard aggregated reports are outside these retention settings.
  • Crash reports in Firebase Crashlytics: 90 days, after which Google starts deleting them.
  • Performance measurements in Firebase Performance Monitoring: Firebase’s standard retention, which is 30 days for data associated with an IP address and 60 days for other performance data.
  • The app configuration’s installation ID: Firebase keeps it until it is deleted through Firebase. It is stored separately from the analytics identifier, and turning usage analytics off does not remove it. Firebase may create another configuration identifier if the app continues to fetch configuration.
  • Copies of analytics, crash or performance data exported to our Google Cloud project (BigQuery): until their separate expiration or deletion. Google Analytics’ retention setting does not delete these exports.
  • Advertising measurement: Google analytics records follow the Google Analytics periods above. Meta, TikTok and any linked advertising account apply their own retention rules to information they receive; we do not set a universal period for their systems. Their policies and account privacy controls explain those periods and available deletion choices.
  • Emails: only as long as needed to respond and follow up, or as the law requires.

Privacy requests and deletion

Contact hello@showpapers.app about your privacy rights or information you sent in support correspondence. We can identify that correspondence from your email address and assess the request. ShowPapers currently has no per-installation deletion service for analytics, crash, performance or advertising records already sent to providers or exported to BigQuery. Those records use random or device identifiers; they are not fully anonymous, but we do not link them to your email and do not display the identifiers in the app. An email therefore does not give us a reliable way to locate every record belonging to your installation. Do not send identity papers, private documents, passwords or recovery keys with a request.

Turning analytics off removes local unsent app analytics and requests deletion of pending crash reports as described above; it does not delete records already received by Google or separate exports. Previously approved crash uploads and queued performance measurements may still complete. Already received records follow the retention periods above. Advertising providers have their own privacy controls and request procedures; using the app's switch does not delete their existing records. We cannot delete copies you sent to other people or services. These limitations do not remove any applicable legal rights; contact us to raise a request or concern.

Your choices and rights

Your controls in the app

In the app, you can turn usage analytics, crash reports and performance monitoring off, remove the AI model and delete your papers and notes at any time. You can also turn off Advertising Measurement in Settings. On this website, Cookie Settings turns website analytics on or off.

Your legal rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing of information we hold, to receive a copy of it, to withdraw consent, or to complain to a privacy authority. Contact us to make a request. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. We do not sell your papers or use their contents for advertising. If you enable advertising measurement, identifiers and installation activity are shared with the providers above. Some privacy laws describe certain advertising disclosures as “sharing” or targeted advertising even without a payment for data. You can opt out through Advertising Measurement and contact us to exercise applicable rights.

Using ShowPapers in different countries

ShowPapers can be used in many countries. The services described here, including Google’s Firebase and Google Cloud, Cloudflare and Hugging Face, may process information in the United States and other countries under the safeguards in their own terms.

Children, changes, and questions

Age requirement

You must be at least 13 years old to use ShowPapers. It is for teenagers and adults, and is not directed to children under 13. If you are under the age of majority where you live, involve a parent or legal guardian as described in our Terms. Adults may keep papers about family members, including children, when they have the authority to do so; those papers are not sent to our analytics or advertising providers.

The minimum age for using the app is separate from the age at which you can consent to optional data collection. Local law and provider rules may require a higher age or parental authorization. The app does not verify age or provide a verified parental-consent process. Do not enable optional usage analytics or advertising measurement if you cannot legally consent to that processing. Accepting our Terms or an Apple tracking prompt does not override these requirements.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with information that should not have been collected, contact us. We will investigate and take the steps required by applicable law, including deleting identifiable information we hold where required. The privacy-request section above explains the current limits on locating and deleting per-installation telemetry.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page and its dates when our practices change. For significant changes we will give additional notice, such as in an app update, a notice in the app or on this site, and ask for your agreement where the law requires it. Questions and requests: hello@showpapers.app.

Read the security notes for practical limits and the Terms for your responsibilities.