Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 July 2026

The short version: There are no accounts, and your card numbers and barcodes never leave your phone. The App does send anonymous usage statistics — which features and which store brands get used — so we know what to build next. That is optional: Settings → Privacy → Share usage data turns it off completely.

Who this covers

This policy applies to the Blinc mobile app for iOS and Android (the “App”). It explains what the App does and does not do with your information.

Information stored on your device

The cards you add — including the store or brand name, the card number, its barcode value and format, and which cards you mark as favourites — are saved only in the App’s private storage on your device (a local database). This information:

never leaves your device automatically;
is not sent to us or to any third party;
is removed when you delete a card or uninstall the App.

There is no account, no login, and no server-side copy of your wallet. The App works fully offline, and opening a card never makes a network request.

Usage statistics

To understand which parts of the App are actually used — and which store brands to support next — the App sends anonymous usage events to PostHog, an analytics provider that processes the data on our behalf on servers in the United States. This is on by default and you can switch it off at any time in Settings → Privacy → Share usage data.

When it is on, an event is sent when you:

add a card (and whether you scanned it or typed it);
open a card’s barcode screen (and whether you came from the home-screen widget or from inside the App), or swipe to the next card;
edit, favourite, or delete a card;
change a setting (which setting, and its new value);
export or import a backup (for an import, only how many cards were added or skipped — never what they were);
install, update, open, or leave the App.

Each event carries the store or brand name shown on the card (for example Costco), because knowing which brands people keep is how we decide which ones to support properly. That name is whatever you typed when you added the card — so if you rename a card to something personal, that text is included. If you would rather it weren’t, keep card names to the store name, or turn usage statistics off.

Alongside each event, the analytics software automatically includes basic technical information: a random identifier generated on your device (not linked to you, your phone’s advertising ID, or any account), the App version, your device model and manufacturer, operating system and version, screen size, language and time-zone settings, and the time of the event.

What is never collected

Regardless of the setting above, the App never sends:

Card numbers or barcode values. The thing that actually makes a loyalty card work never leaves your device, in any form.
Camera images or photos. Nothing the camera sees is stored or transmitted.
Your identity. No name, email address, phone number, contacts, or account — the App has none of these to send.
Your location. No GPS, and we have switched off the analytics provider’s IP-based location lookup, so no city, region, or country is derived from your connection.
Advertising identifiers. There is no advertising, no ad network, and no cross-app or cross-site tracking. Your data is never used for advertising and never sold or shared with data brokers.
Screen recordings or on-screen text. Session replay and “autocapture” are both disabled, specifically so a barcode on screen can never be recorded.

Turning usage statistics off

Open Settings → Privacy and switch off Share usage data. Nothing further is sent from that moment on — including the automatic app-open and app-update events. The choice is stored on your device and survives restarts and updates.

Because the events are anonymous and carry no identifier we can trace back to a person, we cannot look up or delete “your” past events on request — there is no way for us to tell which ones were yours. Uninstalling the App stops all collection.

If you are in the EEA or the UK

Metis AI Research Inc. is the controller for the usage statistics described above; PostHog acts as our processor. We rely on our legitimate interest in understanding how the App is used to improve it, and we keep the data to the minimum described here. You can object at any time simply by switching the setting off. If you have questions, or wish to raise a concern, contact us at the address below.

Camera

The App uses your device camera for one purpose: to scan a card’s barcode when you choose to add a card. The camera image is processed on your device in real time to read the barcode. Images are not saved, stored, or transmitted anywhere. You can also add a card by typing its number instead, and the App works fully without camera access.

Home-screen widget

If you add the Blinc widget, it displays the cards you have marked as favourites so you can open them quickly. This happens entirely on your device using the data already stored locally; nothing is sent anywhere.

Backups you create

The App lets you export a backup file of your cards. This file is created at your request and handed to whatever destination you choose (for example, saving it to your files or sharing it to another app). We do not receive, store, or have any access to your backup files. Anyone you share a backup with can read the cards inside it, so keep backups somewhere you trust. Importing a backup reads a file you select and adds those cards back to your device.

Sharing and selling of data

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with data brokers, advertisers, or anyone else for their own purposes. The only third party that receives anything is PostHog, which processes the anonymous usage events described above strictly on our instructions. We may also disclose information if we are legally required to, though in practice we hold nothing that could identify you.

Children’s privacy

The App is not directed to children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children under 13. The usage statistics described above are anonymous and are not used to build a profile of any individual.

Your control over your data

You are always in control. Delete an individual card to remove it, or uninstall the App to remove all of its data from your device. Because there is no server copy of your cards, removing them from your device removes them completely. Usage statistics can be switched off in Settings at any time, as described above.

Changes to this policy

If the App changes in a way that affects this policy, we will update this page and revise the “Last updated” date above.

Contact

Questions about this policy or the App? Email metis.ai.research@gmail.com.