Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 31, 2026

Pincoder built the PinPrice Scanner app as a free app with optional premium features. This page informs users regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information if anyone decides to use our Service.

1. Information We Collect and Why

PinPrice Scanner is an offline-first app. All data is stored locally on your device first. Whenever an internet connection is available, the following information is also automatically synced to our servers on behalf of your account — even if you have not created an email account:

• Account identifiers: A unique anonymous device ID is assigned automatically on first launch — no sign-up required. If you voluntarily create an account, your email address is collected solely to secure access to your data across devices.
• Optional profile information: Display name, store name, phone number, and address — all optional and only stored if you choose to enter them in your profile.
• Barcode scan history: Barcodes you scan are stored locally on your device and automatically synced to the cloud in the background whenever an internet connection is available. Scan records are automatically purged from our servers after 7 days.
• Product and price data: Products you pin and prices you record are stored locally and automatically synced to the cloud in the background whenever an internet connection is available.
• Transaction records: Sales and checkout data are stored locally on your device and automatically synced to the cloud in the background whenever an internet connection is available.
• Points and credits: Your points balance and ad credit balance are stored as part of your account record. See Section 5 for how the points and premium system works.
• Referral codes: Your unique referral code and any referral code you entered at sign-up are stored solely to attribute referral rewards correctly.

2. Crowdsourced Price Catalogue

When you scan a product and record a price, that price may be contributed anonymously to our Global Price Catalogue to help other users. Contributed price data includes:

• The product barcode and price amount.
• The store name you have configured in your profile (if set).
• An approximate location (see Section 4), used to provide regional price accuracy.

3. Permissions

The App requests the following device permissions:

• Camera (required for core functionality): Used exclusively for barcode scanning within the app. No photos or videos are captured, stored, or transmitted at any point.
• Location (optional, opt-in only): GPS location is only requested if you explicitly enable the "Location" toggle in Account Settings. This is the only place that triggers the operating system location permission prompt — the scanner never requests it. If you decline, the toggle remains off and GPS is never accessed. See Section 4 for full details.

The App does not request access to your contacts, microphone, media library, or any other device resource beyond those listed above.

4. Location Data

PinPrice Scanner uses location in two ways:

• IP-based geolocation (always active, approximate): On each scan, we estimate your general region using your IP address, routed through our own server-side function. This provides an accuracy of approximately 10 km and does not require any device permission. Your raw IP address is not stored in your scan records — only the resulting approximate coordinates are stored.
• GPS location (opt-in only): If you enable the Location toggle in Account Settings, the app uses your device GPS at balanced accuracy (approximately 100 m) to tag scan history and price contributions with a more precise location. This permission is only ever requested from that settings toggle — never from the scanner screen itself.

Location coordinates stored in your personal scan history are permanently nullified (set to null) when you delete your account. Location data in price contributions is retained in anonymized form as described in Section 2.

5. Points System and Premium Features

PinPrice Scanner includes a time-based premium system. Premium access unlocks three features: Manage Inventory, Scan History, and Transaction History. Premium access is temporary and expires — it must be renewed through one of the methods below.

There are two ways to earn premium time:

• Watch a rewarded ad: Watching a short rewarded ad grants 10 minutes of premium access.
• Spend points: A point is awarded the first time you scan a barcode that is new to you and not yet recognized by the global price catalogue. Spending points converts them into premium time at a rate of 10 minutes per point. You can spend multiple points at once to extend your session further.

Your points balance and remaining premium time are stored locally on your device. Your total and available point counts are also synced to your account on the server if you are signed in. No payment or financial information is collected or stored by Pincoder in connection with the points or premium system.

6. Ad Credit System

If you unlock a premium feature while offline and no ad is available to serve, the app records an "ad credit" locally. This credit represents a deferred ad obligation. Once you reconnect and accumulate a threshold of offline credits, you will receive a notification prompting you to watch a real ad to settle the outstanding credits. No financial charge is ever applied — the settlement is always fulfilled by watching an ad within the app.

7. Referral System

Each user account is assigned a unique referral code. We store your referral code and, if applicable, the referral code you entered when joining. These codes are stored for the purpose of tracking referral relationships and are not shared with third parties. No automated rewards are currently distributed through the referral system.

8. Advertising

The App displays advertisements served by Google AdMob, including banner ads, rewarded ads, and interstitial ads. AdMob may collect device identifiers and usage data to serve relevant ads in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy. We do not control the data practices of Google AdMob.

9. Third-Party Services

The App uses the following third-party services which may process data on our behalf:

• Supabase — cloud database and authentication provider. Data synced to the cloud is stored on Supabase infrastructure. See Supabase Privacy Policy.
• Google AdMob — advertising network. See Google Privacy Policy.
• ip-api.com (via our server-side proxy) — used for IP-based geolocation. Requests are routed through our Edge Function; your device does not contact ip-api.com directly.

10. Data Retention and Deletion

You may delete your account at any time from the Account screen inside the app. The deletion process differs depending on whether you have a linked account or are using the app anonymously.

Linked accounts (email/password): An active internet connection is required. Deletion follows a strict server-side-first sequence to guarantee your data is protected:

• Our server first scrubs all personally identifiable information from your account record — your display name, store name, email address, phone number, and address are permanently cleared and your account is marked inactive.
• Location coordinates (latitude, longitude, and accuracy) stored in your scan history are permanently nullified.
• Your authentication credentials are only deleted after the above PII scrubbing is confirmed successful. If the scrubbing step fails for any reason, the deletion is aborted entirely — your auth account is preserved and no local data is wiped, so you can safely retry.
• Once the server confirms success, your local device data (on-device database, cart, notifications, and premium session) is fully wiped and the app resets.
• Non-identifying data such as product barcodes, anonymized price contributions, and aggregate transaction records may be retained to preserve the integrity of the shared price catalogue.

Anonymous accounts (no sign-up): No internet connection is required. Tapping "Delete Account" immediately wipes all data stored locally on your device. There are no server-side records associated with an anonymous account, so no server call is made.

11. Security

All data in transit between the app and our servers is encrypted via HTTPS/TLS. Cloud data is protected by Row Level Security policies ensuring each user can only access their own records. Anonymous authentication is used by default so no personal information is required to use the core features of the app.

12. Children's Privacy

This Service is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we can take the necessary steps.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of the app after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: pincoder.dev@gmail.com