Privacy Policy

Paperly — offline PDF tool for Android.
Last updated: 10 May 2026.

The short version: Paperly does not collect, transmit, or share any of your data. Every conversion, edit, scan, OCR, and vault operation runs entirely on your device. The app makes no outbound network requests of its own. There is no account, no sign-up, no analytics, and no third-party trackers.

1. Who we are

Paperly (the “app”) is a productivity tool for working with PDF and document files. This policy describes how the app handles your data. If you have questions about anything below, contact us at private@namelessnerd.com.

2. Information we do not collect

Paperly is intentionally designed to operate without collecting personal information. Specifically, the app does not collect:

Names, email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact details.
Account credentials — the app has no login.
Device identifiers (advertising ID, IMEI, MAC address, etc.).
Location data of any kind.
Usage analytics, crash reports, or telemetry.
The contents of any document you open, scan, edit, sign, lock, or convert.

3. Information you create on your device

When you use Paperly, the following data is created and stored locally on your device:

Output files — PDFs, images, and other documents the app generates are saved to your device’s public Downloads folder (in a folder named Paperly) or, for vault items, to the app’s private encrypted storage.
Recent files history — a local list of files you have opened or produced, kept inside the app for convenience.
App preferences — theme choice, favorites, and similar settings.
Locker / Vault contents — files you choose to hide are encrypted with AES-256-GCM, with the key wrapped by the Android Keystore (hardware-backed on most devices) and stored only on your device.
Caches — thumbnails and temporary working files used to speed up the app. You can clear these any time from Settings → Cache Cleaner.

None of this data leaves your device. Uninstalling the app removes the app’s private storage; files saved to the public Downloads folder remain unless you delete them.

4. Permissions and why we use them

Android requires apps to declare each system permission they use. Below is every permission Paperly requests and the exact reason for it.

Permission	Why Paperly needs it
`READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE` `READ_MEDIA_IMAGES` `MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE`	To read PDFs and images that you explicitly select for editing, conversion, or scanning. Files are accessed only when you pick them.
`WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE`	To save the documents you produce (e.g. a merged PDF) into the Downloads folder on Android 9 and below. Newer Android versions use the Storage Access Framework instead.
`CAMERA`	To capture photos of paper documents in the built-in scanner. Camera is opened only when you start a scan; the captured image is processed on-device by Google ML Kit’s Document Scanner.
`FOREGROUND_SERVICE` `FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC` `POST_NOTIFICATIONS`	Long-running tasks such as batch compression run as a short-lived foreground service so Android does not stop them mid-job. The notification displays progress; nothing is sent off-device.
`VIBRATE`	Subtle haptic feedback for certain UI interactions.
`INTERNET` `ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE`	Used only by Google Play’s in-app update flow, which is handled by Google Play Services on your device. Paperly itself makes no outbound network calls. The release build also disables cleartext (HTTP) traffic at the manifest level as an additional safeguard.

5. How your files are processed

All document operations happen on-device:

PDF compression, merging, splitting, page reordering, watermarking, signing, password lock/unlock, metadata editing, and bookmark management run via on-device libraries (PDFBox / pdf-lib).
Word ↔ PDF conversion uses Apache POI on-device.
Image ↔ PDF conversion runs locally.
Document scanning uses Google ML Kit’s on-device Document Scanner. ML Kit downloads its scanning models once through Google Play Services, caches them locally, and runs subsequent scans without further network access.
OCR (image-to-text) is performed on-device.
The on-device Assistant performs keyword search, summarization heuristics, and pattern extraction (emails, phone numbers, word count) over text you have explicitly attached. It does not connect to any AI cloud service.

6. Third-party services

Paperly bundles a small number of third-party libraries. None of them transmit your document contents off-device:

Google ML Kit Document Scanner — runs on-device. Terms.
Google Play Services / Play Core — provides the in-app update prompt and ML Kit model delivery. Subject to Google’s privacy policy.
PDFBox, Apache POI, pdf-lib, zip4j — offline document libraries. No network access.

7. Data security

Files placed in the in-app vault (Locker) are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The encryption key is wrapped by the Android Keystore, which is hardware-backed on most modern devices.
The release build of the app sets usesCleartextTraffic="false", blocking any accidental plaintext network communication.
Because no data leaves your device, there is no server-side data store to breach.

8. Data sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your data with anyone. We cannot share what we do not collect.

9. Children’s privacy

Paperly is a general productivity tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app does not collect personal information from anyone, this is true for users of all ages.

10. Data retention and deletion

Because all data stays on your device, you control retention:

Files saved to Downloads/Paperly remain until you delete them.
The app’s recent files list, preferences, vault contents, and caches are removed when you uninstall the app or clear app data from Android Settings.
Settings → Cache Cleaner clears caches without removing your output files.

11. Your rights

Because the app does not collect personal data, there is nothing to request, export, or have erased on our side. You can:

Revoke any permission at any time in Android Settings → Apps → Paperly → Permissions.
Clear all app data from Android Settings → Apps → Paperly → Storage → Clear data.
Uninstall the app to remove all locally stored app data.

12. Changes to this policy

If this policy materially changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, surface a notice in the app. Continued use of the app after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

13. Contact

Questions, concerns, or privacy requests:
private@namelessnerd.com