This Privacy Policy describes how Paperlight (the "App") handles information when you use it. Paperlight lets you scan a page of a printed book, select a word or line to look it up, and keep a chart for every book you read, with your bookmarked pages, quotes and what you learned. By using the App, you agree to the practices described below.
Everything you create is saved in the App's private storage on your device. This is the complete list:
| Stored on your device | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Your books | Title, author, start and finish dates, what you learned, and the cover you chose |
| Page bookmarks | The page number, your note, and the photo of the page if you scanned it |
| Quotes | The lines you saved, with page number and note |
| Lookups | The words and passages you looked up, so you can find them again |
| Your first name | Optional. Used only to greet you on the home screen |
| App settings | Whether you've seen the intro and the tour, and how many free scans you've used today |
| Pro status | A cached yes/no from Apple, so Pro works offline |
None of this is sent to us. It is included in your device's own backups (iCloud Backup or a computer backup) the same way other app data is, under your Apple Account and Apple's protections. Deleting the App removes all of it from your device.
When you scan a page with the camera or pick a photo of a page from your library, the text is recognised on your device using Google's ML Kit text recognition. The photo and its text are not uploaded anywhere. If you bookmark the page, its photo is kept in the App's private storage; otherwise it is discarded.
ML Kit is a Google software library built into the App. Google states that it may send Google basic, non-identifying diagnostic information, such as the device model, iOS version, app version and how quickly recognition ran, to keep the library working. It never includes your photos or the text on them. See Google's ML Kit terms.
The App only connects to these services, and only when you take the action described:
When you tap Meaning, Explain or Google, the App opens a Google search for the text you selected in an in-app Safari window. For Explain, the search also includes the book's title and author so Google can find discussions of that exact passage. That search goes to Google directly and is covered by Google's privacy policy, just as if you had searched in Safari.
When you search for a cover online, the App sends the book's title and author to Open Library and the Google Books API to find matching covers, and downloads the one you choose. Nothing else is sent. You can always take a photo of the cover or pick one from your library instead, which stays on your device.
Share cards are created on your device. They only leave it when you choose to send them to WhatsApp or save them to Photos (if WhatsApp isn't installed, the iOS share sheet opens instead). From there, that app's own privacy policy applies.
See section 6.
Paperlight Pro is available as an auto-renewing monthly or yearly subscription, sold through Apple's In-App Purchase system. Apple handles the entire transaction. We never see and never receive your payment details, your Apple Account, or your name.
To show prices in your currency and to know whether Pro is active, the App asks Apple's App Store directly on your device. Nothing is sent to us.
Apple provides developers with aggregated, anonymised sales and download reports. Those contain totals, not individuals, and cannot be traced back to you. Your purchase is governed by Apple's own terms and privacy policy.
Read aloud uses the voices built into iOS. Speech is generated on your device and your quotes are not sent anywhere.
If you have turned on Share With App Developers in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements, Apple may include Paperlight in the anonymised crash and performance reports it shares with developers. This is an Apple feature, it is off unless you enable it, and those reports never contain your books, quotes or anything that identifies you.
You can change these at any time in iOS Settings → Paperlight. The App requests no other permissions.
Paperlight collects no personal information from anyone, including children under 13 or the equivalent minimum age in your country.
Because the App does not transmit or sync your reading, its security depends on the security of your device: your passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, and iOS itself, which encrypts app data by default.
Data protection laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA give you rights to access, correct, export and delete the personal data a company holds about you. We hold no personal data about you, so there is nothing for us to access, export or delete, and nothing to sell.
Your data is fully under your control on your device:
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected by an updated "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If a future version of the App ever collected personal data, it would ask for your explicit consent first.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how Paperlight handles your information, you can reach out:
© 2026 Purvi Chopra. All rights reserved.