Privacy policy

Last updated

PAPLO turns your photos into stickers. PAPLO is made by the PAPLO Team (“we”, “us”). This page explains what happens to your photos and data when you use the app or getpaplo.com. If anything is unclear, write to support@getpaplo.com.

The short version

  • The app has no PAPLO account. Your photos are processed on your phone, your sticker library is stored on your phone, and neither is sent to us.
  • The app downloads the list of ready-made sticker packs, and any pack you add, from a PAPLO server. Those requests carry no account, device ID or photo (see Sticker pack downloads below).
  • Backup is optional and goes to your own iCloud (iPhone) or Google Drive (Android).
  • On Android, Google ML Kit may send diagnostics and usage data to Google.
  • “Share anonymous usage” is off by default. PAPLO asks once, after your first send; if you say yes (or turn it on in Settings), PAPLO sends anonymous counts of which features you use, with a random ID that is stored on your phone and deleted when you turn sharing off, to PostHog.
  • No ads, no tracking and no crash reporting. The website counts visits with cookie-free analytics (see Website below).

Photos and stickers

You pick a photo or take one with the camera. PAPLO cuts out the subject, suggests a name for the sticker and sorts it on your phone, using models that run on the phone (Apple Vision on iPhone, plus Apple Foundation Models on iPhones that support it; on Android, Google’s ML Kit, whose model Google Play services may download the first time, a model bundled in the app, and Gemini Nano on phones that support it). Your photos are not uploaded for any of this.

PAPLO asks for your camera so you can take a photo, and for access to your photos so you can pick one. On Android, you pick photos with the system photo picker, so PAPLO only gets the ones you choose. PAPLO also asks for permission to add to your photo library, so it can save a sticker, collage, GIF, video or print page to Photos when you choose Save.

What is stored on your phone

  • Your library: the photos you used, your stickers, packs, collages and other projects, kept in a local database and files inside the app.
  • Your settings, and a record of whether you own PAPLO Plus.
  • A usage log, kept by default. You can turn it off with “Keep a usage summary” under Privacy in Settings. It is stored only on your phone and records events such as opening Collage or sending a sticker: the event name, the time, and simple details like counts and options you chose. For stickers you send, it also keeps the sticker’s internal ID and how often you sent it. It holds no photos, text or sticker names. Settings shows it as a summary of the last 28 days, and entries older than 120 days are deleted. It stays on your phone unless you tap “Share usage summary” and choose where to send the summary yourself. Turning the switch off deletes what was kept.

How to delete it: stickers you delete go to Trash and are removed for good after 30 days, or straight away with “Delete forever”. To delete everything PAPLO keeps on your phone, delete the app.

Backup (optional)

Backup is off until you turn it on.

  • Backup file: you can save a portable backup file wherever you choose, for example in Files. That file is yours to keep or delete.
  • Cloud backup: when you turn it on, PAPLO uploads a copy of your library (your original photos, stickers, edits, collections and projects) to your own account. Your usage log, settings and Plus ownership are not part of a backup.
  • iCloud (iPhone): cloud backup is stored in your own iCloud account.
  • Google Drive (Android): you sign in with your Google account to turn it on. Cloud backup is stored in a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive. PAPLO asks only for access to that folder, so it cannot see your other Drive files.

Cloud backups are kept by Apple or Google under their own terms. They go straight from your phone to your account. PAPLO has no server that can access them. The app downloads a backup only when you choose to restore it. Android’s own automatic app backup is turned off for PAPLO.

How to delete backups: turn off cloud backup in PAPLO’s Settings. To remove backups that are already stored:

  • iPhone: open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then Manage Account Storage (or Manage Storage), choose PAPLO and delete its data.
  • Android: open Google Drive on the web, go to Settings, then Manage apps, find PAPLO and choose Delete hidden app data.

Google ML Kit on Android

On Android, PAPLO uses Google ML Kit, a set of Google libraries that run on your phone. ML Kit may send diagnostics and usage data to Google, such as information about the app, its performance and your device, including device identifiers. Google uses this to keep ML Kit working and to improve it. It does not include your photos. Read more in Google’s ML Kit data disclosure.

Anonymous usage (optional, off by default)

“Share anonymous usage” is off until you say yes. PAPLO asks once, in a small sheet after the first time you send a sticker, and you can also turn it on or off any time in Settings. While it is on, PAPLO sends short events to PostHog, an analytics service, using its EU cloud (servers in the European Union). An event says which feature you used, for example that you opened Collage with 3 stickers, chose a GIF style, shared a sticker to WhatsApp, made a sticker (from a photo, the camera or a batch), added an Explore pack, or saw the Plus screen. It also marks when you first reach a step: opening the app, finishing the welcome, making your first sticker and sending your first sticker. If you say yes after you already passed some of those steps, PAPLO sends them once, marked as earlier steps; if you say no, nothing about them is sent. PAPLO does not send what you bought: purchase counts come only from the app stores. Each event contains:

  • the event name and a fixed set of allowed details (options, counts and yes/no values);
  • the time;
  • the app’s name, version and build, the operating system and its version, the kind of device (phone or tablet), the device’s manufacturer and model name (for example “iPhone 17 Pro”; never the name you gave your phone), whether it is an emulator, and the name and version of the analytics library;
  • a random ID that PAPLO’s analytics library makes the first time sharing is on and stores on your phone, so we can tell how many different people come back. It is not your advertising ID, is not built from anything about you or your phone, and is not linked to an account, a name or any other ID;
  • a random session code that changes after a period without use;
  • on Android, if you installed from a link with a campaign tag, that campaign code, so we can tell which channel an install came from.

It never includes your photos, stickers, text, sticker names, contacts or an account, and no profile of you is created. The events are not used to track you across apps or for ads. Like any internet request, an event arrives with your IP address. We configure our PostHog project to discard client IP data, so the IP address is not stored with the event; PostHog’s location lookup from the IP address is turned off too. PostHog keeps the events for the retention period set in our PostHog project settings. See PostHog’s privacy policy.

You can turn it off at any time in Settings. From then on, PAPLO stops the analytics library, sends nothing more, and deletes the random ID from your phone. If you turn it on again, a new random ID is made.

Someone can share a sticker pack with you as a link. Opening the link in PAPLO opens that pack. If you install PAPLO after following a link:

  • On Android, PAPLO reads the install referrer from Google Play once, on your phone, to find which pack the link named. This happens whether or not you share anonymous usage.
  • On iPhone, PAPLO shows Apple’s Paste button once on Home. PAPLO reads the clipboard only if you tap that button, and ignores anything that is not a PAPLO pack link.

No fingerprinting or third-party link service is used.

Sticker pack downloads

The ready-made packs in Explore can come from a PAPLO server, hosted by Cloudflare. The app asks that server for the list of packs and downloads a pack when you add it. These requests send no photos, stickers you made, account or device ID. Like any internet request, they arrive with your IP address. We use it only to limit abuse and do not store it. We keep daily totals per pack, with nothing about who asked. The sheet for a pack shows its size and that it downloads from PAPLO before you add it.

Website

This section is about getpaplo.com, not the app. The website uses PostHog, an analytics service, using its EU cloud (servers in the European Union), to count visits. It sets no cookies, stores nothing else on your device for this, creates no profile of you and shows no consent banner. For each page you open it records the page, the referring site, any utm_ campaign tags in the link, and your browser, operating system and country as read from the request, and whether you tapped a store button (App Store or Google Play). Like any internet request, it arrives with your IP address; we configure our PostHog project to discard client IP data, so the IP address is not stored. It does not follow you across websites. See PostHog’s privacy policy.

If you arrive from a link with a campaign tag, the website reads the campaign code from the link and adds it to the App Store and Google Play links on the page, so we can tell which channel an install came from. It does not store the code in your browser.

Sending stickers

When you send a sticker to Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram or another app, or add a sticker pack to WhatsApp or Telegram, that app receives the sticker and handles it under its own privacy policy.

Some Explore packs link to the pack creator’s Instagram or Facebook page. Tapping one opens it in your browser, and that site has its own privacy policy.

Emailing support

If you write to support@getpaplo.com, we receive what you send, including any attachments. When you use Contact support in the app, the email is pre-filled with the app version, build and platform (iOS or Android); you can edit it before sending.

Purchases

PAPLO Plus is a one-time purchase through the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google handle the payment. PAPLO only learns whether you own PAPLO Plus, so it can unlock it, and keeps that on your phone. We never see your payment details. Restore purchase asks the store again, using the account you are signed in with.

Ads and tracking

PAPLO has no ads, no tracking across apps and websites, and no crash reporting service. The website’s visit counts (see Website above) are anonymous and use no cookies.

Children

PAPLO is intended for people 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@getpaplo.com.