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Traces privacy policy

Last updated 8 November 2026

Traces is an app that checks the photos on your iPhone for what they give away, made by NEXTGEN SOFTWARE LTD ("we", "us"), a company registered in England and Wales. This policy explains what the Traces app looks at, what it keeps, and what you can do about it. Questions go to hi@nextgensoftware.co.

The short version

  • Traces checks your photos on your iPhone. Nothing about your photos is sent to us or to anyone else.
  • There's no sign-up and no account, no servers, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. Traces works in Airplane Mode.
  • We collect no personal data, so there's nothing for us to sell or share.

What Traces looks at

Traces reads your photos only after you allow it in the iOS permission prompt, and checks them on your iPhone with Apple's built-in frameworks. It looks for:

  • Location: where a photo was taken, from the location data stored in the photo.
  • Secrets in text: card numbers, passwords, recovery codes, boarding passes and similar text, read with Apple's on-device text recognition.
  • ID documents: passports, driving licences and ID cards.
  • Faces: photos that show faces. Traces finds faces; it never identifies who they are.
  • Intimate photos: only if you have turned on Sensitive Content Warning in iOS Settings. Apple's on-device analysis tells Traces only yes or no.

No photo, part of a photo, or result leaves your iPhone.

What stays on your iPhone

Traces keeps a small index on your iPhone so it can show results and pick up a scan where it left off. The index is excluded from iCloud and device backups. It keeps:

  • which photos have findings, with each finding's category and severity
  • where on the photo a finding is, as a box
  • a masked snippet, such as a card's first and last four digits, never the full text
  • for photos with a location, the place rounded to about 110 metres
  • for one-time codes and boarding passes, the date they stop being useful (a day after the screenshot, or after the flight), so Traces can suggest deleting them, and which of those you chose to keep

The index never keeps the text read from your photos, images of faces, face data, or thumbnails of findings.

The Locked folder holds the photos you move into it, encrypted on your iPhone. Its key stays in the iPhone's Keychain, and neither the folder nor the key is included in backups. Your settings, such as Face ID and reminders, are stored in the app.

The iPhone's Keychain also keeps a record of your purchases: whether you have Lifetime, each Clean-up you bought with the photos it covers (by the iPhone's own id for each photo, never the photo or what was found in it), and how many free fixes you've used. It stays on this iPhone and isn't included in backups.

What we collect

Nothing. Traces makes no network requests of its own: no servers, accounts, analytics, advertising, tracking, or third-party code that sends data. We don't sell or share data, because we never receive any.

Three things can use the internet, and each is handled by iOS, not by Traces: App Store purchases, the optional iCloud Photos check below, and the links to this policy and the terms of use, which open in Safari.

iCloud Photos

By default, Traces checks only the copies of your photos already on your iPhone. The Check iCloud photos setting is off unless you turn it on.

With it on, iOS fetches your own photos from your iCloud Photos to your iPhone so Traces can check them. That download is between your iPhone and Apple; Traces still sends nothing.

Purchases

The scan is free, and so are three fixes. More fixes come with a Clean-up or with Lifetime, both one-time purchases sold through Apple's App Store. Apple handles payment and refunds under Apple's Privacy Policy.

We never see your name, email address, Apple Account or payment details. Traces asks iOS only whether you have Lifetime, and keeps the purchase record described above in the iPhone's Keychain so fixes keep working offline. Apple sends us sales reports that don't identify you.

Face ID, notifications, Clean Share and the widget

  • Face ID: Traces asks iOS to confirm it's you. iOS never shares your face data with apps; Traces learns only yes or no.
  • Notifications: reminders, the weekly note, "scan done" alerts and, with Lifetime, a note when an automatic scan finds something in new photos are all made on your iPhone. With Lifetime, the weekly note carries counts, such as how many of the week's photos need a fix, never what was found. Traces uses no push service.
  • Clean Share: when you share a photo to Clean Share, it makes a cleaned copy on your iPhone. Your original isn't changed, and nothing is uploaded.
  • Widget: shows the counts and date of your last scan, and how many of this week's photos need a fix. On the Lock Screen, the numbers are hidden while your iPhone is locked.

Crash reports

Traces has no crash reporting of its own. If you choose to share analytics with app developers in iOS Settings (Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send us crash reports that don't identify you. You can turn this off at any time.

Deleting your data

Everything Traces stores is on your iPhone, so you control it:

  • Delete all app data in Traces Settings removes your scan results, settings and the Locked folder. Export any locked photos you want to keep first. Your purchase record stays, so you keep what you paid for.
  • Deleting the app removes everything it stored, including the Locked folder, except the purchase record in the Keychain, so a Clean-up still covers its photos if you install Traces again.
  • Turning off photo access in iOS Settings stops Traces reading your photos.

Your rights

UK and EU data protection law (GDPR) and US state privacy laws, such as California's, give you rights to see, correct and delete your personal data. We hold no personal data about you, so there is nothing for us to return or delete; Apple holds your purchase records. You can still email us, and we'll reply within one month.

If you're in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. In the EU, you can complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

Traces collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes

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

Contact

NEXTGEN SOFTWARE LTD hi@nextgensoftware.co