1. What the app is
Shoebox Stories helps families digitize printed photographs by capturing both the front of a print and the handwritten paper back, then organizing names, tags, notes, and related care information into albums. It is a memory and labeling tool—not a social network and not a face-recognition product.
Scanning and export are free and unlimited. Optional paid plans (Premium and Studio) unlock additional features as described on our website and in the app. See our Terms of Service for subscription details.
Export. Export builds a ZIP on your phone. Captions, dates and names are written inside each JPG (EXIF/XMP) and in sidecar files, so anyone you share a photo with can read them. We never receive a copy.
Cloud sync and family sharing (coming soon). Not active yet; nothing is uploaded. When launched it will be opt-in and hosted on Amazon Web Services (Cognito sign-in, S3 storage, DynamoDB records), encrypted in transit and at rest, visible only to you and people you invite, and deleted with your account.
2. Information we collect
Depending on how you use the app and which features are enabled, we may process:
- Account email — when signed-in accounts ship (planned via AWS Cognito). Until then, use may be primarily device-local without a cloud account.
- Photos and scans you upload or capture — including front images and paper-back images.
- Metadata you provide — tags, names, notes, living/remembered care notes, provenance fields, and similar album content.
- Voice stories and voice notes — audio you choose to record in the app, plus the transcript (written on your phone by on-device speech recognition, or typed by you).
- Crash reports — if a build of the app has crash reporting switched on and you have not turned it off, technical details about an error (see Crash reports & optional analytics). Photos, captions, names and email addresses are removed from these reports.
- Optional usage analytics — off unless you turn it on in Settings; a short list of events such as “scan completed” (see section 6).
- Purchase status — entitlement signals from Apple or Google when in-app purchases are live (we do not receive your full payment card number).
We do not sell personal information. We do not show third-party advertising in the app. We do not train machine-learning models on your albums.
3. How we use information
- To provide album capture, labeling, OCR-assist confirmations, organization, and (when unlocked) sharing, kiosk, export, and Studio features.
- To maintain security, prevent abuse, and respond to trust & safety reports.
- To process subscriptions and restore purchases through Apple or Google.
- To communicate about the service when you contact us (for example at privacy@ or trust@).
4. Local-first today; cloud sync planned
Today, Shoebox Stories is designed local-first: photos and album content primarily live on your device. Cloud account sign-in (including MFA), Cognito-based identity, and optional cloud sync/storage are rolling out and should not be assumed to be fully live for every user or build. We will not claim that your library is backed up in the cloud until that path is actually available and enabled for you.
When sync and hosting ship, content you choose to sync may be stored with our planned cloud processors (see Third parties). You remain responsible for keeping device backups of irreplaceable originals.
5. What happens on your device
- Local storage. Your albums, photos (fronts and backs), voice stories (audio and transcripts), voice notes, labels, settings and scan-in-progress files are stored in the app’s own folder on your phone. They are not uploaded by the app today. Speech-to-text for voice stories runs on the phone; if the phone cannot do it offline, the audio is not sent anywhere and you can type the transcript. Your phone’s own backup (for example iCloud or Google device backup) may include them, under that service’s terms.
- Reading the writing on backs. Suggested text from the back of a print is produced on the device (Apple Vision on iPhone, Google ML Kit on Android where available). The images are not sent to us for this. Suggestions are only saved when you keep them.
- Finding prints on a page. Cutting out each print from a page photo is done on the device.
- Content check when you add a photo. An automated check runs on the device before a photo is added. On iPhones running iOS 17 or later where Sensitive Content Warning (or Communication Safety) is turned on in the phone’s settings, the app can use Apple’s on-device Sensitive Content Analysis; Apple describes this as analysis that happens on the device. Otherwise a simpler on-device check is used.
- Download my data. Settings → Your data → Download my data creates a zip file on your phone with your albums (as JSON), original images, backs, voice stories (audio and transcripts) and voice notes, which you can save or share with the share sheet.
- Delete account. Settings → Account → Delete account removes the library, images, voice stories, voice notes, scan jobs, settings and plan flags stored by the app on the phone and signs you out. App Store and Google Play subscriptions are managed by Apple and Google and must be cancelled there; the app links to those pages.
6. Crash reports & optional analytics
Crash reports. Some builds of the app use Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) to receive reports when the app crashes or hits an error. A report contains technical information such as the error and where in the app it happened, app version, device model and operating system. Before a report leaves the phone, the app removes captions, names, notes, email addresses and file paths in error messages, and it never attaches photos or screenshots. Reports are not linked to an account and are not used for advertising. You can turn crash reports off in Settings → Privacy.
Optional analytics. Off by default. If you turn it on in Settings → Privacy, the app records a small set of events (for example “scan started”, “photos saved”, “plans screen viewed”, “purchase completed”) with counts but no photo content, captions or names. In the current version these events are not sent to any server; if that changes, this policy will name the provider first.
7. No face recognition
Shoebox Stories does not perform face recognition and does not create or store biometric face templates. Naming and labeling are driven by what you (and people you invite) enter and confirm—including paper-back OCR suggestions that you review— not by identifying people through facial biometrics.
8. Studio processing
Studio (Enhance / Colorize / Animate) is an opt-in subscription feature. When you use Studio, processing is applied to create derived results; your originals stay locked/preserved. Studio does not enable face recognition.
9. Content safety & reporting
We prohibit illegal and harmful content as described in our Terms (Acceptable Use), including a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
When sharing features are enabled, we may use automated and human review tools—including PhotoDNA or similar hash-matching technologies—to help detect known CSAM and enforce safety rules. You can report concerns to thomas.swift@swiftappgensolutions.com.
10. Payments
Paid features are billed through the Apple App Store and/or Google Play when in-app purchases are live. Those platforms process payment details under their own privacy policies. Swift AppGen Solutions receives purchase/entitlement information needed to unlock features, not your full card number.
11. Children’s privacy
Shoebox Stories is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (COPPA-style). If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact thomas.swift@swiftappgensolutions.com and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.
12. Third parties & processors
We may use service providers strictly to operate the product. Planned or platform processors include:
- Apple / Google — app distribution and in-app purchases when live.
- Sentry — crash and error reports, in builds where crash reporting is switched on, unless you turn it off in Settings.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) — planned for Cognito (accounts/auth) and S3 (object storage) when cloud sync/accounts ship; treat as planned processors until enabled for your account.
- Safety tooling vendors — such as PhotoDNA-class services when sharing is enabled.
We do not sell your personal information to data brokers or advertisers.
13. Retention
We retain information only as long as needed to provide the service, comply with law, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Device-local content remains until you delete it or remove the app (subject to your device backups). When cloud storage is enabled, deleted cloud objects may persist in limited backups for a short period before permanent deletion.
14. Your rights
Subject to applicable U.S. state and federal law, you may request access to or deletion of personal information we hold about you by emailing thomas.swift@swiftappgensolutions.com. We may need to verify your request. If features are still local-only on your device, the app’s Download my data and Delete account options in Settings are the most direct controls.
15. Changes
We may update this Privacy Policy as the product evolves (for example when Cognito/sync become generally available). We will update the “Last updated” date and, when changes are material, provide additional notice in the app or on this site.
16. Contact
Swift AppGen Solutions — Privacy
Email: thomas.swift@swiftappgensolutions.com
Trust & safety: thomas.swift@swiftappgensolutions.com
United States