BioScan AI Food Label Scanner
Privacy Policy
Who We Are
BioScan AI (“we”, “our”, “us”) is a food ingredient scanning application available on Google Play. The app is operated independently and can be contacted at us.
This Privacy Policy explains how BioScan AI collects, uses, stores, and protects any information when you use our mobile application.
What Data We Collect
| Data Type | Collected? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Scan history | Local only | Product names, scan results and ingredient analysis. Stored on your device only. Never transmitted to our servers. |
| Camera images | Never stored | Camera frames are processed in memory only for OCR text extraction and barcode detection. No images are saved, uploaded or retained. |
| Barcode lookups | Anonymous | When you scan a barcode, a product lookup request is made to the Open Food Facts API. This request contains only the barcode number — no personal identifier, device ID or location. |
| Ad identifiers | Third-party | Google Mobile Ads may collect advertising identifiers (GAID) subject to your device ad personalisation settings. See Section 6. |
| Name, email, account | Never collected | BioScan AI does not require an account. We do not collect your name, email address, phone number or any personal identifier. |
| Location | Never collected | The app does not request or use your location at any time. |
| Crash / analytics data | Not collected | BioScan AI does not integrate any analytics or crash reporting SDK in this version. |
How We Use Your Data
The limited data processed by BioScan AI is used solely for the following purposes:
- Ingredient analysis — processing camera input to extract and analyse ingredient text
- Barcode lookups — querying Open Food Facts to retrieve product ingredient data
- Scan history — storing your past scans locally so you can review them later
- Ad delivery — serving advertisements through Google Mobile Ads to support free access to the app
- Interstitial frequency — tracking a local scan count on-device to control how often interstitial ads appear
We do not sell, trade, rent or share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
Data Storage & Security
All scan history and app preferences are stored locally on your device using MMKV, a fast key-value storage library. This data:
- Never leaves your device to our servers
- Is not backed up to any cloud service by BioScan AI
- Is deleted when you uninstall the app or use the “Clear History” function
- Is stored in the app’s private sandboxed storage — inaccessible to other apps
Since we do not operate servers that store your personal data, there is no centralised database that could be breached to expose your scan history.
Third-Party Services
BioScan AI uses the following third-party services. Each has its own privacy policy:
| Service | Purpose | Data Sent | Privacy Policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Food Facts | Barcode product lookup | Barcode number only | openfoodfacts.org/privacy |
| Google Mobile Ads | In-app advertising | Ad identifier, device info | policies.google.com/privacy |
Open Food Facts
Product data is sourced from Open Food Facts, a free, open and collaborative database of food products from around the world. Data is licensed under the Open Database Licence (ODbL). When you scan a barcode, only the barcode number is sent to their API — no personal data.
Advertising
BioScan AI is free to use and is supported by advertising provided by Google Mobile Ads (AdMob). Ads may be personalised based on your Google advertising ID and ad personalisation settings.
You can opt out of personalised advertising at any time:
- Android: Settings → Google → Ads → Delete advertising ID or Opt out of Ads Personalisation
When personalised ads are disabled, you will still see ads but they will not be based on your interests. BioScan AI does not control the content of ads served by Google.
Google’s advertising data practices are governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
Camera Permission
BioScan AI requests access to your device camera solely for the purpose of scanning food product barcodes and photographing ingredient labels.
- Camera access is used only while you are actively using the scanner screen
- No photos or video are saved, stored or uploaded
- Camera frames are processed entirely on-device in memory
- The app does not access your camera roll or photo library
You can revoke camera permission at any time in your device Settings. The app will not function for scanning without camera access.
Children’s Privacy
BioScan AI is rated Everyone (3+) on Google Play and does not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13.
Since BioScan AI does not collect personal data from any users regardless of age, there is no special risk of children’s data being collected or processed. No account registration is required to use the app.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us
Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your data:
| Right | How to Exercise |
|---|---|
| Access — know what data is held | All data is stored on your device. You can view your scan history directly in the app. |
| Deletion — delete your data | Use “Clear History” in the app, or uninstall the app to remove all locally stored data. |
| Portability — export your data | Your scan history is stored locally on your device and is accessible there. |
| Opt-out of ads | Disable ad personalisation in your Android device settings (see Section 6). |
Data Retention
Since BioScan AI does not store personal data on our servers:
- Scan history — retained on your device until you clear it or uninstall the app
- Ad data — governed by Google’s own retention policies
- Barcode lookups — not retained by us; Open Food Facts may log anonymous API requests per their own policy
We do not retain any personal data on our end that would require a formal deletion process.
