Privacy policy
Last updated 13 October 2026. Applies to the Stow app for iPhone.
The short version
- Your inventory and your photos live on your iPhone. You don't need an account to use Stow.
- When you scan, a smaller copy of the photo — faces blurred, location and camera details removed — is sent to an AI model to list what's in it. That copy isn't kept, and nothing you store is used to train any model.
- No ads, no tracking, no analytics tools, and we don't sell or share your information.
- Export everything as PDF or CSV at any time, on every plan. Delete everything from Settings.
Who we are
Stow is published by the seller named on its App Store page ("we"). We are the controller of the personal information described here. Contact us through Stow's App Store page.
What stays on your iPhone
Your rooms, containers, the things in them, values, notes, condition reports and your photos are stored in the app on your device. Full-resolution photos never leave it. Your iPhone's own backup (iCloud Backup or a computer) includes Stow's data under Apple's terms, not ours. Search results can appear in Spotlight on your device; that index stays on the device.
What leaves your iPhone, and why
Identifying what's in a photo
When you take or choose a photo, the app first makes a copy no larger than 1024 pixels, pixellates any faces it detects and writes the copy without location or camera metadata. That copy, with the kind of container and the room name, is sent to our server and on to OpenRouter, which passes it to an AI model provider — currently Google's Gemini. Every request requires zero data retention, refuses providers that use data for training, and forbids falling back to any other provider. Our server does not store the image, the request or the model's answer, and does not log them. Like any web service, our hosting provider keeps brief technical records of requests — such as the time, the route and the network address — for a few days, to keep the service running and secure. Face detection is used only to blur faces; Stow never identifies people.
Labels that could reveal health, religion, politics or similar sensitive matters (for example a mobility aid) are replaced with a general category before they reach your device.
Wherever you are, we ask for your explicit consent before the first photo is sent, naming who processes it, record which version of that request you agreed to, and let you withdraw it in Settings › Data & privacy. Without consent you can still add things by hand.
Photo copies for your record
So your record's pictures can be shown on your other devices and to people you share your household with, the app uploads two reduced copies of each photo — a 256-pixel thumbnail and a 1024-pixel display copy — to storage we control on Cloudflare R2, filed under a random household identifier. The original stays on your iPhone.
Estimating a value — only when you ask
When you tap Estimate value, the item's name, and its category, brand, model and condition if you entered them, are sent with your country and currency to our server and on to an AI model through OpenRouter that searches the web for a current price. The photo is never sent. Web search is carried out by a search provider that receives the search terms. Items the app treats as sensitive are never sent for a value. We only show a figure with a source you can open.
Helping improve Stow — off unless you turn it on
If you switch on Helping improve Stow, fixes you make to a scan after that moment are sent to storage we control: what kind of fix it was, the item name and category (sensitive labels generalised), whether the item was marked uncertain, any quantity change, and which model produced the scan. Never a photo, a price or a location, and never fixes made before you switched it on. We use them to measure and improve identification. Switch it off at any time.
Claim links — only when you make one
If you create a claim link, the app uploads a PDF of your inventory, including item photos, to storage we control. Anyone with the link can open that PDF until it expires (at most 90 days) or you end it, which deletes the file. Only share it with people you mean to.
Signing in and sync — only if you sign in
If you sign in with Apple to sync or share your household, we receive a stable user identifier from Apple. We do not ask for your name and do not store your email address. Your record is then stored in a database hosted by Supabase and synchronised to your devices by PowerSync, so it can reach your other devices and the members of your household.
Checking the app is genuine
To stop our server being used by anything other than the Stow app, your iPhone may create an Apple App Attest key. We keep its identifier and public key, which identify the app installation and nothing about you.
Purchases
Payments are handled entirely by Apple. We never see your card or Apple Account details; the app receives which product you bought and a transaction identifier so it can unlock what you paid for.
What we don't do
- No advertising, no tracking across apps or websites, no data brokers.
- No analytics or crash-reporting tools from third parties.
- We don't sell or share personal information, as those words are used in California law.
- Nothing you store is used to train AI models.
Who processes it for us
| Provider | What for |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Our server (Workers), photo copies, claim-link PDFs and shared fixes (R2), App Attest records (KV) |
| OpenRouter and the AI model provider it routes to | Identifying photos and estimating values, with zero data retention |
| Supabase and PowerSync | Storing and syncing your record, if you sign in |
| Apple | Payments, Sign in with Apple and App Attest |
These providers may process information in the United States and other countries. Where the law of your country requires safeguards for that, we rely on the providers' data processing terms.
How long we keep it
| Information | Kept |
|---|---|
| Photo copies sent for identification or a value estimate | Not kept after the answer |
| Things you delete in the app | 30 days in the trash, then removed |
| Your synced record | Until you delete it; deleted things follow the same 30-day trash |
| Photo copies in our storage | Until you ask us to delete them — automatic removal when a photo leaves the trash is not built yet |
| Claim-link PDFs | Until the link expires or you end it |
| Shared fixes | Until they are no longer needed to improve identification |
Your choices and rights
- Get a copy: Settings › Export everything, as PDF or CSV, free.
- Delete: delete any item or container, or Settings › Delete everything to erase the record from your iPhone. Deleting the app deletes its data on the device.
- Withdraw consent to photo identification, or switch off shared fixes, in Settings › Data & privacy, at any time.
- Depending on where you live — including the EEA, the UK, California, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your information, and to data portability. Contact us through Stow's App Store page and we will answer within the time the law allows.
- You can complain to your data protection authority — in Ireland the Data Protection Commission, in the UK the ICO, in Australia the OAIC, in Canada the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, in New Zealand the Privacy Commissioner.
Children
Stow is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.
Changes
If we change what the app sends or keeps, we will update this page and its date before the change reaches the app, and ask again for consent where the law requires it.