Privacy Policy
In short: InkStrand does not collect your information. There is no account, no InkStrand server, and no analytics, advertising or tracking. Your documents, your signature and your profile details are kept on your device, and none of them is sent to us.
InkStrand is an app for filling in and signing PDF forms on iPhone and iPad, made by Srini Gowthaman ("we", "us"). This policy covers the app and this website.
What stays on your device
- Documents you open, scan, convert, fill in or save, and the list of documents you have opened. A file opened in place from the Files app stays where it is; InkStrand keeps only a reference to it.
- Your saved signature, as an image. By default InkStrand asks for Face ID or Touch ID before applying it; you can change that under Your signature.
- Your autofill profile: whichever of your name, date of birth, phone number, email address, street address, city, state and postcode you choose to enter, used to fill in matching form fields.
- Sign-in tokens for any cloud drive you connect, kept in the device's Keychain.
Deleting InkStrand deletes your documents, signature and profile from the device. iOS can keep Keychain items after an app is deleted, so disconnect a drive first if you want its sign-in gone too. If you back up your device to iCloud or a computer, the backup includes InkStrand's data, as it does for other apps, under that backup's own settings.
When InkStrand uses the network
Only when you ask it to, and never to a server of ours:
- Cloud drives. When you connect Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, you sign in on the provider's own page, and InkStrand then talks to that provider directly to list your files and download the ones you open. It asks for read-only access, so it cannot change or delete anything in your drive. It also reads the name or email address of the account you signed in with, and shows it in the app so you can see which account is connected. The provider's own privacy policy covers your use of their service. Disconnecting removes the sign-in from your device and asks Google or Dropbox to cancel InkStrand's access; Microsoft gives apps no way to do that, so OneDrive's permission stays until you remove InkStrand in your Microsoft account settings. You can also withdraw access at any time in your account settings with the provider.
- Web pages. When you share a web page to InkStrand, it loads that page from its website, as a browser would, and saves it as a PDF on your device. When Safari shares the address of a PDF, InkStrand downloads the PDF from that address. The website receives what it would from any visit, such as your IP address.
- Purchases. InkStrand Complete is bought through the App Store. Apple handles the payment, and InkStrand learns from Apple only whether you have bought it. We never see your payment details or your Apple Account.
Google user data
If you connect Google Drive, InkStrand requests read-only access to it and uses that access only to list the folder you are looking at, to download the files you choose to open — or export a Google Docs, Sheets or Slides file to PDF — onto your device, and to show the email address of the Google account you connected so that you can tell which account is in use. It does not store Google user data anywhere but your device, does not transfer it to us or to anyone else, and does not use it for advertising. Disconnecting Google Drive in InkStrand deletes the sign-in from your device and asks Google to revoke InkStrand's access. InkStrand's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Permissions
- Camera, to scan a paper form. The scan is made and kept on your device.
- Photos, to turn photos of a form into PDF pages. InkStrand receives only the photos you pick.
- Face ID or Touch ID, to unlock your saved signature. iOS performs the check and tells InkStrand only whether it succeeded; InkStrand never receives face or fingerprint data.
Each permission is requested the first time you use the feature that needs it, and declining one turns off only that feature.
Reading text and finding fields
Recognising the text in a scan and finding the fields on a form both run on your device, using Apple's frameworks. No document is sent anywhere for either.
If you email us
We receive your email address and whatever you choose to send, and use them only to reply to you. We don't add you to a mailing list or share your message with anyone. Ask, and we will delete your emails.
Children
InkStrand collects no personal information from anyone, including children.
This website
This site is hosted by GitHub Pages and uses no cookies, analytics or third-party scripts. GitHub records visitors' IP addresses for security purposes; see the GitHub General Privacy Statement.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.