Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 3, 2026

HearthScan is a local-first document scanning app. In plain words: your documents stay on your device. We do not have a server that receives them, there are no accounts, and we do not sell or share your data.

The short version

Your scanned documents never leave your device except when you yourself send them (for example, when you save a file somewhere, print, share it, or transfer it to another of your own computers on your local network). We never receive them.
We do not require an account and do not ask for your name, email, or any personal identifier to use the app.
We do not run analytics or telemetry inside the app, and we do not include third-party advertising or tracking software.
Text recognition (OCR) runs entirely on your device. The app does not send your images or recognized text anywhere.

Information we do not collect

We do not collect, transmit to us, store on our servers, or sell:

your scanned images, photos, PDFs, or documents;
the text produced by optical character recognition (OCR);
the contents of your document library or file names;
your name, email address, phone number, or any account credentials (there is no account);
your precise location;
advertising identifiers or cross-app tracking data.

Information stored on your device (and only there)

The app stores the following locally on your computer, under your Windows user profile, and it stays there unless you move or delete it:

Scanned and imported documents in your chosen documents folder (by default %LocalAppData%\HearthScan\Inbox).
App settings (language, chosen folder, file format, preferred scanner, OCR language) in a local settings file.
Offline OCR language models used for on-device text recognition.
A small cached copy of the "More from Hearth" list (see below).

You can delete any of this at any time using File Explorer or Windows' app-data controls. Uninstalling the app and clearing its data removes it.

Limited network activity

HearthScan is designed to work offline. The only network activity is the following, none of which sends us your documents or personal data:

"More from Hearth" update check. The app occasionally (at most once per day) downloads a small, public file that lists our other apps, so the in-app suggestions stay current. It contains no account, no identifiers, and no information about you or your documents. As with loading any web page, our hosting provider may keep standard technical request logs (such as an IP address and timestamp); we do not use these to identify you. If the app is offline, it simply uses the built-in list.
Phone-as-scanner (local network only). When you use your phone to capture a document, your phone connects to HearthScan on your own computer, over your own local network, and the image transfers directly to that computer. It is never sent to us or to any third party.
Home network document sharing (local network only). Features that connect several of your own computers on the same network move data only between your own devices, encrypted in transit. It does not reach us.
Links to the Microsoft Store and websites. Tapping a "More from Hearth" suggestion or another link opens the Microsoft Store or your browser. Those third-party services run under their own privacy policies, which we do not control.
Windows components. Scanning uses Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) and its drivers, and the phone feature uses your Windows network stack and firewall. These are parts of Windows, governed by Microsoft's terms and privacy practices.

No advertising, analytics, or tracking

The app contains no third-party advertising SDKs, no analytics SDKs, and no cross-app or cross-site tracking. The "More from Hearth" panel promotes only our own apps and does not profile you.

Third-party components

The app includes open-source text-recognition technology (Tesseract OCR and its language data) that runs locally on your device and does not transmit data. The app is distributed through the Microsoft Store, operated by Microsoft under its own terms and privacy policy.

If you contact us

If you choose to email us (for support, feedback, or a bug report), we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message. We use them only to respond to you and to fix the issue, we do not add you to any mailing list, and we do not share them with anyone. You may ask us to delete the correspondence at any time.

GDPR, UK GDPR, and other privacy laws

The app is designed for data minimization: it processes your documents only locally on your device, under your control, and we act as neither a controller nor a processor of any personal data on your behalf, because your documents and personal data never reach us from the app. As we hold no data about you, requests to access, correct, port, restrict, object to, or erase data held by us have nothing to act on; you can exercise full control by editing or deleting the local files described above.

California (CCPA/CPRA)

We do not collect, sell, or share personal information, and we have no personal information to disclose. "Sell" and "share" are used here as defined by California law. There is nothing to opt out of because no data is collected.

Children's privacy

The app is a general-purpose tool and is not directed to children. Because we do not collect personal information, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Security

Your documents are stored on your own device under your Windows user account and are subject to your computer's security. Where the app stores a sensitive value used for local-network device pairing, it protects that value at rest using Windows data-protection facilities. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and you are responsible for securing your own device, network, and backups.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example to reflect new features. When we do, we will change the effective date above and post the updated policy at this URL.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at support@hearth-software.com.