Effective July 8, 2026
Privacy Policy
Ninja Scan is a document and business-card scanner built to run almost entirely on your device. This page explains, in plain terms, exactly what the app does and doesn't do with your data.
The short version: your scans, cards, and contact details live in the app's private storage on your phone. Nothing leaves the device unless you turn on Google Drive backup or hit Share yourself. Ninja Scan has no ad network, no analytics SDK, and no account system — there's simply nowhere for your data to be collected.
Overview
This policy covers the Ninja Scan Android app. It applies to everything the app does — capturing documents and business cards, recognizing text, organizing your library, and the optional Google Drive backup. It does not cover third-party apps you send content to (like your email client or a cloud drive) once you've shared a file with them.
What we collect
Ninja Scan does not operate any servers of its own, so there is no backend for us to collect data into. The information the app handles — entirely on your device unless you opt into backup — is:
| Data | Why the app has it |
|---|---|
| Document scans (images, PDFs, thumbnails) | Created when you scan a page |
| Recognized document text (OCR) | Powers in-app search |
| Business card fields (name, company, phone, email, etc.) | Extracted from a scanned card so you can edit and save it |
| Folders and tags you create | Your own organizing labels |
| Google account authorization token | Only if you turn on Drive backup — see Section 4 |
We do not collect your name, precise location, browsing history, contacts list, advertising identifiers, or any analytics about how you use the app.
Where it's stored
Everything is written to Ninja Scan's private, sandboxed storage area, which Android isolates from every other app on your phone. It stays there — full stop — unless you explicitly turn on Drive backup or use Share/Save to cloud/Save to contacts, each of which is a one-time action you initiate.
Google Drive backup (optional)
Drive backup is off by default. Turning it on asks Google to
authorize Ninja Scan for the narrow drive.file
scope — the app can only see and manage files it created
itself, never your existing Drive contents.
Once enabled, a background job uploads, into a folder named "Ninja Scan" in your Drive:
- Clean, un-watermarked PDFs of your scans
- Business card photos, in a "cards" subfolder
- A JSON manifest holding titles, folders, watermark text, OCR text, contact fields, and your tag catalog — used to rebuild your library on restore
A backup pass runs right after you make a change, and again on a 12-hour schedule so nothing is missed if you were offline. Turning backup off stops future uploads; deleting the "Ninja Scan" folder in Drive (or revoking access at myaccount.google.com/permissions) removes everything Ninja Scan has stored there.
On-device text recognition
Document and business-card text recognition runs through Google's ML Kit on-device APIs. Your images and their recognized text are processed locally, in memory on your phone — they are not uploaded to a recognition server to produce a result.
Saving cards to your contacts
"Save to phone contacts" hands the card's fields to Android's own Contacts app through a standard system intent. Ninja Scan does not request permission to read your existing contacts, and never sees your address book — the handoff only goes one way, from the app you're looking at to the Contacts app you already trust.
No ads, no analytics, no selling data
Ninja Scan carries no advertising SDK, no analytics or crash-reporting SDK, and no third-party tracker of any kind. We don't sell, rent, or trade your data — there is no data pipeline that could do so, and no business model that would want to.
Retention & deletion
Scans and cards stay on your device until you delete them, in-app, at any time — individually or via multi-select. Uninstalling Ninja Scan removes all of its local data along with it. If Drive backup was on, the backed-up copies remain in your Drive until you delete the "Ninja Scan" folder yourself or revoke the app's access.
Children's privacy
Ninja Scan is a general productivity tool, not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.
Security
Local data relies on the Android operating system's own app sandboxing. Any transfer to Google Drive is made over HTTPS via Google's own Drive API. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, but nothing here is designed to be more exposed than the rest of your phone.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the effective date at the top of this page will be updated. Material changes — anything that changes what data the app touches or where it goes — will also be called out in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to me@eugeneboon.com.