PicExplainer · Privacy
Privacy Policy
PicExplainer describes a photograph by sending it off the device. Here is exactly who receives it, what they keep, and for how long.
Available on the App Store · last updated 2026-07-29.
Read this first: PicExplainer works by sending your photograph off the device. When you photograph or import a figure, the image travels over an encrypted connection to our AWS-hosted service and on to our AI provider, currently OpenAI, which processes it and returns the description. If a figure must not leave your device, do not submit it.
What we collect
PicExplainer does not require an individual account and does not ask for a name, email address, or student record. A submitted figure or question may itself contain personal information, so only submit material you are allowed to use. For App Functionality we process five linked data types: purchase history, photos or videos, other user content, device ID, and product interaction. We do not use them to track you across apps or websites, sell them, or run third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.
Apple’s current App Privacy summary: Data Linked to You — Purchases, User Content, Identifiers, and Usage Data. “Linked” means those records are associated with the app’s pseudonymous device identifier, described below. It does not mean PicExplainer asks for your real-world name, and it is not used for advertising.
The photographs you analyse
When you photograph or import a figure, it is sent over an encrypted connection to our AWS-hosted service and to our AI provider, currently OpenAI, for off-device processing. On-device OCR fragments are included. Follow-up requests can also include the figure, your question, diagram context, and recent conversation history. Our application does not add submitted figures to a reusable server-side diagram library. Successful analyses that you save — including their images and conversations — are stored in the app on your device.
What OpenAI does with it
OpenAI states that API inputs and outputs are not used to train its models by default unless the API customer opts in. Under OpenAI’s default API controls, content may appear in abuse-monitoring logs retained for up to 30 days, or longer where legally required, and flagged images can be retained for safety review. We have not represented this service as Zero Data Retention.
Spoken answers
When VoiceOver is off and a sentence is not already available on the device, the text to be spoken is sent to our AWS-hosted speech service to generate audio. VoiceOver announcements and the fallback iOS system voice are handled on the device.
The pseudonymous device identifier
The app generates a random device identifier and retains it in secure on-device storage and in service records. It links the submitted content and the service records needed to operate subscription access, successful free-scan counts, and fair-use limits. It is not used for cross-app tracking. Secure storage can preserve this identifier after reinstall on the same device, but that is not guaranteed after a device erase, Keychain reset, or signing change.
Subscriptions
Payments are processed by Apple. To enable live analysis we receive and retain signed transaction information, original transaction identifiers, product identifiers, subscription status, and expiry information, linked to the pseudonymous device identifier. We do not receive full card or bank details.
Product interaction and service limits
We retain successful free-scan counts without a scheduled expiry. Daily analysis, question, and speech-usage counters are retained temporarily to apply fair-use, seat, abuse-prevention, and capacity limits. These counters are linked to the pseudonymous device identifier and are used for App Functionality — not advertising, and not cross-app tracking.
Children and students
PicExplainer is designed for students without requiring names, emails, accounts, or student records. Uninstalling removes the app’s sandboxed diagram library, but iOS may retain Keychain values, and service records associated with the pseudonymous device identifier may remain for purchase recovery, entitlements, seat limits, abuse prevention, and fair-use operations.
Changes and contact
If the app’s data handling changes, this policy and the App Store privacy declaration will be updated before that change is represented as current. Questions? Email robin@kindabilities.com. See also Support and the Terms of Use.
Last updated 2026-07-29.