Privacy policy

What stays on your phone

Your finds and everything about them stay on your device: photos and thumbnails, identifications, the prices you paid, asked and sold for, statuses, checklist ticks, your chats with Ask HaulHound and your hauls. So do your selling defaults (fee, shipping, currency), your language, your AI choice and the counters of today’s free scans and questions. We have no copy of any of it, so we can’t see it, recover it or move it to a new phone for you. A CSV export is a file you send wherever you choose.

The camera and your photo library

HaulHound turns the camera on only on the Scan tab, after you tap Start camera, and takes a picture only when you press the shutter. Nothing is recorded in the background. If you pick a photo from your library instead, the app reads only that photo and never browses the rest. The picture is resized (1,600 pixels on its longest side at most) and saved with the find on your phone. The only time it leaves the device is the single upload described below, when you scan it.

What a scan sends, and to whom

Identifying a find takes an AI model, so HaulHound asks for your OK before your first scan. Each scan then sends:

• the photo you took or picked;

• the app language and the currency from your settings, so the answer comes back in your words and your money;

• a random install ID made on your phone (not tied to your name, Apple ID or advertising ID), plus the app name and version.

This goes to the HaulHound AI server, which runs on Cloudflare. The server passes the photo to OpenRouter, which routes it to the model provider, currently Google (Gemini), and returns the answer. Providers that keep requests or train on them are excluded. The server doesn’t store your photo or the answer. To prevent abuse and apply the daily limits, it keeps only counters: how many requests your install ID and your network’s IP address made that day, deleted after two days.

What a question sends

When you ask HaulHound about a find, the app sends your question with up to the last 12 messages of that chat, the find’s identification (name, details, price range and listing text, never the photo), the app language and your install ID. It takes the same route as a scan: the HaulHound server on Cloudflare, then OpenRouter and Google Gemini. Nothing is kept on the server except the same daily counters (install ID and IP address), for two days. The chat itself is saved only on your phone, with the find.

Remote settings and links out of the app

At launch the app downloads a small settings file from our server (the AI addresses, the daily free limits, ad settings). It is the same file for everyone and the request carries nothing personal beyond what any internet connection reveals, such as your IP address. When you tap the link to check sold listings, HaulHound opens a web search for the find’s name in your browser, handled by that search engine under its own policy. Sharing a find, copying a listing or emailing us goes through the apps you choose.

Ads, consent and tracking

The free version shows ads from Google AdMob: now and then a full-screen ad after a few taps, and ad cards in the Finds, Hauls and Settings lists — never on the camera, a result or a chat. Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), Google’s consent form asks what you agree to before any ad loads. On iPhone and iPad, Apple’s tracking prompt asks whether HaulHound may use your device’s advertising identifier; if you say no, ads still appear but that identifier isn’t shared. AdMob may collect device information, an approximate location from your IP address and how you interact with ads, under Google’s privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy). Premium removes every ad.

Premium and purchases

Premium is bought through the App Store. Apple handles the payment; we never see your card or billing details. To know whether Premium is active, the app uses RevenueCat, which receives an anonymous app user ID, your purchase and renewal history from Apple and basic device information (such as app version and country). RevenueCat handles this under its own privacy policy (revenuecat.com/privacy).

Permissions and why we ask

• Camera: to photograph a find on the Scan tab. Asked the first time you tap Start camera, never at launch.

• Photos: to pick one photo of a find from your library.

• Tracking (App Tracking Transparency): only so the free version can show ads that fit you better. Scanning and pricing work the same whatever you choose.

You can change any of these later in the iOS Settings app. Without the camera you can still pick photos from your library.

Children

HaulHound is made for adults who buy and resell second-hand goods. It isn’t aimed at children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country) and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has sent us information, for example by email, write to us and we will delete it.

Your choices and rights

• Delete one find with a swipe, or everything at once in Settings, under Data.

• Withdraw your OK for AI analysis in Settings, under AI: nothing is sent until you agree again at your next scan.

• Change your ad consent in Settings (where it is offered) and your tracking choice in the iOS Settings app.

• Deleting the app removes everything it saved on your device.

Where laws such as the GDPR or the CCPA apply, you may ask what data we hold about you, or ask us to delete it. Since we hold almost nothing linked to you, the controls above cover most requests; for anything else, email us. We don’t sell your personal data.

How long things are kept

On your device: until you delete them, delete the app, or your Finds reach 500 (then the oldest sold finds make room first). On the HaulHound server: photos, questions and answers, not at all; the daily counters by install ID and IP address, two days. With Google AdMob and RevenueCat: as their own policies say. Emails you send us: as long as we need to help you, then deleted.

Changes to this policy

If HaulHound starts sending something new or switches to a different service, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches you, and ask for your OK again where it’s needed.

Contact

Questions about your privacy or this policy? Write to support@haulhound.app and we’ll get back to you.