Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 10, 2026

Scrub ("Scrub", "the app", "we", "us") is published by Hone. This policy explains how Scrub handles your information. It is deliberately short, because Scrub is built so there is very little to explain.

1. We do not collect personal data

Scrub does not collect, store off your device, or transmit any personal information. In Apple's App Privacy terms, Scrub's data collection is "Data Not Collected." Specifically, Scrub does not:

• upload your photos, PDFs, or any file content anywhere;
• send file names, file paths, or detected personal information off your device;
• include any analytics, usage tracking, advertising, or third-party SDKs;
• use crash reporters that transmit data off your device;
• require an account, email address, or sign-in;
• track you across other apps or websites.

2. How Scrub handles your files

When you open an image or PDF, Scrub analyzes it locally, using Apple's on-device Vision framework to read text and detect faces and barcodes, on-device pattern matching for structured data (emails, phone numbers, account and card numbers, regional IDs), and on-device machine-learning models to find names and addresses. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence those are Apple's built-in Foundation Models; on other iPhones, Scrub uses Apple's on-device language tools together with a compact detection model. Redaction (black bars, blur, or pixelation) is applied on-device by destroying the underlying pixels and text, and the result is written to a new file (for example, IMG_1234-scrubbed.jpg). Your original file is never modified. None of this leaves your device, and Scrub keeps no copy of the files you process.

Detection model downloads. On iPhones without Apple Intelligence, the compact detection model is delivered by Apple on demand: the first time Scrub needs it, iOS downloads the model file from Apple's servers. This is a generic model. It contains no personal data and none of your file content, and downloading it reveals nothing about the files you scan. It is the only network activity involved in detection; once the model is on your device, detection runs fully offline. iPhones with Apple Intelligence use Apple's built-in model and download nothing. (Apple delivers this file through its standard App Store infrastructure, under Apple's privacy policy.)

Detection is best-effort and user-reviewed: Scrub presents the items it identifies as candidates for you to confirm, adjust, or add to before any redaction is applied. It does not claim to find every piece of personal information, so you should review the result and verify the sensitive content is gone before sharing the scrubbed file.

Face data. To help you redact faces, Scrub uses Apple's on-device Vision framework to detect where faces appear in the file you open. This is face detection, not face recognition: Scrub determines only the rectangular location of a face, never who the person is. Scrub does not create or store faceprints, face templates, facial-geometry measurements, face embeddings, or any biometric identifier, and it performs no facial recognition or identity matching. A detected face region is used only to show you a review box and, if you confirm it, to destructively redact that region in a new file. All of this happens on your device: face data is never transmitted off your device, never shared with us or any third party, and never used for any purpose other than the redaction you request. The location data exists only during your review session. If you background the app mid-session it may be saved in the app's private on-device storage (excluded from backup) solely so you can resume, and it is deleted when the session is finished or discarded.

3. Information stored on your device

Some information is stored locally on your device for the app to function. It stays on the device (and in your own iCloud/device backups where applicable) and is never sent to us:

• Your sensitive-terms list. Terms you choose to add (such as your name or employer) so Scrub can flag them. You enter these deliberately, they are always visible in Settings, and you can delete them at any time.
• App settings and in-progress sessions. To let you resume an interrupted batch, Scrub may save its working state locally in the app's private storage. It is excluded from iCloud backup and cleared when the session is finished or discarded.
• Shared-in files. When you send a file to Scrub from another app's share sheet, it is staged in a private on-device container shared only between Scrub's own components, then removed as soon as the app reads it.

4. Photo library permission

If you choose to open a photo from, or save a scrubbed copy to, your photo library, iOS asks for permission. Scrub uses that access only to read the image you pick and to write the redacted copy back, nothing else. You can change this permission any time in iOS Settings.

5. Purchases

If Scrub offers any paid features, purchases are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. Apple processes the transaction under Apple's privacy policy; Scrub does not receive your name, payment card, or other payment details.

6. No third-party sharing

Because Scrub collects no personal data, there is nothing for us to share or sell, and we do not. Scrub includes open-source components that run on-device (acknowledged in the app); none of them transmit your data.

7. Children's privacy

Scrub does not collect personal data from anyone, including children. It contains no ads, no accounts, and no data collection of any kind.

8. Security

Your files are processed in the app's protected, sandboxed storage and are never sent over a network. Redaction and metadata removal are destructive in the output, so the removed content is not recoverable from the scrubbed file you share.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the effective date above and post the revised version here. Because Scrub does not collect contact information, material changes will be communicated through the app and this page.

10. Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@scrub.software.