Privacy policy

In short: to make your cards, Purlwise sends your PDF to its service and the pages to Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. We delete it after 30 days, Anthropic deletes it within 30 days and never trains on it, and there are no ads or analytics of our own. Technique videos you choose to play come from YouTube: Google sees what you watch, and may show ads.

Last updated: 19 October 2026

1. Who we are

Purlwise is made by Zac Plischka, in Australia. Zac is responsible for your information. Contact: support@purlwise.app.

2. What leaves your phone, and why

• The PDFs you choose to send. To read a pattern and make your cards, the app sends the whole PDF. That includes anything printed on it, such as your name or email added by the shop you bought it from. Nothing is sent until you agree on the "Before Purlwise reads your PDF" screen.
• Your choices for that pattern, such as size and options.
• An install token. A random code the app makes when you first open it. It holds your credit balance in place of an account. On iPhone it's kept in iCloud Keychain, and on Android in Google's Block Store, so it can follow you to a new phone.
• Purchase receipts from the App Store or Google Play, so we can add the credits you bought.
• Device checks. Apple's DeviceCheck and App Attest, or Google's Play Integrity, so a free credit can only be claimed once per device. Apple or Google keeps a "free credit claimed" mark for the device; we don't get your device's identity.
• On iPhone, a notification token for each run, kept only until that run ends, so we can tell you when it's done.

3. What stays on your phone

Your projects, progress, cards and PDFs are kept on your phone. On iPhone, projects, progress and cards also sync through your own iCloud account, which we can't see. PDFs never sync.

4. What our service keeps, and for how long

• Your pattern: 30 days from when it was sent. That's the PDF, its text and page images, and the cards our service made. All of it is deleted automatically after 30 days. After that, if you prepare another size or try again, the app sends the PDF from your phone again. Reading it again is free, and preparing the cards follows the usual credit rules.
• Run records: until you erase your data. For each run: when it happened, whether it worked, what it cost us, whether it used a credit, and a fingerprint (a hash) of the PDF so we know two runs were for the same pattern. They hold no pattern content.
• Your install token (stored scrambled) and credit balance: until you erase your data.
• Reports you send from a card (the card, its step, your size and choices, and your note): an unreviewed report is deleted after 90 days, and one we can't confirm is deleted when we review it. A confirmed report is kept as a test case, without your PDF unless you ticked the box (section 7), until you erase your data.
• Logs: 30 days. For each run: the AI model, its usage, cost, time and outcome. No pattern text and no IP addresses.
• Backups hold only tokens, balances, run records and reports. Your patterns are never backed up.
• Emails you send us are kept while we help you, and deleted if you ask.

We count runs and purchases on our own service to set prices and find faults. We don't use analytics or advertising tools of our own, and we don't track you across other apps or websites. If you play a technique video, it comes from YouTube, and what Google collects is covered by Google's own terms (section 6). We don't keep a record of which videos you watch.

5. Anthropic (Claude)

Claude, an AI made by Anthropic, reads your pattern's pages for us, along with your choices, and makes your cards. Anthropic works on our behalf under its commercial terms and data processing agreement. It deletes what we send within 30 days, unless it's flagged for misuse, in which case it can keep it for up to 2 years. It never trains its models on it. See Anthropic's page on how long it keeps data.

The AI only rearranges the pattern's own printed words into cards. Cards can be wrong, so the original page is always one tap away.

6. Other services we use

• Hetzner runs our servers, in the EU.
• Apple and Google handle payments, the device checks above, and (on iPhone) notifications. Their own privacy policies cover what they do.
• YouTube (Google) plays technique videos. Purlwise uses YouTube API Services. Nothing goes to YouTube until you tap Play on a video, after a notice that says so. From then on your phone connects to Google directly, in YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode. Google receives your IP address, which video you play and how long you watch, details of your device and how well the video plays, and an identifier for the player, and the player keeps a few settings on your phone. Google may show ads in a video; we don't choose them and can't turn them off. Google uses this information under its own terms: see the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. We don't receive what Google collects. Settings → Privacy can take back your OK, so the next video asks again.
• Cloudflare hosts this website, including the page technique videos play in, and forwards email sent to support@purlwise.app.
• Google holds our support inbox.
• Resend sends our service's alert emails to us, and our replies to your emails. It never receives your patterns.

We don't sell or share your information with anyone else.

7. Reports and test patterns

When a card looks wrong, you can send a report from the card. It includes the card's own printed words, but not your PDF. There's one box, off unless you tick it: "Also send the pattern PDF so we can test the fix." If you tick it, we keep that PDF privately and run it through Claude to test future versions of Purlwise, until you erase your data.

8. Your choices

• Turn off PDF reading: Settings → Read PDFs with Claude. Nothing more is sent, and we delete the patterns we still hold for you.
• Erase your data: Settings → Erase my Purlwise data deletes everything our service holds for your token, the data on your phone and, on iPhone, your iCloud copy. Any credits left are lost.
• Videos: Settings → Privacy takes back your OK to play YouTube videos, and the next video asks again. Erasing your data forgets it too.
• Ask us: email support@purlwise.app with your support code (Settings) to see, correct or delete what we hold. We answer within 30 days.

What erasing can't undo: anything Anthropic still holds until its 30 days are up, and the "free credit claimed" mark Apple or Google keeps for your device, so erasing doesn't give you another free credit.

9. Legal basis, and where your information goes

• We use your PDF and choices to give you the cards you asked for.
• We keep a test pattern only with your consent, which you can withdraw by erasing your data or by emailing us.
• We count runs and purchases, and check devices for the free credit, because we have a legitimate interest in pricing fairly, fixing faults and preventing abuse.
• We load a YouTube video only after you tap Play on the notice, which is your consent. You can take it back in Settings.

Your information is handled in Australia (by us), the EU (our servers) and the US (Anthropic, Apple and Google). You have rights under Australia's Privacy Act (the Australian Privacy Principles), the EU GDPR and UK data protection law, including to see, correct and delete your information, and to object. If you're unhappy with how we've handled it, tell us first. You can also complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or your local data protection authority.

10. Children

Purlwise is for people 13 and over. Its AI only rearranges your pattern's own printed words (section 5).

11. Security

Everything is sent over HTTPS. Each pattern is read in its own isolated container on our server, and the app holds no keys to our AI account.

12. Changes

If what's sent, who gets it or how long it's kept changes, the app asks you again before sending anything. Other changes are posted here with a new date.