Pixtide Sticker Privacy Policy

Overview

Pixtide Sticker (on your iPhone: Pix: Sticker) makes stickers on your iPhone. Your videos, photos and stickers are processed on the phone and are not uploaded to us, and there is no account. The one exception is a photo you choose to attach when you write to us in the support chat. The app does send some data, and this page lists all of it: usage data you can switch off, purchase records, the sticker library downloads, GIF search when you use it, the support chat when you use it, iCloud sync when you turn it on, and the packs you choose to send to other apps.

This policy covers the Pixtide Sticker app. The Pixtide Swipe app and this website are covered by the Pixtide privacy policy.

Who is responsible

Pixtide Sticker is made by Matthew 10:16 LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13247894, registered office 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU). We decide how the data described on this page is used. Contact: hello@pixtide.com.

What stays on your phone

• The videos, GIFs, Live Photos and photos you turn into stickers, the stickers themselves, your packs, captions, emoji tags and sticker descriptions. Cutting out the background, trimming, rendering and encoding all happen on the iPhone.
• There is no account, no sign-in, and we never ask for your name, email or phone number.
• The app chooses clips through Apple's photo picker, so it never has access to your whole photo library. It asks for permission to add to Photos only when you save a sticker there, and for the camera and microphone only when you film a clip (stickers never include sound).
• The number of free animated cut-outs you have left is kept in this iPhone's keychain, so reinstalling the app does not reset it. It never leaves the device.
• Refill reminders, if you turn them on, are local notifications created on the phone, not sent from a server.

Usage data (analytics)

The app uses an analytics provider to record how it is used, so we can fix problems and decide what to improve. Usage data is tied to a random identifier created when the app is installed. It is not your Apple ID, your device ID or an advertising ID, and we never link it to your name or email. That makes it pseudonymous rather than anonymous. What is recorded:

• App opens, installs and updates, and which main screens you visit
• What you do, as counts and broad buckets: a sticker was made (from which kind of source, photo, video, GIF or Live Photo, roughly how long, whether the background was removed, which editing options were used), a pack was created, sent or deleted, a sticker was saved, an export failed and why, how many results a GIF search returned, which of our own library packs were viewed, bought or sent, onboarding steps, paywall views and their outcome, reminder permission and opens
• Rough totals stored with the install, such as how many stickers and packs it has made, and whether it has Pro
• Device and app details: iPhone model, iOS version, app version, language and region settings, and time zone
• Your rough location (country, region or city), estimated from your IP address. The IP address itself is not stored, and finer location such as postcode or coordinates is removed before anything is stored
• Crash and error reports, and how long processing steps take
• Answers to optional in-app surveys, if we ever show one and you choose to answer. Please don't put personal details in a free-text answer

Never recorded: your videos, photos or stickers, their file names, your pack names, captions, emoji tags or sticker descriptions, what you type into GIF search, your contacts, or who you send stickers to.

Who processes it. Our analytics provider processes usage data on our behalf under a data processing agreement, on servers in the European Union, and may not use it for any purpose of its own. The same connection is used to fetch a few settings that can switch a feature off (GIF search and the support chat). Everyone sees the same app: we do not show different designs to different people.

Why, and on what basis. We use usage data only to produce statistics about how Pixtide Sticker is used. We look at totals and trends, not at what any one person does, except to investigate a problem someone has reported to us. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR). The app keeps a random identifier on your iPhone so events from the same install can be grouped. In the UK this falls under the exception for statistical purposes in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which requires us to tell you about it and to give you a simple, free way to object.

How to switch it off. Open the app's Settings and turn off "Share usage data" under Privacy. It works the same wherever you live. From then on the app makes no requests to the analytics provider at all: anything it had recorded but not yet sent goes out in one last upload, together with a note that this install has switched usage data off, and then nothing more. Events waiting in the share or Messages extensions are deleted instead of sent. Settings fetched earlier stay as they were, and the app falls back to built-in defaults.

Purchases

Pro is sold through the App Store. Apple handles the payment; we never see your card details, your Apple ID or your name.

We use a purchase-management service to check which purchases are active, so the app knows whether you have Pro or own a pack, on every iPhone where you restore your purchases. It receives the same random install id the app uses for usage data, the details of your App Store purchases (which product, price and currency, purchase, renewal and expiry dates, the App Store country), your iPhone model, iOS and app version, and your IP address as part of the connection, and processes this on our behalf. This works whether or not usage data is switched on, because purchases must keep working.

The purchase-management service also passes purchase events (for example a new subscription or a renewal) to our analytics provider, under the same random install id, so we can see how many people buy Pro and which plan. These events come from that service, not from the app, so they still arrive when usage data is switched off in the app.

The sticker library

The app includes ready-made sticker packs we drew for it. To show new packs without an app update, it downloads the list of packs from pixtide.com at most once a day, and downloads a pack when you open it. These are plain requests for files on our website: no identifier is attached, and they work the same whether usage data is on or off. As with any website, our hosting provider sees the IP address that makes the request.

GIF search

Some versions of the app include a GIF search run by an outside GIF provider, named in the search screen. It sends nothing until you search. When you search, the app sends the provider your search words, your region code (for example GB), and a random identifier created only for GIF search, which is separate from the usage-data identifier. The provider keeps a history of the searches made with that identifier. The previews and the GIF you pick are downloaded from the addresses the provider returns, and when you pick one, the app tells the provider which GIF you picked and what you searched for, as its terms require. The provider also sees your IP address. Results are requested with its strictest family-friendly filter, and no adverts are shown. The provider's own privacy policy applies to what it receives.

Two other ways of getting GIFs involve other services only because you ask for them: "Find a GIF" opens a web image search, with the search engine you pick, in your web browser, where that search engine's privacy policy applies, and when you share a link to a GIF or video file into the app, the app downloads that file from the address you shared. The app never reads web pages to look for media.

Support chat

Settings, then Support, opens a private chat with us. It is provided by a support-chat service that handles the chat on our behalf, and it starts only when you tap Support; until then the app sends it nothing. When you use it, the service receives the messages you write and any photos you choose to attach; your iPhone model, iOS version and app version; your language, region and time zone; a random identifier for this chat, separate from the usage-data identifier; and a few details that help us answer you: whether you have Pro and how many stickers and packs you have (counts only, never their names or content). If you allow notifications, it also receives a push token so we can tell you when we reply. It never receives your name, email, Apple ID, stickers or videos unless you type or attach them yourself.

Your messages are passed to our team through the messaging app we use to reply, so copies are stored with the support-chat service and with that messaging service. The chat is encrypted while it travels but is not end-to-end encrypted, so please don't send passwords or payment details. Nobody else can join the chat, and it is not shared between people who use the app.

We keep a conversation only as long as we need it to help you. To have it deleted, ask us in the chat or by email and we will delete it and the photos you attached. If the chat is unavailable, Support opens an email to us instead.

iCloud backup and sync (Pro)

iCloud sync is a Pro feature and is off until you turn it on in the app's Settings. When it is on, your sticker library is stored in a private database in your own iCloud account, through Apple's CloudKit, so your other iPhones signed in to the same account see the same packs. That data sits in your iCloud under Apple's terms and privacy policy; we cannot see it. If you turn sync off or Pro ends, everything stays on your phone. You can delete the app's iCloud data in your iPhone's iCloud storage settings.

Sending stickers to other apps

Stickers leave your phone only when you send them. When you add a pack to WhatsApp or Telegram, use your stickers in Messages, save them to Photos or share them as files, the app hands that app the stickers and the pack details: the pack name, the publisher name (PixTide.com on free packs, or the name you set with Pro), the emoji tags and sticker descriptions, and links to the Pixtide Sticker page, this policy and the App Store. People you send stickers to can see those details. From then on, the receiving app's own privacy policy applies, and we have no access to what you send or to whom.

Everyone who receives data

Every provider named by its role on this page receives only the data described here, and only to do the job described. We choose providers that give your data the same or equal protection as this policy, and those that work on our behalf do so under a written agreement that does not allow them to use it for their own purposes.

Children

Pixtide Sticker does not require an account and does not ask for any information that says who you are. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, for example by email, contact us and we will delete it.

How long we keep data, and how to delete it

• On your phone: your stickers and packs stay until you delete them. Deleting the app deletes them, except anything in your iCloud (see above) and the free cut-out count in the keychain.
• Usage data: once an install has sent nothing for 25 months, we delete everything it sent, within the following three months. If you keep using the app, the record of your earlier use is kept until 25 months after you stop. We keep totals and averages that cannot be linked to any install for longer.
• Purchase records: our purchase-management service keeps them while they are needed to provide your purchases and for our accounting and tax records.
• Support chat and email: we keep a conversation only as long as we need it to help you; ask us and we will delete it.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR you can ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to its use. Because the data carries no name or email, we usually cannot tell which data is yours; turning usage data off stops collection at once, after one last upload of what was already recorded. You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) in the UK, or to the data protection authority where you live in the European Economic Area.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Pixtide Sticker handles data, we will update this page and its date before the change reaches the app. We will not reduce your privacy protections retroactively.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Write to hello@pixtide.com.