Privacy Policy
Effective date: June 12, 2026
KeepShelf is a home inventory app that helps you catalog your belongings. We built it to keep your data yours. Here's exactly what happens to your information.
The short version
- Your inventory lives in your own iCloud account, not on our servers. We cannot see your rooms, items, photos, or values.
- There are no user accounts. We don't collect your name, email, or contact information. There's no login.
- No analytics, no advertising, no trackers. We don't sell or share your data, because we don't have it.
- The only time data leaves your device to us is when you use the cloud AI option to identify an item — and even then it's tied to a random ID, not to you.
What KeepShelf stores, and where
On your device and in your iCloud (private to you)
Your rooms, areas, boxes, items, photos, values, notes, and all other inventory data are stored on your device and synced through Apple's iCloud (CloudKit private database) using your own Apple ID. This data is governed by Apple's privacy policy and is not accessible to us. We never receive it.
We have no servers that store your inventory and no ability to view, export, or recover it. If you delete the app and your iCloud data, it's gone.
AI item identification
KeepShelf can suggest an item's name, category, and an estimated replacement value from a photo. There are two ways this happens:
On-device AI (when your device supports it)
On supported Apple devices, identification can run entirely on your device using Apple's on-device intelligence. In this mode, your photo never leaves your device. Barcode and text (OCR) reading always run on your device.
Cloud AI (automatic on devices without on-device support)
On Apple devices that don't support on-device intelligence, identification and value estimates run through our cloud service automatically (on supported devices, the on-device option above is used by default). When the cloud service is used, the app sends that one photo (and any barcode or text it read on your device) to our processing service, which uses Anthropic's Claude AI to return a suggestion. We send this request with a random, anonymous installation identifier so we can enforce usage limits — it is not your name, email, Apple ID, or any personal identifier, and it is not linked to your identity. We use it only to count requests for free and premium limits. We do not retain your photos after the request is processed, and the photos are not used to train any AI model. Anthropic processes the request as our service provider; see Anthropic's privacy policy.
You're always in control: AI suggestions are shown for you to confirm or edit, and you can simply enter item details by hand instead.
Purchases
KeepShelf offers an optional premium upgrade (a monthly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase). Purchases are handled entirely by Apple's App Store. We never see your payment details. Apple shares with us only the anonymous purchase status needed to unlock premium features on your devices.
What we do not do
- We do not create accounts or collect your name, email, phone, or address.
- We do not use third-party analytics or advertising SDKs.
- We do not track you across apps or websites.
- We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information.
- We do not access your photo library beyond the specific photos you add to an item.
Permissions the app may request
- Camera — only to take photos of your items, when you choose to.
- Photo library — only to let you pick a photo for an item, when you choose to.
- iCloud — to sync your inventory across your devices via your Apple ID.
You can change these in your device Settings at any time. Denying them limits the related feature, but the app still works.
Children
KeepShelf is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them. (We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone.)
Your rights
Because your inventory is stored in your own iCloud and we hold no account data about you, you control your data directly: edit or delete items in the app, and manage your iCloud data in your Apple ID settings. For any question about this policy, contact us at the address below.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the app handles data, we'll update this policy and its effective date, and note significant changes in the app or on this page.
Contact
support@keepshelf.app
KeepShelf · Toronto, Ontario, Canada