Privacy Policy
What we collect, why, and what we never do with it.
The short versionWhat we collectHow we use itWho sees itAI & trainingRetentionYour rightsCookiesSecurityChildren
The short version
- Your collection, scans, notes, prices and sales are visible only to you unless you choose to share something. Photos you upload are stored at long, random links that aren't listed or searchable anywhere, but anyone who has the exact link can open the image.
- We never sell your data and we show no ads.
- Scan photos and your corrections help us improve identification. Turn this off any time in Profile. If you scan without an account, we keep your photo only if you tap Save photo.
- Delete your account any time from Profile (see Section 5 for exactly what that removes).
1. What we collect
Account
Email address, first name, and a hashed password (we never store the password itself). If you sign in with Google: your Google account email, name and Google user ID. Sign-in sessions, and for the mobile app an API token that lets the app act as you. At sign-up we ask your birthday to check you're old enough; we don't store it.
Scans and photos
When you're signed in, the photo you scan is stored with your account, along with the result (figure, confidence, price at the time, processing time) as scan history. Photos you attach to items in your collection are stored too. We remove location and camera data (EXIF) from photos before storing them.
If you scan without an account, or use the lot appraiser with a photo, the image goes to our identification server, is analysed in memory and discarded; we don't store it. After a scan without an account we may ask whether you'd like to save the photo to help improve the scanner. Only if you tap Save photo do we keep that photo and the figure you confirmed, re-saved without location or camera details, and without your IP address, an account or any device identifier. If you give the lot appraiser a link instead, our server downloads the image from that link to analyse it.
Collection data
Figures and sets you add, quantity, condition, what you paid and when, condition-grading answers, notes, wishlist items and target prices, and sales you record (price, venue, date).
Preferences
Onboarding answers (themes you collect, how you describe yourself as a collector, rough collection size, where you buy and sell) and your model-training choice.
Feedback
When you tap "Not it?" or choose a different candidate, we store that correction linked to the scan.
Technical
IP address, device and browser type, and request logs, kept by our hosting providers for security, rate limiting and debugging. When you arrive on the website we also record, without cookies and without your IP address, the page you landed on, the site that sent you (its domain only, such as google.com), any campaign tag in the link, your device type, time zone and language. We also record the words typed into search, with the number of results and no identifier, to find what's missing from the catalog. If you accept the cookie banner, a random visitor identifier is added so we can count return visits. We also use Google Analytics to measure how the site is used unless you decline the banner (see Cookies).
Feedback you send
If you use the Feedback button, we keep your message, the page you were on, your device type and browser, your email if you give it, and your account ID if you're signed in. We use it only to fix and improve BrickIndex, and you can ask us to delete it at any time. When you answer "Is this your figure?" on a scan result, we record which figures were shown and which one you chose, without your photo or any identifier.
What we don't collect
No precise location, no contacts, no advertising identifiers, no payment details (BrickIndex is free), and no data from other apps on your device.
2. How we use it
- To run the Service: identify your photos, show prices and insights, keep your collection, sign you in.
- To improve identification: scan photos and corrections are used to test and retrain our models, unless you opt out (Section 4).
- To personalize: your themes order Search suggestions and shape insights.
- To communicate: messages about your account, security, or changes to these policies.
- To protect the Service: abuse detection, rate limiting and security.
Our legal bases, where they apply: performance of our contract with you (running the Service), our legitimate interests (security, improving identification, personalization you'd reasonably expect; you can object, and for training you can simply switch it off), and consent (the optional visitor identifier), which you can withdraw at any time. Google Analytics relies on our legitimate interest in measuring how the site is used; you can object by declining the cookie banner. Recording how visitors arrive, without cookies or IP addresses, relies on our legitimate interest in understanding which sites send people to BrickIndex. We don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated processing.
3. Who sees it
- No one, by default. Your collection, scans, notes, prices paid and sales are visible only to your account. Sharing is opt-in: a figure or set link shows only catalog and market data; a collection share link shows your first name, total value, what you paid, your gain and a few of your figures to anyone with the link.
- Service providers that process data for us under our instructions:
- Benmore: app hosting, database, sign-in and photo storage (United States).
- Amazon Web Services: our identification server (United States).
- Cloudflare: content delivery, security, and cookieless page analytics.
- Google: if you choose Google sign-in, and Google Analytics, which measures how the site is used unless you decline the cookie banner. Our pages also load fonts from Google Fonts, so Google sees your IP address when the page loads.
- Data sources we query (BrickLink, Rebrickable, Brickset) receive only the figure or set number we're looking up, never your identity. Your browser loads catalog images directly from BrickLink, Rebrickable and eBay image servers, which see your IP address like any website.
- Legal and safety. We may disclose data when required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights and safety of users and the Service. If Hathol, LLC or the Service changes hands, your data may transfer to the successor under this policy.
4. AI and model training
BrickIndex identifies figures with computer-vision models that we run on our own server at Amazon Web Services. Your photos are not sent to any outside AI company.
If you're signed in, your scan photos and corrections may be copied into our training set and used to retrain the model so identification improves for everyone. Training runs on our own equipment; training photos are never shared or sold. To opt out, switch off "Help improve identification" in Profile. We then stop using your photos and remove them from our training set the next time we update it, and within 30 days at the latest. Deleting a scan, or your account, does the same for those photos. Models trained before then aren't retrained just to remove one photo.
If you scan without an account and tap Save photo, that photo and the figure you confirmed join our training set in the same way. Because we deliberately don't link it to you, we can't find a particular photo later to remove it, so please only save photos that show the figure and nothing personal.
5. Retention and deletion
- Photos that visitors chose to save for training are kept for as long as we use them to train and test our models.
- Account and collection data are kept while your account exists.
- Visit records (landing page, referring site, device type, time zone, language and, if you accepted, the random visitor identifier) and search terms are deleted after 13 months.
- Delete your account from Profile → Delete my account (web or app). This immediately deletes your scans, corrections, collection, sets, wishlist, sales, value history, preferences, share links and app sign-in tokens from our database, and anonymizes your account record. Your photos are unlinked from your account at the same time and removed from our training set (Section 4). To have the photo files themselves erased from storage right away, email support@brickindex.app and we'll do it within 30 days.
- Routine backups roll off within 30 days.
- Aggregated, de-identified statistics (for example how often a figure is scanned) may be kept indefinitely.
- Security logs are kept for a limited period by our hosting providers and then deleted.
6. Your rights
Wherever you live, you can access, correct, export, delete and object to processing of your data. Export: Profile → Export collection as CSV; for a full copy of everything we hold (scans, photos, sets, sales), email us. Delete: Profile → Delete my account. Training: Profile → Help improve identification. Anything else, including access requests, corrections, or withdrawing consent: email support@brickindex.app and we'll respond within 30 days. You or someone you authorize can make a request; we'll verify it using the email on your account.
EU, UK and Switzerland: you also have the right to data portability and restriction, and to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
California: in the last 12 months we collected identifiers (email, name, account ID, IP address); commercial information you enter (items you own, prices paid, sales you log); internet activity on our site (analytics); photos you upload; and preferences you give us. We use them only for the purposes in Section 2 and keep them as described in Section 5. We don't collect sensitive personal information, we don't sell or "share" personal information as the CCPA/CPRA defines those terms, and we don't use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. You may exercise the rights above and we won't discriminate against you for doing so.
Do Not Track: we don't track you across other sites, so there is nothing to disable.
7. Cookies and local storage
- Essential: a session cookie keeps you signed in and a CSRF token protects forms. These are required for the site to work.
- Analytics (optional): if you accept the banner, your browser keeps a random ID (
bi_vid, in local storage, until you clear it or decline) and a per-tab session ID (bi_sid) so we can count return visits and pages per visit. They aren't linked to your account or shared. Your choice is remembered inbi_consent, and a Global Privacy Control signal counts as declining. Change your cookie choice. Google Analytics sets its own cookies (_ga,_ga_*) to measure visits and pages; it runs unless you decline the banner, and declining or a Global Privacy Control signal turns it off. Cloudflare also measures page loads without cookies or cross-site tracking. We use no advertising trackers. - Local storage on your device remembers small conveniences, such as that you've completed onboarding or your theme preferences for search. The mobile app keeps your sign-in token in the device's secure keychain.
8. Security
All traffic is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Passwords are hashed. Each account can only reach its own data, and access to production systems is restricted to authorized operators and protected by keys, access tokens and network restrictions. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your data we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
9. International transfers
Hathol, LLC is in the United States and BrickIndex runs on servers in the United States, so your data is processed there. Where the law requires safeguards for transfers from the EU, UK or Switzerland, we rely on the safeguards our providers offer, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
10. Children
BrickIndex accounts are for people 13 and older. We ask your birthday at sign-up and don't let anyone under 13 create an account. Visitors can search and scan without an account; we don't keep those photos. Teens 13–17 need a parent or guardian's permission, and a parent can ask us to see or delete their teen's data. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email support@brickindex.app and we'll delete the account and its photos.
11. Changes to this policy
We'll post updates here with a new effective date and, for material changes, notify you in the app or by email before they take effect.
12. Contact
Hathol, LLC · support@brickindex.app