rubycat.

Flipreel Privacy Policy

The Flipreel app does not collect or transmit personal data. This policy covers the Live Photos you pick, the reels kept on your phone, the films and reel files you send, website visits and support requests.

1. The Flipreel app

Flipreel is a hand-cranked flip-card viewer made by Ruby Cat for iPhone. The app has no accounts, advertising, analytics or tracking. It does not access your microphone, camera, contacts or location, and it cannot read your photo library.

The app itself makes no network requests. It does not operate a Flipreel cloud service, upload your photos or reels, or sell personal data. The one case in which iOS may use a connection on its behalf is described in section 2.

2. Photos and iCloud

Picking a Live Photo. You choose a Live Photo in the photo picker that iOS provides. The picker runs outside the app: Flipreel does not ask for access to your library, cannot see what is in it, and receives only the one Live Photo you pick.

A photo kept in iCloud. If the Live Photo you pick is not stored in full on your phone, iOS downloads it from iCloud Photos so that the reel can be printed. That download is between your phone and Apple, under Apple's privacy policy. The app sends nothing with it, and we do not receive the photo. Without a connection, such a photo cannot be picked, and the app says so.

Saving a film to Photos. If you choose Save Video in the share sheet, iOS asks once whether Flipreel may add to your photo library. That permission lets the app add the film and nothing more: it does not let the app read your library.

3. Reels stored on your phone

Each reel on the shelf is kept in the app's own storage on your phone. For each reel that is:

  • Its 45 pictures.
  • For a reel you printed yourself, the video of the Live Photo it was printed from, so that you can trim it again later.
  • The date the photo was taken, and the line you wrote on the first card.
  • Where it starts and ends in the video, its paper, and when it was put on the shelf.

The app's preferences also hold which reel is on the machine and the paper and stand you last chose. We do not receive your reels or sync them through a Flipreel service.

What the kept video contains. The video is stored as iOS handed it over, whole. Like any Live Photo, it can include the sound recorded with it, and the file can carry information such as when and where it was taken. The app uses its pictures and its date only; it does not read or show a location. The video stays on your phone and is not part of a reel you send (section 4).

Retention and deletion. Reels remain on your phone until you delete them (swipe a reel on the shelf; the app asks first) or delete the app and its data. Deleting a reel deletes its pictures and its video. Offloading the app can retain its data. Your device backup may also contain your reels, depending on your system settings; restoring a backup may restore them. Manage or delete those backups using Apple's device and backup controls.

4. Films and reel files

A film. Recording makes a video of the machine as you cranked it: the cards, among them the first card with its date and your line, and the sound of the machine. The app makes it on your phone and hands it to the system share sheet.

A reel file. Sending a reel makes one .flipreel file that contains its 45 pictures, the date on its first card, the line you wrote and the name of its paper. It does not contain the Live Photo's video or its sound. The file is named after the line you wrote.

Both go only where you send them. The app or person you choose in the share sheet handles them under their own practices. We do not receive them.

The film and the reel file are made in the app's temporary storage. Each is replaced by the next one you make, and iOS may clear that storage at any time.

A reel sent to you. Opening a .flipreel file copies its pictures, date, line and paper onto your shelf, where section 3 applies. Nothing is reported to the sender or to us.

5. Sound and touch

The app makes its sounds on your phone and plays them there. It does not record audio. System timing information is used only to line the sound and the taps you feel up with your touches, and is not sent off your device.

Your touches on the crank turn the reel at that moment. They are not stored, except as the motion of the machine in a film you record.

6. Visiting this website

This website is hosted on Cloudflare. Serving and protecting the site involves processing request information such as your IP address, requested URL, request time and browser headers.

Cloudflare Worker logging is enabled, so requests may be logged for site operation. Log retention and access: ask at contact@rubycat.co.

These Flipreel pages contain no advertising pixels, embedded analytics, forms or remotely hosted fonts. The product page runs one script that turns its sample reel and makes its sound in your browser; after loading its own files from rubycat.co, it makes no network requests. The page code does not set cookies or use browser storage.

For information about the hosting provider, see Cloudflare's privacy policy. Following an external link is subject to that site's own practices.

7. Support and privacy requests

If you contact support, your email address, message and any attachments are used to respond to your request. Please do not send passwords or unnecessary sensitive information.

8. Policy changes

Effective date: the day Flipreel 1.0 is released on the App Store.

This policy describes Flipreel 1.0. If the app's data practices change, this policy will be updated.