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Archie: Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026

Archie (“the app”) identifies architectural styles from photos you take. It is built to know as little about you as it can: no account is needed to identify a building, there are no ads inside the app, and there is no tracking of you across other apps and websites.

Archie 3.10 adds an optional account. You need one only to save photos to your library, build your life list, and collect places on the map, because those are backed up to our servers so they survive a lost phone and can be read on more than one device. Everything the account stores, where it lives, and how to delete it is described under “Your account” below. If you never sign in, nothing in that section applies to you.

What the app processes

Photos. When you identify a building, your photo is sent over an encrypted connection to our analysis service, which sends it to Google’s Gemini to recognize the architectural style and the building. When no building in our database matches, the service also searches the web for the building through OpenRouter: the photo goes, through OpenRouter, to a model provider that neither stores nor trains on it, and a web search runs on the place and what was read in the photo. For the identification itself the photo is processed in memory and not stored on our servers: once the analysis response is returned, that copy is gone. Without an account, your photos and identification history are stored only on your device; deleting the app (or using “Delete all my data” in Settings) removes them. With an account, the photos you choose to save are also stored in your library on our servers (see “Your account”).

A device identifier. The app generates a random identifier (a UUID, stored in your device’s Keychain) so our server can count your free identifications. It is not your Apple ID, is not derived from your hardware, and is not used to identify you personally or to track you across apps. If you sign in, the same identifier tells us which of your devices is signed in, so you can see and sign out your devices from Settings.

Location (optional). If you grant location access, the app sends your position, its accuracy, and the direction the camera was facing with each photo you identify, along with a coarse place hint (like a neighborhood or city). Our server uses the position and direction only while it handles that request, to check which known building you photographed and to make the “about this area” note more accurate; it does not store or log them. When Archie can’t name the building at first, the server also asks OpenStreetMap’s public map services (Overpass and Nominatim) for the street addresses around that position, sending the position, or points just ahead of it, and nothing that identifies you or your device. If it then searches the web for the building, the search gets the place, the direction the camera faced, and those addresses. The app also uses your position on the map to show buildings near you, fetch your city’s map content, and point the map the way you’re facing. All of this is optional; the app works without it. When you save an identification, the app keeps the capture location with the photo so it can link the photo to a nearby place on the map. Without an account that stays on your device. With an account it is stored with the saved photo, rounded to about 11 meters (four decimal places), so the same link works on your other devices. Photos you pick from your library are treated the same way, using the location and direction saved in the photo, if any.

Narration audio. When you tap play to hear a description read aloud, the text of that description (which is written by us, and contains nothing about you) is sent to our server, which uses a text-to-speech model (Kokoro, reached through OpenRouter) to generate the audio. No photos, location, identifiers, or any other data accompany the text, and the generated audio may be cached on our servers so the same description doesn’t have to be synthesized twice.

Map content. The map’s city guides (curated buildings, photos, and descriptions) are downloaded from our content delivery network. These downloads are anonymous, they carry no device identifier, and the content then works offline from your device.

Feedback you send us. If you use “Send feedback” in Settings, the text you write is delivered to us by email so we can read it. It travels with the app version and the same random device identifier described above (so we can connect a bug report to, say, “a device that had already used its free identifications”, never to you). If you report an identification as wrong, your report and the analyzed photo are emailed to us the same way and also kept on our servers, with the rounded capture location you allowed, so we can check what went wrong and test that a fix works. These reports are kept only to improve Archie, never shared, not tied to your account, and deleted on request. Don’t include personal information in feedback unless you want us to have it; if you’d like a reply, use the optional email field or the Contact us link.

Questions you ask. If you ask a follow-up question on a result (typed or tapped from the suggestions), the question travels with a short text summary of that identification to our server, which asks Google’s Gemini to compose the answer. Questions and answers are handled like the identification photo: processed in memory and not stored on our servers. They are not saved on your device either. Don’t include personal information in a question.

Purchases. Subscriptions and the lifetime unlock are processed entirely by Apple. When you are a subscriber, the app sends Apple’s signed purchase receipt with your requests so our server can verify your access. We never see your payment details. If you sign in, the receipt’s transaction number is recorded against your account so your purchase also works on your other devices and on the Archie website; no payment details are involved.

Ad measurement. To help people discover Archie, we advertise it on Instagram and Facebook. So that we can tell whether those ads work, the app includes Meta’s software kit, which reports a few anonymous app events to Meta: that the app was installed and opened, that an identification happened, that the subscription screen was shown, and that a trial or purchase started (with the amount). None of this is tied to your name, your email, your photos, or your location, and the app never asks for permission to track you, because it does not: we do not use Apple’s advertising identifier at all, and Meta’s kit never receives your account. Apple’s own privacy-preserving attribution system (SKAdNetwork) is what connects an install back to an ad, and it reports only in aggregate. Meta processes this data under its own terms. If you would rather send nothing at all, you can turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and personalized ads in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and → Apple Advertising.

Usage analytics

To learn which parts of Archie people actually use, the app records anonymous usage events (a screen was opened, an identification finished, a style was unlocked, the subscription screen was shown) using a product analytics service called PostHog. These are counts of what happened in the app, not a record of you.

Concretely, what is not in them: your name, your email, your account, your photos, your identifications, your coordinates, and your device’s advertising identifier. No profile is built. Events are labelled with a random identifier created on your device at install, which tells us that some anonymous device opened the app twice rather than who did. The app never records your screen, and it does not automatically capture what you tap; only the specific events we listed above are sent. Data is processed in the European Union.

You can turn this off. Settings → “Share usage analytics”. Turning it off stops the app sending anything further, and nothing about the app changes otherwise.

Your account

Signing in is optional and is never asked for before you have seen a result. An account exists so that what you save is backed up and available on every device you sign in to, including the Archie website.

How you sign in. With your Apple ID (Sign in with Apple), your Google account, or an email address that receives a one-time code. There are no passwords. Apple and Google each confirm your identity to us and share your email address (Apple may share a private relay address instead, which works the same way) and, if you allow it, your name. We use the name only to greet you. Sign-in codes are sent from thearchieapp.com.

What the account stores. Your email address and, if shared, your name; a random account number we assign; the photos you save, with each one’s analysis, style, building name, date, and rounded capture location as described above; your life list unlocks and collected map places; the list of your signed-in devices (device name and the random device identifier); and the transaction number of your Archie Unlimited purchase, if you have one. Nothing else: identifications you don’t save are still not stored, and questions, feedback, and analytics are unchanged by signing in.

Email from us. If you have an account, we may email you now and then about what’s new in Archie or to invite you to take part in research that shapes the app. You can turn this off at any time in Settings → Account (“News and research invites”) or with the unsubscribe link in any of these emails. Sign-in codes and messages about your account are sent either way. We send these emails ourselves or through an email delivery service that receives only your email address and name, for that purpose alone.

Where it lives. On servers we operate with Amazon Web Services in the United States (us-east-1, Northern Virginia). Photos are stored in a private bucket that only our servers can read; the app and the website receive short-lived links to your own photos. Sign-in is handled by Amazon Cognito in the same region.

Who else is involved. Apple and Google, for sign-in, under their own policies; Amazon Web Services, which hosts everything above and sends the sign-in emails; and the services already named (Google’s Gemini, OpenRouter, and OpenStreetMap), which receive photos, text, or a position as described above and never your account. No one else receives account data, and we do not sell, rent, or share it.

How long we keep it. Until you delete it. Photos and records you delete from your library are removed at once and their backup copies are purged within 30 days. Signing out on a device keeps your account; it stops that device syncing.

Deleting your account. Settings → Account → “Delete account” removes your library, life list, collected places, devices, and the account itself from our servers, signs out every device, and clears the local copy on the phone you delete from. Backup copies of photos are purged within 30 days. If you signed in with Apple, we also tell Apple to revoke Archie’s access to your Apple ID. Your Archie Unlimited purchase is managed by Apple and is not cancelled by deleting the account; it can be attached to a new account by signing in and restoring purchases.

On the website

thearchieapp.com uses the same account as the app, and everything above applies there too. The differences:

What we don’t do

Data retention

Without an account, the only server-side record associated with your device identifier is the count of free identifications used. Everything else lives on your device, under your control. With an account, what you save is kept until you delete it, as described under “Your account”.

Children

Archie is suitable for all ages. Identification collects no personal information from anyone. Creating an account requires an email address; we do not knowingly hold accounts for children under 13, and a parent who believes a child has created one can email us to have it removed.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new “last updated” date.

October 2026 (website): added “On the website”. The Archie website uses the same account as the app. Photos uploaded there are identified the same way and saved to the uploader’s library; the browser sends a photo’s location to OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim to name the place, keeps sign-in tokens in local storage, and sets no tracking cookies. Purchases made on the website are handled by Stripe.

October 2026 (later): names the services. Google’s Gemini reads photos and answers follow-up questions (Anthropic’s Claude no longer does). When no building in our database matches a photo, it is searched for on the web through OpenRouter, which passes the photo to a model provider that neither stores nor trains on it. To find the buildings in front of the camera, the server asks OpenStreetMap’s public map services for the street addresses around the photo’s position, sending no identifier, and the web search gets those addresses. Narration audio is made by Kokoro through OpenRouter instead of OpenAI. What is stored, and for how long, is unchanged.

October 2026 (3.11): added “Email from us” under “Your account”. People with an account may get occasional emails about new features and research invitations, and can turn them off in Settings → Account or from any such email.

September 2026 (3.10): added the “Your account” section and updated the photo, location, device identifier, feedback, and purchase paragraphs and the “What we don’t do” list. Archie 3.10 introduces an optional account (Apple, Google, or an email code) that backs up saved photos, the life list, and collected places to our servers in the United States so they can be read on other devices and on the Archie website. Identification stays anonymous; nothing changes for people who never sign in. Deleting the account from Settings removes everything it holds. The same update sends the camera’s position, accuracy, and direction with each identification (used only for that request, to check which known building you photographed, and never stored), and keeps “not quite” reports on our servers with the analyzed photo and the rounded capture location.

August 2026 (third update): added the “Questions you ask” section above. Archie 3.5 lets you ask follow-up questions about an identification. Questions travel with a text summary of the result, are answered by Anthropic’s Claude, and are not stored, on our servers or on your device.

August 2026 (later): added the “Feedback you send us” section above. Archie 3.4 adds a feedback box in Settings whose text is emailed to us, along with the app version and the free-identification device identifier. Nothing else changed.

August 2026: added the “Usage analytics” section above. Archie 3.3 sends anonymous usage events to PostHog so we can see which features get used. No account, no advertising identifier, no screen recording, no automatic capture of what you tap, and a switch in Settings to turn it off entirely.

July 2026: added the “Ad measurement” section above. Archie 3.2 includes Meta’s software kit so we can measure whether our Instagram ads work. We chose the most limited version of that integration available (no advertising identifier, no tracking permission prompt, aggregate-only attribution), but it is a real change from the previous wording, which said we used no third-party advertising SDKs at all.

Contact

Questions? Email us at the support address listed on the App Store page.