Privacy policy

The short version

Æthel does not collect, transmit, sell or share your personal data. The developer runs no servers for Æthel and receives nothing from the app — no account details, no usage statistics, no crash reports, no contents of your vault.

Everything you put in Æthel stays on your device, encrypted.

Data you store in Æthel

Documents, credentials, seed phrases, notes and everything else you add are stored only on your device, in the app’s private storage, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The keys are protected by your device’s secure hardware (the Android Keystore, or the iPhone’s Secure Enclave and Keychain), can be used only while your phone is unlocked, and never leave it.

We have no copy of your data or your keys and no way to access, recover or reset them. Æthel’s keys are bound to this device and are not included in any cloud or system backup.

Network connections

Æthel has no backend and sends no telemetry. It can make exactly one kind of connection, and only when you start it:

• Transfer between your own devices. When you use LAN Transfer, Æthel sends an encrypted backup directly to your other device over your local Wi-Fi network. The transfer does not go through the internet or through any server.

Nothing else in the app connects to anything. An automated test checks this on every change.

Components provided by your operating system

• Document scanning. On Android, the document camera is provided by Google Play services (Google ML Kit); on iPhone, by Apple’s VisionKit. Both run on your device; your scans are not uploaded.
• Text recognition. On Android, Google ML Kit; on iPhone, Apple’s Vision framework. Both read the text on your device. Google Play services and iOS are part of your phone’s system software and are governed by Google’s privacy policy and Apple’s privacy policy.
• Biometrics. Fingerprint and Face ID are handled by your operating system. Æthel only receives a yes-or-no answer; it never sees or stores your biometric data.

Permissions

Permission	Why Æthel asks for it
Camera	To scan documents.
Photos (iOS)	To import a document image you pick.
Face ID / biometrics	To unlock the vault, if you turn it on.
Notifications	To remind you before documents expire and for the Dead Man Switch check-in.
Local network (iOS)	For LAN Transfer between your own devices.
Internet (Android)	Only for LAN Transfer between your own devices.

You can refuse or revoke any of these; the related feature simply stops working.

Analytics, advertising and tracking

None. Æthel contains no analytics, no advertising and no tracking of any kind, and it does not use advertising identifiers.

Backups you create

When you export a .vault backup, the file is encrypted with a password you choose and saved where you decide — a USB drive, your computer, another device. Where you keep it is under your control and outside ours.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your data stays on your device until you delete it. Uninstalling Æthel removes it. The Panic Wipe function in Settings erases the vault, its files and its keys immediately and irreversibly.

Your rights

Because we do not collect or hold any personal data about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct, export or delete on your behalf. You remain in full control of your data in the app. If you have any question about privacy, you are welcome to contact us.

Children

Æthel is not directed at children under 13 and collects no data from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new date. If a future version of Æthel ever needs any other connection, it will be described here before it ships.

Contact

Æthel is developed by Inglyph. For any question about this policy, write tosupport@inglyph.com.