BharatScanner is made by KickHead Softwares Pvt. Ltd. (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what the BharatScanner Android app (package com.kickhead.camscanner) does with your information. It covers version 5.0 and later.
What stays on your phone
- Scans, PDFs, photos, signatures and stamps are stored in the app's private storage on your phone. They are not uploaded to us. We have no server that receives your documents.
- Text read from your scans (OCR) is read on your phone by Google's ML Kit, which works offline once its language model is on the phone.
- Key facts (dates, amounts and ID numbers found in a document), Read aloud, audiobooks, Translate and the Word, Excel and PowerPoint conversions work on your phone. No document or its text is sent to any AI service.
- Form checks (face size, blur, light, signature ink) run on your phone.
- The PDF reader and editor (searching, signing, filling forms, changing words, notes, writing, hiding) work on your phone. Hidden parts are removed from the saved file, not just covered.
- An audiobook you save to Music goes in the phone's Music › BharatScanner folder, where music apps and other apps that can read your files can see it.
- Android's cloud backup is switched off for the app, so your documents are not copied into Android's own backups.
- A copy in Documents, only if you turn it on (Settings › Backup): each document is also saved as a PDF in the phone's Documents/BharatScanner folder, so it stays if the app is removed. Other apps that can read your files can see that folder. Vault and customer documents are never copied, and Aadhaar is hidden there if “Hide Aadhaar when sharing” is on. Delete all my data removes these copies too.
- Moving to a new phone with Android's own phone-to-phone transfer (by cable or Wi-Fi, which you start while setting up the new phone) brings your documents, signatures and settings along, directly between the two phones. This works on Android 12 and later.
What leaves your phone, and when
| What | When | Where it goes | Your control |
|---|---|---|---|
| A document you share | You tap Share, WhatsApp, Save, Print or Send to computer | The app or place you pick | Every share is your action. If you turn on Hide Aadhaar when sharing, Aadhaar numbers are hidden in shared copies. |
| Send to computer | While that screen is open | A computer on the same Wi-Fi only, after you allow it on the phone | Stops when you leave the screen or after 10 minutes unused. |
| Backup | Only if you turn on Google Drive backup | Your own Google Drive, in a folder the app created | Vault and customer (CSC) documents are never uploaded. Turn it off in Settings. |
| Usage counts and crash reports | Only if you answer Yes when asked, or turn it on in Settings | Google Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics | Never your documents, their text, names or numbers. Off by default. |
| Ads | A banner on the main screens and documents, and a full-screen ad now and then when a task is finished | Google AdMob, which uses your device's advertising ID and may show ads based on your interests | Where the law asks for consent, you are asked first. You can reset or delete your advertising ID in Android's settings. |
| App settings | When the app starts | The app downloads its settings (for example, updated form rules) from Firebase Remote Config | Nothing about your documents is sent. |
| Language packs | The first time you use a language for reading text or translating | Downloaded from Google to your phone | Only the pack is downloaded; nothing of yours is sent. |
| Voice command models | Once, when you turn on voice commands | Downloaded from alphacephei.com (Vosk) to your phone | Only the model is downloaded; listening happens offline. |
| Notifications | When the app is installed | Firebase Cloud Messaging gives the phone an address so we can send app announcements | Turn off BharatScanner's notifications in Android's settings. |
Google's handling of the data it receives for these services is described in Google's privacy policy and how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
Permissions
- Camera: to scan.
- Notifications: for expiry and due-date reminders you set, for Read aloud's controls, and while an audiobook is being made.
- Fingerprint or face unlock: for the app lock and the vault. The app never sees your fingerprint or face; Android only answers yes or no.
- Microphone: only if you turn on voice commands for the camera (“click”, “next”, and so on). The words are recognised on your phone by an offline speech model; no audio leaves the phone.
- Location: only if you tap “Show Wi-Fi name” in Send to computer. Android counts a Wi-Fi network's name as location data, so it asks for this permission; the app reads only the network's name, never where you are.
- Internet: for sharing, backup, ads, language packs and app settings, as listed above.
The app does not ask for your contacts, SMS, call logs or all your files.
Children
BharatScanner is not meant for children under 18.
Keeping and deleting your information
- Documents stay on your phone until you delete them. Deleted documents stay in the recycle bin for 30 days, then they are removed.
- Settings › Delete all my data removes every document, signature and setting from the app, stops backups, revokes the app's access to your Google Drive, and turns usage counts and crash reports off. If you used a BharatScanner 4.x account, it is deleted too.
- Your Drive backup is in your Google account; delete its “BharatScanner 5” folder in Google Drive to remove it.
- More details are on the Delete your data page.
Your rights and contact
You can ask us what information about you we hold, ask us to correct or delete it, or withdraw a consent you gave. Since your documents are on your phone, most of this you can do yourself in the app. For anything else, or a complaint, write to our grievance officer:
Grievance officer, KickHead Softwares Pvt. Ltd.Workshaala, D-9, Ground Floor, Sector 3, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India
prajjwal@kickhead.in
We reply within 30 days.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.