Privacy · 8 October 2026

Your photos and stories stay with you.

Arv is an iPhone app by Peter Theill. Contact: support@arv.theill.com

In short

Arv has no server, no account, no advertising, no analytics and no tracking. Your prints, their backs, the names you type and the stories you record stay on your iPhone unless you save them to Photos or share them yourself. Arv collects no data, and Peter Theill never sees anything from the app. That’s why the App Store says “Data Not Collected”.

The camera

Arv only uses the camera while the scanner is open, after you’ve tapped Scan. The photos are used to find the print, remove the glare, sharpen it and read the back – all on your iPhone. When a print is done, Arv keeps the untouched scan, the restored copy and the back in its archive. The extra photos taken to remove the glare are deleted.

The microphone and speech recognition

Arv only uses the microphone while you’re recording in Tell. The recording is kept with the photos it’s about, in Arv’s archive. It’s written down by Apple’s speech recognition on your iPhone, and neither the sound nor the text leaves the phone. The first time you use a language, iOS may download Apple’s speech model for it. That’s a download from Apple to your iPhone, and Arv sends nothing with it.

Sharpening

Arv sharpens scanned prints on your iPhone. “Sharp” uses Apple’s own super-resolution model. The first time it’s used, iOS may download it from Apple, just like the speech model. “Extra sharp” uses a larger AI model (about 1 GB) that you choose to download in the app. It’s hosted by Apple with the app and comes from Apple’s servers, like an app update – Arv has no server of its own. Neither download sends anything with it, and the print never leaves the phone. You can delete the “Extra sharp” model again under Settings.

Faces and names

So that you can name people, Arv uses Apple’s Vision on your iPhone to find where the faces are on a print. Arv doesn’t recognise who anyone is, doesn’t compare faces across photos, and no information about faces leaves the phone. You type the names yourself. They’re stored in Arv’s archive and in the files you choose to save to Photos or share.

Text, dates and places

The writing on the back and the camera’s date stamp are read on your iPhone. Places are looked up in a list of towns, islands and countries that comes with the app (from GeoNames, CC BY 4.0). Arv doesn’t use Location Services and doesn’t go online: the place written into a photo is where the photo was taken, as you approve it – never where you or your iPhone are. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, Apple’s on-device language model helps suggest names, places and a caption from what was said. It runs on your iPhone. Arv doesn’t use Apple’s cloud models or any other server.

Photos

Arv only asks for permission to add photos to your library. It can’t see, read or change anything that’s already there. When you save, each print is added as a new photo with its date, place, caption and names written in. If you choose photos of prints from your library in the scanner, you pick them in Apple’s own picker, and Arv only gets the ones you pick.

Where your archive is kept

The archive – scans, backs, recordings, text and names – is stored in Arv’s own storage on your iPhone. Like other apps’ data, it’s part of your iPhone’s own backup (iCloud Backup or a backup on your computer), which is handled by Apple or by you, not by Arv. If you delete the app, the archive is deleted from the iPhone.

Sharing and exporting

Nothing leaves the app unless you choose it. When you save to Photos, make a folder for the family or share a photo, it goes where you send it – by AirDrop, Files, Messages, email or on a USB stick. Those copies contain the photos, backs, names, places and stories you included. Think of them like a box of prints: whoever gets them can see what’s inside.

Buying Arv

Apple handles the purchase through the App Store. Peter Theill never sees your payment details, and Arv collects no data.

Withdrawing access

You can remove Arv’s access to the camera, the microphone, speech recognition and Photos at any time under Settings → Privacy & Security on your iPhone.

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