In the Binder Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 November 2026

Who we are

In the Binder is published by R I Iglesias, trading as In the Binder, a sole trader based in England ("we", "us"), the data controller for the app. We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller, registration number ZC280454. For any privacy question, contact [email protected].

What stays on your phone

• Your collection: the cards, sealed products and graded slabs you add, with quantities, conditions, grades and certificate numbers. This is stored in the app's own database on your device. So that a lost or replaced phone doesn't mean a lost collection, the app also keeps a small copy of it (your cards, sealed products, price history, price alerts and display settings, never keys or photos) for your phone's own backup. If backup is switched on in your phone's settings, Android saves that copy in your Google account's backup and can bring it back on a new phone, where the app asks you before restoring it. That backup is held by Google under your account; we never receive it. Nothing else the app stores is included. You can turn backup off in your phone's settings.
• Settings, theme and visit streak: also stored on your device (display settings are included in the backup copy described above).
• Camera and photos: the camera is used only while the scanner is open, to recognise cards on your phone itself. Card recognition runs entirely on the device. Photos are never uploaded, unless you switch on "Help improve the scanner" (described below). Photos you choose to import are read on the device in the same way and are never uploaded.
• Scanner memory: when you confirm a scanned card, the scanner keeps a small numeric fingerprint of that photo (not the photo itself) on your phone, so it recognises your cards faster next time. It never leaves your device, and you can erase it in Settings, under Scanner memory.
• NFC (Android only): used only when you tap a graded slab's chip, to read its certificate number. The iPhone app doesn't use NFC.
• Error log: the app keeps a short list of its own recent errors (error messages only, never your collection or photos) on your phone. It is only sent if you choose "Send feedback" in Settings, which opens an email you can read and edit before sending.

Uninstalling the app deletes all of this from your phone. A copy in your phone's Google backup, if there is one, is managed by Google and can be removed from your Google account's backup settings. You can export your collection at any time from Settings.

What leaves your phone

• Card prices and images: to show prices and pictures, the app downloads the day's public card prices from our data repository on GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com), which copies them from the Pokémon TCG API (pokemontcg.io) once a day. If that copy isn't available, the app asks pokemontcg.io directly. Card images come from pokemontcg.io's image servers. These requests ask for public set and card information. They don't include your collection or anything that identifies you, beyond the IP address every internet request carries.
• Other card games (One Piece, Lorcana, Dragon Ball, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!): the first time you open one of these games, the app downloads its public card list and scanner reference data from our data repository on GitHub (github.com and raw.githubusercontent.com), and then checks for updates and the day's market prices about once a day. That data is built from TCGplayer's public product information. Card pictures are loaded from TCGplayer's image server (tcgplayer-cdn.tcgplayer.com). These requests ask only for public card information and carry nothing about you or your collection, beyond the IP address every internet request carries.
• Exchange rates: to show prices in your currency, the app fetches the European Central Bank's daily reference rates from Frankfurter (frankfurter.app) at most once a day. The request asks only for the rates and carries nothing about you or your collection, beyond the IP address every internet request carries.
• New card data: once a day the app checks this website for a newer card list and scanner index, and downloads it if there is one. The request carries nothing about you or your collection, beyond the IP address every internet request carries.
• App updates: when the app opens, it asks Expo (expo.dev), the service that delivers its small updates, whether a newer version is ready. The request carries the app's version, whether it's running on Android or iPhone, and a random install number created on your phone. That number isn't linked to you or your advertising ID, and it changes if you reinstall the app. Expo uses it to send the right update and count installs.
• Sealed product barcodes: when you scan the barcode of a sealed product (a booster box, a tin) that the app doesn't already know, it first checks a list of sealed-product barcodes downloaded from our data repository on GitHub; nothing is sent for that. Only if the barcode isn't on the list is the barcode number sent to Open Products Facts (openproductsfacts.org), an open product database, to look up the product's name and picture. Only the barcode number is sent, with the app's name.
• PriceCharting import (optional): if you choose to import your collection from PriceCharting, the app fetches that collection from pricecharting.com using the seller ID or link you enter. Nothing is sent unless you start an import.
• Grading certificate checks: the "Cert" and "Verify" buttons open the grading company's own website (PSA, CGC, Beckett and others) in your browser, with the certificate number in the address, so you can check a slab. That site's own privacy policy applies.
• Shared collection links: when you share your collection, the whole list is written into the link itself, after the "#". That part of a link is never sent to any server, ours included. Whoever opens the link sees the collection; their browser then loads public card pictures and prices the same way the app does.
• Jev sorting (optional, off unless you turn it on): if you add your own TypeSafe AI key in Settings and tap "Sort held PriceCharting items", the names of those items and the candidate card names are sent to TypeSafe AI (api.typesafe.ai) to pick the matching card. Nothing else is sent, and nothing is sent unless you add a key and tap the button. Your key is stored only on your phone.
• Help improve the scanner (optional, off unless you turn it on): the app asks once whether you want to help, and you can change your answer at any time in Settings, under Advanced. If you switch it on, each time you confirm a scanned card the app sends one small picture of that card only (cropped to the card, about 480 pixels wide, with any location or other photo data removed), which card it is, whether you corrected the scanner's first guess, the app's version, and whether it runs on iPhone or Android. The picture is stored by Cloudflare (Cloudflare R2) on our behalf and is used only to train and test the card scanner. It is not linked to you: there is no account, no device or advertising ID is sent, we don't store your IP address, and nothing about your collection is sent. Switching it off stops it straight away. Because the pictures can't be traced back to a person, we can't find one person's pictures; if you think you shared a picture showing something personal, email us with the day and the card and we'll remove it. We keep the pictures for as long as they help the scanner and review them at least once a year.
• Anonymous scan results (on unless you turn it off): so we can make the scanner faster and more accurate, the app sends a few numbers about each scan: whether a card was found, which way it was read (picture or printed text), how sure the match was, how long it took, whether you kept the first card it suggested, the set of a card you added, the app's version, and whether it runs on iPhone or Android. No picture, no card list, no account, device or advertising ID is sent, and we don't store your IP address, so the results can't be linked to you. They are stored by Cloudflare (Cloudflare Workers and D1) on our behalf, used only to improve the scanner, and kept for up to two years. You can turn this off in Settings, under Advanced, with "Anonymous scan results".
• Advertising (Google AdMob): the free app shows a banner ad served by Google AdMob. AdMob may collect your device's advertising ID, IP address and information about ad interactions, to show ads, limit repeats, measure performance and prevent fraud. Ads are limited to content suitable for general audiences. On Android they are never personalised, and in the UK and EEA you're asked for consent before any ad is shown. On iPhone, the app first asks for Apple's tracking permission. If you tap Allow, ads may be personalised using your activity in other companies' apps and websites, and in the UK and EEA Google's consent form then asks for your choice. If you don't allow tracking, ads are never personalised and no consent form is shown. You can change your choices at any time (on iPhone, in Settings, Privacy & Security, Tracking). You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's Google settings. See how Google uses data from apps that use its services.
• Buy and sold-price links: the "Buy", "Sold prices" and "Cardmarket" buttons open TCGplayer, eBay or Cardmarket in your browser. These links may carry an affiliate tag, so we may earn a commission if you buy something. Those sites have their own privacy policies. We receive no personal information from them, only anonymous commission reports.

Your account (optional)

From version 1.16 you can sign in, in Settings under Account & sync, so that the same collection is on all your phones and tablets. Signing in is optional; everything else in the app works without it.

• What we receive when you sign in: Apple or Google confirms who you are and gives us an account number for you with that service and, if you share it, your email address (with Apple you can choose to hide it; Apple then gives us a private relay address). We never receive your password. We create a random session key for your phone and keep only a scrambled (hashed) copy of it.
• What is stored with your account: a copy of your collection: the cards you own with their quantities, languages, conditions, grades and certificate numbers, centring measurements, sealed products, price alerts, PriceCharting import records, cards you added yourself, and your display settings (look, currency, how sets open). Not stored: your photos, price history, scanner memory, trade folders, your Jev key or other secrets, or anything about your device beyond the word "iPhone" or "Android" for each signed-in phone.
• Where: on Cloudflare (Cloudflare Workers and D1), which stores it for us in a database located in Western Europe. Cloudflare processes it only on our instructions, under its data processing terms.
• Why: only to keep your collection the same on your phones and safe if you change phone. It is never used for advertising, never sold and never shared.
• How long: for as long as you have an account. If you delete your account, everything stored with it is deleted straight away (any copy in Cloudflare's own backups expires within 30 days). If you sign in with Apple, deleting your account also cancels In the Binder's access to your Apple ID.
• Deleting it: in the app, Settings > Account & sync > Delete account. You can also ask us to delete it without the app. The cards stay on your phones; only the account and its online copy are deleted.
• Signing out of a phone stops it syncing; the cards stay on that phone.

What we don't do

• We don't sell your data.
• We don't require an account. If you choose to have one, it is used only to sync your own collection.
• We don't track your location.
• We don't read your contacts or files, apart from the photos, backups and spreadsheets you choose to import yourself. Those are read on your phone and never uploaded.

Legal basis (UK GDPR)

Storing your collection on your own device needs no legal basis from us, because we never receive it. If you choose to sign in, we keep your account and the copy of your collection because you asked us to (performance of a contract: providing the sync you signed up for). Advertising data is processed by Google on the basis of your consent where it is asked for, or legitimate interests (for non-personalised ads and fraud prevention). Card pictures you choose to share through "Help improve the scanner" are processed on the basis of your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings.

Children

In the Binder is intended for collectors aged 13 and over and is not directed at children under 13.

Your rights

You have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to get a copy of it. If you have an account, that is your sign-in email and the copy of your collection described above: you can delete it yourself in the app, or email [email protected] and we'll answer within a month. Without an account, we hold no personal data on our side, apart from any card pictures you chose to share to help improve the scanner, which carry nothing that identifies you. For advertising data, use Google's controls or contact us and we'll help. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, mention it in the app.