Elite Reader Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 23, 2026

Elite Reader is provided by VinWare LLC ("VinWare," "we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy explains how information is handled by the Elite Reader iPhone and iPad app, its Share Extension and widgets (together, the "App"), and our App-related support communications.

Privacy questions and requests: help@vinwareapps.com.

1. Privacy at a glance

• You can use Elite Reader without creating an account or giving us your name or email address.
• Your saved library, annotations, reading activity, and preferences are stored on your device. VinWare does not operate a server that receives or synchronizes your library.
• Text recognition, the App's spoken-request recognition, and available AI-assisted reading features run on your device.
• Elite Reader has no advertising or analytics SDK and does not track you across other companies' apps and websites.
• Some actions connect to other services. Web imports contact the source website; Search Google Images sends the selected reading's title to Google; Apple processes purchases; and emailing support sends us the information you include.

"Stored on your device" does not mean that your device backups, services you choose to open, or information you send to support are covered by the same storage arrangements. Those distinctions are explained below.

2. Information used and stored on your device

The App processes the material you choose to add and the information needed to provide its reading features:

The main library is stored in the App's local storage. The App, Share Extension, and widgets also use a private shared container on the device for pending imports, recovery drafts, preferences, and a limited widget snapshot. This container is shared between Elite Reader's components; it is not a public library or a VinWare cloud service.

We do not receive this information simply because you read, scan, annotate, or save material. If you include it in a support message or choose a feature that contacts an external service, the relevant information leaves the device as described in this policy.

3. Camera, photos, files, and pasted text

Camera. Camera access is requested when you choose to scan printed pages. Scanned images are processed on your device to recognize text.

Photos. The system photo picker provides the images you select for text recognition or cover artwork. The App does not request access to your entire photo library.

Files and sharing. The App reads files and content you select in the system file picker or send through the share sheet. A selected file or photo stored with iCloud or another provider may first need to be downloaded by that provider. The provider's handling of the original remains subject to its own settings and policy.

Text. Text you type or paste is processed as reading content or a request. The App does not continuously monitor your clipboard.

Recognized text, selected artwork, and recoverable imports may be retained locally. Choosing an image for recognition does not automatically publish or send that image to VinWare. You can decline camera access and continue using other import methods.

4. Spoken requests and microphone access

The Speak request feature asks for microphone and speech-recognition permission when you activate it. It converts a short spoken reading request into text using Apple's on-device speech recognition. The App requires on-device recognition; if it is unavailable for your device or language, this feature asks you to type instead of switching to a remote speech service.

Audio is processed during the request and is not saved as a recording or uploaded by this feature. Listening stops when you stop it, dismiss the editor, move the App to the background, or reach the feature's time limit. You can review and change the recognized text before using it. A note or other annotation you subsequently save becomes part of your local library.

You can revoke microphone and speech-recognition permissions in iOS or iPadOS Settings. Typing remains available. A keyboard or system dictation feature you choose separately is governed by that provider's settings and privacy practices.

5. Reading Companion and AI-assisted notes

Source excerpts and passage matching are processed locally. On supported devices, available AI-assisted features use Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework to interpret requests, suggest relevant passages, and generate reading notes or summaries.

The App does not send the source text, request, or generated response to a VinWare AI server or a remote model API. VinWare does not receive your library for AI processing or use it to train AI models. Generated notes you save are stored with your reading.

Availability depends on device support, software, language, model availability, and Apple Intelligence settings. If the model is unavailable, supported manual tools and local source excerpts remain available. Apple's separate device, model-download, and diagnostic services are governed by Apple's policies and your system settings.

6. Websites, imports, and cover searches

Importing a web address or image

When you request a web import, the App contacts the source website and may follow redirects or download an article image. Importing a social post can also download post images for on-device text recognition. Loading a cover image from a link contacts that image's host.

Those services receive the requested address and ordinary connection information, such as your IP address, request time, and request headers. An address may itself contain search terms, identifiers, or access tokens. Destination websites and image hosts can retain their own request logs under their policies.

Direct article extraction uses a temporary network session and parses downloaded HTML without running the source page's scripts or loading its advertising and tracking scripts. This does not make the initial request anonymous. Browsing a website in Safari or the artwork-search browser is different from this extraction process.

Searching Google Images

When you choose Search Google Images, the App opens an in-app Safari browser with the current reading's title as the search query. That title is disclosed to Google even if it names a private document. Google and sites you visit can receive browser and network information, use cookies, show advertising, and associate activity with an account if you sign in or are signed in within that browsing session.

Use the default cover, Photos, or Files if you do not want to send a reading title to Google. Google's practices are described in the Google Privacy Policy. Other websites have their own policies. Elite Reader does not control or guarantee those independent services' retention or use of information.

Opening support, policy, or other website links also makes a normal browser connection to the destination and its hosting providers. This App policy does not replace the privacy and cookie notices applicable to those websites.

7. Purchases and Apple services

Apple handles the optional, one-time Elite Reader Pro purchase through the App Store. The App checks Apple-verified transaction information on the device, including the product and entitlement status, to grant, restore, or update Pro access. VinWare does not operate a purchase-validation server and does not receive your payment-card number or Apple Account password through the App.

Purchasing or restoring Pro does not upload your reading library. Restoring the purchase restores eligible Pro access; it does not restore local readings or notes.

Apple may provide us with App Store sales, financial, usage, and diagnostic reports under Apple's developer services and your applicable sharing choices. These reports are separate from an analytics SDK inside Elite Reader. We use available reports to understand purchases and app reliability and to meet business obligations. Apple controls its own collection and retention; see App Store & Privacy and Apple's Privacy Policy.

8. Support communications

If you email us, we receive your email address, any sender name provided, your message, and attachments or technical details you choose to send. Email providers process the message to deliver and store it. The App does not automatically attach your library or microphone audio to a support email.

We use support information to answer questions, investigate problems, address privacy requests, and maintain necessary records of those interactions. You can use the App without contacting support. Please send only what is needed and remove unrelated personal or confidential information from screenshots, documents, and receipts.

9. When information may be disclosed

Information may reach others in the following circumstances:

• Features you choose: source websites, image hosts, Google, Apple, file providers, and other services receive the information needed for the actions described above.
• Providers working for us: email and related service providers process support communications and necessary business records. Providers acting on our behalf must give the information at least the protection described in this policy, limit its use to the services they provide, and meet applicable privacy requirements.
• Legal and security needs: we may disclose information we actually hold when required by law or reasonably necessary to respond to lawful requests, protect rights and safety, prevent abuse, or establish or defend legal claims.
• A business transfer: if ownership of Elite Reader changes, relevant support and business records may transfer subject to applicable law and protections consistent with this policy. Such a transfer does not give us access to a library stored only on your device.

VinWare does not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not embed advertising trackers, access the advertising identifier, or build an advertising profile from your reading. The independent web services you choose to visit may have their own advertising practices, as explained above.

10. Retention and deletion

Library and annotations

Saved readings and annotations remain locally until you remove them or the App's data is removed. Deleting a reading removes its text, artwork, annotations, and associated sessions from the active library after the change is successfully saved. You can also delete individual annotations. Resetting a reading's position does not delete its reading history or annotations.

If the App reports that changes could not be saved, a deletion may not yet be durable. Keep the App open and resolve the storage problem before assuming the stored copy has been removed.

Recovery copies and pending imports

The App keeps a rolling local safety copy of the previous library state. It can therefore contain material removed from the active library until a later successful save replaces that copy. If the App recovers a damaged library or you start a fresh library through a recovery flow, it may preserve older files in a local recovery folder. Those preserved recovery files have no automatic expiry and may remain until the App's stored data is removed. Deleting a reading is not a secure erase of every previous copy.

Pending shared imports, staged attachments, and recoverable drafts are stored separately until successfully processed or discarded through an available control. Closing the share sheet can preserve a draft; closing it alone is not a deletion request. Waiting readings can be discarded from the Library's Waiting readings screen. Failed or unfinished recovery files may remain in local storage. Local deletion markers may also remain to prevent a deleted reading from being reimported from an older pending share.

Removing the App and managing backups

Deleting the App through iOS or iPadOS removes its main local container. Offloading the App preserves its documents and data. The operating system manages shared containers, widget caches, and backups; deleting the App does not delete copies in an existing device backup, the original documents in Files or Photos, or information held by an external service.

Your device's iCloud or computer-backup settings may include App data. Manage those backups and originals separately. There is no VinWare account to delete and no VinWare cloud library we can erase or recover for you. Contact us for help understanding the available local removal steps.

Support and business records

We retain support correspondence only as long as reasonably needed to resolve and follow up on the request, maintain relevant service records, and satisfy legal, accounting, security, or dispute-related obligations. The period depends on the nature of the issue, whether it remains open, and any applicable recordkeeping or claim period. We delete or de-identify information when those purposes no longer require it.

You can request deletion of information you sent us by emailing help@vinwareapps.com. If some information must be retained, we will explain the applicable reason. Apple and other independent services control the retention of their own records.

11. Your choices and privacy rights

You can use local reading features without an account, avoid web imports and image searches, choose which photos and files to provide, revoke camera or microphone permissions, type instead of speaking, and choose whether to use generated notes. Revoking permission stops future access through that permission; it does not itself delete text or notes already saved.

Widgets can display reading titles and progress on the Home Screen or Lock Screen. Remove a widget or change your device's display settings if you do not want that information visible there. System-controlled widget refreshes may not immediately reflect a deletion.

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a portable copy of personal information we hold; restrict its use; withdraw consent; use an authorized agent; and appeal a decision about a request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

Right to object: where we rely on legitimate interests to process personal information, you may object to that processing based on your circumstances.

Send requests to help@vinwareapps.com. We may request proportionate information to verify the request and any agent's authority, and will respond within the time required by applicable law. We do not require you to create an account. We cannot retrieve a device-only library that has never been sent to us. If we cannot fulfill a request, we will explain why and any applicable appeal route.

You may also complain to your local data-protection authority. In the United Kingdom, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office.

12. Legal grounds and international handling

Where data-protection law requires a legal basis, the basis depends on the purpose:

• Performance of a contract: information necessary to provide an agreed App feature or support you request under our agreement with you.
• Legitimate interests: information needed to investigate other support inquiries, maintain relevant service records, protect security, and establish or defend our rights, balanced against your rights and interests.
• Legal obligations: information we must retain or disclose to meet applicable recordkeeping requirements or lawful demands.
• Consent: optional processing where the law requires your consent. Device permissions are requested at the point of use, and you can revoke them. Where processing relies on consent, withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing.

VinWare LLC is responsible for personal information we receive and decide how to use, such as support correspondence. Device-only reading content is processed where you use the device. Information you choose to send through email or an external service may be handled in countries other than your own, according to where the recipient and its providers operate.

Where a transfer made by us requires legal safeguards, we must put an applicable transfer mechanism in place before making that transfer. Contact us for information about the providers, processing locations, and any safeguards relevant to your support information. This policy does not ask you to waive protections that apply to international transfers.

13. Security

The App uses Apple's app sandbox, private shared-container access, and system file-protection capabilities for its library and shared files. Direct web imports request secure HTTPS connections. We limit access to information you send us to what is needed for the purposes described in this policy.

These measures do not make data immune to loss or unauthorized access. Protect your device and Apple Account, use a device passcode, and consider the sensitivity of material shown in widgets, screenshots, backups, and support messages. Elite Reader is a reading tool, not a secure document vault.

14. Children

Elite Reader is a general-purpose reading app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect children's personal information through support or other direct communications without any authorization required by law. If you believe a child has sent us personal information that should not be retained, contact help@vinwareapps.com so we can address it and delete it where required.

The App's optional browser can reach third-party websites. Elite Reader does not provide its own age verification or child-content filtering. Parents and guardians should consider the App Store age rating, device controls, and the policies of services a child accesses.

15. Changes and contact

We will update this policy when the App's information practices change and revise the date above. We will provide any additional notice or obtain any additional consent required before applying a material change. A policy update does not authorize a new use of previously collected information where consent or another legal basis is required.

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact VinWare LLC at help@vinwareapps.com.