Beamroll Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-10-13
The operator of Beamroll (the iPhone app and the Mac app, together the "App") and of the App's official website (the "Site") ("we") respects your privacy and establishes this Privacy Policy as follows.
1. What the App Sends, and Where
The App does not send your photos, the text read from them, or your connection details to our servers or to any third party's servers.We have no means of receiving them.
The App sends only the following, for the photos you choose on the iPhone's transfer screen and the photos you take with the App's own shutter, and only to the Mac you connected (the Mac app):
- The original photo file in your photo library (including its file name). The file is sent unmodified, so the date and time it was taken, and location information if the photo has it, reach the Mac inside the file.
- The photo's identifier in your photo library, used to tell photos apart, and the date it was sent (used as the folder name on the Mac)
- Text read from the photo (only for photos that contain text; see Section 4)
The destination Mac is the one you specify with the QR code (or the "invitation URL") shown by the Mac app. If a Mac with the same name is found on the same network, the App sends to that address as well; a peer whose key does not match cannot complete the encrypted connection, so no photos are sent to it. The addresses a QR code can specify are limited to those used on home or office LANs (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16, 169.254.0.0/16).
Communication between the iPhone and the Mac is encrypted with TLS 1.2 using ECDHE_PSK. The Mac app creates the key and hands it to the iPhone through the QR code. The connection is cut off at the start with any peer whose key does not match, and no photo is written.
If a photo is stored in iCloud Photos and its full-size data (or the thumbnail for the transfer screen) is not on the iPhone, the iOS Photos framework downloads that data from iCloud. That communication takes place between your iPhone and Apple, and Apple handles the information involved (Apple Privacy Policy). It does not reach us.
Everything related to Pro (fetching Pro’s product information and price, buying, restoring purchases, and checking the purchase state) goes through Apple’s App Store system (StoreKit). Each time the iPhone app starts, it checks Pro’s product information and purchase state through StoreKit. The communication and information involved (your Apple Account, payment method, and so on) are handled by Apple and do not reach us (Apple Privacy Policy). The App has no server of ours for verifying purchases.
If you tap one of the links to the Site in the iPhone app's settings (website, support, terms, privacy policy), the Site opens in your browser. That traffic is handled as an access to the Site as described in Section 6.
So that the iPhone can find it, the Mac app announces the Mac's name (its "Computer Name") on the same network via Bonjour (service type _beamroll._tcp). Other devices on that network can also see this name.
2. Information Stored on Your Devices
The App stores the following only on your devices.
| Device | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone | Connection details (the encryption key, and the Mac's address, port, name, and model type) | The iPhone keychain, with an attribute that makes it readable after the first unlock; items with this attribute do not migrate to a new device (Apple’s documentation) |
| iPhone | A sending record (photo-library identifiers of photos sent, photos not sent, and photos without text) | The App's data area (Application Support/Beamroll/sync-ledger.txt) |
| iPhone | The transfer screen's display setting (grid or list) | The App's settings |
| iPhone | The free version's daily count (the date and how many photos were placed on the Mac that day) | The App's settings |
| iPhone | Whether Pro has been bought (a local copy of the purchase state; Apple holds the purchase record itself) | The App's settings |
| iPhone | Photos taken with the App's shutter | Your photo library |
| Mac | Received photos and the .txt files of text read from them | ~/Pictures/Beamroll/YYYY-MM-DD/ |
| Mac | The encryption key | ~/Library/Application Support/Beamroll/key.txt (readable and writable only by that user) |
| Mac | A receiving record (SHA-256 values computed from photo identifiers, and where each file was saved) | ~/Library/Application Support/Beamroll/ledger.tsv |
Neither we nor any third party can access this information through the App.
3. Permissions the App Uses
| Permission | Purpose | Device |
|---|---|---|
| Photos (read and add) | Show photos on the transfer screen, send the photos you choose to the Mac, and save photos taken with the App to your library | iPhone |
| Camera | Scan the Mac's QR code and take photos in the App | iPhone |
| Local network | Find a Mac on the same network and send photos to it | iPhone |
| Clipboard (read) | Read the invitation URL only when you tap the Paste button | iPhone |
| Listening on the network | Accept connections from iPhones on the same network | Mac |
| Clipboard (write) | Write the invitation URL only when you choose "Copy Invitation URL" (marked so that clipboard-history apps are asked not to keep it) | Mac |
4. Reading Text in Photos
The App reads text in the photos it sends by calling Apple's Vision framework on the iPhone (Japanese and English). The App does not send photos to our servers or any third party's servers to read text. The text it reads is sent, like the photos, only to the Mac you connected.
5. Analytics, Advertising, and Tracking
The App itself does not send crash reports, usage analytics, or telemetry. It uses no advertising, advertising identifiers, cookies, or other tracking technologies. No third-party SDKs for analytics, advertising, or crash collection are embedded (the App uses only frameworks provided by Apple). The App has no account sign-up.
6. The Site
The Site is a static information page. We do not include scripts, cookies, or pixels for analytics, advertising, or tracking in its pages. The Site offers no account registration or contact form.
The Site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages by Cloudflare, Inc. When you access the Site, Cloudflare processes communication data such as your IP address (Cloudflare Privacy Policy). We do not analyze or use it to identify individuals.
7. Disclosure to Third Parties
We do not provide your photos, the text read from them, or your connection details to third parties; we have no means of receiving them.
8. Information We Receive Through Inquiries
When you contact us by email, we receive your email address, your name (if provided), and the content of your inquiry, and use them only to reply to you and to investigate problems. Requests for disclosure, correction, suspension of use, and similar requests are accepted at the email address in Section 11.
9. Deleting Data
- The connection details on the iPhone (the keychain item in Section 2) are erased by "Disconnect" in the App. The sending record remains.
- Photos taken with the App's shutter remain in your photo library. Delete them in the Photos app if you no longer need them.
- On the Mac, quit the Mac app, then delete
~/Pictures/Beamroll/(received photos and text) and~/Library/Application Support/Beamroll/(the key and the receiving record) to erase the Mac information in Section 2. After the key is deleted, the Mac app creates a new key at its next launch, and the iPhone must scan the QR code again.
10. Changes to This Policy
If we change this Policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the "Last updated" date. Significant changes may also be noted in store release notes.
11. Contact
- Email: [email protected]
- Operator: Inspiration Life (trade name of a sole proprietor)
- Address: Dai-2 Kyoto Bldg. 402, 227 Daikoku-cho, Higashi-iri Aburakoji, Shichijo-dori, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8223, Japan
- Our name, the purposes of use of personal data we hold, the procedure for requests for disclosure and other requests, and the measures taken for the security of the personal data we hold will be provided without delay upon request to the email address above (Article 32(1) of Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information, and Article 10 of its Enforcement Order).
- Complaints about our handling of the personal data we hold are also accepted at the email address above.
This policy is a translation of the Japanese Privacy Policy.