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Boxtrot

Boxtrot privacy policy

Effective date: 16 October 2026

Boxtrot is an inventory app for people who are moving house. This page says what the app stores, what leaves your device, and who can see it. The short version: the developer receives nothing.

1. Who we are

Boxtrot is made by an independent developer. Questions about this policy: email support@boxtrot.app.

2. What the app stores

Your boxes, items, photos, receipts, notes, serial numbers and settings are stored on your device, in the app’s own storage. If you turn on iCloud sync (section 10, off by default), a copy also goes to your own private iCloud account. Boxtrot has no accounts of its own and runs no servers, so there is nothing of yours on our side. If you use iCloud Backup or a computer backup of your device, Apple includes the app’s data in it, under Apple’s terms.

3. What we receive

Nothing. Boxtrot contains no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no third-party SDKs. It does not ask to track you and does not use an advertising identifier.

  • Apple may give us crash and usage statistics if you chose to share them in your device’s settings. Those are covered by Apple’s privacy policy.
  • If you choose to send a diagnostics report, Boxtrot makes a zip and opens the share sheet; nothing leaves your device until you pick where to send it, and you can save the zip to Files and open it first. It holds crash and performance reports from iOS, your device model, iOS and app versions, your device’s language and region, whether the app is on the free version or unlocked, counts of items, boards and photos (never their names), AI usage totals, and Boxtrot’s own log lines. Log lines from parts of the app that handle your data (errors, backups, photos, receipts, exports, AI) are exported as fixed wording with every name, file name and message removed. The log lines about iCloud sync (whether sync was on when Boxtrot opened, the steps of turning it on, and the error text iCloud returns) are exported as written. The zip never contains item names, notes, photos, serial numbers, prompts or your API key.

4. AI with your own key: Claude or ChatGPT (optional)

Boxtrot can ask an AI model to identify an item, read a receipt, estimate a value, draft a listing or look up a barcode: Claude, made by Anthropic, or ChatGPT’s models, made by OpenAI. This is optional and works only if you save your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key in Settings > AI and choose that provider. You can save both keys; only the provider you selected receives anything.

  • Your key. It is kept in this device’s Keychain, readable only while the device is unlocked, never synced to iCloud and never sent to us. It is sent only to the provider that issued it (api.anthropic.com or api.openai.com), with each request you start. You can remove it in Settings at any time and revoke it in the Anthropic Console or the OpenAI Platform.
  • What is sent, and when. Only when you tap an AI action. Nothing is sent in the background. Depending on the action: up to four photos of the item (resized, with location and camera data removed), the text of a receipt, and the item’s details (name, brand, model, category, condition, room, notes, barcode, and prices where the action needs them). Serial numbers and tag IDs are never sent. A barcode lookup sends the code, which the provider searches for on the web.
  • Who receives it. The provider you selected, under the account of the key you saved, which that provider bills; the developer is not involved and never sees the data.
    • Anthropic. Its handling of API data is described in its API data retention policy and privacy policy. At the time of writing, Anthropic says API inputs and outputs are deleted within 30 days (longer only for content flagged for policy violations) and are not used to train its models by default.
    • OpenAI. Its handling of API data is described in its data controls for the API and privacy policy. At the time of writing, OpenAI says data sent to the API is not used to train its models unless you opt in, and abuse-monitoring logs are kept for up to 30 days. Boxtrot asks OpenAI not to keep the responses.
    • Check each provider’s pages for the current terms.
  • Consent. Boxtrot asks before the first AI action, names the provider and lists what is sent. Choosing another provider asks again. You can withdraw consent in Settings.
  • After deleting the app. The Keychain can keep the keys until the app is reinstalled, when Boxtrot erases them. To be sure, revoke the key in the Anthropic Console or the OpenAI Platform.

5. Your own Claude or ChatGPT app (optional)

The “Ask your own AI app” buttons copy a prompt, and the item’s photos when it has some, to your clipboard. Nothing is sent and no other app is opened: you paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or any app you choose, and what happens next is governed by that app’s own privacy policy. Boxtrot needs no key for this. The copy stays on this device’s pasteboard only (it is not shared with your other devices) and is cleared after ten minutes. The prompts for a single item leave out serial numbers and tag IDs but can include prices. The warranty claim-pack prompt does contain serial numbers, tag IDs and prices; it is never put in a link either.

6. Barcode lookups for books

When you scan a book barcode (ISBN), Boxtrot looks it up at openlibrary.org. Only the ISBN is sent, with no account and no other data. It is covered by Open Library’s privacy policy.

7. Camera and photos

Boxtrot uses the camera to photograph items, receipts and serial labels and to scan barcodes; photos stay on your devices, and in your own iCloud account if you turn on iCloud sync (section 10), unless you use an AI action (section 4), copy them for your own AI app (section 5) or export a Marketplace photo set to your Photos library. Boxtrot creates its own album for the Marketplace photo sets you export and does not read your other photos.

8. Backups

A .boxtrotbackup file you create is a complete copy of your inventory, including photos, receipts and serial numbers. It is not encrypted. Keep it as safely as the originals. Backups are always available, including on the free version, and always contain everything.

Before a restore replaces your data, Boxtrot saves a safety copy of the data being replaced on your device. Only the most recent safety copy is kept, it is left out of iCloud and computer backups of the device, and it is deleted automatically after 14 days.

Before an app update changes the format of your data, Boxtrot keeps a safety copy of your inventory and your photos on your device. The two most recent copies are kept, and they are left out of iCloud and computer backups of the device.

Files Boxtrot makes for you to share (PDF and CSV reports, labels, Marketplace exports, backup files and diagnostics reports) are written to a temporary folder on your device and deleted after 24 hours, or earlier by iOS. Once you have saved or shared such a file, the copy you saved is yours to protect.

9. Free version and purchases

Boxtrot is free for your first board and ten items. A one-time in-app purchase unlocks unlimited items and boards. Purchases are handled entirely by Apple; we see only anonymous sales totals from App Store Connect. The free version limits what you can add, never what you can see: if you have more than the free amount (for example after restoring a backup, or because items arrived from another of your devices through iCloud), all of it stays visible, usable and included in every backup, and nothing is hidden or deleted. Until you unlock, you cannot add more: that covers creating items and boards and also restoring items or boards from Recently deleted.

10. iCloud sync (optional, off by default)

Boxtrot can keep your inventory in step across your iPhone, iPad and Mac through iCloud. It is off until you turn on Settings > iCloud > Sync with iCloud on a device, and that device must be signed into iCloud. The change takes effect the next time you open Boxtrot.

  • Where it goes. Your items, boards and columns, lists, categories, tags and photos are stored in a private CloudKit database in your own iCloud account, which Apple runs under its terms. The developer has no access to it, cannot read it, and runs no server of its own; nothing goes anywhere else. It uses your iCloud storage.
  • Settings that follow you. While sync is on, a few settings travel through iCloud key-value storage in the same account: currency, measurement unit, pickup note, label layout and paper, and the PDF defaults.
  • What never syncs. Your AI API keys (they stay in this device’s Keychain), your AI consent and provider choice, camera settings, appearance and which board is open stay on each device.
  • The safety copy before iCloud. When you turn sync on, Boxtrot first makes a safety copy of this device’s inventory and photos in a folder on the device, so you can go back if the merge is not what you wanted. The two most recent copies are kept, and they are left out of iCloud and computer backups of the device. If you choose “Use iCloud data” instead of merging, what this device held before is moved aside into a separate folder on the device rather than deleted. That moved-aside copy is not left out of backups: an iCloud or computer backup of the device includes it. Boxtrot never removes it by itself; it stays on your device until you delete the app. Nothing Boxtrot keeps like this leaves your device except through the device backups described here.
  • Turning it off. Switch Settings > iCloud > Sync with iCloud off and reopen Boxtrot. Everything already on the device stays on the device and keeps working; it simply stops syncing. The copy in your iCloud account stays there until you delete it in your device’s Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage storage (or Storage) > Boxtrot.
  • Restoring a backup. Boxtrot refuses to restore a .boxtrotbackup file while sync is on, because iCloud would sync the replaced data back to your other devices. Turn sync off first, as the app explains.

11. Children

Boxtrot is not directed at children and collects no personal data from anyone.

12. Keeping and deleting your data

Deleting the app deletes its data on your device, including the safety copies (the one made before iCloud sync too) and the temporary export files described in sections 8 and 10. Export a backup first if you want to keep it. If you used iCloud sync, the copy in your iCloud account stays until you delete it in your device’s iCloud storage settings (section 10). Items and boards you delete in Boxtrot stay in Settings > Recently deleted for 30 days (and, until then, in your backups and, with sync on, in iCloud) before they are removed for good; “Delete for good” removes them at once. There is nothing on our side to delete.

13. Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date.