PhilaScope Privacy Policy

Version 4, 31 October 2026

PhilaScope is an app that lets you photograph stamps, have them identified and get an estimated value. To do that we process some of your data. This policy explains what we collect, why we need it, who we share it with and what your rights are.

Who is responsible

PhilaScope is made and operated by Tom Endeman, Leeuwerikstraat 28, 7051 XG Varsseveld, the Netherlands. For any question about your data, email info@philascope.nl.

What data we process

• Account data: your email address, your name and (when you sign in with Google) your profile picture, plus a random user ID. If you sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email address, we only receive a relay address from Apple.
• Photos of stamps that you take or pick from your gallery. Camera photos are cropped to the scan frame before they leave the app.
• Scan results: the identification (country, year, catalogue number, description), the estimated value, the market value and the time of the scan.
• Your watchlist and the price history of the stamps in it.
• Feedback you give yourself: a message you send through the app, and a thumbs up or down on a scan (with the stamp concerned and, if you fill it in, what you think it should have been). We store the app version, your platform (Android or iOS) and your language with it. With a message we only store your e-mail address if you tick that we may contact you.
• A push token for your device, only if you turn on price alerts. Notifications go through Firebase Cloud Messaging and, on iPhone, through Apple's push service.
• Your subscription status and the purchase receipt from Google Play or the App Store if you go premium. We never see payment details; those stay with Google or Apple.
• Usage counters, such as the number of scans per day, to apply the limits of the free account and to prevent abuse.
• Technical server logs: your user ID, timestamps, error messages and the usage per scan. We keep these for at most 30 days.
• An integrity check of the app through Google Play Integrity (Android) or Apple App Attest (iPhone), so that only the genuine app can use our server. No personal data is passed to us in that check.

We do not collect location data, contacts or advertising identifiers. PhilaScope shows no ads and does not sell data.

Why, and on what legal basis

• To make the app work: your account, your scans, your watchlist and your subscription. Basis: performance of the agreement you enter into with us by using the app.
• To prevent abuse and fix problems: limits, the integrity check and logs. Basis: our legitimate interest in a safe and affordable service.
• To improve the app and, if you allow it, to reply to your message: your feedback. Basis: your consent, as you send a message or give a thumb yourself. We send new feedback as a notification to the developer's devices.
• To send you price alerts. Basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings or in your device's system settings.

Identification by AI

For identification we send the photo of the stamp to Anthropic (United States), the maker of the Claude AI model. Anthropic processes the photo only to describe the stamp, does not use it to train its models and deletes the data within 30 days. No name, email address or user ID is sent with the photo. Make sure the photo contains no personal information, such as addresses on an envelope. If you also photograph the back of a stamp, that photo goes to Anthropic in the same way, to judge the gum and visible faults.

Market value through eBay

To determine a market value we search eBay by catalogue number, name, country and year of the stamp. No data about you is sent in that search.

Who stores our data

The app runs on Google Firebase and Google Cloud. Google stores the data on our behalf and may not use it for its own purposes. Your account, the database and the photos are on Google servers in the United States; the server functions run in Belgium; only the function that forwards new feedback to the developer runs in the United States, next to the database. Google is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and we rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses for transfers outside the EU. The same applies to Anthropic.

Purchases go through Google Play or Apple's App Store, to which Google's or Apple's privacy policy applies.

How long we keep data

• We keep your account, scans, photos and watchlist for as long as your account exists.
• You can delete your account yourself in Settings. That immediately removes your profile, all your scans and photos, your watchlist, your feedback and the push tokens of your devices.
• Server logs are deleted automatically after 30 days.
• Abuse-prevention counters and the subscription status are tied to your random user ID and contain no name or email address. After you delete your account they can no longer be linked to you.

Security

All connections are encrypted. Only you can access your own scans and photos; server-side access rules enforce that. The keys for the AI service and eBay live only on our server, never in the app.

Your rights

You have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict processing, to receive your data in a common file format and to object to processing based on our legitimate interest. Email info@philascope.nl to exercise these rights. You can also delete your account directly in the app.

If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl), or with the supervisory authority in your own country.

Children

PhilaScope is not intended for children under 16. If we learn that we hold data of a younger child, we delete it.

About the results

The identification and value that PhilaScope gives are estimates based on AI and public asking prices. They are not appraisals and no rights can be derived from them. Always have a valuable stamp assessed by an expert.

Changes

If we change this policy, the app will ask you to accept it again before you can continue. The current version is always available at https://philascope.nl/privacy-en.