PhilaScope Privacy Policy

Version 1, 22 September 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, the Netherlands. For any question about your data, email endeman.t@gmail.com.

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.
• 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.
• A push token for your device, only if you turn on price alerts.
• Your subscription status and the Google Play purchase receipt if you go premium. We never see payment details; those stay with Google.
• 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, 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 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.

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. 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, to which Google'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 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 endeman.t@gmail.com 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.