Privacy Policy

This policy covers the BrickSorter app for iPhone, iPad and Android, and this website, bricksorter.app. It says what we collect, why, who helps us handle it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it.

In short:

You can try the app as a guest, with no email address.
We keep what the app needs to work: your sign-in, your sets and progress, what you have bought, and crash reports.
A photo you take with the scanner is used to recognise your pieces, and we do not keep it afterwards. The only pictures we keep are the ones you send if you choose to help teach the scanner.
There is no advertising in the app or on the website, and we do not sell your information.
The website counts visits only if you say yes.
You can delete your account in the app. What goes, and the little that outlasts it, is set out below.

Who we are

BrickSorter is run by Alastair McDonald, trading as Digital Blocks, a sole proprietorship in Quebec, Canada. In this policy “we” and “us” mean that business. We decide how the information described here is used, and we are responsible for it.

The person in charge of protecting personal information is the owner, Alastair McDonald. For privacy questions and requests, or anything else, write to support@bricksorter.app or use the contact form.

What the app collects

You can use the app in two ways.

With an account. You sign in with an email address and a password, with Google, or (on an iPhone or iPad) with Apple. We store your email address and a user ID made up for the account. If you sign in with Google, Google also passes us the name and the profile picture link on your Google account. We use the name to greet you and do not use the picture. If you sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email address, we get the relay address Apple makes for you instead.
As a guest. We ask for no email address. The app is given a random ID, and your sets are saved on our servers under it.

Your password goes straight to Google’s sign-in service, Firebase Authentication, which stores it in scrambled form. We cannot see it.

You can type a name in Settings so the app knows what to call you. It is optional, for guests too, and it is saved with your settings.

When an account is created with an email address, we may send one welcome email to it. That is the only email we send without you asking for one.

Your sets and your sorting

So that you can stop and carry on later, we save to your account or guest ID:

the sets you add, their order, and the tub letter each one has;
which pieces you have sorted in each set, and any you marked as missing;
each sorting session: when it started and ended, how many pieces and sets it covered, and which pieces you skipped;
totals: pieces sorted, sets finished, time spent sorting, and when you last sorted;
your settings: your sorting goal, how many tubs you have, your name if you gave one, and which prompts you have already seen or answered.

The camera and scanner photos

The scanners are optional. The app uses the camera only on its scanner screens, and only once you have allowed it. It never reads your photo library and never records sound. Each photo is saved afresh before it leaves your phone, which strips out the details a camera attaches, so it carries no location.

One brick. A small copy of the photo goes to our server with a list of the pieces your sets still need. Our server passes both to Google’s Gemini AI service, which replies with the piece it thinks it is. We do not save the photo. This works in guest mode too.

A whole tray. Tray scanning needs an account.

The app uploads the photo to our storage space at Google, where no app can read it back, not even yours.
Our server gives our own recognition software, which runs on computers we rent from RunPod, a link to the photo that works for five minutes, with the list of pieces your sets still need.
For up to twelve pieces it is unsure of, our server sends Gemini a small cut-out of that one piece beside catalogue pictures, and asks which it matches. Gemini is never sent the whole tray photo.
When the scan ends, whether it worked or not, our server deletes the photo, normally within about a minute of your taking it. As a safety net, anything left behind (if the connection dropped half-way, say) is removed automatically after about a day.

For each tray scan we keep a short record with no picture in it: your user ID, the time, how many pieces were found and how sure the scanner was, how long it took, which version of the software ran, what we estimate it cost us, and an error code if it failed. We also count your tray scans for each day, and how many free ones you have used, because there are limits.

The app keeps the photo on your phone as a temporary file, to show you the result. It is not added to your photo library.

A photo shows whatever the camera sees, so keep people and anything private out of shot.

Helping teach the scanner

This is optional, and off unless you switch it on. Nothing is sent before you have agreed to it on a page in the app that says what is sent. It needs an account.

If you agree, you show the scanner single LEGO® pieces, one at a time, and tell it whether its guess was right.

Only the square in the middle of the picture, where the piece goes, is sent. The rest of the photo stays on your phone.
A small copy goes to Gemini for the guess, in the same way as a one-brick scan.
Gemini is also asked to check each picture before it is kept. A picture that is blurred, shows no piece, shows more than one kind of piece, or shows any part of a person, a screen or writing is deleted. So is one that could not be checked.
A picture that passes is kept with: the piece you said it is and the set it came from, what the scanner guessed and whether that was right, which round of the game it was part of, the model of phone that took it, your user ID, and when it was sent.
We use these pictures only to test and improve BrickSorter’s scanner, never for advertising. To do that we also copy them to the computers we use to test and train it.

You can stop at any time in Settings. To have the pictures you sent deleted, write to support@bricksorter.app or delete your account.

Purchases

If you buy pieces or subscribe to Pro, the App Store or Google Play takes the payment. We never see your card or bank details. Buying needs an account.

The app talks to the stores through a service called RevenueCat. RevenueCat is given your BrickSorter user ID, not your name or email address, and learns what you bought, with the store’s receipt for it.
Our server keeps a record of what your account has bought: the product, when, from which store, and the reference numbers the store and RevenueCat gave the purchase. For Pro it keeps whether it is running and when the paid time ends.
We keep a count of the pieces you have sorted, because that is what the free allowance and anything you buy are measured in.

Crash reports and technical details

Crash reports. If the app crashes or hits an error, a report goes to Google’s Firebase Crashlytics so that we can fix it. It says what went wrong and where in the app, with the model of the device, its system version, the app’s version and a random ID for that installation of the app. It is tagged with your user ID (a guest’s random ID, if you are a guest), so a crash can be traced to an account. We do not put your name or email address in it.

Checking it is the real app. Some of our server’s services, such as the tray scanner, only answer a genuine copy of BrickSorter. The app proves that through Firebase App Check, which uses Apple’s App Attest and DeviceCheck on an iPhone or iPad and Google’s Play Integrity on Android. Apple or Google confirms that the app and the device are genuine. This does not tell us who you are.

Updates. The app asks Expo’s update service whether there is a newer version of its screens. The request carries a random ID for that installation, whether it is the iPhone or the Android app, and which version is running.

Pictures of sets and pieces. Set and part details come from the Rebrickable catalogue. Searches go through our server, so Rebrickable is sent the search words and set numbers and nothing about you. The pictures are loaded by your phone straight from Rebrickable’s picture server, which, like any web server, sees your IP address and which pictures were asked for.

Server logs. Our server writes short technical logs as it works, such as “scan done” with a user ID and timings. The log for a welcome email includes the address it was sent to.

IP addresses. Any server the app talks to, ours or one of the companies named here, sees your device’s IP address. Google says its sign-in service keeps the IP addresses of sign-ins for a few weeks, for security.

The app has no advertising in it, and no analytics or tracking software. We do not collect your precise location, your contacts, advertising identifiers or biometric data.

What the website collects

The website is a set of ready-made pages about the app. There is nothing to sign in to, no advertising, and nothing embedded from other companies: the text, fonts and pictures all come from bricksorter.app itself.

Server logs. The site is hosted on Google’s Firebase Hosting. Like any web host, it logs each request: your IP address, your browser and device type, the page asked for and the time.
Your cookie choice. On your first visit a notice asks whether we may count visits. Your answer is saved in your own browser, not on our servers, so that we need not ask again.
Analytics, only if you accept. If you choose “Accept all”, Google Analytics loads. It counts page views and which buttons are clicked, such as the App Store and Google Play buttons, and it sets two cookies of its own to tell one visitor from another. Google receives the address of each page you view, the kind of browser and device you use, and a rough location worked out from your IP address. Google says it does not store the IP address itself. Advertising features and remarketing are switched off. If you choose “Only essential”, Google Analytics is never loaded. The Cookie Policy lists the cookies and lets you change your choice.
The contact form. The form asks for your name, your email address, a topic and your message. Sending it emails them to us through Resend, our email delivery provider. The website does not save your message in a database. Your IP address is held in memory for up to an hour, to limit how many messages one sender can send, and is never saved.

The App Store and Google Play buttons lead to Apple’s and Google’s own sites, which have their own privacy policies.

How we use it

To run the app: to save your sets and progress, bring them back when you sign in on another device, recognise the pieces you scan, and keep track of what you have bought and how much you have left.
To keep it working and safe: to fix crashes, apply the scanner’s limits, check that requests come from the real app, and stop misuse.
To reply when you write to us, and to send the welcome email.
To test and improve the scanner, using only the pictures sent by people who chose to help teach it. We do not keep photos from ordinary scans, so they are never used for this.
On the website, and only if you accept: to count visits and see which pages and buttons get used.

We rely on your consent where we ask for it: for website analytics, and for helping teach the scanner. Everything else we use because the app cannot do what you asked without it, or because we need it to keep BrickSorter secure and working.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell it.

We do not sell your information or share it for advertising. We use the companies below to run BrickSorter, and each receives only what is listed.

Google (Firebase and Google Cloud) runs our servers and stores our data: sign-ins, your sets, progress and settings, purchase records, scan records, tray photos during a scan, teaching pictures, crash reports and server logs. It also hosts this website.
Google (Gemini) helps identify pieces. It receives the one-brick photo with the list of pieces, the cut-outs from a tray scan, and, if you are helping teach the scanner, each picture you send. Your name, email address and user ID are not sent with them. Google handles what it receives under the terms of its Gemini service, which can include keeping it for a limited time.
Google (Analytics) counts visits to the website, only if you accept.
RunPod provides the computers that run our recognition software for tray scans. It receives the five-minute link to the photo, whose address includes your user ID, and the list of pieces your sets still need. Our software there works on the photo in memory and does not save it.
RevenueCat keeps track of purchases. It receives your user ID, what you bought and the store’s receipt, with the technical details its software sends from the app, such as the app and system versions. Like any server, it also sees your IP address.
Apple and Google, as the stores, take your payments and keep their own records of them. If you sign in with Apple or Google, that company confirms who you are and knows that you use BrickSorter. Apple or Google also runs the check that the app and the device are genuine.
Rebrickable supplies the catalogue. It receives search words and set numbers from our server, and its picture server sees your IP address.
Expo delivers app updates. It receives the installation ID, the kind of app and the version, as described above.
Resend delivers our emails: the welcome email (your email address, and your name if your sign-in gave one) and messages sent from the website’s contact form.

We may also have to hand over information if the law requires it.

Where it is processed

Our server code runs in Google data centres in the United States, and the companies above work from the United States and other countries. So wherever you live, your information is likely to be handled outside your own country. If you would like to know more about how it is protected when that happens, write to support@bricksorter.app.

How long we keep it

Your account, sets, progress, settings, scan records and purchase records: for as long as your account exists.
One-brick photos: we never save them.
Tray photos: deleted when the scan ends. Anything left behind goes after about a day.
Teaching pictures: until you ask us to delete them, or delete your account.
Crash reports: Google deletes them after 90 days.
Server logs: deleted automatically, normally after 30 days.
Website logs: Google says it keeps them for a few months.
Analytics cookies: up to two years. The Cookie Policy has the detail.
Messages you send us: for as long as it takes to deal with your question.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, at any time: in the app, go to Settings, then “Delete account”. How to delete your account has the steps. It cannot be undone.

If you sign in with Apple, Apple asks you to sign in once more first, so that BrickSorter can be taken off the list of apps in your Apple account. If that step does not go through, your account is still deleted, and you can remove BrickSorter from that list yourself in your Apple account settings.

Deleting your account deletes, straight away:

your sets, progress, sorting sessions, totals and settings;
your count of pieces and our record of what you bought;
your scan records and scan counts, and any tray photo not yet cleared away;
any pictures you sent to help teach the scanner, with their records;
RevenueCat’s record of you as a customer, which we ask it to delete;
and, last of all, your sign-in.

A few things outlast it:

A note that each purchase of pieces has been used. We keep the purchase’s reference numbers, which product it was, when it was recorded and when the account was deleted. Nothing in it says whose it was. It stops one purchase being claimed a second time by a new account.
Crash reports and server logs already made. They carry your user ID and expire on their own, as above.
The stores’ records. Apple and Google keep their own record of what you bought from them, which we cannot delete. Deleting your account does not cancel a Pro subscription. Only you can do that, in your App Store or Google Play settings.
The copy on your phone. The app keeps a copy of your sets on the phone so that it works without a signal. Deleting your account does not wipe that copy. Deleting the app does.
Backups. Google clears deleted data from its backup copies on its own schedule, which it says can take up to 180 days.
Emails. The welcome email we sent you, our email provider’s record of sending it, and anything you have written to us are not removed with your account.
Working copies of teaching pictures. Copies we had already made to test and train the scanner are not removed automatically. Ask us at support@bricksorter.app and we will delete those too. What the scanner has already learned from a picture stays learned.

If you used guest mode. A guest has no account to delete. A guest’s sets are saved on our servers under the guest ID. If you sign out as a guest, or remove the app, you can no longer reach them, and at present nothing removes them from our servers automatically. They hold no email address, and no name unless you typed one. Once you have signed out we cannot tell which guest data was yours, so we cannot find it to delete it. To have it removed, create an account while you are still a guest (Settings, then “Create an account”, which keeps the same sets) and then delete that account.

Your choices and rights

Use guest mode to try the app without an email address.
Delete your account in the app, as described above. If you no longer have the app, write to support@bricksorter.app from the email address on the account and we will delete it for you.
See or correct your information. You can see and change your sets, your progress and your name in the app. For a copy of what we hold about you, or to correct something you cannot change yourself, write to us.
Stop website analytics at any time with the “Change cookie settings” button on the Cookie Policy page.
Stop helping teach the scanner in Settings, and ask us to delete the pictures you sent.
Take back the camera permission in your phone’s settings. Sorting by hand works without it.

Depending on where you live, the law may give you further rights over your information: to have a copy of it, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to how it is used or have that limited, and to complain to the data-protection authority where you live. In Quebec, where we are based, that is the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec. Write to support@bricksorter.app to use any of these rights. We would like the chance to put things right first, but you do not have to ask us before you complain.

Children

BrickSorter is for a general audience and is not aimed at children. We collect the minimum the app needs, offer a guest mode that asks for no email address, and have no advertising or tracking software in the app. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to support@bricksorter.app and we will delete it.

Security

Information travels between the app, the website and our servers over encrypted connections.
It is stored for us by Google, which encrypts what it stores.
Each account can read and change only its own sets, progress and settings. Records of purchases and scans can be written only by our server.
The secret keys for the services we use are held on our server, never in the app.

No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep yours safe.

Changes

When this policy changes we will update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

For questions about this policy, about your information, or anything else, write to support@bricksorter.app or use the contact form. The Terms of Use cover the rules for using BrickSorter.