Antiques Ledger: Margin Scheme Privacy Policy
Antiques Ledger keeps the stock book that HMRC's VAT margin scheme requires of an antiques dealer, and prints it. A stock book holds names, addresses and prices, so the app is built so that nothing you photograph, say or write ever comes to us. It is kept on your phone, with a backup copy in your own iCloud account, and it goes nowhere else unless you send it somewhere yourself.
What the app collects
Nothing. There are no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. The app has no servers of its own, and we have no access to anything you record. Your photographs, your words and your figures are stored on your device, in the app's own protected storage, and in the backup described next.
The automatic backup to your iCloud
So that a lost or broken phone does not take your records with it, the app keeps a backup copy of the book, its entries, its settings and its photographs, in your own iCloud account, in storage private to this app. It is made automatically whenever the book changes and it is free. It is a backup and not a sync: the app reads it only when you ask it to bring the book back, for instance on a new phone, and it is never shared with another person. It is held by Apple under your Apple ID and Apple's terms, and protected as the rest of your iCloud is. We cannot see it, we do not receive a copy, and we could not recover it for you. You can switch the backup off on the app's Backup page, and you can delete what has been saved from the iPhone's Settings, under your name, iCloud, Manage Storage. Deleting the app removes the book from the phone but leaves the iCloud backup until you delete it there.
The people in your book
The margin scheme requires you to record the name and address of the person you bought from and the person you sold to. Those details are typed by you, stored on your phone and in your own iCloud backup, and appear only on the book and the invoices you choose to print or send. We never see them. As a business you are responsible for how you keep and use your own records.
The camera and your photographs
Photographs you take in the app are copied into the app's own storage and kept with the item. Nothing is written back to your photo library. A copy of each photograph is kept in your own iCloud backup, unless you have switched that off, and no photograph is sent anywhere else or to us.
Finding an item from a photograph
When you record a sale, the app compares the photograph you take with the photographs of your own stock, using Apple's Vision framework running entirely on your iPhone. The comparison produces a numerical description of each picture that is stored with the item on your phone. The comparing happens on the phone and sends nothing anywhere, including to us.
The microphone and dictation
After each purchase photograph the app listens so you can say what the item is and what you paid, using Apple's on-device speech recogniser, running entirely on your iPhone. Listening stops when you save, cancel, or start typing. The app asks iOS for on-device recognition only; if a phone or a language cannot recognise speech without sending it to a server, the app says so and lets you type instead. No audio is recorded, stored or sent anywhere.
Face ID and passcode
If you turn on the lock, the app asks iOS to confirm it is you with Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode. Apple's system does the checking. The app never sees your face data or your passcode.
Printing, sending and backups
When you print or send the book, an invoice or the spreadsheet, the file is made on your device and handed to the printer, app or person you choose through the standard iOS share sheet. The same is true of the backup file, which is encrypted with a passphrase you choose and that the app does not keep and cannot recover. Where those files go afterwards is under your control, not ours.
Purchases
The unlock, whether the yearly subscription or the one-off purchase, is sold through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment, the renewals and the purchase record. The app asks Apple whether the unlock is current; it never sees your name, payment details or Apple Account. Apple's own privacy policy applies to those transactions.
Network use
The only connections the app makes are to Apple: the App Store, to read the prices and confirm purchases, and your own iCloud, for the backup. The app works completely with the phone in aeroplane mode, and the backup catches up afterwards. It does not connect to HMRC, to a bank, or to us.
Children
The app is rated 4+ and collects no information from anyone, of any age.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions about privacy: conor@conorhannah.com.