Privacy Policy
This policy covers the App Purchase Vault Android app and this website. The app works on your phone: your imported purchase history stays on your device and is not uploaded to us. A few things can leave your device, and this page lists each of them.
A future version of the Android app will offer optional rewarded ads from Google AdMob to users of the free version. The version of the app currently available on Google Play does not contain any advertising technology and shows no ads.
- There is no App Purchase Vault account and no App Purchase Vault server that stores your purchases.
- Your Google Takeout file is read on your phone. Your purchase history, notes, categories and receipts are stored in the app on your device.
- Import from Google, an optional feature that is awaiting Google’s approval and is not in the public app yet, will let you import your Google Play purchase history directly from Google, to your phone only. See Import from Google.
- To show app icons, the app sends app names from your Google Play purchases to Wikidata and Google Play. Never prices, dates, order numbers or account details.
- Payments for Pro are handled by Google Play. We never see your card details.
- The app contains no analytics, advertising or crash-reporting tools. This website uses cookie-free visit statistics.
- A future version of the app will let users of the free version choose to watch a rewarded ad from Google AdMob to see more of their purchase history for a while. Pro users never see ads. The app on Google Play today has no ads. See Optional rewarded ads.
Who we are
App Purchase Vault is operated under the developer name NovaLoop Studio, the name shown on Google Play. It is an independent project that makes an Android app for organizing your own Google Play purchase history, and publishes this website. It is not affiliated with Google or Apple. For privacy questions, contact hello@apppurchasevault.com.
This policy applies to the Android app, publicly available on Google Play, and to apppurchasevault.com. An iOS version is in development and is not available on the App Store. The app does not import Apple App Store purchases today. If that changes, this policy will be updated before it does.
What stays on your device
You create your export yourself on Google Takeout and choose the file in the app with Android’s file picker. The app reads that file on your phone. It does not upload it to us, and it does not keep a copy of the archive: it reads the file you picked and stores only the purchase records it extracts.
The app stores the following in its private storage on your device, which other apps cannot read:
- Purchase records from your export: the item name, its type, the app it belongs to, the date, price and currency.
- Details found in your export, when present: the Google order number, tax, the country and language of the purchase, and the kind of payment method with, for cards, only the last 4 digits. The app does not store billing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers or full payment details.
- What you add yourself: notes, categories, and receipts or other documents you attach. Attached files are copied into the app’s private storage.
- App icons and app names retrieved for display, and your app settings.
Search, history, statistics, PDF reports and CSV exports are all produced on your device.
Importing a Takeout file does not require connecting your Google account. The optional Import from Google feature, which is not available yet, does use your Google account: see Import from Google. You do need a Google account to use Google Play, including to install the app and to buy Pro.
Android’s backup of the app’s data to the cloud and to a new phone is turned off, so your purchase data is not copied to your Google Drive. If you change phones, import your Takeout file again on the new one.
What can leave your device
| What | When | Sent to | What is sent |
|---|---|---|---|
| App icon lookup | Automatically, after an import and when the app starts, once per app | Wikidata, and Google Play | The name of an app from your Google Play purchases, and then that app’s package name to fetch its icon. Never prices, dates, order numbers, notes or account details. |
| Import from Google (not available yet) | Only when you choose it | Google (Data Portability API) | A request to export your Google Play purchase history, sent with the authorization you gave on Google’s screen. The history then comes back from Google to your phone. See Import from Google. |
| Pro purchase | When you view, buy or restore Pro | Google Play | Handled by Google Play’s billing service. See Pro purchases. |
| Ad consent check (future version, not available yet) | Only when you tap the button to watch an ad, or open Ad privacy choices in Settings | Google (Google’s consent tool, User Messaging Platform) | What Google needs to check which privacy choices apply to you: your IP address and basic information about your device and the app. Google’s advertising software is not started and no ad is requested. Never your purchase history. See Optional rewarded ads. |
| Optional rewarded ad (future version, not available yet) | Only if you use the free version and choose to watch an ad | Google (Google AdMob) | What Google needs to show and measure an ad and prevent fraud: your IP address, from which an approximate location can be inferred, device and app information, identifiers other than the advertising ID, your interactions with the ad, and diagnostics. Never your purchase history. See Optional rewarded ads. |
| Files you share | Only when you choose to | The app or place you pick | A PDF or CSV you save or share, or a receipt you open in another app. |
| Support email | Only when you choose to write to us | Your own email app, then us | A draft with the app version, Android version, device model and app language. You can edit it before sending. No purchase data is included. |
Like any internet request, an icon lookup shows the receiving service your device’s IP address. Requests to Wikidata and Google Play identify the app only as App Purchase Vault and its version. Icon image downloads use Android’s standard connection details, which include the Android version and device model. Results are cached, so an app that has been found is not looked up again.
Links in the app, such as to this website or to Google Takeout, open in your browser.
Import from Google (not available yet)
This feature is awaiting Google’s approval. It is not in the public version of the app; only our own test accounts can use it. This section describes how it works, so that you can read it before it launches. Importing a Google Takeout file, described above, does not depend on it.
Instead of creating a Google Takeout file, you will be able to ask Google to send your Google Play purchase history directly to the app, through Google’s Data Portability API.
- What we access. Only your Google Play purchase history, through a single Google permission for your Google Play purchases (the
dataportability.play.purchasesscope). The app asks for no other Google permission: not your profile, contacts, Drive files or any other Google data. - How it works. You tap Import from Google, read what will happen, choose a Google account on your phone and approve access on Google’s own consent screen. The app asks Google to prepare an export of your Google Play purchases. When it is ready, the app downloads it directly from Google to temporary storage on your phone, imports the purchases into the app on your device, and deletes the downloaded file. The export never passes through or is stored on an App Purchase Vault server: we do not run one for this feature.
- How we use it. Only to show you your own purchase history in the app: the list, search, statistics, and the PDF and CSV reports you choose to create. The same details are stored as for a Takeout import (see What stays on your device).
- What else is stored on your device. For each Google account you import from, the app keeps the account name shown on your phone (usually your email address), so that you can tell your accounts apart; a code derived from it, which cannot be turned back into the address and lets the app recognize the account again; and the status and dates of your exports, so it can tell you when Google allows the next one. All of this stays in the app’s private storage and is removed when you remove the account in the app or use Delete all local data.
- What leaves your device. Purchase data received from Google is not sent to us or to anyone else, with one exception that also applies to Takeout imports: to show app icons, the app sends app names, and then package names, to Wikidata and Google Play (see What can leave your device). Never prices, dates, order numbers or account details.
- What we never do. The app never sees or stores your Google password. It does not store Google’s access tokens: it uses Google’s short-lived authorization in memory for the request and then discards it, and it does not ask for long-term (offline) access. We do not sell this data, use it for advertising, use it to build or train AI models, or let any person read it.
- Availability. Google offers this export only in some regions, currently mainly the European Economic Area, and only to account holders aged 18 or over. Google may also limit how often a new export can be requested. Google Takeout import remains available everywhere.
- Stopping. You can remove the account in the app at any time. That deletes what the app keeps about the account on your device, but it does not withdraw the access you gave at Google. To do that, use the Third-party apps & services page of your Google Account.
Google API Services User Data Policy. App Purchase Vault’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Pro purchases and Google Play
App Purchase Vault Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, made inside the app through Google Play Billing. It is not a subscription. Google Play processes the payment. We do not receive your card or bank details. The app asks Google Play whether you own Pro, so that it can unlock it on your device. Google Play’s billing library may also send its own diagnostic information to Google. That processing is covered by Google’s privacy policy, not by us.
Optional rewarded ads (future version, not available yet)
This feature is not in the version of the app currently available on Google Play. That version does not include Google’s advertising software (SDK) and shows no ads. This section describes the feature so that you can read it before it is released. We will update this page if anything changes before then.
In a future version of the Android app, users of the free version will be able to choose to watch a rewarded advertisement provided by Google AdMob. Watching an ad is always optional. Each completed ad unlocks 50 more purchases in your purchase history for 24 hours, with at most two rewards in any rolling 24-hour period. Pro users never see ads.
- Nothing loads until you choose. Opening the app, your purchase history or Settings does not contact Google for ads. Two different things can happen, each only after you tap:
- Consent check. When you tap the button to watch an ad, or open Ad privacy choices in Settings, the app contacts Google’s consent tool (User Messaging Platform) to check which privacy choices apply to you and, where required, to show Google’s consent form. This uses your IP address and basic information about your device and the app. It does not start Google’s advertising software and does not request an ad.
- Ad request. Only when you tap the button to watch an ad, and only if the consent rules allow it, the app starts Google’s advertising software (SDK) and requests one ad.
- Pro users. Pro users never see ads: the app never starts Google’s advertising software or requests an ad for them. If you made ad privacy choices before upgrading to Pro, you can still review or change them under Settings › Privacy; only opening them contacts Google’s consent tool.
- What Google may process. When you watch an ad, Google AdMob may process your IP address, from which an approximate location can be inferred; information about your device and the app, such as the device model, operating system version, language, and the app’s name and version; identifiers that Google’s advertising software uses other than the advertising ID, such as the app set ID; your interactions with the ad, for example that it was shown, clicked or completed; and diagnostic information. Google uses this information to show and measure the ad and to prevent fraud.
- Advertising ID. Permission to read the advertising ID is disabled in the app, so the advertising ID is not available to the ad. This does not mean that Google receives no personal data: the information listed above is still processed when an ad is shown.
- Personalization and consent. We intend to request only non-personalized or limited ads, as allowed by the applicable consent rules. Where consent is required, such as in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google’s consent form is shown before the first ad. Declining personalized advertising does not necessarily prevent ads: where the rules allow it, Google may still show a limited ad, which is not personalized and does not rely on identifiers stored on your device. Your IP address is still used to deliver it.
- What the app never sends. The app never submits your imported purchase records, transaction amounts, purchase rankings, receipts, notes, order references or Google account information to Google AdMob for advertising.
- Your purchase history stays on your device. Unlocking more history with an ad does not upload anything: the extra purchases are shown from the data already saved on your phone.
- Your choices. When the feature is available, you can review or change your advertising privacy choices in the app under Settings › Privacy › Ad privacy choices, also after restarting the app or upgrading to Pro. Opening them contacts Google’s consent tool, not Google’s advertising software.
Google’s processing of this information is governed by Google’s own privacy and advertising policies, including How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and How Google uses cookies in advertising. This website shows no ads.
This website
This website has no account, no sign-up form and no advertising, and it does not set cookies.
- Hosting. The site is served by Cloudflare. To deliver pages and protect the site, Cloudflare processes technical information about each request, such as your IP address and browser details.
- Visit statistics. We use GoatCounter to count page visits without cookies. It receives the page address, the referring page, your screen size and your browser’s technical details, and gives us aggregated counts. We use it to see which pages are read, not to identify anyone. It also counts clicks on the Google Play buttons, with the page, its language and the button’s position. Links to Google Play carry a label naming the part of this website they come from (home page or a guide), which Google Play shows us only as aggregated statistics.
Links to Google, Apple and other sites take you to their services, and their own privacy policies apply there.
Contact form. If you choose to send us a message with the contact form, we receive the email address you enter, the topic you choose and your message, together with the address of the page you sent it from, its language and the time. We use them only to reply to you. The message is delivered to our inbox through Cloudflare, which also processes technical information about the request, such as your IP address and browser details, to protect the form against spam and abuse. The form’s contents are never sent to our visit statistics.
The former Android beta
Before its public release, the app was tested in a closed beta. To join it, you joined a Google Group and then became a tester on Google Play. Both are Google services. This website never received your email address. As the owner of the beta group, we can see the Google account address of each member in Google Groups, and we use it only to manage access to the beta. You no longer need to join the group to install the app. You can leave the group at any time, or ask us to remove you.
The former early-access list
Before the beta opened, this website had an early-access sign-up form that used Formspree. That form has been removed, and the submissions stored in our Formspree account have been deleted. We no longer use Formspree to collect sign-ups.
Third parties
- Google Play: app distribution, Pro payments (Google Play Billing) and, before the public release, the beta test.
- Google Groups: membership of the former beta group.
- Google (Google’s account authorization on Android and the Data Portability API): Import from Google, once it is available.
- Wikidata and Google Play: app icon lookups from the app.
- Cloudflare: website hosting and delivery of contact-form messages.
- GoatCounter: cookie-free website visit statistics.
- Google AdMob: optional rewarded ads for users of the free version, in a future version of the app (not available yet).
These services may process data in other countries under their own privacy policies. We do not sell personal data or use it for advertising.
Once optional rewarded ads are available, Google will process the information described in Optional rewarded ads to show and measure the ads you choose to watch. We do not give Google your purchase data.
Delete your data
In the app, go to Settings and use the Danger zone:
- Delete imported purchase history removes your imported purchases, their details and the icon cache. Your notes, categories and receipts are kept, so they reattach if you import again.
- Delete all local data also removes your notes, categories and receipts.
Uninstalling the app removes all of its data from your phone. Because there is no App Purchase Vault account or server copy, there is nothing for us to delete remotely. Files you saved or shared yourself, such as PDFs and CSV exports, stay where you put them. Your Pro purchase is recorded by Google Play.
For Import from Google, once it is available: removing an account in the app deletes what the app keeps about it on your device. To also withdraw the app’s access at Google, use the Third-party apps & services page of your Google Account.
To be removed from the former beta group, email us.
Security
The app keeps its data in Android’s app-private storage, which other apps cannot read, and Android’s backup of that data is turned off. The app’s own network requests use HTTPS, and this website is served over HTTPS. Because we do not run a server that holds your purchase history, there is no copy of it on our side to protect or lose.
Your rights and contact
You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. That covers your membership of the former beta group, if you joined it, and any emails or contact-form messages you sent us. The data in the app is on your device, so you control it directly. Write to hello@apppurchasevault.com. One email is enough.
When optional rewarded ads are available, you can review or change your advertising privacy choices in the app under Settings › Privacy. Information that Google processes when you watch an ad is handled by Google under its own privacy policy and controls.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when the app or website changes how data is handled, and change the date at the top. Significant changes, such as importing purchases from another store, will be described here before they take effect.