Last updated: 27 August 2026.
WhyScan is a barcode and QR reader. This policy explains what data it handles, where that data stays, and what you can do with it. It is written to be checkable: every claim here corresponds to something you can verify in the app's source code, and where there is a caveat, the caveat is stated.
The short version
WhyScan does not collect, store on any server, or transmit anything you scan. There is no account, no sign-up, no advertising, no analytics and no crash reporting.
The app does not request the internet permission. On Android that is not a promise we make: it is the operating system that stops a process without that permission from opening a network connection. You can check it from the phone itself, in the permission list your system settings show.
One detail, because you may look at the source and find it confusing: the manifest does mention
INTERNET — with tools:node="remove", which is the instruction that takes it out. It is
there because the Google scanning libraries declare that permission in their own manifests and
Android's build merges them into the app unless it is told not to. Until 31 August 2026 nobody was
telling it not to, so builds before that date did carry the permission. It was found by a check
written for exactly that case, and the decision is recorded in
ADR-0020.
What data exists, and where
What you scan
Every scan is stored in the history, a database inside the app's private storage on your device. For each scan it keeps:
- the code's content, exactly as it came;
- the format (QR, EAN-13, Code 128…);
- when it was read, and which scanning engine read it;
- the note you wrote on it, if you wrote one.
That content can be anything a code can carry, including sensitive information: a Wi-Fi QR carries the network password inside it, and a ticket or parcel code can identify you. It is stored because the history is the feature; it does not leave the device.
The system's automatic backup is switched off (allowBackup="false" plus
dataExtractionRules). This matters more than it looks: without it, Android would copy the history
database to the user's Google Drive account, and it would be done by a system process, for which our
lack of an internet permission means nothing.
The trade-off is stated and accepted: when you change phones, the history does not travel. If you want to keep it, export it yourself.
The camera
WhyScan asks for camera permission in order to read codes. Images are analysed on the device, frame by frame, and are not stored anywhere: the app takes no pictures, records no video and keeps no frame after analysing it.
If you would rather not grant the permission, the app still works: you can scan an image you already have, or type a code by hand.
The images you pick
To scan from an image, the app uses the system picker — Android's photo picker — which runs outside the app and hands it only the file you chose. That is why WhyScan does not ask for permission to read your photos: it has no access to your gallery, only to what you hand it. The image is decoded and discarded; it is not copied or stored.
Your settings
Theme, language, dyslexia mode and advanced mode are stored in the app's private storage. Nothing else.
Third parties
Here is the one caveat in this whole document, which is why it gets its own name.
One of WhyScan's scanning engines on Android is the Google Play Services code scanner (Google Code Scanner). When that engine is used, the camera is opened by Play Services — not by WhyScan — in its own screen, and the only thing that comes back to the app is the text of the code. That component belongs to Google, and its data handling is governed by Google's privacy policy.
WhyScan sends it nothing of its own accord and receives nothing from it beyond the scan result. If you would rather not use it, in Settings → Advanced you can turn on the engine workbench and pick, by hand, any of the engines that run entirely inside the app.
Beyond that, WhyScan integrates no analytics, advertising, attribution or crash-reporting SDK.
When anything leaves the device
Only when you send it, and always with an explicit gesture:
- Copy puts the content on the system clipboard. WhyScan marks it as sensitive so Android does not show it in the floating preview it displays on top of any app.
- Share opens the system sheet and you choose where it goes. From there on the app you pick is in charge, not this one.
- Export writes the history to a CSV, JSON or text file wherever you say.
- Open a link from a scanned code takes you to the browser or the matching app. WhyScan only
opens
http,https,mailto,tel,smsandgeo; any other scheme is rejected. What happens afterwards happens in that other app, under its policy, not ours.
Your rights, in practice
You do not need to write to us to exercise them, because we hold nothing of yours:
- See your data: it is on the History screen.
- Export it: the export buttons, on that same screen.
- Delete one: the delete button on each row, with an undo option.
- Delete all of it: "Clear" in the history bar. It is permanent and irreversible.
- Delete everything for good: uninstall the app. It takes the database and the settings with it.
Children
WhyScan is not directed at children under 13, and it collects data from nobody, of any age.
Changes to this policy
If what the app does with data ever changes, this document changes with it and the date above says so. The change history is public: it lives in the same repository as the code.
Contact
For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights in the previous section, write to [email protected].
WhyScan is also an open-source project: if yours is a defect rather than personal data, a public issue at https://github.com/dgfigueroa29/WhyScan/issues gets there sooner and helps more people. What does not belong in a public issue is anything that identifies you.