Privacy Policy

1Who this policy covers

This Privacy Policy applies to the Cercadura iOS app, published under the bundle identifier com.cercadura.fachadas. Cercadura has no companion website account, no server-side backend for user content, and no other product that shares user data with the app. If you have questions about this policy, see the Cercadura Support page, which includes a contact form.

2Data we collect

Cercadura does not collect personal data. There is no account system, no sign-up form, and no login screen anywhere in the app — you can open the app for the first time and start logging facades immediately. We do not operate any server that receives, stores, or processes information about you or your usage of the app.

There are no analytics SDKs, no advertising SDKs, no crash-reporting services that phone home with identifiers, and no third-party tracking libraries built into Cercadura. Nothing about your usage — how often you open the app, which streets you walk, how many facades you log — is measured, transmitted, or visible to us.

3Apple Privacy Manifest summary

Cercadura ships an Apple Privacy Manifest (PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy) that declares its actual data practices to iOS and to the App Store. In summary:

In other words, the manifest that Apple requires app developers to disclose honestly reflects what's described in this policy: no tracking, and no data leaves your device except when you deliberately open one of the reference links described in Section 6.

4Content you create stays on your device

Everything you record in Cercadura — your walks, the facades you log along the way, the photos you attach, your written notes, and any tile patterns you identify — is stored entirely locally, using a SQLite database and JPEG image files kept inside the app's own sandboxed storage on your iPhone or iPad.

• Nothing you log is uploaded to any server operated by us or anyone else.
• Nothing syncs to iCloud or to any user account, because the app has no accounts and no sync feature.
• No one other than you (and anyone with physical access to your unlocked device) can see your walks, facades, photos, or notes.
• If you delete the app, its local database and locally-stored photos are removed by iOS along with it. We do not keep a separate copy anywhere, because none is ever created off your device.

5Camera and photo library

Camera

Cercadura uses your device's camera for exactly one purpose: letting you photograph the facade you're standing in front of, so the photo can be attached to that facade's entry in your logbook. Before the camera is used for the first time, iOS shows you the system permission prompt with the description we provide (NSCameraUsageDescription), and the app cannot access the camera unless you grant that permission. Photos you take stay on your device with the rest of your facade data — they are never uploaded.

Photo library — choosing an existing photo

Instead of taking a new photo, you can optionally pick an existing one from your photo library to attach to a facade entry. This uses Apple's system photo picker (PHPicker), which was specifically designed by Apple so that apps never see your full photo library and no permission prompt is required — Cercadura only receives the single photo you choose to share, and nothing else from your library.

Photo library — saving a share card

If you generate a share card (a summary image of a walk or facade) and choose to save it, Cercadura can write that image back to your photo library. This requires the add-only photo library permission (NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription), which lets the app add a photo but does not grant it any ability to read your existing library. This only happens if you tap to save — it is never automatic.

6Local notifications

Cercadura can send optional local notifications — for example, a reminder to revisit a facade in three months, or a nudge to go on a Saturday walk. These reminders are generated and scheduled entirely on your device using iOS's local notification system; they do not involve any push notification server, and no data about you is sent anywhere to make them happen.

Notifications are strictly opt-in. iOS asks for notification permission only at the moment you actually turn a reminder on inside the app — never automatically on launch, and never as a condition of using the rest of the app.

7Network use and in-app reference links

The only network activity in Cercadura is a small number of "read more" links attached to facade and tile-pattern information, offered for further reading. Tapping one of these opens the page inside an in-app web view — it never hands you off to Safari or another app. These links point to three real, public, non-account, non-login third-party sites:

• Museu Nacional do Azulejo — the national tile museum in Lisbon, Portugal.Reference reading on the history and craft of azulejo tiles.
• SOS Azulejo — an independent project documenting and campaigning against the theft of historic tiles from facades.Referenced from a facade's detail page, including for reporting stolen or damaged tiles (see Cercadura Support for details).
• Wikipedia — general background articles related to azulejo tiles, regions, and history.Encyclopedia reference reading.

Because these pages are hosted by their own organizations and simply displayed inside Cercadura's in-app browser, your interaction with them (such as any cookies they set or analytics they may run) is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one. We encourage you to review the relevant site's privacy policy if you have concerns about browsing it, whether inside Cercadura or elsewhere. Aside from loading the page you asked to read, Cercadura does not send these sites any information about you, your device, or your activity in the app.

8What Cercadura does not do

To be explicit about the boundaries of the app's data practices, Cercadura does not:

• Access your location or GPS, and has no maps functionality.
• Access your microphone.
• Access your contacts.
• Collect health, fitness, or financial data of any kind.
• Require or offer an account, sign-up flow, or login.
• Include advertising, ad SDKs, or third-party analytics.
• Sell or share your data with third parties — there is no user data to sell or share.

9Children's privacy

Cercadura does not have an age gate and is not marketed specifically to children, but it also isn't designed to appeal specifically to children — it's a field guide for people walking around identifying architectural tilework. Since the app collects no personal data from anyone, regardless of age, there is no personal information gathered from children through normal use of the app. The app contains nothing objectionable.

10Data retention and deletion

Because your walks, facades, photos, and notes exist only on your device, you are always in full control of retention: they persist for as long as you keep the app installed and choose not to delete individual entries, and they are permanently removed the moment you delete an entry, or the app itself, from your device. There is no server-side copy to separately request deletion of, because none exists.

11International use

Cercadura is designed for use while exploring tiled facades in places such as Portugal, Brazil, and beyond. Because the app does not collect or transmit personal data regardless of where you use it, there is no cross-border transfer of your personal information to worry about — your content simply stays on the device in your pocket.

12Changes to this policy

If Cercadura's data practices ever change — for example, if a future version introduces a genuinely new feature that touches personal data — this page will be updated, and the "Last updated" date at the top will change accordingly. We will not quietly expand what the app collects without reflecting it here first.

13Contact

Questions about this policy or how Cercadura handles data can be sent through the contact form on the Cercadura Support page.