Papers Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 30, 2026

Papers is an iPhone app for reading research papers from arXiv, made by an independent developer under two58. This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it. The short version: Papers has no account, no servers of its own, and collects nothing about you.

1. Information We Collect

We do not collect any personal information. Papers has no sign-up, no analytics, no advertising, no crash-reporting services and no tracking. In Apple's App Privacy terms, the app collects no data.

2. What Stays on Your Phone

Everything the app remembers is stored only on your device:

Your Reading list: papers you open or save, how far you've read, and the reading tracks you save.
Learn sessions: your conversations in the Learn tab, so you can come back to them.
Settings: your theme, text size, the fields you follow, and which AI provider and model you chose.
Your AI keys: stored in the iOS Keychain, Apple's encrypted storage for passwords. They are never written anywhere else and never logged.
Downloaded papers and figures: kept in the app's cache so papers open faster next time.

None of this is sent to us. If you use iCloud or device backups, Apple may include this data in your backup under Apple's own terms.

3. Services the App Connects To

To work, Papers talks directly from your phone to these services. They receive your request and, like any website, your IP address. Each is governed by its own privacy policy.

arXiv (arxiv.org): to list new papers, run your searches, and download papers, figures and PDFs. arXiv receives your search terms and the papers you open.
The AI provider you choose (the app asks your permission the first time, before anything is sent; you can withdraw it in Settings) (for example Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, xAI, DeepSeek or Mistral, or a server address you enter yourself): only when you use an AI feature. The app sends your question, the text you highlighted, the conversation so far, and the paper you're asking about (its title, abstract and text), using your own key. Some providers can search the web to answer; that search is done by the provider.
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org): when the AI looks up a term to answer you, the app sends that search term to Wikipedia.

Links you choose to open, such as a paper's arXiv page or Google Scholar, open in your browser.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent or share your information, because we don't have any. The only data that leaves your phone goes directly to the services above, at your request.

5. Deleting Your Data

Remove a paper or track from the Reading tab, or delete a Learn session, at any time.
Remove an AI key in Settings to delete it from the Keychain.
Deleting the app removes everything it stored on your phone.

6. Children's Privacy

Papers is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.

7. Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, we will update it here and change the "Last updated" date above.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Email: katakamakki@gmail.com