Recap privacy policy
Last updated: 14 October 2026
In short: your decks, cards and study history stay on your phone. Recap has no ads, no tracking and no account. Only the material you choose to turn into cards with "Create with AI" leaves your phone, and it is sent to Google's Gemini AI to make the cards. If you report an AI-made card, that card is sent to us.
What stays on your phone
Your decks, cards, pictures, study history, statistics and settings are stored only on your device. Importing files (lists, CSV files, decks in .apkg format), making backups, reminders and reading cards aloud (with your phone's own voices) all work on your phone, without sending anything to us. If you uninstall Recap or clear its data, all of this is deleted.
What leaves your phone: "Create with AI"
When you use "Create with AI", Recap sends what you chose to make cards from to our server:
- Text you paste, or a topic you type.
- Photos: the text is read on your phone, and only that text is sent. The photo itself never leaves your phone.
- PDFs you choose: the file is sent to our server, which reads its text in memory and then discards the file. It is never saved.
Our server sends that text to Google's Gemini API, which writes the cards. We use Gemini's free tier: under Google's terms, Google may use what is sent to improve its products, and people at Google may review it. Please don't send sensitive or personal information. Our server doesn't store your text; its logs record only sizes and counts, never the content.
Your choice. Nothing is sent until you tap "Make cards" or choose a PDF, and Recap asks for your permission before the first time. You can take it back at any time in Settings › Advanced by turning off "Send text to Google Gemini"; Recap then asks again before sending anything. You can also simply stop using "Create with AI": everything else works offline.
Reporting an AI card
If a card made with AI is offensive, wrong or harmful, you can tap "Report" on the Review cards screen. Recap then sends our server that card's front and back (as shown on your screen), the reason you chose, and your phone's random ID (see below); the server adds the time it arrived. Not the text the cards were made from, and nothing else. We store reports in our database to look at them and improve the cards the AI makes, and we delete each report within 90 days after we've dealt with it. Reports are not sent to Google.
Device ID and AI limits
To share the free AI fairly, each phone can make a limited number of AI cards per day. For this, Recap creates a random ID when it's installed. It doesn't contain or reveal who you are. Our database stores this ID with the number of AI cards made each day and any cards you report, and nothing else. Uninstalling Recap makes the ID useless (a new install gets a new one), and you can ask us to delete anything we hold by email.
Our server also sees your IP address, like any website. Recap uses it only in memory to stop abuse (too many requests from one network); our server never stores or logs it. Our hosting provider, Render, may keep standard network logs that include IP addresses for a short time, for security, under its own privacy policy.
Permissions
- Camera and photos: only when you choose to take or pick a photo, to add it to a card or to read the text of your notes.
- Notifications: only for the daily study reminder, if you turn it on.
Who processes data for Recap
- Render hosts our server (Singapore).
- Neon hosts the database with the device IDs, daily AI counts and reported cards (Singapore).
- Google (Gemini API) makes the cards from the material you send, as described above.
We don't sell data, show ads, or use analytics or tracking tools.
Children
Recap is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them.
Changes
If this policy changes (for example, when optional syncing between devices is added), we'll update this page and the date above.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@recapflashcards.com