masterfile

Terms & Privacy

Effective Date: June 1, 2026  ·  Last Updated: June 19, 2026  ·  Version 1.6

v1.5 — In-app purchase wired through Apple StoreKit. Added disclosures for local notifications, home-screen widgets, and the on-device Scratch parser.

This document covers both the Privacy Policy (how I handle information about your use of the App) and the Terms of Service (the rules that govern your use of the App). They are presented together for convenience, but each part stands on its own and may be cited separately.

Contents

Part I  ·  Privacy Policy  ·  fourteen sections

Part II  ·  Terms of Service  ·  eighteen sections

Part I

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how I, Louis Cada (referred to throughout this document as "the developer," "I," "me," or "my"), handle information when you use the masterfile iOS application (the "App"). masterfile is a single-user productivity app built around five modules — Scratch, Vault, Budget, Notes+, and Kanban — that runs entirely on your device. I have designed the App so that the content you create inside it stays on your device. I never receive, store, or have access to the notes, vault entries, budget data, kanban boards, or attachments you create.

However, I do collect a small amount of anonymized, aggregated information about how the App performs and which features are used, so I can fix problems and improve the App over time. The details of what I collect (and what I deliberately do not collect) are in Sections 2 and 3 below.

1. Summary in plain English

Everything you write, save, or store inside masterfile stays on your device or in your personal iCloud storage, depending on your iCloud Drive settings. I do not run servers that hold your content. I do not have an account system — there is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to. I do not show advertising, and I do not sell information about you to anyone.

I do collect anonymized usage and performance metrics through Apple's built-in analytics (App Store Connect Analytics and MetricKit) and through any feedback you send me directly. These tell me things like "how many people opened the editor today" or "the app crashed for 0.2% of users on iOS 18.4" — not who you are or what you wrote.

The masterfile unlock is a one-time in-app purchase, processed by Apple through StoreKit. I never see your payment information.

2. Information I do not collect

I do not collect, store, or have access to:

There is no advertising SDK and no third-party tracking SDK in the App. The contents of your notes and vault never leave your device through the App.

3. Information I do collect (analytics and diagnostics)

To make the App better — to find crashes, measure performance, understand which features people actually use, and decide what to build next — I receive anonymized, aggregated metrics from four sources. None of these sources include the contents of your notes, vault, budget, kanban, or attachments. None of them identify you as a person.

3.1 Apple App Store Connect Analytics

Apple provides developers with aggregated, anonymized analytics through App Store Connect. This includes app store impressions, installs, sessions, retention, active devices, the country your device reports, your language, and your iOS version. The data is reported only in aggregate — I cannot see any single user's behavior, and I do not receive any device identifier I could use to contact you. This service is provided by Apple, not by me, and is governed by Apple's privacy policy.

You can opt out at any time by going to iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements and turning off "Share With App Developers." When this is off, no App Store Connect Analytics data is sent from your device to me.

3.2 Apple MetricKit

MetricKit is an Apple framework that gathers performance and stability metrics on your device and delivers them to me as a single anonymized daily payload. Examples include app launch time, CPU and memory use, energy consumption, animation hitch rate, hang reports, and crash diagnostics. The data is generated and aggregated on your device by iOS before it is sent, and it contains no content, no personal identifiers, and nothing that ties one daily payload to another from the same device.

MetricKit is controlled by the same iOS setting as App Store Connect Analytics: Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements → Share With App Developers.

3.3 Direct feedback

If you contact me by email, on social media, or through any other channel you choose, I receive whatever information you choose to share — typically your email address or handle, and the contents of your message. I use this information only to respond to your inquiry and to fix problems you report. I keep support correspondence only as long as needed to resolve the issue and any follow-up.

4. Where your content is stored

All content you create inside the App is written to your device's local file system, inside the App's sandboxed Documents directory. Specifically:

Every JSON file is written using iOS's atomic-write API with NSFileProtectionComplete, which means the file is encrypted at rest by iOS while your device is locked.

Vault stores its sensitive secrets separately. Passwords, card numbers, CVVs, and PINs are written to the iOS Keychain rather than to the JSON file. The Keychain entries use the kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly access class, which means:

When you delete the App from your device, all of the App's local data (the JSON files, the attachment binaries, the Keychain entries, and the UserDefaults preferences) is removed by the operating system. There is nothing on my side to delete because nothing is on my side.

In addition to storage, the App performs on-device processing of your content for certain features. The Scratch capture surface, including the Promote feature that routes a quick note to Notes+, Vault, Budget, or Kanban, runs an on-device regular-expression parser to detect things like amounts, currencies, dates, card numbers, and email addresses. The parser does not transmit your scratch text to any server, does not use any machine-learning model, and does not "learn" from your input. It runs entirely inside the App process on your device. The same is true of Apple's on-device frameworks the App uses for related features — VisionKit (document scanning), AVFoundation (voice memos), PDFKit (PDF viewing), and LocalAuthentication (biometric checks). None of these transmit your content off-device.

5. Permissions the App may request

The App requests the following iOS permissions only when you actively use a feature that needs them. None of these permissions cause the contents of your notes or vault to leave your device.

5.1 Face ID / Touch ID (biometrics)

Used to unlock Vault, to confirm locking a sensitive note, and to open a locked note. The biometric check is performed by the operating system. The App never sees your face data, your fingerprint data, or any biometric template. The App receives only a yes-or-no result from iOS.

5.2 Camera

Used by the Scan Document feature in Notes+ to capture a printed document and save it as a PDF attachment to a note. The captured image is processed entirely on your device by Apple's VisionKit document scanner and saved into your note's local attachment folder. The image is not transmitted to me or to any third party.

5.3 Photo Library

Used when you attach a photo or a video from your library to a note. The picked file is copied into your note's local attachment folder. The App does not access photos you do not explicitly pick, and the file is not transmitted off-device.

5.4 Microphone

Used when you record a voice memo as an attachment to a note. The recording is saved as a local audio file inside your note's attachment folder. It is not transmitted off-device.

5.5 Notifications

The App requests permission to send local notifications through Apple's UNUserNotificationCenter framework. When you grant permission, all notifications are scheduled and delivered entirely on your device. There is no push-notification server, no APNS registration on my side, and no remote payload. Notification text (for example, "Review your password for [label]," "Budget threshold reached," or "Your note is moving to trash in 3 days") is composed at scheduling time from data already stored on your device and is delivered by iOS even if your device has no internet connection. You can fine-tune which categories of notifications fire from inside the App's Notifications screen, and you can revoke notification permission entirely in iOS Settings → masterfile → Notifications.

You can revoke any of these permissions at any time in iOS Settings → masterfile.

6. Third parties

6.1 Apple

masterfile relies on Apple's operating system services, including:

Apple's privacy practices for these services are governed by Apple's privacy policy.

6.2 In-app purchases

When masterfile offers paid features, those purchases are processed through Apple's StoreKit. The payment transaction takes place between you and Apple. I do not collect, see, or store your credit card information, your Apple ID, your billing address, or any other payment detail. I receive only the unlock entitlement from Apple, which I record locally on your device so that you do not have to pay again.

6.3 No other third parties

masterfile does not integrate with any third-party advertising network, attribution provider, push-notification service, or cloud backend. The App does not use embedded web views to load external content. The App does not maintain a server of its own.

7. Network activity, widgets, and background transactions

Under normal operation, the App may make outbound network requests in the following situations:

I do not perform background fetches, background uploads, push notifications, silent network calls, or any "phone-home" activity beyond what is described above.

The App's home-screen and Lock Screen widgets read content from a shared App Group container on your device — a private storage area that the App writes to and the Widget extension reads from. App Groups are an iOS storage mechanism and are entirely local; they do not involve any network call. Widget timelines are refreshed by iOS on its own schedule and by the App after relevant data changes (for example, after a Vault save or after you toggle the unlock). Widgets respect Vault's locked state and never display secret values; paid widgets show a "locked" placeholder until the Unlock is purchased.

8. Children's privacy

masterfile is a general-audience productivity app. It is not directed at children under 13 (or under the relevant age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, which may be higher). I do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The App stores no personal information of any kind on my side; the aggregated analytics described in Section 3 cannot be used to identify a child or any other user. To remove the App's data from a device, uninstall the App.

9. International data transfers

If iCloud Drive or iCloud Keychain is enabled on your device, your content may be transmitted to and stored on Apple's iCloud servers, which may be located in a different country from where you reside. This transfer is governed by Apple's iCloud privacy policy and terms, not by this policy. If iCloud is disabled, no international transfer of your content is caused by your use of the App. Anonymized analytics may be transmitted to servers operated by Apple (typically in the United States and Europe). These transfers are governed by the privacy policies of those providers and by the standard contractual clauses or other safeguards they put in place. Any data movement that may occur because of Apple services you triggered (such as an App Store purchase or an iCloud Device Backup) is governed by Apple's privacy policy and your Apple ID region settings.

10. Device backups

If you enable iCloud Backup or back up your iPhone or iPad to a computer, your device backup will include the App's local files and attachments as part of the standard iOS device backup. That backup is held by Apple (for iCloud) or by you (for local computer backups). I do not have access to those backups. Vault secrets stored in the iOS Keychain are excluded from iCloud Backup by their access class (ThisDeviceOnly) and will not be included in an iCloud Device Backup.

11. Data retention and deletion

I do not retain the contents of your notes, vault, budget, or kanban, because I never receive them. Your content lives only on your device. You control its retention:

Anonymized analytics events sent to Apple are retained by those providers according to their own retention policies, which you can review at the URLs in Section 6. Any support correspondence you send me is retained only as long as needed to resolve the issue and any follow-up.

12. Security

I have designed masterfile around the principle that the safest data is data that never leaves your device. To that end:

No security measure is perfect. You are responsible for the security of your device itself — keep iOS up to date, use a strong device passcode, and enable biometric protection.

13. Your rights

You can exercise full control over the App's data directly on your device:

If you are in a jurisdiction (such as the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or California) whose privacy laws provide additional rights — to access, correct, port, delete, or restrict processing — those rights still apply to any information I or my analytics providers hold about you. The information I hold is limited to what is described in Section 3 and Section 14. Please contact me to exercise any such right; I will respond within a reasonable time and as required by applicable law.

14. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or about how masterfile handles data, please contact me at:

Email: support.masterfile@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part II

Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of the masterfile iOS application (the "App"). The App is made and provided by Louis Cada (referred to in this document as "the developer," "I," "me," or "my"). By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the App.

Please read these Terms together with the Privacy Policy in Part I above, which is incorporated by reference.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, which may be higher) to use the App. By using the App, you represent that you meet this requirement. If you are using the App on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. License

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, I grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to download the App from the Apple App Store and use it on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, as permitted by Apple's App Store Terms of Service and the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.

This license does not grant you the right to:

3. Your content

Everything you create in the App is stored on your device. If iCloud Drive is enabled, the App's data files sync to your personal iCloud storage via Apple's iCloud Documents container — I do not host or have access to those files. Everything you create in the App (your notes, folders, tags, attachments, vault entries, budget data, kanban boards and cards, scratch text, color labels, and any other content collectively, "Your Content") is stored on your device. I do not host, receive, or have access to Your Content. The anonymized analytics described in Part I, Section 3 are limited to usage and performance metrics; they do not include Your Content.

You retain all rights you have in Your Content. Because I do not receive Your Content, I make no claim of ownership over it. I do not grant myself any license to use, display, modify, or distribute Your Content — not within the App, and not anywhere else.

You are solely responsible for Your Content. You must ensure that Your Content does not violate any law and does not infringe anyone else's rights.

4. Backups and data integrity

Because Your Content is stored only on your device, you are responsible for backing it up. The available options are:

I am not able to recover lost data on your behalf. If you delete the App from your device without first backing it up, the App's data — including Vault secrets stored in the iOS Keychain — may be permanently lost.

If you have iCloud Drive enabled, the App's data syncs automatically across your devices via iCloud, which serves as an additional layer of redundancy. Vault secrets sync via iCloud Keychain when that is also enabled. Note that iCloud sync is not a substitute for a full device backup — uninstalling the App removes local data, and iCloud Drive file availability depends on your iCloud storage quota and Apple's servers.

5. Vault is a convenience, not a managed service

Vault stores credentials, card numbers, PINs, and other sensitive material locally on your device, using the iOS Keychain for the most sensitive fields. I have designed Vault around the same patterns Apple and major password managers use, but you should understand the following:

Custom fields you add to a Vault entry are stored in plain JSON on your device alongside the entry's metadata, even when marked "Secure." The "Secure" flag controls only the show/hide toggle in the UI — not the storage class. If a value is so sensitive that it requires hardware-protected storage, create a separate Vault entry of kind "Key" for it, where the primary secret is stored in the iOS Keychain.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the App to:

I cannot police Your Content because I cannot see it. The App is provided to you for your private use, and you assume the legal and ethical responsibility for what you choose to store inside it.

7. In-app purchases

The App is free to download and includes a free tier with per-module limits (20 Notes, 2 Folders, 5 Vault entries, 2 Kanban boards, 3 Budget accounts, 5 Budget categories, plus a curated selection of free widgets). The masterfile unlock — a one-time in-app purchase processed by Apple through StoreKit — lifts every per-module limit, enables event-based smart notifications, and unlocks every widget shipped with the App.

If you make an in-app purchase:

8. Relationship with Apple

You acknowledge that these Terms are entered into between you and me, and not with Apple. Apple is not responsible for the App or its contents. To the extent these Terms differ from the Apple App Store Terms of Service, the Apple App Store Terms control the parties' relationship with Apple. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any) to you; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App.

You and I acknowledge that Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and that, upon your acceptance, Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

9. App updates

I may release updates to the App from time to time through the App Store. Updates may add features, change features, remove features, and fix bugs. Some updates may require a minimum iOS version. I am not obligated to maintain support for older versions of iOS indefinitely.

10. Intellectual property

The App, including its name, logo, illustrations, copy, design, source code, and visual style, is owned by me and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Except for the limited license granted in Section 2, these Terms do not grant you any right, title, or interest in the App.

11. Disclaimers

I do not warrant that the App will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from viruses or other harmful components. I do not warrant that any data you store in the App will be preserved against accidental loss caused by you, by your device, by iOS, by another app on your device, or by hardware failure. You assume all risk for your use of the App.

12. Limitation of liability

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of certain damages. In those jurisdictions, the disclaimers and limitations above apply only to the extent permitted by law.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold me harmless from and against any third-party claim, liability, damage, loss, and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to (a) your use of the App, (b) Your Content, or (c) your breach of these Terms or violation of any law or third-party right. I reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.

14. Termination

You may stop using the App at any time. To terminate these Terms with respect to your use, delete the App from your device. I may suspend or terminate your access to the App at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including if I reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or applicable law. Sections 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 will survive any termination of these Terms.

15. Changes to these Terms

I may revise these Terms from time to time. When I do, I will update the "Last Updated" date in the masthead and post the new version at the URL where these Terms are hosted. Material changes will be reasonably highlighted (for example, with an in-app notice). Your continued use of the App after the new Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of them. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the App and delete it from your device.

16. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply to these Terms. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the App will be brought exclusively in the courts located in Quezon City, Philippines, and you and I consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

Nothing in this Section will deprive you of any mandatory protection under the law of the country in which you reside that cannot lawfully be excluded by contract.

17. Miscellaneous

17.1 Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy in Part I, constitute the entire agreement between you and me regarding the App and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings on the subject.

17.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable, that provision will be modified to reflect the parties' intention as closely as possible, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

17.3 No waiver

My failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of that right or provision.

17.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without my prior written consent. I may assign these Terms freely. Any prohibited assignment will be void.

17.5 No third-party rights, except Apple

These Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights, except as expressly stated in Section 8 with respect to Apple.

17.6 Force majeure

I will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing my obligations under these Terms when caused by events beyond my reasonable control, including acts of God, pandemic, government action, war, civil unrest, labor disputes, power outages, internet outages, or failures of third-party services.

17.7 Notices

I may provide notices to you within the App or at any contact method you have provided. You may contact me using the information in Section 18.

 

18. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact me at:

Email: support.masterfile@gmail.com

masterfile is an independent application. Apple is not a sponsor or party to this Privacy Policy or these Terms, except as expressly stated in Part II, Section 8.