Bekanto Privacy Policy

Last updated: 5 October 2026

Bekanto is a business card scanner for iPhone. This policy explains what the app does with your data. The short version: your cards, contacts, notes and tasks stay on your device, and usage statistics are only sent if you say yes.

Data stored on your device

• Card photos you scan or import are saved in the app's private storage on your iPhone.
• Contact details read from a card (name, title, department, company, phone, mobile and fax numbers, emails, website, social media profile links, address), plus any notes, tasks, connections and memo details (where you met, interests, birthday) you add, are stored on your iPhone.
• Networks you assign to a card (for example BNI) and booking links you enter in Settings are stored on your iPhone. Networks sync with your cards when iCloud sync is on; booking links never leave the device except inside a follow-up message you send yourself.
• Voice memo recordings are kept in the app's private storage until the memo is written down and you save or discard it.
• When you back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, this data is part of that backup so you can take it to a new iPhone. You set up the backup in iOS yourself; Bekanto has no access to it.
• Bekanto has no user accounts and no server of its own. We cannot see your cards or contacts.
• The people whose cards you scan are not Bekanto users. You decide what you keep about them and you are responsible for that data. Bekanto gives you the tools to keep it on your device and to delete it at any time.

iCloud sync (optional)

• iCloud sync is off until you turn it on in Settings. Bekanto asks after you save your first card and, if you say not now, one more time at the earliest a week later once you have ten cards.
• With sync on, your cards, card photos, notes, tasks and connections are stored in the private CloudKit database of your own iCloud account and appear on your other iPhones signed in with the same Apple Account. The data counts against your iCloud storage.
• Bekanto and Rooftop Studio have no access to your iCloud data. Apple encrypts it in transit and at rest, and with Advanced Data Protection enabled on your account it is end-to-end encrypted.
• Links to the Contacts app stay on each device and are not synced.
• Turning sync off keeps everything on your iPhone and leaves the iCloud copy as it is. "Delete all cards" with sync on also removes the cards from iCloud and from your other devices. With sync off it only deletes the data on this iPhone; the iCloud copy stays until you delete it in iOS Settings under iCloud, Manage Storage.
• Cards you delete one by one while sync is off are also deleted from iCloud the next time you turn sync on.
• Deleting a card in the app deletes its photo and details. "Delete all cards" in Settings removes everything Bekanto stores on this iPhone.

On-device processing

Text recognition runs on your iPhone using Apple's Vision framework. On iOS 26 devices with Apple Intelligence enabled, Bekanto also uses Apple's on-device language model to pick out contact fields and to sort dictated memos into notes, tasks and connections. Neither step sends card images or text off the device.

Voice memos are recorded on your iPhone first and kept in the app's private storage until they are written down, so a memo is not lost when you have no connection. Transcription uses Apple's speech recognition. When iOS has the on-device speech model for your language (Bekanto asks iOS to download it in the background), transcription happens entirely on your iPhone, live while you talk, and the app tells you so. Otherwise iOS sends the audio to Apple's speech recognition service, live while you record so you can see the text, or afterwards once you are online, subject to Apple's privacy policy, together with the name on the card the memo is about so that it is recognised correctly; Bekanto itself never receives the audio. When transcription runs on the iPhone, the names of your other cards are used as hints in the same way, without leaving the device. A recording is deleted as soon as you save or discard the memo, it is never synced to iCloud, and "Delete all cards" also removes recordings that are still waiting.

Map, addresses and routes

To place a card on the map, Bekanto sends the address printed on that card to Apple's geocoding service (CLGeocoder and MapKit search, subject to Apple's privacy policy) and keeps the returned coordinates on your iPhone. Place search and route planning use Apple Maps in the same way: the places you type and the start and end of a route are sent to Apple to find matches and directions; Bekanto and Rooftop Studio never receive them. A planned route is kept on your iPhone until you clear it and is not synced.

Permissions

• Camera: to scan a business card. Requested only when you start a scan.
• Photos: to import a picture of a card you already have. Bekanto only reads the photo you pick.
• Contacts: to save a scanned card to the Contacts app, or to link a card to an existing contact. Requested only when you choose one of those actions. Bekanto does not upload your address book.
• Microphone and speech recognition: to record a memo about a contact. Requested the first time you tap the microphone button; Bekanto only records while a recording is running, shown by a timer and a stop button. You can always type a memo instead.
• Calendar: none. "Add to Calendar" opens Apple's own event editor with the meeting filled in. Bekanto gets no access to your calendar and cannot read it; the event is only saved if you tap Add.
• Location (while using the app): to show which contacts are near you and along a route you plan. Requested only when you open the map or ask to see who is nearby. Your position is read while Bekanto is open and is never stored or sent anywhere. Without it, the map still works around the point you pan to.

Usage analytics

Analytics are off when you install Bekanto. After you save your first card, the app asks once whether you want to share usage statistics. You can change your answer at any time under Settings, Privacy. Nothing is sent before you agree.

If you agree, Bekanto sends the following to PostHog (PostHog Inc., EU Cloud with servers in Frankfurt, Germany), our analytics processor under a data processing agreement:

• a random device identifier that is not linked to you, your Apple Account or any contact;
• app version, iOS version, device model and language;
• which screens are opened (route names only, card identifiers are replaced) and which features are used;
• when something fails: the type of error and its technical code, and crash reports with technical stack traces.

Bekanto never sends names, contact details, notes, tasks, memo text, card photos, dictated audio or anything from your iCloud data.

The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you can withdraw in Settings at any time. Withdrawing stops all future sending. Data already sent is kept by PostHog for at most 12 months and then deleted. "Delete all cards" also assigns a new device identifier, so earlier events can no longer be associated with your device. Analytics are never used for advertising or to track you across other apps or websites.

Data sharing

Bekanto does not sell your data and does not share it with third parties, with these exceptions:

• PostHog receives the usage statistics described above, only with your consent.
• Apple receives dictated audio when on-device speech recognition is not available (see above), and stores your cards in your own iCloud account if you turn sync on.
• Your Contacts app: when you save a card to Contacts or link it to an existing contact, Bekanto writes the details and photo into your address book and adds the person to a group named after each network on the card. From then on that copy follows your own account setup, for example iCloud Contacts or an Exchange account.
• Other apps on your device: tapping call, message, email, website, profile or map hands the tapped phone number, address or link to the Phone, Messages, Mail, Safari or Maps app.

Children

Bekanto is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectify and erase your data, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, to withdraw consent, and to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. Because Bekanto keeps your cards only on your device and in your own iCloud, you exercise most of these rights directly in the app. For analytics data, contact us at the address below.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at the same address with a new date.

Controller and contact

Responsible for Bekanto and for this policy (controller under the GDPR):

Simon Gneuß
Birkenweg 6
09569 Oederan
Germany
info@simongneuss.com