Privacy Policy
Loupe does not collect any personal data.
Effective September 18, 2026
This policy explains how the Loupe: Screen Translator app for iPhone and iPad (“Loupe”, “the app”, “we”) handles information. In short: everything is processed on your device, nothing is sent to us, and we have no servers that receive your data. The only time anything leaves your device is LAN Live (section 2), which you turn on yourself and which stays inside your local network.
- On your deviceText recognition and translation run on your iPhone or iPad.
- Never saved or sentNo screenshots, no recordings, no uploads.
- No trackingNo account, analytics, ads or third-party SDKs.
- LAN Live stays localOff by default. When on, it never leaves your network.
1Screen content
- When you start Loupe, iOS or iPadOS asks you to confirm screen sharing. Only then does Loupe’s screen sharing extension receive images of your screen.
- These images are processed on your device only, to find text and show its translation in the Picture in Picture window or, on iPad, in the Loupe window.
- Only while Loupe is translating, the screen sharing extension passes images to the app through a fixed-size shared-memory buffer inside the app’s private App Group container on your device. The buffer holds only the latest frame, and each new frame overwrites the previous one. When you stop Loupe, the buffer is cleared and deleted. Only Loupe can access it.
- Screen content is never saved as screenshots or recordings, never uploaded, never shared, and never used for any other purpose.
- You can stop at any time by tapping Stop Loupe, closing the Picture in Picture window, or stopping screen sharing from the status bar.
2LAN Live (optional, off by default)
- LAN Live is one of the reading scopes you can choose. It is off unless you pick it.
- While it is on, Loupe runs a small web server on your iPhone or iPad, shows you a link with the device’s local network address, and sends the translated screen as images to devices that open that link. The link contains a random password that is new for every session.
- The connection is plain HTTP inside your local network and is not encrypted, so anyone who has the link and is on the same network can watch. Use it on a network you trust, or on your own Personal Hotspot.
- Nothing leaves your local network: the images go directly from your device to the other device. They do not pass through us, and we have no servers involved.
- Stopping Loupe stops the server and invalidates the password, so the old link no longer works.
3Text recognition and translation
Text recognition uses Apple’s on-device Vision framework. Translation uses Apple’s on-device Translation framework. Translation language packs are downloaded by iOS from Apple; that download is handled by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy. After a language pack is downloaded, translation works offline.
4Information stored on your device
Loupe keeps a small amount of information on your device so the app works. None of it is sent to us.
- App Group storage (shared only between the Loupe app and its screen sharing extension): your settings (interface language, translation languages, reading scope), the current session state, your daily free usage counter, and a cached copy of your Loupe Pro status so the app opens quickly.
- Keychain: the date and the number of free seconds used that day, so the daily free limit is not reset by reinstalling. iOS may keep this Keychain item after the app is deleted; it contains no personal information.
5Purchases
Loupe Pro subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are processed by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive your name, Apple Account, or payment details. The app uses Apple’s StoreKit on your device to check whether you have Loupe Pro.
6No tracking, analytics, or advertising
- No account or sign-in.
- No third-party SDKs, analytics, crash-reporting services, or advertising.
- No tracking across apps or websites, and no data sold or shared.
- The app does not send data to servers operated by us.
7Children
Loupe is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
8Your choices
Deleting Loupe from your device deletes its settings, session state and cached Loupe Pro status. The only exception is the small Keychain item described in section 4 (today’s date and free seconds used), which the system may keep after the app is deleted; it contains no personal information and only affects the daily free limit. Subscriptions can be managed or canceled in your Apple Account settings.
9Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update this page and the effective date above.
10Contact
Questions about privacy: zezn@foxmail.com