Nocturne Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 31, 2026 · Applies to the iOS app “Nocturne: Card Scanner & Value” (Nocturne)

Nocturne is a Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering card scanner, collection tracker and value guide. Its card catalog and prices ship inside the app, and everything you create in it stays on your device. The short version:

No accounts, no ads, no analytics, no tracking. Your collection lives on your device. Nocturne has no sign-up, shows no ads, contains no analytics or advertising SDKs, and never sells or shares your data, because it never has it. The only network connections the app makes are described below, and none of them carry your personal information.

App integrity & configuration (Firebase)

Nocturne contacts Google Firebase for exactly one purpose: to verify that the running copy of the app is a genuine, unmodified build from the App Store and to fetch the configuration value the app needs to unlock its bundled card database. This is an anti-piracy measure that protects the app's licensed catalog, it is not analytics and it is not tied to you.

Firebase App Check (Apple App Attest / DeviceCheck): your device asks Apple to vouch that the app is authentic. This sends device-integrity attestation tokens to Apple and Google. These tokens prove "this is a real device running an unmodified Nocturne", they do not identify you.
Firebase Remote Config: the app fetches a small configuration value used to unlock the bundled catalog. This request includes a Firebase installation identifier (a random ID unique to this installation of this app, it resets if you reinstall and is different in every app) plus basic device information such as country code, language, time zone, OS version and the app's bundle ID.

No personal data, no advertising identifiers and no analytics are involved. The Firebase Analytics SDK is not present in the app, only the App Check and Remote Config components are linked. The app typically needs this connection once, on first launch; the result is then cached on your device. Google's handling of this data is described in the Google Privacy Policy and Privacy and Security in Firebase.

Camera

Nocturne uses the camera to scan cards and to photograph them for digital grading. All recognition and grading happens entirely on your device using Apple's on-device Vision framework and the app's bundled card index. Camera frames and photos are never uploaded anywhere. Grading photos and scan images you keep are stored in the app's private storage on your device, and nothing from the camera ever reaches the developer or any third party.

Photo library

If you choose to identify a card from an existing photo, the app reads only the photos you pick, and the identification runs on-device just like a live scan. The photos are not uploaded. Separately, if you save a share image (for example a portfolio card) the app uses add-only access to write that image to your photo library, it does not read your library to do so. Both permissions are optional and everything stays on your device.

Card images

Card artwork displayed in the app is fetched on demand from the public sources the catalog is built from, the Pokémon TCG API image servers (images.pokemontcg.io) and Scryfall's image servers (cards.scryfall.io). Like any web request, fetching an image exposes your IP address to those services; that is standard web behavior and the request contains nothing else about you. Downloaded images are cached on your device so repeat views are served locally. The developer operates no image server and does not see these requests.

eBay price lookups

Card pages offer buttons to check live eBay prices ("Sold prices" / "For sale now"). Tapping one opens eBay's own website inside an in-app Safari view (Apple's SFSafariViewController) with a search for that card. Nothing is scraped and no eBay API is called, it is simply a link. While you are on eBay's pages, eBay's privacy policy applies. The in-app Safari view is isolated from the app: Nocturne cannot see what you do there.

iCloud backup (optional)

You can optionally turn on iCloud backup in Settings. When enabled, the app writes a backup of your collections, portfolio, grades and custom cards to your own private iCloud Drive (the app's iCloud container in your Apple account). This backup is protected by your Apple ID, is visible only to you, and the developer cannot read it, there is no developer server involved. It is off by default; turn it off any time in Nocturne's Settings under "iCloud Backup", and it also stops working if you sign out of iCloud on the device.

Purchases

Nocturne offers optional Premium subscriptions. Payment is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store, the app never sees your name, payment details or billing address. On your device the app stores only an anonymous entitlement flag ("Premium active: yes/no") derived from your App Store transaction. Apple's handling of purchase data is covered by Apple's privacy policy.

Deleting your data

On-device data: use "Clear all local data" in Nocturne's Settings, or simply delete the app, collections, portfolio, grades, scan history, photos and caches are all removed with it.
iCloud backup: turn off iCloud backup in the app, then remove the backup files from iCloud Drive via iOS Settings → your Apple Account → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Nocturne.
Firebase: the app stores no data about you with Firebase; the installation identifier is abandoned when you delete the app, and Google deletes data tied to it per its retention policies.

Data collection summary

No account, sign-up or login, the app has none.
No analytics, no advertising SDKs, no tracking, no data sale, ever.
Card scanning and grading run entirely on-device; photos are never uploaded.
Your collections, portfolio and grades are stored locally on your device (and, only if you opt in, in your own private iCloud).
The app's only server contact is Google Firebase for app-integrity verification and catalog-unlock configuration, a random installation ID and device-integrity tokens, not linked to your identity and not used for tracking.
Card images load from the public Pokémon TCG and Scryfall image servers; eBay lookups open eBay's website in an in-app browser.
Purchases are processed by Apple; the app keeps only an anonymous entitlement status.

Children's privacy

Nocturne does not collect personal information from anyone, including children. There are no accounts, no social features, no ads and no third-party analytics. The only external content a child could reach is the eBay page described above, which is opened explicitly by the user.

Changes to this policy

If Nocturne's data practices ever change, this policy will be updated here and the effective date above revised. Material changes (for example, if a future version added accounts or sync) will also be highlighted in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about privacy in Nocturne? Email engr.kamalnasir@gmail.com.