Crate Privacy Policy

Crate is a personal app for cataloging your vinyl records. This policy explains what Crate stores, why, and what you can do about it. Crate is made by Nolan Bieber ("we").

Last updated November 9, 2026.

What we collect

Your account. Your email address, and your name if you sign in with Google or Apple. We use it to sign you in and keep your crate yours.

Sign in with Apple or Google. These run through Base44, the company that hosts Crate, using Base44's own Apple and Google sign-in, so the Apple and Google screens show Base44's name, not Crate's. Apple or Google tells Base44 your name and email address (with Apple you can choose Hide My Email, and then Crate only gets a private relay address from Apple). Neither of them gets your collection. After you sign in, a short hand-off page on Crate's web address passes your sign-in back to the app; it stores nothing.

Your crate. The records you add and everything you type about them: pressing details, condition grades, what you paid, notes, favorites, your wishlist, and the spins you log. Files you import (for example a collection export) are read on your phone; only the records you choose to import are saved.

Your photos. A photo you take or choose to scan a cover is used only for that scan. It is resized on your phone (which also removes location data), stored privately for a moment so an AI service can read it, then deleted. Crate saves a photo only if you choose it as an album cover or add it to a record. Saved photos show up on every device you sign in on. Each saved photo is stored at its own long, random web link. The link isn't listed or searchable and can't be guessed, but it is not password protected: anyone who has the exact link can open the photo.

Scan details. When you scan a cover or look up a barcode, Crate saves a short technical log of it (app and iOS version, photo size, and how long each step took) so a failed scan can be fixed. Crate also keeps a daily count of the AI cover scans each account makes, to apply the daily scan limit. The count is only a number per day tied to your account ID, with no photos or record details.

Rough location, only for nearby stores. If you allow it, Crate uses a rough location only while the app is open, only to find record stores within 15 miles of you. It is not linked to your account or identity, Crate never stores it, and it is never used for tracking or ads. iOS (Apple) turns it, or a ZIP you type, into a place name. To find stores, your phone sends Crate's server only the center of a grid square about a mile across around you, never your exact position. The server looks up record stores in that area with OpenStreetMap's public search and checks their websites, and keeps that list of stores for a day so people nearby share one search; it doesn't record who asked. If Crate's server can't be reached, your phone sends a search area (rounded to about half a mile) to OpenStreetMap itself. Distances are measured on your phone. A ZIP or city you type, or that rounded area and its place name from your last visit, is remembered on your phone only (the area for up to a week) so Crate doesn't ask again, and is erased when you sign out.

Apart from that rough search area, we do not collect your location, and we never collect your contacts or anything from other apps. There are no ads, no tracking across other companies' apps or websites, and no analytics SDKs.

How your data is used

Only to run Crate: to show your collection, identify records you scan, and fix problems. When you snap a cover, the photo is sent to an AI model (through our hosting provider's AI service) to read the album art and text, and album names, catalog numbers and barcodes are looked up in public music databases. The AI is used to identify your record and nothing else. We don't control how long our hosting provider or its AI provider keep what they process. You can turn AI cover scans off in Settings; Crate then asks again before your next scan.

Who processes it

Base44 hosts Crate's accounts, database, photo storage and server functions, and provides the AI service used to read cover photos. Base44 picks the AI model automatically, and the model and the company behind it can change over time.

MusicBrainz and the Cover Art Archive (MetaBrainz Foundation) receive album names, catalog numbers and barcodes when Crate looks up a record. They never receive your name or email.

OpenStreetMap (the OpenStreetMap Foundation's Nominatim search, or a public Overpass server if that is down) receives an approximate search area (about a mile across) from Crate's server, or from your phone if the server can't be reached, only if you use nearby stores. It never receives your name, email or collection.

Record stores' own websites, when Crate checks or searches their stock. They see an ordinary visit from your phone.

Google or Apple, only if you choose to sign in with them (through Base44, as described above).

Apple, if you test Crate through TestFlight (see Beta testing).

Venmo, only if you are a beta tester who asks for the $5 thank-you, to send the payment.

We never sell your data or share it for advertising.

On your phone

Crate keeps a copy of your collection, the badges you've earned and the Flip facts you've seen on your phone so it opens quickly and works without a connection. Signing out or deleting your account removes them. Crate asks for camera access to photograph records, photo library access to add pictures you already took, motion access for shake to spin, (only if you choose nearby stores) location while the app is open, and (only when you turn on a reminder or stock alert) notifications. You can turn any of these off in iOS Settings.

Notifications. The streak reminder and wishlist stock alerts are off until you turn them on in Settings, and iOS asks for permission only then. They are scheduled on your phone; there is no push server, so nothing about them is sent to us. Signing out turns them off.

Beta testing

If you test Crate before it is in the App Store, you install it through Apple's TestFlight app. When you send feedback in TestFlight, Apple passes us what you send (your comments and any screenshot) together with technical details about your device, such as its model and iOS version, and crash reports if the app crashes. Apple handles your TestFlight data under its own terms and privacy policy. We use feedback only to improve Crate.

Beta rewards. If you're offered $5 for beta feedback, adding your Venmo username is optional. You type it only in your TestFlight feedback note. We use it only to send you the $5, once, and we don't copy it or store it anywhere else. Your feedback, including the username, stays in Apple's TestFlight under Apple's terms. Venmo handles the payment under its own privacy policy.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your data is kept while you have an account. You can remove any record, spin or photo at any time.

To delete everything, open Crate, go to Settings, then Delete account. Your records, spins, scan history, saved photos and sign-in are deleted right away. A saved photo that was already viewed can stay in our hosting provider's cache at its exact link for up to 30 days after that. Crate can't find some scan photos from its test versions on its own; email us and we'll ask our hosting provider to remove them.

Questions or deletion requests: nbieber@blueprintdigitaloh.com

The Crate website

The Crate website is closed. Only its sign-in, password reset and sign-in hand-off pages are left, so you can reset your password and finish signing in to the app.

Children

Crate is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes we will update it here, and tell you in the app if the change is significant.

Contact

Questions: nbieber@blueprintdigitaloh.com