The short version: Your photos and videos are read on your device, compared on your device, and never sent anywhere. Since version 1.1.4 DustFox sends anonymous usage statistics (which screens and features are used, how much space was freed) so we can see how the app is used. They are tied only to a random ID, never to you, and you can turn them off in Settings. Since version 1.1.7 Pro purchases are verified through RevenueCat, which receives your App Store purchase records under a random ID, never your name or payment details. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking.
1. Who is responsible
DustFox is developed and published by Furkan Kaya (“we”, “us”). If you have a question about this policy, write to support@dustfox.app.
2. Data we collect
Anonymous usage statistics and purchase records, and nothing else. DustFox contains one third-party library, RevenueCat, used only to process purchases (see section 5). It contains no analytics, crash-reporting, advertising or attribution SDK. The statistics are sent by a few lines of DustFox’s own code to PostHog, an analytics service that stores them on its servers in the European Union and processes them on our behalf.
A statistic is a short event such as “app opened”, “Duplicate Photos screen opened”, “cleanup finished: 42 items, 1.2 GB” or “Pro purchased: yearly plan, price”. Each event carries:
- the app version, the iOS version, the device model code (for example “iPhone16,1”) and whether it is a phone or a tablet;
- the app language and the region set in your iPhone’s settings;
- whether you have Pro;
- a random ID created when DustFox is installed, and a random ID for each session of use. Neither is linked to your Apple Account, your name or any other app, and deleting DustFox discards both.
Library sizes and freed space are rounded (for example to 1,200 MB) so that no figure is exact.
We do not collect, receive, store, or have any access to:
- your photos, videos, or anything derived from them, including file names, faces, places and the results for individual items;
- your name, email address, phone number, or any account identifier;
- your advertising identifier (IDFA), your contacts, or your location. PostHog and RevenueCat see the IP address of the connection, as every server on the internet does; we do not store it and do not use it to work out where you are;
- how much free space your device has;
- crash reports or session recordings.
We use the statistics only to understand how DustFox is used and to make it better: how many people open it, which methods they reach for, where they stop. They are never used for advertising, never combined with data from other companies, never sold and never used to identify you. PostHog keeps them for a limited time, at most as long as our plan’s retention period, and then deletes them.
Turning statistics off. Settings › Anonymous statistics. When you switch it off, the events still waiting on your device are deleted and nothing more is recorded or sent. The legal basis for the statistics is our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the app (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR); the switch is how you object.
3. How your photo library is used
When you grant photo access, DustFox reads your library to find duplicates, blurry shots, large files and the other categories it offers. All of this — fingerprinting, comparison, scoring, compression and re-encoding — happens on your device, using Apple’s frameworks. Scanning works with the network switched off, which is the simplest proof that nothing is being uploaded.
DustFox only modifies your library when you ask it to. Deletions are performed through Apple Photos, which moves the items to the Recently Deleted album where they remain recoverable for 30 days.
4. Data stored on your device
DustFox keeps a small amount of state locally so the app behaves sensibly between launches: your settings, your compression preferences, a record of which frames you chose to keep, and a history of how much space you have reclaimed. This lives in the app’s own storage on your device. It is included in your iPhone backup if you back up your device, it is removed when you delete the app, and it is never transmitted to us or to anyone else.
5. Purchases
DustFox Pro is an in-app purchase, either one-time (Pro Lifetime) or a yearly subscription with a 3-day free trial (Pro Yearly). Payment is processed entirely by Apple through the App Store; neither we nor RevenueCat ever see your payment details.
Since version 1.1.7, purchases are verified through RevenueCat, a service run by RevenueCat, Inc. in the United States that checks App Store purchases and tells the app whether Pro is active. It is the only third-party library in DustFox and is used for nothing else: it is not an analytics, advertising or attribution SDK, it does not read your advertising identifier and it does not track you. There is still no account. RevenueCat gives each installation a random anonymous ID, which is not linked to your name, your email address or your Apple Account.
RevenueCat receives:
- the App Store transaction records for DustFox’s products: the product, its price and currency, purchase and expiry dates, renewal and trial status, and the App Store country;
- the random anonymous ID;
- the app version, the iOS version, and the language and region settings;
- the IP address of the connection.
Apple also notifies RevenueCat when a subscription renews, is cancelled or is refunded. We use this data to unlock Pro and to see revenue figures, such as how many people buy, renew or cancel. We receive no name, email address, or card information, and we cannot identify individual buyers. The data is never used for advertising or tracking. RevenueCat processes it on our behalf under RevenueCat’s Privacy Policy. If statistics are on, the purchase also appears in them as an anonymous event with the plan and its price.
Apple’s own handling of your purchase is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy.
6. Network use
The app connects to the internet for two things. Buying and restoring Pro, and checking whether Pro is active, which Apple’s StoreKit framework and RevenueCat (api.revenuecat.com) handle. And sending the anonymous statistics described above to PostHog’s EU servers (eu.i.posthog.com), in small batches, unless you have turned them off. There is no other network activity; scanning still works with the network switched off, and statistics recorded offline are sent later.
7. Version 1.1.2
Version 1.1.2, available for a short time in September 2026, included Meta’s SDK to count installs from our ads on Instagram. It sent an install event and app-open events to Meta with basic device information and a random ID the SDK created; it never read your advertising identifier and never received your photos. In the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland it ran only if you allowed it.
We removed it completely in version 1.1.3. If you installed 1.1.2, update to the latest version: the SDK is gone, nothing is sent to Meta any more, and on its first launch DustFox deletes the random ID and settings the SDK left on your device. Data that 1.1.2 had already sent is held by Meta under the Meta Privacy Policy, and you can use the tools described there to exercise your rights over it. We never received that data ourselves and saw only aggregated install counts per ad campaign.
8. System APIs that require a declared reason
Apple requires apps to declare why they use certain system APIs. DustFox declares two, and both are used only to make the app work:
- Disk space — to draw the storage bar showing how full your device is.
- User defaults — to store your own settings and the random IDs used for statistics and purchases, in the app’s own space.
Neither is used for tracking. Disk space information never leaves the device, and the statistics do not include it.
9. Children
DustFox is not directed at children. The statistics it sends contain no personal details about anyone, including children.
10. Your rights
Regulations such as the GDPR, the UK GDPR, KVKK and the CCPA give you rights over personal data a company holds about you — access, correction, deletion, portability, and objection. We hold no name, email address or account for anyone, and the statistics are tied only to a random ID that we cannot connect to you, so we have no way to find, export or erase a particular person’s events. You can stop them at any time with the switch in Settings. To remove everything DustFox has stored on your device, including the random ID, delete the app; iOS removes its local storage with it.
We do not sell or share personal information, and statistics are never used for advertising.
11. Changes to this policy
If a future version of DustFox ever changes what it does with data, this page will be updated before that version ships, and the date at the top will change. The App Store privacy label says the same thing: Usage Data (Product Interaction), used for analytics, and Purchases (Purchase History), used for analytics and app functionality; neither is linked to you or used to track you. This version of the policy was updated for DustFox 1.1.7, which moved purchases to RevenueCat.