Permissions

Last updated: October 23, 2026

This page lists every permission the Car Czar iPhone app asks for. For each one: what it enables, what is stored, and what never leaves the phone. It is part of our Privacy Policy. You can change any of these later in iOS Settings.

Nothing here is required to have an account. You can type a VIN, a pump reading or a mileage instead of scanning, skip location and still save a fill-up, and leave notifications off.

Camera

What it enables. Scanning a VIN, an odometer or a fuel pump; scanning a service invoice to try to fill cost, miles and shop; photographing a receipt, a document, a repair order, or a picture of your car.

What is stored. For a scan: only the number the phone read — the VIN, the miles, or the pump figures — exactly as if you had typed them. For a photo you choose to keep: that file, stored privately with the vehicle, fill-up, service record or recall it belongs to. A flattened invoice scan is stored because you attached it; the cost, miles and shop read from it are filled on the phone first. Garage members who can see that record can open the file through a short-lived link.

What never leaves the phone. Scanner photographs. When you point the camera at a pump, an odometer, a VIN plate or a transfer code, the reading is worked out on the device. The image is not uploaded and not stored. Reading an invoice to prefill a service record is the same: the text is read on the phone. The flattened scan is then stored only because you attached it.

Photos

What it enables. Choosing an existing picture of your car, or a receipt you already photographed, instead of taking a new one.

What is stored. Only the picture you pick. It is stored the same way as a photo you take in the app — privately, on that record.

What never leaves the phone. The rest of your library. The app does not browse or upload other photos.

Location

What it enables. Checking gas prices near you, naming the station on a fill-up, and sorting car-seat inspection stations by distance. Location is read on those screens. If you turn on pump-arrival reminders, the phone also reads location in the background so it can notice when you arrive at a station you have used. That is off unless you switch it on.

• Gas prices: your phone's location — or, if location is off, the center of your ZIP code — goes through Car Czar's server to Google Maps. We do not store that location with the check. The names, addresses and prices Google returns are shown while the app is open and are not kept. Nothing from Google Places is ever put in an email.
• A fill-up: if it is a station Car Czar already knows, the phone names it without asking anyone. If not, the location is sent through our server to Google Maps once. The fill-up's coordinates are stored with the fill-up. The fill-up saves either way if you skip this.
• Car-seat stations: location is used on that screen to sort the list. Those coordinates are not stored. Skip it and the list still shows, by city.
• Pump-arrival reminders: if you turn them on, the phone watches up to twenty stations from your own fill-up history. A local reminder fires when you arrive. It does not name the station.

What never leaves the phone. A location trail. Background location is used only to notice arrival at a station you have used, and only if you turn that reminder on. Those arrivals are not sent to us.

Notifications

What it enables. A fill-up reminder the morning before the car usually needs gas, a pump-arrival reminder if you turn that on, and — if you allow them — other reminders we send to this phone.

What is stored. The fill-up reminder is scheduled on your phone from your fill-up history; that schedule stays on the device. A pump-arrival reminder, if you turn it on, is also local. If notifications are allowed, we store a push token so a reminder can reach this installation. Signing out removes it. If someone else signs in on the same phone, it stops belonging to your account.

What never leaves the phone. The fill-up reminder and the pump-arrival reminder: nothing about those local schedules is sent to us. Promotional notifications, such as tips and news, are not sent unless you turn on “Tips and news” in your profile, which is off unless you switch it on.

Microphone and speech

What it enables. Saying a fill-up out loud — gallons, total, price per gallon, or odometer — instead of typing at the pump.

What is stored. The number the phone heard, the same fields you would type.

What never leaves the phone. The recording. Speech is turned into numbers on the device. Nothing you say is uploaded.

Face ID

What it enables. Unlocking the app when you open it, if you turn that on. You can use your device passcode instead.

What is stored. Only whether you turned the lock on, on this phone. That choice is not sent to us.

What never leaves the phone. Your face. Face data stays on your iPhone.

What we do not ask for

• Tracking across other companies' apps. There is no App Tracking Transparency prompt, and we do not use your information to track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• Motion or fitness data. iOS may show a motion note because a system library the app includes can reach those sensors. The app never asks for them and does not use them.

Questions

See the Privacy Policy for what we collect and how to request deletion, or email privacy@carczar.app.