Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 5, 2026

Who we are

SpecSilo is a product of Blue Bucket Studio LLC, a Texas limited liability company. This policy covers the SpecSilo app and the specsilo.io website. Questions go to [email protected].

What we collect and why

Your account. Your name, your email address, and a password (stored only as a secure hash, so we cannot read it). We use your email to sign you in, to send email verification and password-reset codes, and to tell you when your password changes. You can use SpecSilo without an account: your records then stay on your phone and nothing syncs.

Your records. Your machines (including VIN, license plate, and serial numbers), parts and specs, maintenance and fuel entries, service reminders, notes, photos, receipts, manuals and other documents, the text your scans read, your answer to the setup question about how many machines you have, and your screen layout choices. They are stored on your phone and, while you are signed in, synced to your private cloud space so they are backed up and reach your other phones.

Costs. The amounts you type on maintenance and fuel entries are stored and synced with those entries, and the app adds them up in your Spending report.

Usage records. For each account we keep how many scans you have used and of what kind, when you swap machines on and off the shelf, and when you last synced. They run your scan allowance and the free plan.

Totals. We look at counts across all accounts, such as how many machines people plan to track, how many scans are used, how often machines are swapped, and how many people subscribe, to understand how SpecSilo is used and to set the plans. We do this ourselves, with no outside analytics service.

Purchases. While you are signed in, the app connects to RevenueCat, the company that manages subscriptions for us, with your SpecSilo account ID so it can tell whether you have Pro. If you buy SpecSilo Pro, Apple or Google takes the payment and we never see your card. RevenueCat receives your purchase history from the store and tells our server what you bought and when it renews or ends, and we keep those purchase records. On iPhone, RevenueCat’s software also sends Apple’s “identifier for vendor,” an ID Apple gives the apps of one developer on your phone. It is not an advertising identifier.

Send Feedback. Your message, its category, an optional screenshot, and your phone’s model, operating system version, and app version. If you are signed in, the message is tied to your account (we receive your account email and ID) so we can reply. If you are signed out, it carries only the reply email you choose to type. Feedback is stored on our server and emailed to us. If you email us, we receive what you send.

Crash reports. If the app crashes or hits an error, it automatically sends us a report: the error message, technical details of where in the app it happened, the phone platform (iPhone or Android), the operating system version, and the app version. Crash reports are not tied to your account or your device, and they do not include your records, photos, or documents.

Internet addresses. Like every server, ours sees the internet (IP) address each request comes from. We do not store it in our database. It is written to our server logs only when a request trips one of our abuse limits (too many attempts, or too much feedback at once).

We do not collect your location, contacts, browsing history, or advertising identifiers. SpecSilo has no ads and no outside analytics or advertising software, and it does not track you: we do not combine your information with other companies’ data for advertising, and we do not share it with data brokers. Reminders are scheduled on your phone; we send no push notifications.

Scanning and AI

When you tap a Scan button, SpecSilo sends the photo or document you pick to our server, which passes it to Abacus.AI, an outside AI service. Abacus.AI has it read by Claude, an AI system made by Anthropic. What it reads comes back to you, and you review it before anything is saved. If you never tap a Scan button, nothing is sent. Scanning needs a signed-in account.

The app asks your permission before your first scan, and asks again if the companies that read scans ever change. You can take your permission back any time in Settings → Preferences → Scan permission.

What each scan sends:

• Receipt (maintenance or fuel) or a fuel pump display: one photo.
• Owner’s manual: the PDF file, or the pages the app picks from it, as images.
• Scan a page: one or more photos of a page, chart, or label.
• VIN, data plate (model and serial), or license plate: one photo, or a PDF for a VIN or data plate.
• Part or fluid label: one photo.
• Odometer or hour meter: one photo.
• Tire sidewall: up to four photos, read together.
• Fuse box legend: up to four photos, read together.

For manual and page scans we also send the machine’s year, make, model, and engine details, and the names of the parts already on it, so the results fit your machine.

Our servers pass the image on and do not keep a copy of it. Abacus.AI reads the image in memory to answer the request and does not keep it on its servers. Abacus.AI’s agreements with the AI model companies it uses, including Anthropic, say they do not keep the data or train on it. Abacus.AI does not use your scans to train AI models, and neither do we.

What a scan reads is kept: the details you save go into your records, and the full text a scan read is stored with your account so you can search it later. If you save the photo with a record, it is stored like your other photos.

Who else handles your data

We use a few companies to run SpecSilo. They handle your data only to provide their service to us:

• DigitalOcean hosts our servers, database, and private file storage, in the United States.
• Resend sends our emails: verification and password-reset codes, notices, and emails to website sign-ups. It also delivers your feedback to us.
• RevenueCat manages SpecSilo Pro subscriptions (see Purchases above).
• Abacus.AI and Anthropic read your scans (see Scanning and AI).

Some services you reach directly, under their own privacy policies:

• Apple and Google take subscription payments through the App Store and Google Play.
• NHTSA: when you tap Decode on a VIN, or after a VIN scan, the app sends only the VIN, straight from your phone, to the free lookup service of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to fill in details such as the year, make, and model.
• Part searches open the retailer’s site or Google in your browser, with the part name or number as the search.
• Google Fonts: the specsilo.io website loads its fonts from Google, so your browser contacts Google when you open a page.

Where your data lives

On your phone and, when synced, on servers in United States data centers (DigitalOcean). Data travels between the app and our servers encrypted (HTTPS). Photos and documents sit in private cloud storage that is not publicly accessible; the app retrieves them with short-lived signed links tied to your account.

Who can see your data

You. Your content is private to your account and is not shared with, visible to, or searchable by other users. We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. Server administrators can technically access stored data for maintenance and support, but do not browse it. We would disclose data only if legally required (for example, a valid court order).

How long we keep it

As long as you have an account. Items you delete move to the app’s Trash, where you can restore them for 30 days. Cloud copies of items you delete are kept as a safety net and erased when you delete your account.

You can delete your account any time from Settings → Account → Delete Account, or by emailing [email protected]. Your account locks right away. After a 30-day grace period we permanently erase it, normally within 7 days after the grace period ends. Changed your mind during the grace period? Email us and we will restore it. Deleting your account also clears SpecSilo’s data from the phone you delete it on. It does not cancel a SpecSilo Pro subscription: cancel that in your App Store or Google Play account. Details: specsilo.io/delete-account.html.

After your account is erased we still keep: records of store purchases (the purchase events RevenueCat sends us, and RevenueCat’s own record), for accounting, no longer tied to your name or email; crash reports, which never identified you; feedback sent while signed out and website sign-ups, which are not tied to an account (email us and we will delete yours); and copies in server logs and our hosting provider’s automatic backups until they expire.

Your choices

You can see, edit, and export your records in the app (open a machine and tap Export this machine). You can use SpecSilo without an account, and you can take back scan permission in Settings. To get a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or to have it corrected or deleted, email [email protected].

Our website

The specsilo.io website sets no cookies of its own and has no analytics and no ads. If you give us your email there to hear when SpecSilo is available, we keep it with the phone type you picked, use it only to tell you about SpecSilo’s release and to reply to you, and send those emails through Resend. Until SpecSilo’s App Store release, we may also give an iPhone sign-up’s email address to Apple so Apple can send an invitation to try SpecSilo early. To be taken off the list, email [email protected].

Children

SpecSilo is for people 13 and older; you must be at least 13 to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email [email protected] and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy in a material way, we will notify you in the app before the change takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions or deletion requests: [email protected]