Who We Are and What This Policy Covers
Operator: Marcos Rezende, an individual based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Contact: hello@marcosrezende.com.
This policy covers the NearLens iOS app and the website at nearlens.app. They have separate processing boundaries. The app is designed to keep detection activity on your device. The website processes limited request information to deliver pages, protect the service, remember consent, provide optional analytics, and translate fixed editorial content when requested.
Descriptions of the mobile app reflect the current published product information and documented design.
What Data the App Uses
NearLens scans for nearby Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices and processes the following information locally on your device:
- Device names broadcast via Bluetooth
- Manufacturer IDs from BLE advertisement packets
- Signal strength (RSSI) to estimate proximity
- Detection timestamps for the activity log
This data is used solely to compare local observations with known smart-glasses signatures and alert you to possible compatible signals. A result does not prove that a person is recording, that a camera is active, or that every compatible device is present.
Data Storage
Detection logs and app settings are stored locally on your device using on-device storage. This data is:
- Never uploaded to any server
- Never shared with third parties
- Never used for analytics or advertising
- Fully under your control: clear all logs anytime from within the app
Detection history is opt-in. The exact automatic-clearing interval in the current release has not been verified, so this policy does not promise a fixed retention period. You can clear local history from within the app at any time.
Data the App Is Not Designed to Collect
The app is not designed to collect or send the following data to NearLens:
- Personal information (name, email, phone number)
- Your geographic location (the app never reads, stores, or transmits GPS coordinates)
- Device identifiers or advertising IDs
- Usage analytics or crash reports
- Any data from other apps on your device
- Camera, microphone, audio recording, or video capture
- An account or profile required to use the app
App Tracking and Advertising
NearLens does not use third-party analytics, advertising, or cross-app tracking in the app. This statement does not cover services supplied by Apple as part of operating the device or distributing the app. Website services are disclosed separately below.
AI-Assisted Website Translation
If you request a non-English version of the press page, the NearLens server sends selected visible text segments extracted from its server-side press and footer templates to the configured OpenAI-compatible endpoint using the gpt-5.4-mini model. The translation feature does not accept a free-form prompt and does not receive Bluetooth observations, detection history, camera or microphone data, GPS coordinates, account data, or analytics profiles.
- Purpose: translate published editorial content into a supported language.
- Input: a supported language choice, hero copy, and numbered visible text segments extracted from the press and footer templates. The full page HTML is not sent.
- Storage: successful translations are cached in process memory using the language and current source content. They remain there until the process restarts or the source content or cache key changes. This feature does not write them to an application database or file.
- Provider boundary: provider-side logging, retention, subprocessors, processing locations, and transfer mechanisms are governed by the provider's policies and terms.
- Review boundary: the website does not technically enforce human review of each runtime translation. The English page remains the source editorial version.
Website Analytics (nearlens.app)
This website uses Umami Cloud to understand aggregate website use. Umami is used only on this website. It is not included in the NearLens app and does not receive Bluetooth observations, detection history, exports, or other app data. Its script loads only after you click Allow analytics or enable the Analytics category in cookie settings.
- Data involved: page URL, referrer, browser, operating system, device type, approximate country derived from the request, and technical request data such as an IP address that the provider may receive when delivering or processing the analytics request. We do not configure heatmaps or session replay.
- Purpose: understanding how the site is used so we can improve it.
- Service: Umami Cloud. Its script is loaded from cloud.umami.is only after you allow Analytics. See Umami's privacy-first analytics overview and its data collection FAQ.
- Legal basis: consent under GDPR Article 6(1)(a), where GDPR applies. Where another privacy law applies, NearLens relies on your consent for this optional analytics processing to the extent required by that law.
- Cookies and tracking: Umami does not use cookies in its tracking script or track visitors across websites. The consent cookie (nearlens_consent) is stored locally for 365 days.
- Retention: Website analytics (Umami) are retained according to Umami Cloud's retention policy.
- International transfers: the vendor's contracting entity, subprocessors, hosting location, transfer mechanism, and data processing agreement are governed by Umami Cloud's policies and terms. Analytics remains optional and off until consent.
- Withdrawal: decline or withdraw Analytics at any time through cookie settings. Withdrawal prevents future analytics loading and does not affect processing that occurred before withdrawal.
Website Delivery, Security, and Retention
When you request a website page, hosting and network infrastructure necessarily receive technical request information such as your IP address, requested URL, timestamp, browser headers, and response status. NearLens uses this processing to deliver the page, maintain security, prevent abuse, and diagnose failures.
- Legal basis: legitimate interests in operating and protecting the website under GDPR Article 6(1)(f), where GDPR applies.
- Application logs: NearLens application logs omit IP addresses and query-string values.
- Rate limiting: the application uses an IP address temporarily in memory to limit abusive page traffic. Entries expire after the short rate-limit window and are pruned without being written by that mechanism to persistent application storage.
- Infrastructure logs: Hosting logs, including IP addresses used for rate limiting, are retained according to the hosting provider's standard log policy and are not used for any other purpose.
Website fonts are self-hosted. Loading a NearLens page does not contact Google Fonts.
The demo video is hosted by YouTube and is not loaded on initial page view. If you choose to play it, NearLens loads an embedded player from youtube-nocookie.com. YouTube then receives request information such as your IP address and browser headers and may use browser storage according to its own policies and terms.
Your Rights
Depending on your location and the circumstances, applicable privacy law may give you rights concerning personal data processed through the website. Under GDPR these can include:
- Access the personal data we hold about you.
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Delete data collected with your consent (withdraw consent and request deletion).
- Restrict processing while a dispute about accuracy, lawfulness, or an objection is considered.
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Portability of data in a structured format where technically feasible.
- Information about data sharing and processors.
- Withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
- Complain to the supervisory authority in the EU or EEA country where you live, work, or believe an infringement occurred.
To make a request, email hello@marcosrezende.com with the subject "NearLens privacy request", describe the right you want to exercise, and identify the relevant website interaction without sending unnecessary sensitive information. We may ask for proportionate information to verify that the request concerns you. We aim to respond within the time required by applicable law.
Because the app requires no NearLens account and is designed to keep detection history on your device, NearLens normally cannot access, export, correct, or delete that local app data for you. Use the app's controls to clear it. You can withdraw website Analytics consent immediately through cookie settings.
Permissions
NearLens requests the following device permissions:
- Bluetooth: Required to scan for nearby BLE devices. This is the core functionality of the app.
- Notifications (optional): Used to alert you when smart glasses are detected nearby. You can enable or disable this in Settings.
iOS does not require location authorisation for Core Bluetooth scanning. NearLens does not need GPS coordinates for detection. The permissions above are used exclusively for the app's stated purpose and never for tracking or data collection.
Children's Privacy
The app is not designed to collect personal data from any user. The website is directed to a general audience and optional analytics is not intended to profile children.
Where consent for an online service is given by a child, the age at which a parent or guardian must authorize that consent varies by country under GDPR and other laws. A single age threshold does not apply everywhere. Children who cannot validly consent in their location should decline Analytics or use the site with authorization from a parent or guardian.
Acknowledgements
With thanks to the people and projects that helped shape NearLens:
- Marcos Rezende: Product design, UX and visual identity (marcosrezende.com)
- Emanuel Cardoso, Mariana Fernandes & Marcos Rezende: User discovery research and field testing
Third-Party Software and Public Data
Third-party packages and public-data sources remain subject to their own licences or terms. Relevant details are listed on the Licences page, which is not presented as a complete dependency inventory.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated effective date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.
Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to make a privacy request, contact hello@marcosrezende.com. Do not send device scan history or other sensitive information unless it is necessary for your request.
