Last updated: Aug 2026
Archie ("the app") identifies architectural styles from photos you take. It is built to know as little about you as possible: no accounts, no ads inside the app, and no tracking of you across other apps and websites.
Photos. When you identify a building, your photo is sent over an encrypted connection to our analysis service, which uses an AI model to recognize the architectural style. The photo is processed in memory and never stored on our servers — once the analysis response is returned, the photo is gone from our systems. Your photos and identification history are stored only on your device; deleting the app (or using "Delete all my data" in Settings) removes them.
A device identifier. The app generates a random identifier (a UUID, stored in your device's Keychain) so our server can count your free identifications. It is not your Apple ID, is not derived from your hardware, and is not used to identify you personally or to track you across apps.
Approximate location (optional). If you grant location access, the app sends a coarse place hint (like a neighborhood or city) with your photo to make the "about this area" note more accurate, and uses your position on the map to show buildings near you, fetch your city's map content, and point the map the way you're facing. This is optional — the app works without it. Your coordinates are never sent to our servers or stored there: only the neighborhood-level place name accompanies a photo, and the map's use of your position happens on your device. When you save an identification, the app may keep the capture location on your device so it can link the photo to a nearby place on the map; it stays on your device and is deleted with the app or with "Delete all my data."
Narration audio. When you tap play to hear a description read aloud, the text of that description (which is written by us, and contains nothing about you) is sent to our server, which uses OpenAI's text-to-speech service to generate the audio. No photos, location, identifiers, or any other data accompany the text, and the generated audio may be cached on our servers so the same description doesn't have to be synthesized twice.
Map content. The map's city guides (curated buildings, photos, and descriptions) are downloaded from our content delivery network. These downloads are anonymous — they carry no device identifier — and the content then works offline from your device.
Feedback you send us. If you use "Send feedback" in Settings, the text you write is delivered to us by email so we can read it. It travels with the app version and the same random device identifier described above (so we can connect a bug report to, say, "a device that had already used its free identifications" — never to you). Don't include personal information in feedback unless you want us to have it; if you'd like a reply, use the Contact us link instead, since feedback arrives without a return address.
Questions you ask. If you ask a follow-up question on a result (typed or tapped from the suggestions), the question travels with a short text summary of that identification to our server, which asks Anthropic's Claude to compose the answer. Questions and answers are handled like photos: processed in memory and never stored on our servers. They are not saved on your device either — leave the result and the conversation is gone. The suggested questions are generated the same way, from the identification alone. Don't include personal information in a question.
Purchases. Subscriptions and the lifetime unlock are processed entirely by Apple. When you are a subscriber, the app sends Apple's signed purchase receipt with your requests so our server can verify your access. We never see your payment details.
Ad measurement. To help people discover Archie, we advertise it on Instagram and Facebook. So that we can tell whether those ads work, the app includes Meta's software kit, which reports a few anonymous app events to Meta — that the app was installed and opened, that an identification happened, that the subscription screen was shown, and that a trial or purchase started (with the amount). None of this is tied to your name, your photos, or your location, and the app never asks for permission to track you, because it does not: we do not use Apple's advertising identifier at all. Apple's own privacy-preserving attribution system (SKAdNetwork) is what connects an install back to an ad, and it reports only in aggregate — Meta cannot tell us which person did what, and neither can we. Meta processes this data under its own terms. If you would rather send nothing at all, you can turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track" and personalized ads in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and → Apple Advertising.
To learn which parts of Archie people actually use, the app records anonymous usage events — a screen was opened, an identification finished, a style was unlocked, the subscription screen was shown — using a product analytics service called PostHog. These are counts of what happened in the app, not a record of you.
Concretely, what is not in them: your name, your email, your photos, your identifications, your coordinates, and your device's advertising identifier. There is no account to attach them to and no profile is built. Events are labelled with a random identifier created on your device at install, which tells us that some anonymous device opened the app twice rather than who did. The app never records your screen, and it does not automatically capture what you tap; only the specific events we listed above are sent. Data is processed in the European Union.
You can turn this off. Settings → "Share usage analytics". Turning it off stops the app sending anything further, and nothing about the app changes otherwise.