# Privacy Policy of Veilix
This page is used to inform users regarding our policies with the collection,
use, and disclosure of personal information if anyone decides to use our
Service, the **Veilix** iOS application.
If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the practices described in
this policy. In short: **Veilix does not collect, transmit, or store personal
information on any server.** Everything happens on your device.
The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms
and Conditions, unless otherwise defined here.
## Information Collection and Use
Veilix does not require an account. We do not ask for, collect, or transmit any
personally identifiable information. We do not have user profiles, email
sign-ups, contact lists, or any other identity-bound feature.
All steganographic operations — selecting an image, embedding a message or
file, encrypting with your password, decoding an existing image — run
**entirely on your device**. The plaintext of your message, your password, and
the file you embed never leave the device through Veilix.
## Local Storage
Veilix uses Apple's standard `UserDefaults` to remember your app preferences
between launches:
- Whether the "share as a file" reminder should be skipped.
- Whether the onboarding tour has been completed.
- Your chosen carrier-image size policy.
- A counter of failed decode attempts and the timestamp until which decoding
is rate-limited (used to slow down password-guessing attacks).
These values are app preferences, not personal data, and they never leave the
device.
Temporary files (PNG exports and decoded files prepared for the share sheet)
are written to the iOS temporary directory and are removed when the share
sheet is dismissed, or by the operating system when it reclaims disk space.
## Cryptography
When you choose to encrypt, Veilix derives a key from your password using
**PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256** with 200,000 iterations and a random per-encoding salt,
then encrypts the payload with **AES-256-GCM** or **ChaCha20-Poly1305**
(authenticated encryption) using a random nonce. The cryptographic primitives
are provided by Apple's CryptoKit framework.
**Your password is never stored, never transmitted, and is not recoverable.**
If you forget it, the encrypted content cannot be retrieved by anyone —
including the Veilix authors.
If you tap the copy-password button, Veilix places the password on the iOS
system pasteboard with an automatic 60-second expiration, after which iOS
clears it.
## Permissions
Veilix requests the following iOS permissions, and only when relevant:
- **Camera** — only when you tap *Take a photo*. The captured image is never
uploaded; it is used as the carrier image for embedding.
- **Photos library** — not required. Veilix uses Apple's modern
`PHPickerViewController`, which runs in a separate system process. We never
receive direct read access to your photo library.
- **Files** — only when you explicitly choose a file via the Files picker.
Veilix does not request, and does not need, network access. The app does not
include any networking code.
## Image Metadata
When Veilix exports an encoded image, it rebuilds the image from raw pixel
data. As a side effect, **EXIF metadata is stripped** — including location,
device model, and timestamps — to protect your privacy against accidental
disclosure through metadata.
## Service Providers
Veilix does not employ third-party analytics services, advertising networks,
crash reporters, or any other SDK that transmits data off the device.
## Security
Your data never leaves your device through Veilix, so the security model
rests on:
- Apple's CryptoKit implementations of AES-GCM, ChaCha20-Poly1305, HMAC, and
SHA-256.
- PBKDF2 key derivation with a high iteration count, designed to slow down
password-guessing attacks.
- Per-encoding random salt and nonce, so the same password produces different
ciphertext every time.
- An exponential lock-out counter that persists across app launches: after a
few wrong password attempts in a row, decoding is paused for 30 seconds,
then 1 minute, then 10 minutes.
That said, no security system is absolute. The strength of your encrypted
content depends on the strength of your password. We recommend using long,
unique passphrases.
## Sharing of Encoded Images
When you export an encoded image and share it through the system share sheet,
the destination app (Mail, Files, AirDrop, Messages, etc.) takes over. Veilix
has no control over what happens to the file once you hand it off, including:
- Whether the receiving app or service re-compresses the image (some
messengers do, which destroys the hidden content).
- Whether the receiving service uploads the file to its own cloud.
- Any privacy policy of the recipient app.
Veilix shows a reminder before each share to suggest channels that preserve
file bytes (Save to Files, AirDrop, Mail attachment) and warn against
re-compressing channels.
## Children's Privacy
Veilix does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not collect any
personal identifiable information from anyone, including children.
## Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any
changes by updating the policy distributed with new versions of the Veilix
app and on the policy's hosted location. Changes are effective immediately
once posted.
## Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, do not
hesitate to contact us at: **<your-contact-email-here>**
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*Last updated: 17 May 2026*