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Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

This is an English translation provided for convenience. In case of any discrepancy, the German version prevails.

1. Controller

Tino Sanchez Ross
Bismarckring 6
65185 Wiesbaden
Germany
Email: kontakt@briefpfleger.de

2. Core principle: no storage on our servers – Google as the central provider

Briefpfleger stores no personal data on its own servers. The application is built as a purely client-side web application (Progressive Web App, PWA) and runs entirely in your browser. All documents, images and metadata are stored exclusively in your personal Google account (Google Drive).

Important: Briefpfleger is essentially an interface to your own Google services. The actual storage and processing of your data – including Google Drive, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Docs/Sheets and the text recognition described below – is carried out by Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) on the basis of the terms of service and privacy terms agreed between you and Google. The Google Privacy Policy governs that processing, and we recommend reading it, as it is the central basis for how your stored content is handled.

3. What data is processed?

3.1 Google account (OAuth 2.0)

To use the app you sign in through the standard Google OAuth 2.0 process. The following data is processed:

  • Your name and email address (displayed inside the app)
  • A temporary access token for the Google services you have authorised

The access token is held in your browser's memory only and is never stored persistently; after closing or reloading the page it is requested again through your existing Google session. This information is never transmitted to our servers or to third parties.

Briefpfleger requests permissions (OAuth scopes) incrementally and only when you actively use the corresponding feature. By default only the restricted drive.file scope is used, which grants Briefpfleger access solely to files the app created itself – not to the rest of your Google Drive.

3.2 Google Drive

Using the OAuth token you granted, Briefpfleger accesses your Google Drive in order to:

  • Create an app folder ("Briefpfleger") in your Drive
  • Upload documents, images and PDFs into that folder
  • Store metadata (file name, description containing recognised text, deadlines) in the Google Drive file properties

3.3 Google Calendar (optional)

If you set a deadline with a reminder, Briefpfleger creates an entry in your primary Google Calendar after separate consent (scope calendar.events). The reminders are managed by Google Calendar (pop-up notifications and email reminders). Briefpfleger itself sends neither emails nor push notifications.

3.4 Text recognition (OCR) via Google

So that you can find your documents again through full-text search, the text of your uploaded images and PDFs is recognised automatically (OCR). This recognition is performed by Google: the file is processed within your own Google Drive using your own Google access (temporary conversion into a Google document, extraction of the text, then automatic deletion of the temporary file). No images or text are transmitted to Briefpfleger servers – the processing takes place entirely inside your Google account and is subject to the Google Privacy Policy. The recognised text is then stored in the description field of the respective file in your Drive.

3.5 Gmail / email inbox (optional)

If you enable the optional "email inbox" feature, you grant Briefpfleger access to your Gmail messages through a separate OAuth consent (scope gmail.modify). The app then reads messages – typically those you have marked or forwarded with the subject "Briefpfleger" – in order to display them in the app and allow you to save attachments or entire emails to your Google Drive. Processing takes place directly between your browser and Google's servers; no email content is transmitted to us. This permission is only requested when you actively use the feature and can be revoked at any time in your Google account.

3.6 Google Contacts (optional)

If you enable address book matching, the app receives read access to your Google Contacts (scope contacts.readonly) in order to match senders of documents to a contact and show you their details. Matching happens in the browser; no contact data is transmitted to us.

3.7 Google Docs & Google Sheets (optional)

At your request, Briefpfleger converts a document into an editable Google document or a receipt into a Google spreadsheet (scope spreadsheets). Any files created are placed exclusively in your own Google Drive.

3.8 Encryption & app lock

You can optionally encrypt documents with a password before uploading (AES-GCM, 256-bit). Encryption takes place entirely in the browser. The password is not stored permanently and cannot be recovered by us.

You can additionally set up a local app lock (Face ID / Touch ID / device biometrics or a PIN). Only a WebAuthn credential and a cryptographic hash of your PIN are stored in your local browser storage – never the PIN in plain text and no biometric data. This data never leaves your device.

4. Hosting & technical infrastructure

The website and the web app are hosted by Vercel Inc. (340 S Lemon Ave #4133, Walnut, CA 91789, USA). Vercel processes the following technical access data by default (server logs):

  • IP address
  • Date and time of access
  • Amount of data transferred
  • Browser type and operating system

Further information can be found in Vercel's privacy policy.

Error monitoring: For the stability of the app, an integration with the service Sentry (Functional Software, Inc., 45 Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA) is planned, through which technical error reports may be transmitted (error message, affected part of the program, browser type, timestamp). This integration is currently not active – no data is being sent to Sentry at present. As soon as it is activated we will update this section accordingly. The legal basis would then be Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in trouble-free operation).

5. Fonts

The font used, Lexend, is served from our own server. No connection to Google servers is established and no IP address is transmitted to third parties. Google Fonts are not embedded.

6. Analytics, cookies & local storage

Briefpfleger uses no tracking cookies, no Google Analytics, no Matomo and no advertising pixels.

To measure anonymous usage figures we use Vercel Web Analytics (Vercel Inc., address above). It records page views, referrer, approximate region as well as browser and device type in aggregated form. The service works without cookies and stores no identifiers on your device; individuals are not identified and no cross-device recognition takes place. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in measuring the reach of our service). As no information is stored on or read from your device, no consent under § 25 TDDDG is required.

Beyond that, only the following technically necessary data is stored locally in your browser storage (LocalStorage/IndexedDB):

  • App settings (language, reading-aid preference)
  • Which Google permissions you have already granted (no token content)
  • Local cache data of the app (folder structure, document lists) for faster loading
  • If configured: the data of the local app lock (see 3.8)
  • Queued scans that have not been uploaded yet

Your Google access token is deliberately not placed in LocalStorage but held only transiently in memory (see 3.1). When you sign out or use the "delete everything" function, local cache and app data are removed again.

7. Disclosure to third parties

We do not disclose personal data to third parties. Processors acting on our behalf and bound by our instructions – such as our host (see 4.) – are not considered third parties under Art. 4(10) GDPR. External communication takes place exclusively between your browser and the Google APIs (Drive, Calendar, Gmail, Contacts, Docs/Sheets and OCR processing), to each of which you explicitly consent via OAuth. When you create a share link, the file in question is made accessible through the Google Drive sharing function ("anyone with the link"); you can revoke such sharing at any time in the app.

8. Your rights (Art. 15–21 GDPR)

You have the right at any time to:

  • Access the data we process about you (Art. 15 GDPR)
  • Rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR)
  • Erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR)
  • Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
  • Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
  • Object to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)

Since Briefpfleger stores no personal data on its own servers, the right of access primarily concerns the data stored in your own Google Drive. You can view, export and delete it yourself at any time – including directly via the built-in "delete everything" function in the app.

9. Deletion of data

You can remove all data created by Briefpfleger from your Google Drive completely and without residue at any time by using the app's built-in deletion function (confirmation phrase "ALLES LÖSCHEN"). Alternatively you can delete the "Briefpfleger" folder from your Google Drive manually.

10. Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of your personal data infringes the GDPR.

11. Notice for users in the United States

Briefpfleger is operated from Germany. If you access the service from the United States, the processing described above applies in the same way. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising within the meaning of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA). Since we store no personal data on our own servers, requests regarding access or deletion concern the data held in your own Google account, which you control directly.