Paunit Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 12, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Utopian Creations LLC ("Utopian Creations," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects information through Paunit, including our website and the Paunit web back office at https://paunit.com, the Paunit mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and our support channels (together, the "Service").
Paunit is a business tool. It helps pawn shops, secondhand dealers, and other businesses check a device's lock and management status when they take it in (at "intake"). It is used by businesses and their authorized staff. It is not a consumer app.
Summary
- What we process: your account details (name, email, user ID), your shop's team and location details, device intake records (such as model, serial number or IMEI, operating system version, and the results of the screen checks), and photos of the screens of the devices your shop checks.
- Photos of customer devices may show another person's information, such as the device owner's name or Apple Account or Google account email. We process those photos for your shop, only to verify the device. See Section 5.
- AI processing: device photos may be sent to third-party AI providers to read what is on screen. The mobile app asks for your permission before it first does this.
- We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, show ads, or track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- You can delete your account in the mobile app (Settings > Delete account), at https://paunit.com/delete-account, or by emailing privacy@paunit.com.
1. Who we are and our role
Paunit is operated by Utopian Creations LLC.
- For account information about the people who use Paunit (owners, managers, and operators), we decide how the information is used. We are the "business" or "controller" for that information.
- For intake records and device photos that a shop creates, we act on behalf of that shop (our customer). We are its "service provider" or "processor." The shop decides why intakes are performed and is responsible for its own legal obligations, including notices to its customers.
2. Information we collect
| Category | Examples | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account identity | Name, email address, Firebase user ID, sign-in provider (Google or Apple), profile picture link if your provider shares one, and your voice-guidance preference. If you use Sign in with Apple and choose "Hide My Email," we receive an Apple private relay address instead of your real email. | You, and Google or Apple when you sign in |
| Organization and team | Shop or company name, your role (owner, manager, or operator), team members' emails and roles, invitations (the invited email address and role), store locations you create, seat and plan settings | You and your shop's owners and managers |
| Business verification (web sign-up) | Company name, contact name, contact email, phone number, business address, number of locations, and preferred plan. When automated checks are enabled, results of address and business-listing checks (for example, whether an address is deliverable and whether it is residential or commercial). Any Google Maps or Yelp link, storefront photo, or business-license photo you choose to submit. | You, and (when automated checks are enabled) our verification providers |
| Intake records | Product type, device model, serial number or IMEI, operating system version, Find My or account-lock result, device-management (MDM) result, overall result and reason, whether a step was confirmed manually, the operator's email, user ID, and role, store location label, timestamps, and manager review status and notes | Your shop's staff and the device screens they photograph |
| Device screen photos | Up to three photos per intake (the About screen, the account-lock screen, and the device-management screen), plus camera frames analyzed during the check | Your shop's staff using the camera in Paunit |
| Billing (web only) | Plan, free-trial credits, credit balances and usage. When paid plans are available: subscription status, billing email, and Stripe customer and subscription IDs. We do not receive or store full payment card numbers. | You, and Stripe when paid plans are available |
| Support | Your email address, the type of issue, and your message | You |
| Sales inquiries (website contact form) | Your name, work email, store or company name, phone number if you give it, number of stores, approximate monthly device volume, the plan or topic you ask about, your message, the page you sent it from, and any campaign tags in the link that brought you to our website (such as utm_source) |
You, before you are a customer |
| Technical and security data | IP address, browser or device type, operating system, app version, request logs, and app-integrity signals (Firebase App Check with App Attest on iPhone and Play Integrity on Android, and, when enabled, reCAPTCHA Enterprise on the web) | Your browser or device, automatically |
| Diagnostics (when crash reporting is enabled) | Crash reports, error details, and performance data. On the web, we may also record a limited share of sessions (session replay) to fix bugs. | Your browser or device, automatically |
What we do not collect: passwords (you sign in with Google or Apple), full payment card numbers, precise GPS location, contacts, microphone audio, or advertising identifiers. Voice guidance is generated on your device; we do not record your voice.
Stored only on your device: most app preferences (such as scan settings and your cloud-analysis choice), the optional on-device AI model, and any intakes waiting to upload. If a completed intake can't be saved because you are offline, the mobile app keeps that record and its photos on your device and uploads them when you are back online.
3. How we use information
We use information to:
- Provide the Service: sign you in, connect you to your shop, guide each intake, read device screens, save intake records, and show them to the right people in your shop.
- Verify that new sign-ups are real businesses and prevent fraud.
- Run billing, plans, trials, and credits.
- Keep the Service secure: authenticate requests, block abusive traffic, limit request rates, and investigate misuse.
- Fix bugs and keep the Service reliable.
- Respond to support requests and send you messages about the Service, such as security or policy notices.
- Reply to sales inquiries you send us, and follow up about Paunit for your business.
- Comply with the law and enforce our Terms of Service.
We do not use your information for advertising. We do not sell it. We do not use device photos to train AI models.
4. AI processing
What is sent. To read what is on a device's screen (for example, the model, serial number, and whether Find My or a management profile is turned on), our servers send camera frames from the intake to an AI vision provider, along with instructions describing the screen to look for. We do not include your name or email address in these requests. The provider returns a reading, and our servers apply their own checks before any result is shown.
Which providers. We currently use Google Gemini (through Google Cloud's Vertex AI), Groq, and OpenRouter. We try them in that order and move to the next one if a provider can't answer. OpenRouter routes each request to a third-party model host that runs the AI model. We may also run a vision model on servers we operate ourselves.
Your permission. Before the Paunit mobile app sends photos for cloud analysis for the first time, it shows a notice explaining that the photos are sent to Paunit's servers and processed by third-party AI providers, and asks for your permission. If you choose "Not now," photos are not sent for cloud AI analysis, and the app uses only on-device analysis (when the on-device model is installed).
On-device analysis. On a supported phone, you can download an optional on-device AI model (about 2.4 GB). When it is installed, the app first analyzes frames on your phone, and those frames are not sent to AI providers. If the on-device model can't reach a reading, the app may use cloud analysis (only if you have agreed to it). Either way, the step photos for a completed intake are uploaded to Paunit's storage so your shop has a record.
Model training. We do not use device photos to train AI models. Our AI providers process requests under their API terms. Where a provider offers paid service tiers or settings that keep API content out of model training, we use them.
Accuracy. AI readings can be wrong or incomplete. Paunit's results are one input to your shop's decision. A person at your shop decides whether to accept a device.
5. Photos of customer devices and third-party information
A photo of a device's Settings screens can show personal information about someone other than you. This usually means the device owner's name, Apple Account or Google account email, or phone number, but can include anything else on the screen.
- Why we process it: only to verify the device's lock and management status and to keep your shop's intake record.
- Who can see it: authorized people in your shop (operators see their own intakes; owners and managers see their shop's intakes), the service providers listed below that need it to provide the Service, and authorized Paunit personnel when needed for support, security, or legal reasons.
- How long we keep it: photos are deleted automatically 180 days after they are taken (see Section 8).
Your shop's responsibilities. If you use Paunit, you are responsible for:
- telling your customers that you will photograph their device's screens and that the photos may be processed by service providers, including AI providers;
- getting any consent your state or local law requires;
- photographing only the screens the Paunit steps ask for, not messages, photos, or other content; and
- following the pawn, secondhand-dealer, and privacy laws that apply to your shop.
If you are a shop's customer. Please send questions or requests about an intake to the shop that checked your device. That shop controls its intake records. You can also email privacy@paunit.com, and we will work with the shop to respond.
6. How we share information
We share information only as described here.
Service providers. We use the providers below to run the Service. They may use the information only to provide their services to us, and they must protect it.
Providers we use today:
| Provider | What they do for us | Information involved |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud and Firebase (Google LLC): Cloud Run, Cloud Logging, Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage | Hosting, sign-in, database, and file storage | All information described in this policy |
| Google Gemini through Vertex AI (Google LLC) | AI vision (our first choice), under Google Cloud's terms for paid services | Camera frames and instructions |
| Groq | AI vision | Camera frames and instructions |
| OpenRouter | AI vision (routes requests to third-party model hosts) | Camera frames and instructions |
| Apple App Attest and Google Play Integrity (through Firebase App Check) | Confirm requests come from genuine Paunit mobile apps | Device signals and integrity tokens |
| Apple (Sign in with Apple) and Google (Google Sign-In) | Sign-in | Your sign-in identity |
| Hugging Face and jsDelivr | Host downloadable files: the optional on-device vision model (mobile) and the voice model and runtime (web) | Your IP address and device or browser information, as part of the download. No account or intake data. |
| Google Fonts (Google LLC) | Deliver the typefaces used by our website and the web back office (not the mobile apps) | Your IP address and browser information, as part of the font download. No account or intake data. |
Providers we use only when the related feature is turned on. Some features depend on a provider we have not turned on yet. When we turn one on, the provider below starts receiving the information listed, and we will update this policy if the list changes.
| Provider | Used only when | Information involved |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Paid plans and credit packs are available (web) | Billing email, organization and user IDs, and plan details. Stripe collects card details directly. |
| Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) | Crash reporting is enabled (crash and error monitoring; session replay on the web) | Error and performance details, device and browser information, and IP address. Web session replays hide text, form entries, and images by default. |
| Smarty, Google Maps Platform (Google LLC), Yelp | Automated business verification is enabled for web sign-up. Without it, a person on our team reviews each sign-up. | Business name, address, and phone number |
| Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise (through Firebase App Check) | App-integrity checks are enabled on the web | Device and browser signals and integrity tokens |
Within your organization. Intake records and photos are visible to authorized members of your shop as described in Section 5. Your email address appears on the intake records you create.
Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that it is required by law, subpoena, or other valid legal process, or that it is needed to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users, the public, or us.
Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that deal. It will remain subject to this policy.
With your direction. We share information when you or your organization ask us to.
No selling, no ad sharing, no tracking. We do not sell personal information. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not show ads, use advertising identifiers, or track you across apps and websites owned by other companies.
7. Cookies and similar technologies
The web back office uses browser storage (such as local storage and IndexedDB) to keep you signed in and remember your preferences. Our website keeps any campaign tags from the link you arrived on in your browser's session storage until you close the tab, so that a sales inquiry can show how you found us. Our website and the web back office load their fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google to download them (see Section 6); Paunit does not use Google Fonts to set cookies or track you. We don't use website analytics today; if we add them, we will update this policy first. When we turn on reCAPTCHA Enterprise to help block bots, it may set cookies and collect device and browser signals under Google's Privacy Policy. When paid plans are available, payments are completed on Stripe's pages under Stripe's Privacy Policy. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Because we do not sell or share personal information for advertising, there is nothing to opt out of; we treat Global Privacy Control signals as a request not to sell or share.
8. How long we keep information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Account identity | Until you delete your account (see Section 13) |
| Organization, team, and location details | While your organization's account is open. If the organization closes, its remaining account data (organization profile, team members, locations, and billing state) is deleted automatically 7 years after it closes. |
| Intake records | Deleted automatically 7 years after the date of the intake, for every organization, to support organizations' record-keeping duties under pawn and secondhand-dealer laws. An organization can ask us to delete its records sooner by emailing privacy@paunit.com, unless the law requires us to keep them. |
| Device screen photos | Deleted automatically 180 days after they are taken |
| Camera frames sent for analysis | Not saved by Paunit after the reading is returned. AI providers may keep requests briefly under their own terms, for example to monitor abuse. |
| Business verification details | For approved organizations, while the organization's account is open, and then with its other account data (deleted 7 years after the organization closes). Applications that are declined or never completed are deleted automatically 2 years after they were last updated. |
| Billing records | As long as tax, accounting, and other laws require (typically 7 years). Stripe keeps its own records under its policies. |
| Support requests | Deleted automatically 2 years after the request is resolved |
| Sales inquiries | Deleted automatically 2 years after you send them |
| Server request logs (including IP addresses) | About 30 days |
| Rate-limiting counters | Kept in memory for between one minute and one hour |
| Diagnostics and session replays (when crash reporting is enabled) | Up to 90 days |
| Information stored on your device | Pending intakes are removed once uploaded, or after repeated failed upload attempts. When you delete your account in the app, the app removes your data from the device. The on-device AI model contains no personal information and stays until you uninstall the app. |
Our servers automatically delete device photos, intake records, closed organizations' account data, declined or never-completed applications, resolved support requests, and sales inquiries on the schedules above. We may keep information longer if needed to resolve disputes, prevent fraud, or comply with a legal hold.
9. Security
We protect information with measures such as encryption in transit (HTTPS), encryption at rest in Google Cloud, sign-in through Google or Apple, server-enforced access rules that limit each organization's data to its own members, server-side storage of all third-party API keys, and app-integrity checks. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise that information will never be accessed without permission. If a breach affects your information, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
10. Your privacy rights
Choices everyone has. You can review your account details in the Service, ask us to correct them, and delete your account at any time.
California residents. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA), you have the right to:
- Know and access the personal information we have collected about you, including the categories, sources, purposes, and the categories of third parties we disclose it to, and to receive a copy.
- Delete personal information we collected from you, subject to legal exceptions (such as records a business must keep).
- Correct inaccurate personal information.
- Opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information (as those terms are defined in the CCPA), so there is nothing to opt out of.
- Limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would give you this right.
- Non-discrimination. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.
In the past 12 months we have collected these categories of personal information: identifiers (name, email, user ID, IP address); customer records (phone number and business address); commercial information (plan and credits, plus purchase history once paid plans are available); internet or other electronic network activity (logs and diagnostics); sensory information (photos of device screens); and professional information (your business and role). Sources, purposes, and recipients are described in Sections 2, 3, and 6. We disclose these categories to our service providers for business purposes. We have not sold or shared personal information.
Other U.S. states. Depending on where you live, you may have similar rights to access, correct, delete, or get a copy of your personal information, and to appeal our decision. You can use the same methods below. To appeal, reply to our decision and write "Appeal" in the subject line.
How to make a request. Email privacy@paunit.com, or use the account deletion options in Section 13. We will confirm your identity, usually by asking you to write from, or sign in with, the email address on your account. We respond within 45 days. If we need more time (up to 45 more days), we will tell you why.
Authorized agents. You can have an authorized agent make a request for you. We will ask for proof that you gave the agent signed permission, and we may ask you to confirm your identity with us directly.
Requests about intake records. If your request is about an intake record that a shop created, such as a photo of your device, we will direct it to that shop or help the shop respond, because the shop controls that record.
11. Where the Service is offered
Paunit is offered to businesses in the United States, and we store and process information in the United States. The Service is not directed to people in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland. If you are outside the United States and believe we hold your information, email privacy@paunit.com and we will respond.
12. Children
Paunit is a business tool for adults and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email privacy@paunit.com and we will delete it.
13. Deleting your account
You can delete your Paunit account in any of these ways:
- In the mobile app: go to Settings > Delete account.
- On the web: sign in at https://paunit.com/delete-account.
- By email: write to privacy@paunit.com from the email address on your account. We will confirm your identity and complete the request within 45 days.
For your security, the app or website may ask you to sign in again before deleting.
What we delete: your sign-in account, your profile and settings, and your membership in your organization. On the mobile app, data stored on your device is removed after deletion. If you signed in with Apple, we also revoke Paunit's access to your Apple sign-in.
What we keep: intake records you created belong to your organization, which may be required by law to keep them. We keep those records, but we remove your email address from them, so they keep only an internal ID that is no longer connected to an account. Photos on those records are still deleted on the 180-day schedule, and the records themselves are deleted 7 years after the date of the intake. We also keep billing and tax records as the law requires.
Organization owners: if other active members are still on your team, remove them first, or email support@paunit.com to transfer ownership. If you are the only member, deleting your account closes your organization and cancels its subscription right away.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version at https://paunit.com/privacy and change the "Last updated" date. If a change is significant, we will give notice in the Service or by email before it takes effect.
15. Contact us
Utopian Creations LLC
- Privacy questions and requests: privacy@paunit.com
- General support: support@paunit.com
- Mail: Utopian Creations LLC, 850 Campus Drive #103, Daly City, CA 94015
See also: Terms of Service · Support · Delete your account