What this notice covers
This Privacy Notice applies to the Yhil mobile application for iPhone. It describes practices connected to painting projects, layer photos, paint-shelf records, optional on-device suggestions, device permissions, export actions you initiate, and optional advertising-identifier prompts presented by the operating system.
Yhil is designed so that your coat photos and project notes primarily live in the app sandbox on your device. Features described here reflect the journal workflow: create a project, log a layer with a photo, annotate kind / part / paint / technique, review progress, and export palette or comparison images when you choose.
Categories of information that may appear in the journal
Content you place in the studio archive
- Project names, work type, status, start dates, and free-text notes you enter.
- Part labels (for example head, torso, weapon) linked to layers.
- Layer records: coat type, techniques, compare marks, timestamps, thinner or process notes.
- Photographs or library images attached to layers or used as project covers.
- Paint library entries: brand, code, optional color name, system, swatch, usage and cleaning guides, and how often a paint is referenced in your layers.
- Palette-card snapshots that list selected layers for export.
Signals created while you paint-log
- Local usage counts and last-used times for paints you attach to layers.
- Workshop-style aggregates derived on device (for example active projects, coats logged in a recent window, or day streaks) computed from your existing layer timestamps.
- Optional AI suggestion metadata stored with a layer after you run or accept on-device analysis (suggested coat type, techniques, color lean, OCR candidates, matched shelf paint, confidence, and short rationale).
Device and permission-related data
- Camera capture when you photograph a coat or bottle.
- Photo library access when you attach an existing image or save an exported card.
- If you respond to the system App Tracking Transparency prompt, the operating system records your tracking authorization status. Yhil may read that status to respect your choice; the prompt text is supplied via the system sheet.
- Preference toggles you set inside Yhil (for example enabling or disabling AI suggestions and auto-run after picking a photo), stored locally.
- A local flag indicating whether the tracking prompt flow has already completed, so the system sheet is not needlessly re-requested on every launch.
Why the journal processes this material
Processing on or through the app supports concrete painting-workflow purposes:
- Operate the timeline. Store and display projects, layers, parts, paints, and palette cards so you can revisit coats in order.
- Render visuals. Show thumbnails and full images without forcing a crop when you review a layer.
- Assist annotation. Optional on-device Vision analysis may propose coat type, techniques, color lean, bottle brand/code candidates, and shelf matches. Suggestions remain editable and never block saving.
- Export references. Generate PNG or PDF palette cards, layer cards, or before/after composites when you explicitly export.
- Respect device gates. Request camera, photos, and tracking authorization only as needed for the feature you invoke or as required by the platform at launch for tracking.
- Maintain preferences. Remember AI and related settings on the device.
- Improve reliability of local features. Where diagnostic signals are available through standard platform mechanisms, they may help diagnose crashes or performance issues; they are not a substitute for your paint photos and are handled under applicable platform rules.
Permissions and when they are asked
- Camera. Used when you choose to photograph a paint layer or related reference for the journal.
- Photo Library (read). Used when you pick an existing image for a layer or cover.
- Photo Library (add). Used when you save an exported palette, layer, or comparison image to Photos.
- Tracking. If shown, the system tracking dialog appears before the main bench interface so your choice can be recorded early. Yhil uses the system dialog only; it does not add a separate custom tracking explanation sheet.
You can change many permissions later in iOS Settings. Denying a permission may disable the related action (for example, export to Photos) while leaving the rest of the local journal usable.
Where information stays and how it may leave the device
On-device storage
Project data, layer metadata, paint records, and image files are stored in Yhil’s application sandbox (including Application Support style storage for the journal database and a dedicated image folder). Deleting a project or layer is intended to remove associated local images for that content as part of the cleanup flow.
On-device analysis
Optional AI suggestions use Apple Vision on the device for text recognition and color heuristics. Layer photos are not uploaded to a Yhil-operated server for that analysis in the current design.
Exports you start
When you export to Photos or share a PDF via Files, the resulting file is written according to your action and then governed by those system destinations. Yhil does not present a social network share sheet as a core v1 networking product.
Network and platform services
The journal itself is built to work without an account. The device may still communicate with Apple platform services for App Store distribution, operating-system updates, or other standard OS functions outside Yhil’s control. If advertising measurement or similar platform APIs are used in a given build, they operate under your tracking authorization and Apple’s rules.
Third parties and processors
Yhil’s painting features do not depend on a Yhil social graph or a Yhil cloud login. Platform vendors (notably Apple) provide the OS, Vision frameworks, App Store, and permission systems. Their handling of device identifiers, crash reports, or store analytics is described in their own notices.
We do not sell your coat photographs as a product. We also do not claim that information never leaves your phone in every conceivable platform scenario; system backups, iCloud device backup settings you enable, or exports you perform can copy data according to those tools.
Practical safeguards
We apply reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to a local journal app, including sandbox storage, least-privilege permission prompts, and editable AI suggestions that fail open to manual entry. No method of electronic storage or transmission is perfectly secure. You should keep your device passcode and OS updates current, and be careful when exporting images to shared albums or other apps.
How long journal material remains
Local journal content generally remains until you delete the related project, layer, paint entry, or the application itself. Preference flags and prompt-completion markers remain until cleared by app removal or a reset of app data. Exported files in Photos or Files persist under those libraries until you remove them there.
If a future version introduces optional sync or backup features, retention for that path would be described in an updated notice before such a change becomes material.
Choices available on the bench
- Use Yhil without creating an account.
- Turn off AI suggestions or auto-run in Settings for a fully manual workflow.
- Decline camera, photos, or tracking permissions and continue with unaffected features where possible.
- Edit or discard AI suggestions before saving a layer.
- Delete layers or projects to remove associated local records and images from the journal.
- Uninstall the app to remove sandbox data from the device (exports already saved elsewhere are not automatically deleted).
Young painters and guardians
Yhil is intended as a hobby journaling tool and is not directed at children as a social product. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a minor has provided information in a way that concerns you, contact us using the address below. We will review reasonable requests consistent with applicable laws and the technical limits of a local-only journal (we cannot remotely wipe a device we do not control).
Updates to this notice
When painting features, permissions, or data flows change in a meaningful way, we will revise this notice and adjust the effective date shown in the closing statement. Continued use after an update means you should review the new text so you understand how the journal handles information.
Write to the bench desk
Questions about this Privacy Notice or Yhil’s handling of journal data can be sent to drytime.notes@yhilbench.com. Please include enough detail for us to understand your request. We will respond within a reasonable period under applicable laws and relevant regulatory requirements.