Umit Kaya ("we") operates Arkiv.io, an iOS application that lets you move photos and videos you rarely need into low-cost long-term cloud archive storage, browse them at any time, and retrieve them when you want. This policy explains exactly what we hold, where we hold it, and what you can do about it.
Read this first: Arkiv.io is an archive, not a backup. When you archive media and then delete your local copies, we may hold the only remaining copy. Your files are always yours and always visible to you, but retrieving them in full takes time and, beyond your plan's included allowance, costs money. Section 6 explains this in detail. Please do not treat Arkiv.io as your sole disaster-recovery copy of irreplaceable media.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Media You Choose to Archive
The photos and videos you explicitly select for archiving are uploaded to storage we operate. We also generate and store a small thumbnail of each item so you can browse your archive without retrieving the full-resolution file.
We only ever upload media you have specifically chosen. We do not scan, index, or upload your photo library in the background.
We do not analyse the content of your media. We do not run facial recognition, object detection, or any content classification on it, and we do not use it to train machine-learning models.
1.2 Account Information
Accounts are created using Sign in with Apple. We receive a stable anonymous identifier and, if you choose to share it, an email address. If you use Apple's Hide My Email, we only ever see the relay address. We never receive your Apple ID password.
1.3 Metadata We Store About Your Files
To show you your archive and enforce your storage quota, we store, for each item: file size, capture date, media type, and its location within our storage. This index is what lets the app show your library without retrieving anything.
1.4 Purchase Information
Subscriptions and restore credits are processed by Apple and managed via RevenueCat. We receive your subscription status, plan, and credit balance. We never see or store your payment card details.
1.5 Diagnostic and Usage Information
We collect technical logs — error events, upload and restore outcomes, app version, and device model — to keep the service working.
We also use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used: which screens are opened, whether an archive or restore succeeded or failed, and roughly how much media is involved. Sizes are recorded as broad ranges, never as an inventory of your files. This tells us where the app is confusing or failing; it never includes your media, your filenames, or the contents of your archive.
None of this is used to build advertising profiles. We do not collect your device's advertising identifier and we do not use Arkiv.io data to target ads anywhere.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information above only to: store and return your media; display your archive; enforce your storage quota and retrieval allowance; process subscriptions and credits; diagnose faults; and communicate with you about your account, such as telling you a restore is ready.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your media with anyone. We do not use your media or your account data for advertising.
3. Where Your Data Is Stored
Your media is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure that we control, currently in the United States. Files are encrypted at rest by the storage provider and encrypted in transit using TLS.
If you are in the UK, EU, or EEA, this means your personal data is transferred outside your home jurisdiction. We rely on the safeguards AWS provides for such transfers, including its participation in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its Standard Contractual Clauses. If you are not comfortable with your media being stored in the United States, please do not use Arkiv.io.
Each account's files are stored in an isolated area, and access is granted only through short-lived, single-purpose credentials issued to your signed-in device. The app itself never holds long-lived storage credentials.
4. Retention and Deletion
We keep your media for as long as your account exists and you choose to keep it archived.
You can delete individual items or your entire account from within the app at any time. Deleting your account removes your media, your file index, and your account record.
An important limitation you should understand: the archive storage class we use imposes a minimum storage period of 180 days per file, set by our storage provider. If you delete a file sooner, it is removed from your account and becomes inaccessible to you immediately, but we may still be billed for the remainder of that period. This is a cost we absorb — it never delays or prevents your deletion.
Backups and system logs may persist for a short period after deletion as part of normal operation, and are overwritten on a rolling basis.
5. Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, to object to or restrict processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. UK/EU/EEA users have these rights under the UK GDPR and GDPR; California residents have comparable rights under the CCPA.
Most of these are available directly in the app — you can view everything we hold, retrieve it, and delete it. For anything else, contact us at the address in Section 10 and we will respond within 30 days.
6. Retrieval, Allowances, and Costs
We are stating this in the privacy policy as well as in the app because it affects your access to your own data, and you should not discover it at a bad moment.
Archive storage is inexpensive because files are kept offline on cold media. The trade-off is that retrieving them takes hours, not seconds, and moving data back out has a real cost.
- Browsing is always free and instant. Thumbnails are kept in fast storage, so you can always see everything you have archived, at no cost and with no waiting.
- Retrieving full-resolution files is metered. Each plan includes a retrieval allowance. Beyond it, you can purchase restore credits.
- Nothing is ever locked away. You are never prevented from retrieving your data — retrieval beyond your allowance simply has a price, which we always show you in full before you commit to it.
- Retrieving a large archive in one go can be expensive. If you were to restore everything at once, the cost may exceed a year of your subscription. Please factor this in before deleting local copies of media you cannot replace.
7. Third-Party Services
We use a small number of providers, each with its own privacy policy:
- Amazon Web Services — storage and processing of your media.
- Apple — Sign in with Apple, payment processing, and push notifications.
- RevenueCat — subscription and purchase management.
- Google (Firebase) — app usage analytics and crash diagnostics, as described in Section 1.5.
We do not use advertising networks, and we do not use analytics that track you across other companies' apps.
8. Security
Media is encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is scoped per account and granted only through short-lived credentials. We do not store payment details.
No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.
9. Children's Privacy
Arkiv.io is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Changes and Contact
If we make a material change to this policy — particularly one affecting where your data is stored or how retrieval is charged — we will notify you in the app before it takes effect.
Questions, requests, or complaints: contact@umitkaya.com
See also our Terms of Use.