Plain Estimate privacy policy

Last updated: 12 October 2026

Plain Estimate is made by BrightScale Labs Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16990009), registered office 8 Flay Field, Tithebarn, Exeter, EX1 3YA. Contact: contact@brightscalelabs.com.

This policy covers the Plain Estimate app for iPhone and Android. Our website has its own privacy notice.

Your documents, clients, catalog, prices and settings stay on your device. We do not run servers that hold that data and we cannot see it. A document leaves the app only as a PDF handed to your phone's own share sheet, so it goes only where you send it. The only data that leaves your phone otherwise is the advertising identifier used by Google AdMob in the free version, and support messages you choose to send.

Your estimates, invoices and other documents, clients, catalog items, prices, signatures, job photos and settings are stored in the app's private storage on your device. Nothing is sent to us.

Backups you make. "Back up" writes one file you choose where to keep. The encrypted backup can only be opened with the password you set; we cannot recover it.

iCloud backup (iPhone). If you turn it on, a copy of your documents, clients, prices and signatures is kept in your own iCloud account under your Apple ID. Job photos are not included, because they are too large. The copy is stored by Apple under Apple's terms, and we have no access to it.

Android Auto Backup. Android may include the app's data, without photos, in the device backup kept in your Google account. This is controlled by your Android settings, not by us.

Deleting the app deletes the data on the device. Backups you made elsewhere remain until you delete them.

A document leaves this app as a PDF, handed to your phone's own share sheet: email, WhatsApp, Messages, whatever you already use. Where it goes after that is between you and the app you sent it with. We never see it, and there is no copy on any server of ours.

You decide what to publish and to whom, so where data protection law applies you are the controller of your clients' information and the app processes it on your instruction. Do not send anything you do not have the right to send.

A document is never a payment page. The app does not take card payments and is not a payment processor. It shows the payment details and payment link you enter yourself and records payments you tell it about. No payment passes through us.

A client's signature is drawn on your phone and printed into the document; it stays with the document on your device. Photos you attach are stored on your device and printed into the PDF you produce. Room measurements taken with the camera are processed on the phone. None of these are uploaded anywhere.

The free version shows adverts from Google AdMob in two places, and nowhere else:

• A small banner above the tab bar.
• Rewarded adverts you choose to watch, in return for one export of a PDF, or for seeing one measurement and putting it on a document. These never play unless you start them, and the ad-free subscription makes them unnecessary.

Adverts never appear inside a document, its preview or the send sheet, never during onboarding and never while a client is signing. Where no consent form applies you choose between personalised and non-personalised ads the first time the app runs, and can change the choice at any time in More under Ad preferences.

• With personalised ads, Google uses your device's advertising identifier to pick ads. Google's use of it is described in Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
• With non-personalised ads, the advertising identifier is not used for personalisation.

In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and US states with privacy laws the app shows Google's consent form and follows the choice you make there; it can be reopened at any time from the app's settings. Nothing you enter in the app is shared with Google or any advertiser.

The ad-free subscription removes both kinds of advert entirely, and the app then makes no advertising requests.

The optional subscription removes advertising, takes the mark off the documents you send, adds the extra document formats and unlocks the dated spreadsheets for an accountant. Nothing else is capped by it. It is sold and managed by Apple through the App Store or by Google through Google Play, who handle payment and receipts under their own terms. We never receive your payment details. Whether you are subscribed is recorded on your device.

The app has a built-in Support screen. If you send a message, we receive what you typed together with the app version, platform, operating system version, your currency and whether you are subscribed, all of which are shown to you on the form before you send. A random install identifier lets the app show you our reply; no account is created and no contact details are included unless you add an email address. Messages are stored on Cloudflare's infrastructure in the EU solely to answer you and are never linked to your documents.

Support messages are kept so we can reply and fix problems. You can ask for a ticket to be deleted from within the ticket or by email.

• Camera and photo library: only when you attach a photo, measure a room or scan a receipt. Processing happens on the device.
• Notifications: for the job reminders you set up. Reminders are scheduled locally on your phone.
• Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint or passcode: only if you turn on the app lock. The check is done by your phone; we never see biometric data.
• App Tracking Transparency (iOS): shown only if you choose personalised ads, because Google's advertising identifier counts as tracking under Apple's rules. Declining keeps ads non-personalised.

Plain Estimate is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Because your data stays on your device, you exercise most rights yourself: view, change, export and delete everything from within the app. For support messages, email contact@brightscalelabs.com to ask what we hold, to correct it, or to have it deleted. Under UK and EU data protection law you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local supervisory authority.

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top and, for anything material, tell you in the app. Older versions are available on request.

BrightScale Labs Limited, 8 Flay Field, Tithebarn, Exeter, EX1 3YA, United Kingdom. contact@brightscalelabs.com