Privacy

Last updated: June 2026

Identify Coins helps you identify coins from photos. This page describes how we handle your information on IdentifyCoins.com and in the Identify Coins iOS app.

Identify Coins iOS app

The app does not require an account. Scan history, coin photos, collections, custom values, AI chat conversations, and preferences are stored locally on your device unless you delete them or remove the app. We do not operate a cloud backup for your collection today, so data may be lost if you change devices without restoring from an iPhone backup.

Coin identification in the app

When you scan a coin, front and back images are sent from your device to Google's Gemini service through Firebase for analysis. Images are not sent through our website servers. That processing is subject to Google's terms and Google's privacy policy. Google may process, log, or retain data under its own rules. We do not control how long Google keeps data sent through its API.

AI coin chat (“Penny”)

The app includes an AI chat assistant called Penny. When you send a message, the text of your conversation, any details of a coin you previously scanned that you choose to discuss, and any photo you attach to the chat are sent from your device to Google's Gemini service through Firebase to generate a response. That processing is subject to Google's terms and Google's privacy policy. Your chat history and any attached photos are stored locally on your device, and you can delete a conversation at any time from the chat history panel. Penny is provided for general educational and informational purposes about coins only. It can be inaccurate and does not provide financial, investment, tax, or professional appraisal advice; do not rely on it for buying or selling decisions.

Device permissions

The app may request access to your camera to photograph coins and to your photo library if you choose an existing image. You can deny or revoke these permissions in iOS Settings.

Subscriptions

Pro subscriptions are sold through Apple's App Store. Apple processes payment and provides us with subscription status. We use RevenueCat to manage entitlements and restore purchases. RevenueCat may receive an anonymous app user identifier, product identifiers, purchase history, and related subscription metadata. See RevenueCat's privacy policy and Apple's privacy policy.

Free plan limits

If you are not a Pro subscriber, the app tracks how many coin identifications you have used in the current week on your device to enforce the free plan limit. This counter is stored locally and is not tied to an account.

Other app services

The app uses Firebase for AI identification and abuse protection (App Check). Currency conversion for existing coin values may use public exchange-rate data from third-party providers such as Frankfurter.

IdentifyCoins.com website

Photos you upload

When you identify a coin on the website, your image is sent to our server and then to Google's Gemini API for analysis. We do not operate a user database on the web version and do not intentionally store your photos on our own systems after the request completes.

Rate limiting

To limit abuse on the website, we use a third-party service (Upstash Redis) to enforce a cap of 10 identifications per hour per IP address. That service may store your IP address, request timestamps, and related counters for a short period. It does not receive your coin photos. See Upstash's privacy policy.

Hosting and analytics

This site is hosted on Vercel. Vercel may log technical data such as IP addresses, requested URLs, and error reports as part of running the service. See Vercel's privacy policy.

We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand aggregate traffic (for example, page views and referrers) and to count completed coin identifications. Custom events do not include your photos or identification results. Analytics does not use third-party advertising cookies. You can read more in Vercel's analytics privacy documentation.

Browser storage

Your browser may keep your last scan result in session storage so the page can restore your session. You can clear this anytime via your browser settings.

Live camera preview stays in your browser until you capture a photo; only the image you submit is uploaded.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email us at identifycoins@gmail.com.