Last updated: 25 September 2026

Privacy Policy

This notice covers the Artivo app, artivo-app.com, support enquiries and participation in the Artivo TestFlight. Sections 9–14 describe the app’s collection, online features and account processing.

1. Who is responsible?

The controller is:

Email: niels.metger@gmail.com. You can also use the contact form for privacy questions and requests.

2. Website hosting

Netlify, Inc., 512 2nd Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, hosts this website. Requests provide technical data such as IP address, time, requested URL, browser information and response status. These support delivery, security and troubleshooting, including server-side operational statistics. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR: the legitimate interest in operating a reliable, secure website.

Technical data are retained for the time needed to operate and protect the service, investigate faults or abuse, and meet legal obligations. Netlify controls its infrastructure log lifecycle; the contact-message deletion periods below do not describe those logs.

3. Fonts, cookies and links

Fonts and screenshots are hosted with the website, not loaded from Google Fonts. The website code does not set analytics cookies, use local storage for tracking, or include advertising scripts. Server-side hosting records described above are separate from browser tracking.

Links to other websites do not load their content here. If you follow a link, the destination provider processes your visit under its own privacy information.

4. Contacting me

The contact form collects your email address, message and, optionally, your name. Netlify processes and stores submissions, including technical information. Its spam filtering uses Akismet, so submitted data are also processed for spam detection. The legal basis for this protection against abuse is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Replies are handled through my Gmail mailbox. Please do not send passwords, payment details or sensitive personal information.

The email invitation button opens your email application with a draft. Nothing is sent until you send the email. I then receive your sender address, any sender name and message contents.

General enquiries are processed under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on the legitimate interest in answering your request. Requests to take part in TestFlight are processed under Article 6(1)(b), to arrange participation at your request. Providing information is voluntary; an email address and your enquiry are needed to reply.

5. TestFlight invitations and reminders

I use your details to invite you to the requested test and occasionally remind you to start testing. This does not subscribe you to advertising or a newsletter. Reply to any message if you no longer want test reminders or wish to leave the test.

For an individual invitation, I provide your email address to Apple through TestFlight. Apple processes further data when you use TestFlight, such as beta usage, crash reports and feedback. See Apple’s TestFlight information and Apple’s Privacy Policy. For users in Germany, the relevant Apple entity is Apple Distribution International Ltd., Ireland.

6. How long are messages kept?

Completed invitation-request emails are deleted within six months. Participant records are kept during participation and deleted within six months after participation ends. Other enquiries are deleted when no longer needed to handle the matter. This includes copies in the contact-form inbox and email mailbox under my control. Where a legal obligation requires longer retention, the affected records are kept for that period.

7. Service providers and international transfers

Netlify processes hosting and form data under its Data Processing Agreement. It provides EU–US Data Privacy Framework safeguards and standard contractual clauses where applicable for international transfers.

Email is handled using Gmail, provided in the EEA by Google Ireland Limited, with international processing by Google affiliates. Google describes its processing in its Privacy Policy and its EU–US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clause safeguards in its data transfer information.

Apple also processes data internationally, including in the USA, and describes the applicable safeguards, including standard contractual clauses, in its Privacy Policy. You can ask me for further information about safeguards or contact the providers through the linked policies.

8. Your rights

Subject to the conditions in the GDPR, you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests on grounds relating to your particular situation. If processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent for the future.

You may complain to a data protection supervisory authority, including where you live or work. The authority for Lower Saxony is Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen.

No decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are made solely by automated processing in this website’s invitation process.

9. Your collection in the Artivo app

Artivo stores artwork and label photos, extracted details, visits, notes and conversations on your devices. Synchronisation uses your private Apple iCloud account where available. Artivo does not publish your collection as a public gallery. You choose whether to export or share entries and which recipients and services to use.

Camera, photo-library and microphone access are requested for the corresponding features. Optional nearby-museum suggestions use a foreground location request and compare coordinates with the museum catalogue on your device. Artivo does not send these device coordinates to its server. Museum names, visit dates and locations saved in your collection may be included when relevant to an online request. You can manage permissions in your device settings.

10. Sign-in, allowances and subscriptions

Online features use Sign in with Apple. Artivo does not request your name or email address through this sign-in. The Artivo server processes an identifier derived from your Apple sign-in identity, authentication sessions, usage and allowance records. These enable account access, consistent allowances across devices and protection against duplicate charges and misuse.

Apple handles subscription purchases and payments. Artivo does not receive your bank or card details. The server verifies Apple-signed purchase information and processes product and transaction identifiers, subscription periods, renewals and refunds to provide the correct allowance. Account and purchase records are kept while needed to provide and reconcile the service, subject to the account-deletion and retention rules below.

11. Extraction, chat, research and voice

When you use online features, the photos, questions and collection information needed for that feature are sent through the Artivo server to OpenAI. This can include artwork descriptions, artist information, museum names, visit dates, relevant search results and conversation context. A visit summary uses artwork texts, museum names and visit dates; it does not send photos or personal notes.

Live conversations send your voice directly to OpenAI over a connection established through the Artivo server. Text-to-speech sends the text you ask to hear. Research may use web search. If you open external sources or museum audio guides, their providers process your visit under their own privacy information. Avoid including sensitive personal information that is not needed for your request.

OpenAI describes its API data handling in its data controls documentation. API data are not used for model training by default. Standard abuse-monitoring logs may include content and may be retained for up to 30 days, with exceptions such as legal obligations and protecting services or third parties from harm. Artivo does not promise zero retention by its providers.

12. App servers and retention

Netlify hosts the Artivo server and its account and allowance storage. Extraction, text and read-aloud results are temporarily cached so interrupted requests can be retrieved without repeating the processing. These cached results expire after one hour; a scheduled hourly cleanup removes expired results. Operational failures can delay physical deletion. Images uploaded for live conversations are given a one-hour expiry at OpenAI and are also subject to a deletion request through Artivo.

Artivo disables persistent response storage for its server-side extraction and text requests. This setting does not remove provider security logs or other provider-specific retention. Technical records such as IP addresses, request times, errors and service usage may be processed by hosting and processing providers for delivery, security and troubleshooting. Artivo's one-hour result-cache period does not apply to their infrastructure logs or backups.

Optional performance diagnostics are recorded locally on your device. Extraction feedback reports can contain original and corrected artwork information, your note, visit information, technical diagnostics and selected photos. They are not automatically sent to Artivo. You choose whether and with whom to share exported reports. If you send a report to Artivo support, it is used to investigate your request and handled under the contact and retention provisions above.

13. Deleting your Artivo account

You can delete your Artivo account in the app's account settings. This removes the account, associated server content and its Sign in with Apple connection. Your collection on your devices and in private iCloud remains available. Delete collection entries separately if you also want to remove them. An Apple subscription must be cancelled separately in your Apple Account.

A limited pseudonymous usage record remains to prevent account deletion and re-registration from replenishing a one-time trial or previously used subscription allowances. It contains a derived identifier and usage or subscription-period information, not photos, questions, conversations, names or email addresses. It is not anonymous: signing in again with the same Apple account can match this record.

The one-time trial usage record remains for as long as that one-time offer is operated. Expired subscription-period records are regularly pruned; limited records needed to prevent overlapping entitlements remain until those periods end. A new regular subscription period receives its full allowance. These records are not used for advertising. You can contact the controller to request deletion or object to this retention; requests will be assessed in light of the applicable requirements.

14. Purposes, legal bases and providers

Processing necessary to provide requested app features, authentication and subscription entitlements is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Service security and the limited prevention of repeated allowance claims are based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, reflecting the interest in operating a reliable service and preventing misuse. Processing required by applicable law is based on Article 6(1)(c). Where processing relies on consent, Article 6(1)(a) applies and consent can be withdrawn for future processing. Device permission controls let you stop access to the corresponding device resources.

Netlify and OpenAI process app data as service providers; Apple provides sign-in, purchases and private iCloud services. Processing may take place outside the EEA, including in the USA. The providers' applicable data-processing terms describe the transfer safeguards, including standard contractual clauses where applicable. See Netlify's data-processing agreement, OpenAI's data-processing addendum and Apple's privacy information. You may contact the controller for information about the safeguards applicable to your data.

The rights and complaint options in section 8 also apply to app processing. Providing online-request data is necessary to use the corresponding online feature, but you can continue viewing your existing collection without submitting new online requests. Artivo does not make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you.