Privacy policy

Last updated:

Optical Code Lab scans, analyses and creates optical codes (QR codes, barcodes, PDF417, Aztec, Data Matrix). It works without an account and without tracking, and what you scan or create stays on your device. This policy explains which data the app and this website handle, and what your rights are under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and the Belgian Act of 30 July 2018.

1. Data controller

The data controller is:

Apalala SRL has not appointed a data protection officer, as the processing described here does not require one.

2. Scope

This policy covers the Optical Code Lab app for iOS (iPhone and iPad), a possible future Android version, and this website, opticalcodelab.apalala.be, including its online code generator.

3. What we do not collect

4. What stays on your device

You can delete history entries and saved codes at any time in the app; uninstalling the app erases everything. If the operating system backs up the app (for instance through iCloud), that happens within your Apple account, under Apple's responsibility.

5. Permissions

5.1 Camera

The camera is used only to read codes, live, on the device. Images are not recorded or sent anywhere, except the photos you decide to save (see below).

5.2 Photos

When you tap "Save Photo", or if you enable automatic capture in the settings, the app adds the picture of the recognised code to an "Optical Code Lab" album in your photo library. When you save a generated code, the app only asks for permission to add images. Photos stay in your library, under your control.

5.3 Wi-Fi network name

When you create a Wi-Fi code, the app can fill in the name of the network you are connected to if you tap the button that does so. iOS asks for your consent; the name is only used to fill the form.

6. Network connections

6.1 Lookups you trigger yourself

The app works offline. The only network requests happen when you tap a lookup button on a scan result, for instance to look up a product barcode in Open Food Facts, a book ISBN in Open Library or Google Books, or to open a location in a map service. The scanned code (product number, ISBN, coordinates…) and your IP address are then sent to that third-party service, which processes them under its own privacy policy. Nothing is ever sent without your tap.

6.2 Opening links

When you open a link, a phone number, an email address or another action contained in a scanned code, the corresponding app on your device (browser, phone, mail…) takes over.

6.3 Crash reports

We embed no crash-reporting tool. If the app closes unexpectedly, only the operating system can send us a report, and only if you have enabled sharing analytics with developers in your device settings. These reports reach us through App Store Connect, in aggregated form; we use them solely to fix bugs.

6.4 The app stores

Downloads and updates go through Apple's App Store. Apple processes data linked to your Apple account under its own policy. Apalala receives only aggregated, anonymous statistics.

7. The online generator

The "Generate Online" page of this website creates codes entirely in your browser, in JavaScript. What you type (texts, Wi-Fi passwords, contact or payment details, logo images) is never sent to any server, not even ours: the page makes no network request once loaded, and its security policy forbids it. Closing the page erases the form.

8. This website

opticalcodelab.apalala.be is a static site. It uses no cookies and embeds no analytics service, no external font and no sharing button. Your browser's local storage only remembers the theme (light or dark) and the language you chose. Like any web server, ours keeps technical logs (IP address, date, requested page, user agent) for security and troubleshooting; they are deleted automatically after 30 days at most.

9. When you contact us

If you write to us by email or open a ticket on our help desk, we process the data you provide solely to answer you. These exchanges are kept for 24 months at most after the request is closed, then deleted, unless the law requires otherwise.

10. Legal bases

The processing described above relies on the performance of the service you request (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) for server logs, crash reports and support, and on your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), given in your device settings, for the camera, photos, network name and crash reports, which you can withdraw at any time in the same place. We take no automated decision and carry out no profiling.

11. Recipients and transfers

Apalala does not sell, rent or share your data. Our website is hosted in Belgium and we transfer no data outside the European Union. The third-party lookup services you choose to query may be located outside the European Union.

12. Your rights

You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, and you can withdraw your consent at any time. For data that stays on your device, you exercise these rights yourself in the app. For anything else, write to info@apalala.be; we reply within one month, free of charge.

If you believe your rights are not being respected, you may lodge a complaint with the Belgian supervisory authority:

Autorité de protection des données (APD) / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit (GBA)
Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
www.dataprotectionauthority.be — contact@apd-gba.be

13. Children

Optical Code Lab is a general-audience tool. It is not aimed at children, and we collect no personal data from anyone to make it work.

14. Changes to this policy

We may adapt this policy as the app evolves. The date of the last update appears at the top of the page. If a change ever involved processing data on our servers, we would inform you in the app and on this site before it takes effect.