IgnitionIgnition Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 14, 2026
Summary
Ignition: Car Maintenance Log (“Ignition”) is an iPhone app operated by Harsh Patel. It has no accounts and no sign-in. Your cars, service records, receipts and documents are stored on your iPhone. With Ignition Pro they also sync to your own private iCloud database, which we cannot read. We do not sell data, show ads or track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
A few things do leave your device: vehicle details sent to public vehicle databases so the app can decode a VIN, find recalls and show a picture of your model; pseudonymous analytics, crash diagnostics and subscription data, described under Data we collect. Each is described below.
What stays on your iPhone
Cars: name, nickname, year, make, model, trim, color, fuel type, distance unit, odometer readings, the VIN if you add one, a car photo and its credit, and saved recall results.
Care plan and journal: service items and intervals, when each was last done and next due, and entries for services, repairs, upgrades and fill-ups with their date, odometer, cost, shop, notes, fuel volume and receipt photos.
Glovebox: photos of documents you add (such as an insurance card, registration, title or roadside card), their expiry dates, phone numbers and notes.
Progress and settings: check-in streaks, trophies, reminder choices, your last known subscription status and app preferences.
Widgets (Pro): a small summary for your widgets (car name, year and make, odometer, next service, streak and open recall count, plus the car image) is kept in a container shared only between Ignition and its widget on your iPhone.
iCloud sync (Ignition Pro)
While Ignition Pro is active, Ignition uses Apple CloudKit to sync your records and photos to your private iCloud database under your Apple Account, so they reach your next iPhone. This uses your iCloud storage. We do not operate a server that stores your records and we cannot access your private iCloud data. On the free plan, records stay on your iPhone and are included in your iPhone’s own backup. If Pro ends, sync pauses; data already in iCloud stays there until you remove it through Apple’s iCloud storage settings.
Camera, photos and scanning
With your permission, Ignition uses the camera to scan receipts, your dashboard odometer, glovebox documents and VIN barcodes, and lets you choose photos of your car or documents from your library. Text recognition runs on your iPhone using Apple’s Vision and VisionKit frameworks. Removing the background from a car photo also happens on your iPhone. Your photos and scanned text are not sent to us or to our analytics.
Public vehicle databases
To fill in vehicle details and safety information, Ignition looks up limited vehicle information in these public services. The requests carry no user, device or account identifier, nothing is kept by us or by anyone acting for us, and the results are used on your iPhone only:
NHTSA vPIC (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration): when you scan or enter a VIN, the VIN is sent to decode the year, make, model and engine. When you pick a car from the list, the make and year are sent to load the matching models.
NHTSA Recalls: your car’s make, model and year are sent to look up safety recalls, when you add a car, when you check, and with Pro, in the background every few days when iOS allows.
NHTSA recall page: if you tap Check my VIN at NHTSA, Safari opens nhtsa.gov with your VIN in the address.
Wikimedia Commons: the year, make, model and color are sent as a search to find a freely licensed picture of your model. The request identifies the app and includes the developer’s contact email, as Wikimedia asks of apps; it does not include yours.
Like any internet request, these services receive your device’s IP address and handle it under their own policies. Tapping a link to a manufacturer’s manual opens that website in your browser.
Data we collect
Ignition has no accounts, and nothing it collects includes your name, email, phone number or Apple Account. The data below is pseudonymous, but it is linked in Apple’s sense: it is tied to random identifiers for your install, and those identifiers are joined to each other. It is not used for tracking: Ignition has no ads, does not use the advertising identifier (IDFA), does not ask to track you, and does not share data with data brokers or advertisers.
| Data type | What it is | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Product interaction | Which steps you complete in the app, from a fixed list of events, with counts and yes-or-no flags. Sent to PostHog. | Analytics |
| Purchase history | Your subscription status, trials, renewals and cancellations, from Apple’s signed purchase records via RevenueCat. | App functionality, analytics |
| User ID | A random app user ID created by RevenueCat and a random analytics ID created by PostHog, joined so subscription events appear in the product funnel. Neither is your name, email or Apple Account. | App functionality, analytics |
| Device ID | The identifier for vendor (IDFV) that the RevenueCat SDK sends with its requests. It is not the advertising identifier. | App functionality, analytics |
| Advertising data | Apple’s AdServices attribution token, sent to RevenueCat, which asks Apple whether the install came from an Apple Search Ads campaign and, if so, which campaign, ad group and keyword. | Analytics |
| Crash data | Crash reports from Apple’s MetricKit: crash kind, exception type and code, signal and app build, sent as PostHog events. | App functionality, analytics |
| Performance data | Hang reports from MetricKit: how long the app was unresponsive and the app build, sent as PostHog events. | App functionality, analytics |
| Coarse location | PostHog estimates your country and city from the IP address of each analytics request. Ignition never asks for your location. | Analytics |
Analytics come from a fixed list of events and properties; anything else is dropped before sending. They include the app version, whether Pro is active, the number of cars, and the car make chosen from the app’s list (a typed-in make is sent as “other”) with its model year. Screen recording, session replay and automatic tap capture are off. Analytics never include your VIN, costs, notes, shop names, odometer readings, photos or document contents.
Payments go through Apple In-App Purchase; we never receive your payment card details. RevenueCat checks your subscription for us; its privacy policy is at revenuecat.com/privacy. PostHog’s is at posthog.com/privacy.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, Ignition schedules reminders on your iPhone for services coming due, document renewals and the weekly odometer check-in. With Pro, it can also tell you about a new recall found for your car. Notifications can show your car’s name, the service or document, and a due date. We do not run a push notification server for these reminders; iCloud uses Apple’s silent notifications to keep Pro sync up to date. Change notification access anytime in iOS Settings.
Retention and deletion
Records stay on your iPhone until you delete them. Removing a car deletes that car and its records; deleting a glovebox document deletes its photos and details from your iPhone. Deleting the app removes its local data.
Data synced with Pro stays in your private iCloud until you delete it in the app or remove Ignition’s data in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage.
Service history PDFs and share images you export are copies you control wherever you saved or sent them.
We keep analytics only as long as it is useful for improving the app. Email us to ask for deletion of analytics data; because it is not tied to your name, tell us roughly when you installed Ignition and your device model so we can find it.
Manage or cancel a subscription in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions.
Children
Ignition is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes
If our data practices change, we will update this page and the date above, and update the app’s App Store privacy details.
Contact
Questions, complaints or data requests: harshp.build@gmail.com