Privacy

Effective 27 September 2026

PLAATES scans licence plates on your device. Camera frames and model inference run in your browser; the app does not upload scans, plate records or location to a PLAATES server. The only information sent to PLAATES is what you submit through the support form.

What the app uses

• Camera access to scan plates. Frames are processed on-device.
• Device location is off by default. If you turn on “Save location with captured plates,” the browser may request permission and available coordinates are attached to captures. You can turn it off during a scan; future captures then have no location.
• Captured plate text, timestamp, confidence and, when available, coordinates in your browser's local storage (IndexedDB, with a localStorage fallback). Settings and diagnostic activity are also stored locally.
• If you turn on “Speak plates,” each captured plate is read aloud using voice clips bundled with the app; the plate text is not sent to a speech service. People nearby can hear it.
• Site files and models are cached on your device for offline use. Your browser requests them from the site host when online; the host may process ordinary request data such as IP address and access logs.

Retention and your controls

The app checks for and removes locally stored records and diagnostics older than 30 days on startup and periodically while open. You can use Clear all in the scanner to delete records and diagnostics sooner, or clear this site's browser data. Browser storage failures may affect deletion; exported files and copies you make are outside the app's control. You can turn off location in the scanner and withdraw camera or location access in your browser's site settings. Turning it off does not remove coordinates already saved with earlier captures; use Clear all to delete those records.

Exports and support

JSON, CSV and diagnostic exports are saved only when you choose to export; handle them carefully because they can contain plate and location data. If you use the support form, the name, reply address and message you enter are sent to PLAATES and delivered to our support inbox by email through our hosting provider, Cloudflare. The Worker does not save the message in an application database or log its contents. Cloudflare and our email system process the submission, and the resulting message and replies may remain in the support inbox under the email system's retention and deletion practices. Your IP address is used as a short-lived rate-limit key to reduce abuse of the form; hosting providers may also process ordinary request logs. Please do not include plate numbers, coordinates or screenshots unless necessary. Support correspondence is handled through email and used to respond to your request.

Questions and requests

Use the support form to ask about this notice or data you sent to support. Locally stored scan data stays on your device, so we cannot retrieve or delete it remotely.