Volunteer & Mobile App Privacy Policy

Volunteer & Mobile App Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 24, 2026

Plain-Language Summary (This Box Does Not Replace the Full Policy Below) When you use the TrueTag app, we collect your first name and the photos you take of thrift-store items for real-time AI pricing. We also collect a device identifier automatically assigned by your phone's operating system — this is used solely to help verify your login alongside your name and Store PIN. We do not use it for advertising. You must be at least 13 years old to use this app. We do not collect your email address. We do not sell your information. Image Contribution (Optional): You may separately choose to opt in to our Image Contribution Program. If you opt in, photos you take that pass our automated content filters (which screen out faces, nudity, non-clothing items, and illegal content) are stored on our servers and become TrueTag's property. We also store the AI-generated item category and any correction you make to it. These are used for product development and other lawful business purposes, which may include training AI models. Nothing that identifies you personally is stored. Note: TrueTag's current pricing AI is not trained on contributed images — image contributions support future model development. If you do not opt in, your photos are used only for real-time pricing and are not retained by us.

This Privacy Policy explains how Quilt Thrift Optimization LLC, doing business as TrueTag ("Company," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, discloses, and retains information about individuals who use the TrueTag mobile application as a Volunteer. This policy covers Volunteer accounts and the mobile app only. Manager accounts are governed by the separate TrueTag Manager & Administrator Privacy Policy.

By using the TrueTag mobile app, you --- or, if you are under 18, your parent or legal guardian --- agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. About TrueTag

TrueTag is an AI-powered pricing tool for thrift stores. Volunteers use the TrueTag mobile app to photograph items and receive AI-assisted pricing suggestions. Operated by:

Quilt Thrift Optimization LLC d/b/a TrueTag

5650 E Grove Dr SE, Kentwood, MI 49512

Email: truetagforthrift@gmail.com

2. Age Requirement

The TrueTag mobile app is intended only for users who are at least 13 years of age. Before you can access the app, you must confirm via an on-screen checkbox that you are 13 or older. If you indicate that you are under 13, you will not be permitted to use the app and no information will be collected from you.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we learn that a user under 13 has accessed the app, we will terminate that account and delete associated information as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and applicable law.

If you are between 13 and 17 years old, your store's Manager is responsible --- under the TrueTag Terms of Service --- for ensuring that a parent or legal guardian has consented to your use of the app before issuing you a Store PIN. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child is using TrueTag without your consent, please contact us immediately at truetagforthrift@gmail.com.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Account Information

To log in, Volunteers provide only:

A first name or display name
The Store PIN issued by their Manager

We do not collect your email address, last name, date of birth, phone number, or any government identifier. Because login requires only a name and PIN, your account is not linked to a verified real-world identity in our systems.

To supplement name-and-PIN authentication and help bind a login session to a specific device, the app automatically reads a device-level identifier generated by your phone's operating system. See Section 3.6 for details.

3.2 Photographs

When you price an item through the app, it captures and uploads:

A photograph of the whole item
A photograph of the item's brand or tag

These photographs are transmitted in real time to our third-party AI API (see Section 5.1) to generate a pricing suggestion. Whether TrueTag retains a copy of your photographs on its own servers depends on whether you have opted in to the Image Contribution Program (see Section 3.8). If you have not opted in, TrueTag does not retain your photos after the pricing session.

You should photograph only items owned or possessed by your store. You must not intentionally photograph other people.

3.3 Automated Content Filtering

Automated Content Filtering for Stored Images We recognize that accidental capture of faces, inappropriate content, or non-clothing items can occur in a busy store environment. For Volunteers who have opted in to the Image Contribution Program, every photograph is passed through an automated content filter before any storage decision is made. The filter rejects and discards any image that contains: (i) identifiable human faces; (ii) nudity or sexual content; (iii) content depicting illegal activity; or (iv) items that are not clothing or apparel. Only images that pass all filter criteria are stored. This technology is not perfect. If you believe a photo containing an identifiable person or inappropriate content was stored, please notify your Manager or contact us at truetagforthrift@gmail.com and we will review it and take appropriate action. TrueTag's liability for filter failures is limited as described in the applicable Terms of Service.

3.4 Activity Metadata and Session Index

We collect operational data associated with your sessions:

Which store organization your session is associated with
Timestamps and session duration
Number of items priced
AI-derived item characteristics returned by the pricing analysis (such as item type, category, brand, color, condition, and other attributes that inform pricing) and the pricing suggestion and confidence score generated from those characteristics
Processing time per item

We also maintain a session index --- an internal log that maps each session to the store, date, display name, and the specific image IDs uploaded during that session. This index is used solely for operational purposes, including fulfilling targeted deletion requests. It is not used for marketing or sold to third parties. Because Volunteers log in with only a display name and PIN --- not an email address or verified identity --- the session index does not link your sessions to a verified real-world identity.

3.5 Technical Data

We may automatically collect device type, operating system version, app version, error reports, and IP address at the time of upload.

3.6 Device Identifier

The TrueTag app automatically reads a persistent device-level identifier from your phone's operating system to supplement name-and-PIN authentication. This identifier helps us confirm that a login session originates from a specific device.

On iOS: The app reads the Identifier for Vendor (IDFV), a unique value scoped to TrueTag's developer account. It is not shared with other app developers and resets if all apps from TrueTag's account are removed from the device. It is not the advertising identifier (IDFA) and does not require advertising-tracking consent.
On Android: The app reads the Android ID, a value unique to the combination of the app's signing key, the user account, and the device. It resets on factory reset.

Neither identifier is linked to your real name, email address, or any external identity. Neither is used for advertising or shared with third-party advertising networks. The device identifier is retained for as long as your session records are retained and will be deleted upon a valid deletion request (see Section 6).

Because device identifiers are classified as persistent identifiers under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar laws, we treat them as personal information, apply the same protections described in this policy, and do not collect them from users who indicate they are under 13.

3.8 Image Contribution Program (Optional Opt-In)

TrueTag offers a voluntary Image Contribution Program that allows you to contribute images to TrueTag's proprietary AI training dataset. Participation is entirely optional and separate from your ability to use the app's core pricing function.

How to opt in: You may enable Image Contribution through the settings menu in the TrueTag app. You may withdraw your opt-in at any time through the same settings menu; withdrawal stops future image storage but does not affect images already stored pursuant to your prior consent.

What happens when you are opted in: After the real-time pricing step, each image you take is passed through an automated content filter before any storage decision is made. The filter rejects and discards images that contain: (i) identifiable human faces; (ii) nudity or sexual content; (iii) content that appears to depict illegal activity; or (iv) items that are not clothing or apparel. Images that fail any filter criterion are discarded and not stored. Images that pass all filter criteria are stored on TrueTag's servers with only the following associated metadata: (a) the name of the store or store location; (b) the AI-generated category or classification for the clothing item depicted (such as item type, brand, color, and condition); and (c) any correction or alternative classification you provide to the AI-generated result. No information that identifies, relates to, or could be linked to you as an individual is stored with the image.

Ownership: Images stored through the Image Contribution Program, together with any associated metadata (including AI-generated classifications and any corrections you provide), become the sole property of Quilt Thrift Optimization LLC d/b/a TrueTag at the time they pass the content filter and are stored. By opting in, you (or, if you are a minor, your parent or guardian on your behalf) irrevocably assign and transfer to TrueTag all rights, title, and interest in those images and associated metadata, including all intellectual property rights, and grant TrueTag a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free right to use, reproduce, modify, and sublicense those images and metadata for any lawful purpose, including product development, quality assurance, and AI training. No compensation is paid to you or your store for this contribution.

No facial recognition or re-identification: TrueTag does not use Image Contribution data to identify, track, or re-identify any individual.

3.7 Push Notification Token

When the TrueTag app is first launched, it registers with Expo Notifications, a push notification service operated by Expo, Inc. This registration generates an Expo Push Token — a unique identifier tied to your specific device-app combination — which TrueTag stores on its servers in order to deliver operational notifications to your device.

The Expo Push Token is a persistent identifier and is treated as personal information under this policy and applicable law, including COPPA. It is used solely to deliver the operational notifications described in Section 4.6 below and is never used for advertising. Expo routes notifications through Apple Push Notification service (APNs) on iOS and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) on Android; those services process your token as part of their delivery infrastructure. Your Expo Push Token is retained for as long as your device is actively registered and will be deleted upon a valid deletion request (see Section 6).

4. How We Use Your Information

4.1 To Provide the Service

Photographs and metadata are used to generate AI-assisted pricing suggestions, which is the core function of the app. The device identifier collected under Section 3.6 is used solely to verify login sessions and is not used for any purpose beyond authentication and fraud prevention.

4.2 Image Contribution Uses

Image Contribution Is Optional and Separate from Real-Time Pricing Photographs you take are used for real-time pricing regardless of your opt-in status. Long-term retention and use of your photographs through the Image Contribution Program is entirely optional and requires your affirmative opt-in (Section 3.8).

TrueTag's current real-time pricing AI is powered by a third-party model and is not trained on images contributed by volunteers. Contributed images support TrueTag's own product development efforts, which may include building and training proprietary AI models in the future.

If you opt in: photos that pass our automated content filters (no faces, no nudity, no non-clothing items, no illegal content) are stored on TrueTag's servers indefinitely, along with the AI-generated item classification and any correction you provide. These images and associated metadata become TrueTag's property and are used for product development, quality assurance, and other lawful business purposes, which may include training, fine-tuning, and improving AI and machine learning models. Stored images are associated with the store name and item classifications only — they are not linked to you as an individual.

If you do not opt in: TrueTag does not retain copies of your photographs on its servers after the pricing session concludes. Your photos are transmitted to our third-party AI API for real-time pricing and then discarded.

No compensation is paid to you or your store for Image Contribution.

4.3 Manager Visibility

Your activity data --- items priced, session metrics, pricing outputs, and uploaded photographs --- is visible to the Manager of your associated store through the TrueTag web dashboard.

4.4 Service Improvement

We use aggregated, de-identified data from all Volunteers to improve app performance and develop new features.

4.5 Legal Compliance and Safety

We may use your information to comply with applicable law, respond to legal process, or protect the safety of our users and the public.

4.6 Push Notifications

We use push notifications — including silent background notifications that do not display any visible alert on your screen — for the following operational purposes only:

To notify you when a store Manager has approved or rejected your access request to join an Organization
To sign you out of the pricing experience when a Manager revokes your access
To silently refresh store configuration data in the background when your store's settings are updated on the backend, so the app reflects current pricing rules without requiring you to manually restart

These notifications are functional — not marketing — and cannot be individually opted out of without uninstalling the app, as they are necessary for the app to operate correctly. We do not use push notifications to send advertisements, promotions, or any content unrelated to your active session.

5. Third-Party Processing of Photographs

5.1 OpenRouter / Gemma AI

Photographs are transmitted in real time to an external AI API (OpenRouter, using the Gemma model) to generate a pricing suggestion. We use OpenRouter's Zero Data Retention (ZDR) setting, which means:

OpenRouter does not retain your photographs after the real-time API call
Your photographs are not used to train OpenRouter's or Gemma's models
Transmission is encrypted in transit

TrueTag retains the master copies of all photographs on its own servers independent of the API call. TrueTag also retains the structured output returned by the AI analysis — including AI-derived item characteristics such as item type, category, brand, color, condition, and other attributes that inform pricing — alongside the session record. These derived characteristics describe the item photographed, not the individual Volunteer, and are used for pricing, quality assurance, and AI training purposes.

5.2 Expo Notifications (Push Delivery)

Push notifications are delivered through Expo Notifications, operated by Expo, Inc. When TrueTag sends a notification to your device, your Expo Push Token and the notification payload are transmitted to Expo's servers, which route the message through Apple Push Notification service (APNs) on iOS or Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) on Android. Expo does not retain notification payloads beyond delivery. Your Expo Push Token is stored on TrueTag's servers, not on Expo's. For more information, see Expo's Privacy Policy at expo.dev/privacy.

5.3 Cloud Infrastructure

TrueTag uses third-party cloud hosting providers to store and serve data. These providers operate under confidentiality and security agreements with us.

6. Image Retention and Deletion

6.1 Default (No Opt-In)

If you have not opted in to the Image Contribution Program, TrueTag does not retain copies of your photographs on its servers. Photos are transmitted to our third-party AI API for real-time pricing and then discarded. Only session metadata (items priced, timestamps, store association) is retained for operational and analytics purposes.

6.2 Image Contribution Opt-In

If you have opted in to the Image Contribution Program, photographs that pass our content filters are stored on TrueTag's servers indefinitely, along with the AI-generated item classification and any correction you provide. These images and associated metadata are stored as TrueTag's property (see Section 3.8) and used for product development, quality assurance, and other lawful business purposes, which may include AI model training.

You may withdraw your opt-in at any time through the app's settings menu. Withdrawal stops future image storage but does not require TrueTag to delete images already stored and owned pursuant to your prior consent. Because those images were transferred to TrueTag as property and stored without any user-identifying information, they are retained as part of TrueTag's training dataset regardless of opt-in withdrawal.

6.3 How Deletion Requests Work

To request deletion of session metadata or, to the extent applicable, any other data we hold associated with your sessions, you or your parent or guardian may email truetagforthrift@gmail.com with the following information:

The name of your store
The display name you used in the app
The approximate date range of the sessions in question

TrueTag maintains a session index that allows us to locate records associated with your sessions and fulfill applicable deletion requests. Your Manager can also submit requests on your behalf.

6.4 Limitations on Deletion

Please note the following limitations:

Residual copies may remain in encrypted backups for a period following deletion and will be purged on the next backup cycle
Images stored through the Image Contribution Program become TrueTag's property at the time of storage and are retained as training data; withdrawal of opt-in does not obligate TrueTag to delete these images
Data that has already been incorporated into trained AI model weights in an anonymized form cannot be retroactively removed from those model weights
We may retain data required for legal compliance, fraud prevention, or dispute resolution
Deletion of session records from active storage does not constitute a waiver of any rights TrueTag has already exercised under this policy

7. Who Can See Your Information

Your store's Manager(s): activity metrics, session data, and uploaded photographs via the TrueTag dashboard
TrueTag staff: for AI training, quality assurance, and support purposes
OpenRouter/Gemma: photographs in real time for pricing (no retention under ZDR)
Expo, Inc. / Apple (APNs) / Google (FCM): your Expo Push Token and notification payload, solely to deliver operational notifications; no retention of payload beyond delivery
Cloud hosting providers: as infrastructure processors
Law enforcement or courts: if required by legal process or to protect safety

The device identifier (Section 3.6) is used internally for authentication only and is not disclosed to your Manager, shared with third parties, or used for advertising.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers.

8. Your Rights and Choices

8.1 Access and Deletion

You or your parent or guardian may request a summary of session data we hold, or request deletion of applicable data, by contacting your store's Manager or emailing truetagforthrift@gmail.com. See Section 6 for what data is retained and applicable deletion limitations. Images stored through the Image Contribution Program are TrueTag's property and are generally not subject to deletion upon request.

8.2 Parental Rights Under COPPA

For any user who is under 13 and has accessed the app in violation of our age restriction, parents or guardians have the right under COPPA to review information collected from their child, have it deleted, and refuse further collection. Contact truetagforthrift@gmail.com immediately.

8.3 Stopping Use

You may stop using the app at any time. Ceasing use does not automatically delete data already uploaded. See Section 6 for deletion requests.

9. Data Security

We implement commercially reasonable security measures including encrypted transmission, access controls, and secure cloud storage. Automated face blurring reduces but does not eliminate the risk that a photograph may contain personally identifiable information. If you are aware of a security concern, contact truetagforthrift@gmail.com immediately.

10. Governing Law

This policy is governed by the laws of the State of Michigan. It is designed to comply with applicable federal law, including COPPA (15 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.).

California Residents. If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), may provide you with additional rights, including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete personal information, and the right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under CCPA/CPRA. With respect to images stored through the Image Contribution Program: because those images are stored without any information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked to you as an individual, they are not your "personal information" under CCPA following storage. Accordingly, a deletion request under CCPA does not require TrueTag to delete de-identified training images already owned by TrueTag. We will, however, delete session records and other account data that constitutes your personal information upon a verified request. To submit a request or learn more about your California privacy rights, contact us at truetagforthrift@gmail.com.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to your store's Manager via the TrueTag dashboard and posted within the app. Continued use of the app after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact Us