Privacy policyEffective
Privacy policy
FaxFair keeps as little about you as it can. You don't make an account, your document is deleted from our servers once the fax is delivered or fails, and there are no ads or analytics.
This policy covers the FaxFair app for iPhone and this website. In this policy, "we" means the maker of FaxFair. Questions: support@faxfair.com.
The short version
- No account or password. We ask for an email only if you buy a fax number on this website, to send you its faxes.
- The app uses a random ID for your iPhone, not your name or phone number.
- A document you send is on our servers only until the fax is delivered or fails. Then we delete it.
- Copies of what you send, the numbers you fax and My details (your cover page details) stay on your iPhone.
- For faxes you send, we keep the last 4 digits of the fax number, the page count, the status and the times for 90 days.
- We keep a record of the faxes you buy and use, with the IDs of your delivered faxes. It holds no fax numbers and no documents.
- If you buy a fax number, faxes sent to it stay on our servers until you delete them, for 7 days at most. The sender's number is deleted with the fax.
- If you buy a fax number on this website, we keep your email while you have the number and erase it when the number is released. We email each fax to you through Resend, an email service, which keeps a copy of each email, with the fax, for 30 days.
- Apple handles payments in the app, and Stripe handles card payments on this website. We never see your card details.
- Crash and error reports go to Sentry, without your documents, fax numbers or personal information.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking, and we don't sell your data.
What we collect, why, and for how long
| Data | Why we need it | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Random install ID | The app creates it the first time you open it and keeps it in your iPhone's keychain. It matches your fax balance, faxes, stamps and fax number to your iPhone without an account. It isn't based on your name, email, phone number or Apple ID. Its first 8 characters are the support code the app adds when you email us. | As long as we run FaxFair, with the record of your fax balance below. iOS keeps it when you delete the app, so your fax balance, stamps and fax number come back when you reinstall on the same iPhone. |
| Your document (the pages you scan or pick, and the cover page) | To send your fax. The cover page details you type, and your phone's time zone for the date line, are sent with it so our server can draw the cover page. | Only until the fax is delivered or fails. Then we delete it from our servers. |
| Cover page preview | When you tap Preview, the app sends the cover page details to our server, which draws the page and sends it back. | Not stored or logged. |
| The fax number you send to | To dial it. A scrambled (hashed) copy lets the app warn you if you send the same fax twice by mistake. | The full number is erased from our servers as soon as the fax is delivered or fails. The scrambled copy is erased about 10 minutes after sending, or when the fax finishes if that is later. |
| Fax details: the last 4 digits of the fax number, the number of pages, the status (and the reason if it failed) and the times | To show the status of your fax, and to help you if something goes wrong. | 90 days, then deleted. |
| Your fax number and the area code you searched for (only if you buy a number) | So faxes sent to the number reach you. We also keep when it started, when it expires and when it was released. Our fax carrier, Telnyx, provides the number. To list free numbers, the app sends the area code or city you search for to our server, which asks Telnyx. | As long as we run FaxFair, with the purchase records. After the number is released, we keep it so that faxes still sent to it are deleted, not kept. |
| Faxes you receive | To show you the faxes sent to your number. Telnyx receives each fax, and our server downloads it. | Until you delete the fax, 7 days after it arrives, or when the number is released, whichever comes first. |
| Details of a received fax: the sender's fax number, the page count and when it arrived | Telnyx sends us these with each fax, and the app shows them in your list of received faxes. The notification shows only the page count, not the sender. | The sender's number is deleted with the fax. The page count and time are deleted about 9 days after the fax arrives. |
| Record of your fax balance | Every change to your fax balance: faxes bought, held for a fax you send, used when it's delivered, or returned when it fails, and the free first fax. It includes the IDs of your delivered faxes, which the app uses to bring back your stamp album after you reinstall. It holds no fax numbers and no documents. | As long as we run FaxFair, because it's our record of what you paid for and used. |
| Purchase records from Apple | To add the faxes you bought or the days on your fax number, and to move your fax number when you restore it. Apple tells us which product was bought, when, and its transaction ID. We don't receive your name, card or billing details. | As long as we run FaxFair, as our record of payments. |
| Free first fax check (Apple DeviceCheck) | Each iPhone gets one free first fax. To keep it to one, the app asks Apple for a one-time token, and our server uses it to ask Apple one yes-or-no question: has this iPhone had its free fax? Apple keeps that answer, not us. The token says nothing about you. | We don't keep the token. Apple keeps the yes-or-no answer for our app. |
| Push notification token (only if you allow notifications) | To tell you when a fax you sent is delivered or fails, when a fax arrives on your number, when your number is ready or can't be set up, and before your number ends, never for marketing. Notifications about faxes you send show only the last 4 digits of the fax number. | Until it stops working, for example after you delete the app. A new token replaces the old one. |
| Crash and error reports (Sentry) | When the app crashes or hits an error, it sends a report to Sentry, our error-reporting service: the device model, the iOS and app versions, and the technical details of the error. We set it not to include documents, fax numbers, cover page details or other personal information. Errors on our server are reported the same way. | Sentry keeps reports for up to 90 days. |
| Server logs | Our hosting provider's logs record the IP address and time of each request the app makes to our server, and which address it called, so we can fix problems and stop abuse. Logs never show a full fax number. Our server also counts new installs per IP address in memory to slow abuse, without saving the count. | Up to 30 days. |
| Emails you send us | To answer you. | 2 years. |
What stays on your iPhone
Copies of what you send, the numbers you fax, your recent faxes, your stamp album and My details stay on your iPhone, not on our servers. The app also keeps a copy of each received fax you open. Deleting the app deletes them.
What we don't do
- We don't ask for your contacts or location. The app doesn't ask for your name or email. On this website we ask for your name and phone only to print them on a fax you send, and for your email only to send you the faxes for a number you buy.
- We don't show ads.
- We don't put analytics, advertising or tracking tools in the app. Sentry, for crash and error reports, is the only reporting tool.
- We don't track you across other apps or websites.
- We don't sell your data or share it for advertising.
Who else handles your data
- Our fax carrier, Telnyx, receives your document and the fax number so it can dial the fax machine and send the pages. We tell Telnyx not to store a copy, and once your fax is delivered or fails we ask Telnyx to delete it. Telnyx also receives the faxes sent to your FaxFair number, with the sender's number, and deletes its copy at our request once we have downloaded the fax. What Telnyx keeps is covered by its own policy: telnyx.com/privacy-policy.
- Our hosting provider, Render (render.com), runs the servers that hold your document until it's sent, your fax details, the faxes you receive, the record of your fax balance and the server logs.
- Apple processes payments, delivers push notifications and answers the free first fax check (DeviceCheck). Apple's own privacy policy covers that.
- Expo (expo.dev) passes our notifications on to Apple. It receives the push token and the notification text. See expo.dev/privacy.
- Sentry (sentry.io) receives the crash and error reports described above. See sentry.io/privacy.
- Stripe (stripe.com) takes card payments on this website on its own checkout page. Stripe sees your card details and your email, which it uses to send its receipt and keeps with its record of the payment, and tells us whether the payment went through. See stripe.com/privacy.
- Resend (resend.com) sends the emails for fax numbers bought on this website: each fax, attached as a PDF, the link to your inbox page and the reminders. Resend handles your email address, the email and the attached fax, and keeps a copy of each email we send, attachment included, for 30 days. See its policy: resend.com/legal/privacy-policy.
- Cloudflare hosts this website on Cloudflare Pages.
- The person or office you fax receives your pages, like any fax.
How we protect your data
The app sends your document to our servers over HTTPS, and gets received faxes from our servers the same way. We delete a sent document from our servers once the fax is delivered or fails. Like any fax, the part between the fax carrier and the fax machine at the other end goes over the phone network and isn't encrypted end to end. Keep that in mind for very sensitive papers.
Your choices
- Notifications: you can turn them off any time in your iPhone's Settings. The app still shows the fax status.
- Received faxes: delete a fax in the app and we delete our copy right away.
- Delete your fax details early: tap Email support in the app's Settings (it adds your support code) and ask, and we'll delete the fax details we hold for your iPhone. We keep the record of your fax balance and purchases, which we need to account for payments.
- Questions about your data: email us the same way and we'll tell you what we hold for your support code.
This website
- We don't set cookies on this website, and it has no ads or analytics scripts. We don't track visitors, so a Do Not Track setting changes nothing here.
- This website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Like any web host, Cloudflare receives your IP address and browser details when you load a page. It shows us overall traffic numbers, not who visited, and may set a security cookie if it needs to check that a visitor isn't a bot.
- The fax cover sheet maker runs in your browser. What you type isn't sent to us or anyone else.
- Every file on this website, including the code that makes the cover sheet PDF, comes from this website itself. Pages don't load anything from other companies' servers.
Fax numbers bought on this website
You can buy a US fax number on this website with a card, without the app. This is what we keep for it.
- Your email address: to email you each fax as a PDF, the link to your inbox page and the reminders before the number ends. We keep it while you have the number and erase it when the number is released. You can change it on your inbox page. When you do, we send the old address a short notice that it was changed, and we keep the old address only until that notice has gone out.
- Your fax number: with when it started, when it ends and when it was released, so faxes sent to it reach you. When you search for a number, the page sends what you type to our server, which asks our fax carrier, Telnyx, for free numbers.
- Faxes you receive: with the sender's fax number, the page count and when each one arrived. We delete our copy of a fax when you delete it on your inbox page, 7 days after it arrives, or when the number is released, whichever comes first. The PDF we email you is yours to keep, and deleting the fax on the inbox page doesn't remove it from your email. Resend, which sends the emails for us, keeps a copy of each email, with the fax, for 30 days.
- Your inbox link: the private code in it opens your inbox without an account, so anyone with the link can open your faxes. The code sits after the # in the address, which browsers don't send to any website, and the inbox page sends it only to our server. When you open the link, the page takes the code out of the address bar and keeps it only in that browser tab. A reload still works, and the code is gone from your browser when you close the tab or choose "Close inbox on this device". We store only a scrambled (hashed) copy of it. You can get a new link any time on the inbox page, and the old one stops working at once. Changing your email also makes a new link. If you lose the link, the inbox page can email it to you again.
- Payment: Stripe takes the payment on its checkout page. Stripe holds the amount on your card, and we charge it once your number is set up. If we can't set it up, we cancel the payment. We never see your card details.
Children
FaxFair isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update it here and change the date at the top.
Contact
Email: support@faxfair.com.