PaperBabu Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30 October 2026 (version 7) App: PaperBabu (Android, package in.firmgenie.paperbabu), made by FirmGenie. Web address for this policy: https://paperbabu-explain.animeshkr07.workers.dev/privacy

PaperBabu reads a paper, letter or message and explains it in simple words, in your language, and can read the answer aloud. This policy says what happens to your information when you use it.

The short version

Photos and questions you send are used only to make your answer. We do not store them.
Forwarded text messages are used to make your answer. We do not store the message, but the answer to it (with a one-way code of the text) is remembered for up to 7 days, so the same scam message gets the same answer. See "Answer memory" below.
To make the answer, your photo, message or question is processed by Google's Gemini AI service.
Your past answers (text only, never photos) stay on your phone. You can delete them at any time.
If you press "Report" on an answer, we keep the start of that answer and your reason for 90 days.
We do not sell your data. There are no ads and no tracking in the app yet. If ads are added, this policy will be updated first.

1. What you send, and why

What	When	Why	Kept by us?
Photos of papers (1 to 10 pages)	When you press "Read now" or share a photo into PaperBabu	To explain the paper	No
Message text or a link	When you paste or share a message or link	To explain it and check it for fraud signs	The message itself: no. The answer to a text message: up to 7 days, see "Answer memory"
Your question to "Ask Babu"	When you ask by voice or by typing	To answer your question about the same paper	No
The text of an answer	Only if you choose the optional "Better voice" and press Listen (at most 3 times a day). The phone's own voice is the default and sends nothing	To make a natural voice read it aloud	No
An earlier answer (text only)	When you change language on an open answer	To rewrite it in your new language	No
Your chosen language (for example "hi")	When you open New scam alerts or the home page	To download public scam alerts in your language	No
The start of an answer and your reason	Only when you press "Report" on an answer	To find and fix wrong, offensive or unsafe AI answers	Up to 90 days, see "Reports"
A device ID (Android ID) and your network (IP) address	With every request	To stop overuse of the service (a limited number of checks per minute)	Only as a counter that resets within a minute. The device ID is also kept for up to 2 days in a counter for the "Better voice" limit

Letters. When you tap "Write a letter", the text of the answer (never the photo) is sent to make the letter. The letter is not stored.

Answer memory (forwarded text messages only). Scam messages are sent to thousands of people, so the same text arrives again and again. To answer faster and keep the service affordable, for a forwarded or pasted text message (never a photo) we keep:

a one-way code (a SHA-256 hash) of the normalised message text, the app language and the version of our AI instructions, and
the answer that was written for it, and the language, the time and a count of how many times it was reused.

We do not keep the message text itself, and we keep no device ID, no network address and nothing else about you with it. The answer can mention details that were in the message, for example the name of the sender or a phone number to call. Messages that look personal (an Aadhaar, card or PAN number, or an e-mail address) are never kept. Photos and failed reads are never kept. The purpose is only to give the same answer to the same message and to save cost. Every entry is deleted after 7 days.

Reports. When you press "Report" on an answer and send the form, we keep: the reason you chose (wrong, offensive, unsafe or other), the kind of answer (explanation, question, translation, letter or scam alert), the language, the AI model and the version of our AI instructions, the version of the app, the first 500 characters of the answer, a short note if you typed one, and the time. We do not keep your device ID or network address, and we do not receive your photo, message or question. Please do not type personal details in the note. Reports are used only to check and fix AI answers and are deleted after 90 days. We also keep a plain daily count of reports.

Checking a number, UPI ID or QR code. A QR code is read on your phone. To tell you whether a mobile number or UPI ID has been seen in scam messages, only that number or UPI ID is sent to our server, where it is compared with one-way codes. When a message shows strong fraud signs, the phone numbers and UPI IDs it asks people to call or pay are stored only as a pseudonymous (one-way code) value, which cannot be turned back into the number, with a count and a date. Nothing else about you or the message is stored with it. These codes and counts are deleted 12 months after they were last seen.

Family number. If you add a family member's WhatsApp number, it is kept only on your phone. When you tap Send, PaperBabu opens your own WhatsApp in that person's chat with the answer typed in; nothing is sent until you press Send in WhatsApp. PaperBabu never sends messages itself.

To keep the service affordable, our server also keeps a daily total of how many checks, voice answers and reports were made. This total is a plain number for the whole service. It contains no photo, text, device ID, network address or anything that identifies you.

We also keep totals to understand scam trends in India, for example "how many bank-KYC scam messages were checked in Bihar this month". Each total is only a count per day, Indian state (worked out roughly from the network, never from GPS), language, kind of paper and warning level. It never includes any photo, message text, device ID, network address or anything that can identify you. We may share these totals in reports with banks, telecom companies, police cyber cells, media or awareness campaigns to help stop fraud. We never sell or share your personal data. Trend totals and daily totals are deleted after 12 months.

Voice questions. When you press the microphone, your phone's own speech service turns your voice into text. PaperBabu receives only the text and sends only the text. We never record or send your voice.

Scam alerts. The "New scam alerts" page shows short warnings written by AI from public news reports and official announcements, with a link to the original report. Downloading them sends only your language; nothing about you is used to choose them.

Links. PaperBabu never opens a link you give it. It reads the web address as text and looks for warning signs. If enabled, the address alone may also be checked against Google Safe Browsing's list of dangerous websites.

2. Who processes it

Our server runs on Cloudflare Workers (Cloudflare, Inc.). It passes your request on and returns the answer. It does not save photos, questions or the message itself. The answer memory and the reports described above are kept in Cloudflare's database (D1), and the voice limit counter in Cloudflare KV. Our logs record only technical facts such as an error code, never the content.
Google Gemini API (Google LLC) reads the photos or text and writes the answer. We use the paid Gemini API service, under which Google does not use your content to improve its products. Google may keep content for a limited time to detect abuse, as described in the Gemini API terms: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech (Google LLC) turns the text of an answer into a natural voice when you use the optional "Better voice". It receives only that text. For a few languages that Cloud Text-to-Speech does not offer (for example Odia and Assamese), or if it is unavailable, the same text is instead sent to the Gemini text-to-speech model of the Gemini API (Google LLC), under the same terms as above. The phone's own voice, the default, sends nothing.
Google Safe Browsing (optional, for links only) receives only the web address.

All information travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS).

3. How we keep it safe

PaperBabu has no accounts, no logins and no user profiles. Nothing on our server is linked to your name, phone number or e-mail address.
The only things kept on our server are the ones listed in this policy: the 7-day answer memory, reports, one-way codes with counts, and totals. None of them holds a photo or your question.
Our server is built to accept requests only from the PaperBabu app, only over HTTPS, and limits how often it can be used.
The key to Google's AI is kept only on our server, never inside the app.
Photos are held in the phone's memory only while they are being sent. Any temporary copy the phone makes is deleted straight away, and leftovers are cleared every time the app opens.
The app's saved answers are excluded from phone and cloud backups.
If there is a security breach affecting you, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board as required by law.

4. What stays on your phone

Past checks: the text of your last 20 answers. Photos are never saved. Delete them anytime: Past checks → Delete all, or Settings → Your privacy → Delete all past checks.
Settings: language, voice, speed, text size, colours, and that you confirmed you are 18 or older (or using the app with a parent or guardian).
Reminders: last-date reminders, and a weekly reminder to look at new scam alerts, are set on your phone only. Nothing is sent to us.
What you copied: the app reads your phone's clipboard only when you tap "Paste" on the "Check a copied message" screen, never on its own. The pasted text is sent only if you press Check.

Uninstalling the app removes all of this.

4A. How long we keep things

What	How long
Photos, questions, the message text	Not kept
Answer to a forwarded text message (with a one-way code of the text)	7 days, then deleted
Reports (including the 500 characters of the answer)	90 days, then deleted
One-way codes of scam phone numbers / UPI IDs, with counts	12 months after last seen, then deleted
Trend totals and daily totals (counts only)	12 months, then deleted
Rate-limit counters	Within a minute
"Better voice" daily limit counter (by device ID)	Up to 2 days

Deletion runs automatically every day.

5. Permissions

Camera: to photograph a paper or scan a QR code, only when you press the button.
Photos: to choose pictures you pick from the gallery.
Microphone: only while you press "Ask Babu" to speak a question.
Notifications: if you ask for a last-date reminder, and to show you an alert if you turn on Auto scam alerts.
Notification access (optional): only if you turn on Auto scam alerts. See section 5A.

PaperBabu does not use your location, contacts, SMS inbox or call log. It only sees a message if you share or paste it, or if you turn on Auto scam alerts (section 5A).

5A. Auto scam alerts (optional, off by default)

If you turn on Auto scam alerts:

PaperBabu will read the text of new SMS and WhatsApp notifications on this phone to warn you about possible scam messages.
This check happens only on your phone. Nothing is sent to PaperBabu or anyone else unless you tap the alert and choose Check.
You can turn this off any time in Settings.

More detail:

You give permission yourself, on Android's "Notification access" screen. We ask for it only after showing you the three lines above.
PaperBabu looks only at new notifications from your SMS app and WhatsApp (including WhatsApp Business). It ignores all other apps. It does not read your SMS inbox or old messages, and it does not use Android's SMS permission.
The check runs on your phone and needs no internet. If a message looks like it may be a scam (for example it has a link or phone number together with words like KYC, blocked, cashback or OTP), PaperBabu shows you an alert.
We do not save the text of your notifications and do not send it anywhere. To avoid showing the same alert twice, the phone keeps only a short code (a hash) of each alerted message for 24 hours. The text of a message you tap an alert for is kept on your phone only until PaperBabu has shown it to you.
If you tap the alert, the message opens in PaperBabu. It is sent for checking only if you then press Check, and is then handled like any other message you check (see section 1).
To stop, turn off Auto scam alerts in Settings. You can also switch off Notification access for PaperBabu in Android settings at any time.

6. Please protect sensitive numbers

Before taking a photo, cover your Aadhaar number, bank account or card numbers and any OTP. PaperBabu also hides such numbers in its answers, but covering them is safest.

7. Important limits

PaperBabu is not a government service and does not give legal, medical or financial advice. It flags warning signs and helps you check; it cannot tell you for certain that something is safe or a scam. AI can make mistakes. Always confirm with the bank, office, tehsil or a lawyer. If you have been cheated, call 1930 or visit https://cybercrime.gov.in.

8. Age

PaperBabu is for people 18 and above, or under-18s using it with a parent or guardian. The app asks you to confirm this the first time you open it; the confirmation is stored only on your phone. We do not track children, show them ads or send them marketing.

9. Your choices and rights, and how to complain

Photos, questions and the message text are not stored on our servers, and nothing we keep is linked to your name or phone number, so for most things there is nothing on our side to download or delete. You can delete everything on your phone from within the app or by uninstalling it.

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may ask us a question, ask about your data, or make a complaint.

Grievance Officer: Animesh Kumar (FirmGenie), animesh@firmgenie.in. We reply within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our reply, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

10. Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the date above and show a notice in the app.

11. Terms of Use

Using PaperBabu also means agreeing to our Terms of Use: https://paperbabu-explain.animeshkr07.workers.dev/terms

12. Contact

FirmGenie — PaperBabu Email: animesh@firmgenie.in