Receipt Refund privacy policy
This policy covers the Receipt Refund application for iOS, published by Instrumental Convergence LLC. Effective 2026-09-07; revised 2026-09-09.
The application reads a Costco receipt on the user’s device, finds price adjustments the user can claim, and keeps the result on the device. Nothing about the user reaches the company. The App Store privacy label for the application reads “Data Not Collected”; the sections below state why.
A receipt is added with the camera, from a photo, or by sharing the PDF from the Costco app. iOS reads the text on the device. The photo or PDF is used for that one reading and is not kept.
These fields are saved: item numbers and printed descriptions, prices, tax flags, instant savings, the subtotal and tax, the purchase date and time, and the warehouse number. The membership number, card digits, and everything else printed on the receipt are discarded.
The receipt is compared, on the device, with the Costco savings books the application holds. The result is saved with the receipt: which items matched, the amount, and the date checked. A refund marked as collected is saved too. The date the receipt was added is recorded to count the free plan’s four receipts a year.
- costco.com
- One request for the public Member-Only Savings page, identical to a browser visit. No login, identifier, or receipt data is sent
- iCloud
- The dates receipts were added, written to key-value storage in the user’s own Apple Account. Readable only by the application on that user’s devices; the company has no access
- App Store
- The Unlimited subscription is purchased through Apple. The application learns whether the subscription is active and nothing about payment
Nothing else leaves the device. The application contains no analytics, crash reporting, or advertising code, no push server, and no third-party software. Reminders are scheduled on the device.
The company cannot. No third party has access. Apple operates iCloud and the App Store under Apple’s privacy policy. Costco receives only the anonymous page request in § 3.
Receipts and results remain on the device until the user removes them. Files are stored with iOS Data Protection and are encrypted whenever the device is locked. Withdrawing consent is the same action as deletion.
- A receipt
- Swipe to delete it in the application
- Everything on the device
- Delete the application
- The dates in iCloud
- Turn off iCloud for Receipt Refund in iOS Settings, or sign out of iCloud. Deleting the application alone leaves them in the account
- Permissions
- Camera, photo library, notifications, and Background App Refresh are granted in iOS and can be withdrawn in Settings. The application works without them; the camera is needed only to scan paper receipts
Apple counts data as collected only when it is transmitted off the device in a form the developer or a partner can read. The application transmits nothing to the company, and the iCloud dates remain in the user’s own account, so the label reads “Data Not Collected”.
For users who opted in to sharing analytics with developers under iOS Settings, Apple may show the company aggregate figures such as install and crash counts. Those figures originate with Apple, not the application, and contain nothing from receipts.
A Costco receipt can list items such as vitamins or reading glasses. Receipt contents never reach the company and the application draws no inferences about the user from them. The company holds no health information about anyone.
California law gives residents the right to know what personal information a business collects, to delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. Washington law gives residents comparable rights over consumer health data. The application collects no personal information and no health data, and the company sells and shares nothing, so there is nothing to disclose, sell, or opt out of.
A request under either law may be sent to info@instrumentalc.com. The company replies within 45 days. Deletion is in the user’s own hands, as set out in § 5.
The application is not directed at children under 13. It has no means of knowing a user’s age and collects nothing from anyone.
Receipt Refund is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Costco Wholesale Corporation. Costco, Costco Wholesale, and Kirkland Signature are trademarks of Costco Wholesale Corporation, used only to identify the receipts and savings book the application reads.
A revision carries a new date in § 1. A change to what the application keeps or transmits is also stated in the App Store release notes for that version.
Questions about this policy or about data held by the application: info@instrumentalc.com, or by post to the correspondence address under Notices. The Unlimited subscription is governed by Apple’s standard Terms of Use.