PageCat PDF: Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-10-27.
Your documents stay on your device. PageCat PDF opens, edits, scans, recognizes text in, signs, merges, compresses and protects PDFs entirely on your phone. PageCat PDF has no account system and no server, and it never uploads your documents, scans, signatures or certificates.
What stays on your device
- Your PDFs and everything you create from them (they are saved where you choose, using Android's file picker).
- A list of recently opened files, favorites, bookmarks, the "Created in PageCat" tag on files you made with the app, and your last page and reading-mode position in each (stored in the app's private storage).
- Your saved signatures (encrypted with a key in the Android Keystore) and any signing identities (private keys stay in the Android Keystore).
- Temporary results of tools, in the app's cache, cleared automatically after a day.
- A search index with text from the first pages of your PDFs, so search can find files by what they say (stored in the app's private storage, never backed up, never sent anywhere).
Backups
Android may back up the app's data (recent files, favorites, bookmarks and settings) to your Google account, as part of Android's own backup. Saved signatures, signing identities and the search index are never backed up.
Text recognition and scanning
Scanning and text recognition use Google's ML Kit through Google Play services. They run on your device. Google Play services may download the recognition models the first time you use a language. Google Play services and ML Kit may also send diagnostics and usage information (such as device model, OS version, app version, performance data and an installation ID) to Google, as described in Google's ML Kit data disclosure (https://developers.google.com/ml-kit/android-data-disclosure). Your documents and images are not sent.
Read aloud
The read-aloud feature uses your device's text-to-speech engine. Depending on your device's text-to-speech settings, that engine may use a network voice.
Ads and the ads SDK
PageCat PDF is free and supported by ads shown with Google AdMob. To show ads, the AdMob SDK collects and shares with Google information such as your device's advertising ID, approximate location (from your IP address), device and app-interaction data. This is described in Google's policies (https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads). Where the law requires it (EEA, UK and some US states), you are asked for consent first through Google's User Messaging Platform, and you can change your choice later under Settings > Privacy options.
Ads never appear in the reader, editor, scanner or signing screens. Your documents are never shared with the ads SDK.
Data retention, deletion and security
The developer holds no user data: there is no PageCat PDF server or account. Data on your device is removed by clearing the app's data or uninstalling the app. Data collected by third-party SDKs (Google AdMob, ML Kit and Google Play services) is kept and deleted according to Google's policies. Data sent to Google by those SDKs is encrypted in transit (HTTPS).
Permissions
INTERNETandACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: only for ads and Google Play services (model downloads).AD_IDandACCESS_ADSERVICES_*: for ads and measurement through Google's Privacy Sandbox.WAKE_LOCKandFOREGROUND_SERVICE: added by Google libraries for background work.MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE("All files access", Android 11+) andREAD_EXTERNAL_STORAGE(Android 10 and below): optional, only to show the All list of PDFs on your phone and to let you search inside them. PageCat asks Android only for PDF files and never reads any other file. The list and the search index are built on your device and are never sent anywhere. You can turn this off in Android settings at any time; the rest of the app works without it.- No camera, contacts or location permissions.
Children
PageCat PDF is not directed at children under 13.
Your choices
You can change ad consent in Settings, reset your advertising ID in Android settings, or uninstall the app to remove its data.