Privacy Policy

THROWBACK · LAST UPDATED 18 OCTOBER 2026

Throwback is a film camera app for Android and iPhone, made by RotherTech. This policy explains what the app does and does not do with information. It is short because the app keeps everything on your phone and never goes online.

What we collect

Nothing.

There are no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. We operate no servers for Throwback. The “lab” that develops your rolls is the app itself, on your phone, and nothing from it is ever sent to us.

No internet use

On Android, the app does not have the internet permission, so it cannot connect to anything. On iPhone, the app makes no network connections. Notifications that a roll is ready are scheduled on your phone; no push service is involved.

The camera

The camera is used only on the camera screen. Nothing is recorded except the frames you shoot when you press the shutter.

Your undeveloped rolls

Frames you shoot are kept at full quality in the app’s own storage on your phone. They are hidden from your photo gallery and from other apps until you pick the roll up. To decide how each frame is exposed, the app reads only how bright the shot was and whether the flash fired, from the photo’s own data.

The frames are deliberately not encrypted with a key that could be lost, so a reinstall can never make them unreadable. A shot only counts once it has been safely written; if the app is stopped part-way through, nothing half-written is kept, and a shot taken just before is recovered the next time you open the app.

Picking up a roll

When you open a roll’s envelope, its pictures are copied to your phone’s photos, and not before. On Android they go to Pictures/Film through Android’s media store, which needs no storage permission. On iPhone they go to Photos with add-only access, which lets the app save pictures without being able to see the photos already in your library. Once saved, they are yours and are covered by your phone’s own settings, including any photo backup you use. Every roll also stays in the app’s albums.

Backups and moving phones

On Android, uninstalling asks whether to keep the app’s data, and Google’s phone-to-phone transfer carries your rolls to a new phone. Rolls are left out of Google’s cloud backup. On iPhone, rolls live in the app’s storage, which Apple includes in iCloud and computer backups; Throwback itself sends nothing anywhere.

Sharing

The app shares a picture only when you tap Share, using your phone’s share sheet, and only to the app or person you choose. What happens after that is up to the app you shared to.

Permissions, and why each exists

Camera

Used only on the camera screen, to take the frames described above.

Notifications

Used to tell you when a roll is back from the lab. They are scheduled on the phone.

Photos (iPhone)

Add-only access, used only to save the pictures from a roll when you open its envelope. The app cannot read your library.

Other Android permissions

Vibration, for the feel of the shutter and wind. Android also lists four permissions added automatically by Google’s WorkManager library, which develops rolls in the background and keeps the lab running after your phone restarts: keeping the phone awake briefly, starting after a restart, running a foreground service, and “view network connections”. That last one can only check whether a network is available; it cannot send or receive anything.

The app does not request location, contacts, microphone or internet access, and it does not use your location.

Price

Throwback will be free. There are no purchases, subscriptions or ads in it.

Children

Throwback is not directed at children, and it collects no information from anyone, including children under 13.

Data retention and deletion

We hold no data, so there is nothing for us to retain or delete. Uninstalling the app removes your rolls and albums from it, unless you choose on Android to keep the app’s data. Pictures already saved to your phone’s photos stay there until you delete them.

Changes to this policy

Throwback is still in development. If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted at this address with a new date at the top.

Contact

Questions about this policy: contact@rothertech.com, or use the feedback form.