scholar·search

Privacy Policy — Scholar Search

Last updated: 14 September 2026

Scholar Search has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no servers of its own. This policy describes the whole of it.

What we collect

Nothing. There is no Scholar Search server, so there is nowhere for your data to be sent to us or stored by us. We cannot see your searches, and we do not know you are using the app.

What stays on your device

• Settings — your appearance choice, summary engine, model name and optional contact email, stored in the app’s own preferences.
• Read later — the papers you save, and their summaries, stored in the app’s own preferences.
• API keys — any Anthropic or Semantic Scholar key you enter is stored in this device’s Keychain, protected so that it is readable only when the device is unlocked and never synced to another device or backup.

Deleting the app deletes all of it.

What leaves your device, and where it goes

To the academic indexes. When you search, your query is sent over HTTPS to the indexes you have enabled, so that they can answer it:

• arXiv — https://arxiv.org
• OpenAlex — https://openalex.org
• Crossref — https://www.crossref.org
• Semantic Scholar — https://www.semanticscholar.org
• Europe PMC — https://europepmc.org
• DOAJ — https://doaj.org

These are independent services with their own privacy policies. Like any web service, they may keep ordinary request logs.

Your optional contact email. If you enter one in Settings, it is included in requests to Crossref and OpenAlex. Both operate a “polite pool” that gives faster, more reliable service to requests that identify a caller. Leave the field empty and no email is sent. It is not sent anywhere else, ever.

To Anthropic, only if you choose. Summaries are produced on your device unless you enter your own Anthropic API key and choose Claude in Settings. Even then, the app asks before every search that would use Claude, and nothing is sent unless you tap Use Claude. When you do, it sends the paper’s title, abstract and — when you turn on deep read — its open-access full text, along with your search query, to api.anthropic.com so that Claude can write the summary. Your key is sent as the authentication header. This is governed by your own agreement with Anthropic. Otherwise nothing is sent to Anthropic.

When you open a link. Tapping PDF or DOI hands the address to Safari. From that point you are on the publisher’s site, under their policy.

What we never do

• No tracking, no advertising identifiers, no cross-app or cross-site tracking
• No analytics or crash-reporting SDKs
• No profile of you, your searches or your reading
• No selling or sharing of data, because there is none to sell or share

Children

The app is suitable for all ages and collects nothing from anyone, including children under 13.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new date at the top.

Contact

Questions: https://toygark.github.io/scholar-search/support/