Privacy Policy
Last updated: 7 August 2026
Bead Score is a practice tool for welders. This policy explains, in plain language, what the app collects, why, and what we do with it.
The short version
- Your weld photos and settings are yours. They're stored on your phone, and backed up to your account if you sign in.
- We send your weld photo to Google's Gemini API to score it. That's the whole point of the app — and on the free tier we use, Google may use it to improve their products and human reviewers may see it. Details below.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't run ads.
- You can delete everything, permanently, at any time.
What we collect
Weld photos. When you scan a bead, the photo is saved on your phone and — if you're signed in — uploaded to our storage so it can be scored and so your log survives a lost phone.
Weld settings and notes. Amperage, voltage, electrode, position, thickness, travel direction, your free-text notes, and anything else you enter on the settings form.
Your profile. The answers you give during onboarding: process, position, machine, experience level, your test name and date if you have one, and your stated goal.
Corrections. If you tell us a scoring call was wrong, we store what you disputed and what you wrote. This is how the scoring gets better.
Account information. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive an account identifier and (if you allow it) an email address. We never receive your password.
Subscription status. Handled by RevenueCat and Apple. We can see whether you have an active subscription; we never see your payment card.
Basic diagnostics. Crash reports and anonymous usage counts, so we can fix what breaks.
We do not collect your location, contacts, microphone, or health data.
How your weld photos are used
When you scan a bead, the photo is sent to Google and analysed by the Gemini API against our visual-inspection rubric.
You should know what that means, so here it is straight. We currently use Gemini's free tier. Under Google's API terms, content submitted on the unpaid tier may be used by Google to provide, improve and develop their products, and human reviewers may read, annotate and process it. Your weld photo is not private to us and Google once you press the shutter.
We'd rather write that down than let you assume otherwise. It also means one practical thing worth doing: look at the background before you take the shot. Benches, drawings, jigs, part numbers and paperwork end up in frame far more often than people expect. The bead itself is just a bead.
If we move to a paid tier or a provider where this isn't the case, this page will say so on the day it changes.
We keep your photos and the resulting analyses so that:
- Your weld log works — you can look back at any past bead.
- We can improve scoring accuracy over time, especially where users have told us a call was wrong.
If you delete a weld, its photo and analysis are deleted from our storage.
Working offline
Bead Score is built to work without a signal, because shop floors often don't have one. Photos, scores, and settings are written to your phone first and sync when you reconnect. If you never sign in, nothing leaves your phone except the photo being scored.
Who we share with
We share data only with the services that make the app work:
| Service | What they get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Account, weld log, photos | Storage, sync, sign-in |
| Google (Gemini API, free tier) | Your weld photo | Scoring the bead — see above |
| RevenueCat | Subscription identifier | Managing your subscription |
| Apple | Purchase information | Processing payment |
We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers. We do not share your welds with employers, schools, or certification bodies.
The leaderboard (optional, off by default)
The leaderboard is off unless you turn it on. Nothing about you appears publicly until you switch it on and choose a display name.
If you opt in, anyone using the app — including people without an account — can see:
- the display name you chose
- the badge you picked, if any (an icon we supply — never a photo)
- your best score for each welding process, your 30-day average and your 30-day improvement
- how many welds you've scored
- your country, but only if you separately switch that on
They cannot see your weld photos, your notes, your machine settings, your defect lists, your individual welds, your real name, or your email. Your photos are never published to the leaderboard under any setting.
Turn the leaderboard off and you disappear from it immediately — the board is generated live from your current setting, so there is no cached copy of your score left behind.
There are no profile photos. You cannot upload an image, and we never take one from your photo library, your weld photos, or your sign-in provider. You can pick a badge and a colour from small sets we supply, or leave them and we'll show your initials on a colour generated from your account id. Either way, no photograph of you exists in this app.
Reporting someone
If a display name is offensive, impersonates someone, or otherwise doesn't belong on the board, you can report it from the leaderboard. Reports go to us, not to the person reported. We can remove a name, or remove someone from the board entirely.
Scorecards you choose to share
If you tap share on a scorecard, the image you send contains your weld photo, your score, and — if you are on the leaderboard — your rank. You choose where it goes. Once you post it somewhere, that platform's rules apply and we cannot delete it for you.
Look at your photo before you post it. A weld photo can show more than the bead: a workbench, a jig, a part number, a customer's component. We never publish it for you, but we also cannot un-publish it once you have.
How long we keep things
Your data stays until you delete it or close your account. Delete a weld and it goes. Delete your account from You → Delete my account and your rows, your photos and your sign-in are removed there and then; anything left in backups goes within 30 days.
Your choices
- Delete a weld: swipe it away in your log.
- Delete everything: in the app, go to You → Delete my account . It removes your account, your welds, your photos and your settings from your phone and from our servers. You don't need to ask us, and we can't undo it. You can still email the address below if you'd rather we did it.
- Use the app without an account: choose "keep everything on this phone" at sign-in.
- Get a copy of your data: email us and we'll send it.
Children
Bead Score isn't directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
One more time, because it matters
Bead Score is a practice tool. It is not an inspection service, it is not a substitute for a Certified Welding Inspector, and it must not be used to evaluate structural or code work. Scores are surface-visual only; internal defects require RT/UT and a qualified inspector.