PlateID · Last updated 23 August 2026
PlateID tells you about vehicles. It does not tell you about people, and it is built so that it cannot.
This policy explains exactly what the app collects, what stays on your device, and what we never touch. It is short because the app genuinely does very little with your data.
We never show vehicle owner information. Not names, not addresses, not phone numbers. The US Driver's Privacy Protection Act protects that data, and PlateID never requests it, never receives it, never stores it, and never displays it.
The plate number and state you search. These are sent to our server so it can look up the vehicle. We do not keep them in readable form. Before anything is cached, the plate and state are combined with a secret value and hashed, so the stored key cannot be turned back into a plate number. The cached record itself holds only vehicle details — VIN, year, make, model — and never the plate.
An anonymous installation identifier. When you first open the app it generates a random identifier. It exists only so our server can apply fair-use limits and stop abuse. It is not linked to your name, your Apple ID, your email, your device's advertising identifier, or anything else about you. Deleting the app discards it.
That is the complete list. There is no account to create, no email address to give, no sign-in. We do not collect your name, your location, your contacts, or your browsing activity. There is no analytics SDK, no advertising SDK, and no third-party tracker of any kind in this app.
Your lookup history, your saved vehicles, your credit balance and the last state you selected are stored on your device only. They are never uploaded to us. Deleting the app deletes all of it permanently.
If you use the plate scanner, the camera feed is processed entirely on your device using Apple's on-device text recognition. Images are never uploaded, never sent to us, and never stored anywhere. Only the characters you tap to confirm are used, exactly as if you had typed them.
Credits are sold through Apple's In-App Purchase system. Apple handles the transaction and we never see your payment details, card number, or billing address. We only learn that a purchase completed.
Requests to both are made by our server, not by your device, so these providers never receive information about you or your device.
NHTSA publishes recall campaigns by year, make and model rather than by individual vehicle. PlateID shows you the campaigns issued for a model and the campaign number. Whether a particular car has already had that work done must be confirmed with a manufacturer dealer using the VIN. Recall repairs are performed free of charge.
PlateID is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new date. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Questions about this policy or about your data: plateidsupport@gmail.com