Carnivo has no accounts and no login. It keeps your cars, scans, conversations and car checks so it can explain your car to you, and nothing else.
The short version. Your car details and scans are stored on your phone and on our server in the EU, so the assistant can answer with your car in mind. When you ask Carnivo something, your question and your car’s details go to OpenRouter, an AI service, to write the reply — only after you agree to that in the app. Photos, videos and voice recordings you send the assistant are passed through and never stored. Photos and sound from a car check are stored, because the report is built from them.
We do not sell your data, show advertising, or track you across other apps. You can delete Carnivo’s data from your phone, and stop it being used, at any time.
1. Introduction
This policy explains what the Carnivo app (“Carnivo”, “the app”) does with information. It is written by Mihajlo Dimovski (“we”, “us”), the individual developer who publishes the app and is responsible for your data. It describes the app as it actually behaves; if we change what the app does, we change this page.
2. Information collection and use
Carnivo never asks for your name, email address or phone number. The first time you open it, the app registers itself with our server under a random installation identifier. Everything below is tied to that identifier, not to you by name.
Your cars
- The VIN (vehicle identification number), make, model, year, fuel type and body style, whether read from the car or typed in by you
- The mileage, as last read from the car or entered by you
The VIN is required: it is the only stable way to tell one car from another. It is also recorded in a diagnostic log on your phone (see section 3).
Scans and live data
- Scan results: fault codes, the check-engine light state, readiness monitors, sensor readings, and when the scan ran
- While an adapter is connected, live readings (such as engine speed, coolant temperature and fuel trims), sent in batches about once a minute
- Car log entries you add: services, repairs, fuel and mileage notes
Conversations with the assistant
- The questions you type, and the text made from any voice recording or video: a transcript of what was said, and a short description of any car sounds or of what the video shows
- The assistant’s replies
Photos, videos and voice recordings you send the assistant are never stored. They are sent to the AI service for that one answer and deleted from our server as soon as it is written. If you reopen an old conversation, the photos and videos are not there. Car checks are different — see below.
Car checks
When you check a car before buying it, Carnivo uploads what you collected so it can write the report:
- The car’s details: VIN, make, model, year, fuel, body style and mileage
- The photos you took, and any captions you added
- A recording of the engine running
- Scan results from before and after the test drive
- Readings from the test drive, the things you noticed during it, and any note you wrote
- Your answers about the car’s papers
These, and the finished report and its PDF, are stored on our server.
Settings and credits
- Your language and units, and your reminder preferences
- For AI credits: when free credits were granted and a record of each credit spent or refunded. Your balance itself is held by RevenueCat (section 5), not by us.
- A one-way code (a SHA-256 hash) of your phone’s app identifier, so the free welcome credits can only be claimed once per phone. It cannot be turned back into the identifier.
What the app’s permissions are for
- Bluetooth and local network — to talk to your OBD adapter. Carnivo does not use them to find or track you.
- Camera and photos — when you choose to send a picture or a short video to the assistant, or take the photos for a car check.
- Microphone — only while you record a question, a sound your car makes, a video, or the engine during a car check.
- Notifications — maintenance reminders, scheduled by your own phone. There are no push notifications from a server.
Carnivo does not use your location.
3. Log data
Our server keeps operational logs so we can find and fix faults. They can include your installation identifier, the VIN of the car involved, the time and outcome of a request, and error details. They do not include the text of your conversations.
On your phone, Carnivo keeps a diagnostic log of its conversation with your adapter, including the VIN. It stays on your phone unless you share it yourself, and it is visible in the Files app under Carnivo.
4. Cookies
Carnivo is a native app and uses no cookies, no advertising identifiers and no cross-app tracking. It shows no advertising, and no data about you is sold or made available to advertisers or data brokers.
5. Service providers
These companies help run Carnivo. Each receives only what is listed, and only to provide its part of the service.
OpenRouter — writing the assistant’s answers
When you ask Carnivo something, our server sends OpenRouter your question, any photo, video or voice recording you attached, and your car’s details: VIN, make, model, year, mileage, latest scan and car log. OpenRouter passes the request to the AI model provider that writes the reply. A voice recording or video first goes to Google’s Gemini model, which turns it into text — what was said, and a description of any car sounds or of what the video shows — and the reply is written from that text. We ask OpenRouter to use only providers that neither keep requests nor train on them. This only happens after you agree in the app the first time you send something, and you can withdraw that at any time under More → Data & privacy → AI answers.
For a car check, our server sends OpenRouter the car check data listed in section 2 to write the report. The engine recording first goes to Google’s Gemini model, which describes what it hears. The same rules apply: only providers that neither keep requests nor train on them, and only after you agree in the app.
Railway and Supabase — our server and database
Our server runs on Railway and the data in section 2 is stored in a database hosted by Supabase, both in the European Union.
Google Firebase App Check — blocking fake apps
Before our server registers a new installation, Firebase App Check confirms the request comes from the genuine Carnivo app, using Apple’s App Attest or Google Play Integrity. It receives device attestation data, not your cars or conversations.
Apple and RevenueCat — buying credits
Purchases go through the App Store; we never see your name or card. Apple’s handling is governed by Apple’s privacy policy. RevenueCat keeps your credit balance and purchase history under a random customer identifier.
PostHog — product analytics and crash reports
PostHog helps us see how the app is used and where it breaks: which screens are opened, whether a scan or connection succeeded, which features are used, and error reports. Your IP address is not turned into a location. Before anything is sent, the app strips out VINs, message text, transcripts, photos, videos and identifiers of your cars and scans.
PostHog also records screen sessions to help us find usability problems. In those recordings all text and all images are masked, so your VIN, your conversations and your results are not visible.
You can turn all of this off at any time under More → Data & privacy → Share usage data.
Car photos and VIN lookup
To show a picture of your car, the app sends the make, model and year — never the VIN — to CarImages. For cars built for North America, the VIN may be sent to the US government’s NHTSA vPIC service to look up the model.
6. How long we keep data
We keep your cars, scans, live data, car log, conversations and car checks — including their photos, engine recordings and reports — for as long as the app is in use, so the assistant can see your car’s history. When you use Delete Carnivo data (section 7), we stop using them and keep them archived on our server. Photos, videos and voice recordings sent to the assistant are never kept; the text made from a recording is kept with the conversation. Records of credits spent and refunded are kept for billing.
7. Deleting your data
More → Delete Carnivo data. This erases your cars, scans, car log, conversations, car checks and settings from your phone straight away. On our server, your installation is switched off as soon as the phone is online: the app can no longer reach your data and it is no longer used, but it is kept archived (section 6). Your AI credits, including any you bought, are removed.
To have your data erased from our server as well, email obdapp@averla.dev.
Even after your data is erased from our server, we keep the one-way code of your phone’s identifier from section 2, so the free credits cannot be claimed again. It holds nothing about you or your car.
8. Your rights
If you are in the EU or EEA, the UK, California, or a jurisdiction with comparable law, you have rights to access, correct, export and delete personal data held about you, to object to its processing, and to complain to your data protection authority. Where we rely on your consent — for sending your questions to OpenRouter, and for product analytics — you can withdraw it at any time in the app, under More → Data & privacy.
Because there are no accounts, we can only find your data through your installation. Delete Carnivo data (section 7) erases it from your phone and switches it off on our server. To have it erased from our server too, or for anything else, email us and include the support details from More → Contact us.
We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA.
9. Security
Traffic between the app and our server is encrypted. Each installation has its own access token, and new installations are checked to be the genuine app. No method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Links to other sites
This page and the app link to outside sites, such as the privacy policies above. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or practices.
11. Children’s privacy
Carnivo is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has used the app, email us and we will erase their data from our server.
12. Changes to this privacy policy
If we change what the app does with data, we will update this page and change the date at the top. The current version always lives at this URL, and is linked from the app under More → Privacy policy.
13. Contact us
Questions about this policy, or about anything the app does with data: obdapp@averla.dev