Privacy policy
Last updated: 2 September 2026
TCG House is an app for scanning, valuing and managing trading cards. This policy explains which data the app processes, why, and what your rights are. It applies to the Android app and the iOS app.
Data controller: Lourens Meek, dev@tcg-house.com.
1. The app also works without an account
You can use TCG House without registering. In guest mode your collection stays exclusively on your own device and nothing is linked to an account. If you create an account later, you can sync that local data to the cloud.
2. Which data we process
| Data | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Creating your account, signing in and resetting your password | Firebase Authentication (Google Ireland) |
| Name and profile photo | Showing your name in the app; only if you enter it or sign in with Google or Apple | Firebase Authentication and Firestore |
| Your collection: cards, wishlist, sealed products, price alerts, trade history, goals, storage boxes and grading submissions | Storing your collection and using it on multiple devices | Cloud Firestore, readable only by your account |
| Camera images | Recognising a card. The photo goes to our own server and from there to Anthropic for image recognition | Not stored — see section 3 |
| Usage statistics | Seeing which screens are used and where the app crashes | Firebase Analytics, with a random app ID and not your email address |
| Device integrity | Preventing others from abusing our AI feature through a modified app | Google Play Integrity / Apple App Attest via Firebase App Check |
| Number of AI scans per hour | Preventing abuse and unexpectedly high costs | A counter in Firestore linked to your account ID |
We do not ask for location, contacts, calendar, microphone or phone number. We have no access to your photo library: if you pick a photo, Android or iOS only hands us that single image.
3. What happens to your photos
When you scan a card, the photo is cropped to the card and downsized on your device, sent encrypted to our Cloud Function and forwarded to Anthropic, which recognises the card and returns text.
The photo is not stored: not on our servers, not in a database and not in a backup. Our server only records how many scans were made and how many tokens they cost — not the image itself. Anthropic processes the image to generate the answer and does not use business customers' data to train models.
4. Third-party price data
For market prices the app queries the kaartendatabase-API, Cardmarket, TCGPlayer, eBay, PriceCharting, Flipzi (via RapidAPI) and ECB exchange rates (Frankfurter). We only send the card name and card number. Your account, email address or collection is never passed on to those parties.
5. Legal basis
Performance of the contract — your account, your collection in the cloud and card scanning. The feature does not work without that data.
Legitimate interest — abuse prevention (App Check, scan limit) and anonymised usage statistics to improve the app.
6. How long we keep data
We keep your account data and collection for as long as your account exists. If you delete your account in the app, we delete your profile and collection. The scan counter expires automatically after one hour. Firebase Analytics statistics are deleted after 14 months.
7. Your rights
You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, object to and port your data. You can access and export yourself: the app exports your whole collection as a CSV file. Delete via Profile → Settings → Delete account, or email dev@tcg-house.com. We respond within 30 days.
If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).
8. Transfers outside the EU
Firebase runs on Google servers; the Firestore database is located in the EU. Anthropic processes scan requests in the United States. That transfer is based on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
9. Children
TCG House is not aimed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If we discover we have, we delete it.
10. Security
All traffic runs over HTTPS. Firestore rules ensure only your own account can access your data. Our AI server only accepts requests from a genuine, unmodified installation of the app.
11. Changes
For significant changes we update the date at the top and announce it in the app.
12. Not affiliated with Nintendo
TCG House is an independent app. The trading card game and its trademarks are property of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK Inc. This app is not made, sponsored or endorsed by them.