netra-privacy

Last updated: 23 August 2026

Netra is a visual assistant for blind and low-vision people. It looks through your camera and listens through your microphone so it can describe what is in front of you. This policy says exactly what leaves your phone, what stays on it, and why.

What leaves your phone

While a session is running, Netra streams to Google’s Gemini API:

• Camera frames — roughly one image per second, at reduced resolution.
• Microphone audio — continuously, so you can speak to it at any time.

This is what the app is. There is no version of Netra that describes your surroundings without sending your surroundings somewhere. A session runs only while you have started one; pausing stops both streams.

Google processes this data under the Gemini API Terms and the Google Privacy Policy. Whether Google retains it or uses it to improve their models depends on the API tier the operator of this app is using — the paid tier excludes it, the free tier does not. If you are running your own build, this is your choice to make and you should read those terms.

If you sign in (optional — everything works without it), Firebase Authentication receives your email address, or your Google account identifier if you use Google sign-in.

What stays on your phone

• People you memorise. Faces are stored as a numeric fingerprint plus a reference image, in the app’s private storage, and are excluded from cloud backup. They are never uploaded to us and we never see them. They are deleted when you remove the person or uninstall the app.
• Your settings, including speaking speed and which guidance you have on.
• The transcript of the current session, which is discarded when the session ends.

What Netra does not do

• No advertising, no advertising identifiers, no ad networks.
• No analytics or crash-reporting SDK.
• No tracking across other apps or websites.
• Nothing is sold or shared with third parties for their own purposes.
• No recording. Frames and audio are streamed and not stored, by us, anywhere.

A note about other people

Netra sees whoever is in front of you, and can be asked to remember them by name. Those people have not agreed to anything. Their faces stay on your phone and are never uploaded, which is a deliberate design decision rather than an incidental one. Please use the feature considerately, and be aware that recording or identifying people may be restricted where you live.

Your choices

• Stop sending anything: pause the session, or revoke the camera and microphone permissions in system settings. The app still opens.
• Delete a memorised person: Settings → People → the person → delete.
• Delete your account: Settings → Delete account, or see Delete your Netra account if you no longer have the app installed. This removes your sign-in permanently. Memorised people are on your device and are unaffected.
• Delete everything: uninstall the app.

Children

Netra is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Support

For help using Netra, see Support.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data: suchith.arella@gmail.com

Changes to this policy will be published here with a new date at the top.