Privacy Policy

01Who we are

Apayo ("the app", "we", "us") is a medicine-information and translation app that helps foreign travelers and residents understand Korean over-the-counter medicines. This policy explains what the app does and does not do with information, and applies to the Apayo iOS application.

02Information we collect

On-device by default

Apayo asks for no name, phone number, or login to browse. We do not run analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs, and we do not build a marketing profile of you.

The following stays only on your device, and we never receive it:

• Health profile — optional toggles you set (e.g. pregnancy, allergies, conditions) used to show personalized medicine warnings. Stored locally on your phone.
• Reminders — dose reminders you create, delivered as local notifications on your device.
• Scan activity — medicines you scan or view. Processed on your device; not uploaded.

The following is collected only if you write a review (see section 06): your star rating, selected tags, optional review text, the medicine or pharmacy it applies to, its language, a timestamp, and an anonymous user identifier (and, if you choose to sign in with Apple, your linked Apple account). No name, email, or contacts are required to post.

03Camera & photos

With your permission, Apayo uses your camera (or a photo you choose) to read the text on a medicine box. This text recognition runs entirely on your device using Apple's on-device Vision framework. Images are not uploaded, stored on a server, or shared. The app only keeps what it needs in memory to identify the medicine, and you can revoke camera access at any time in iOS Settings.

04Medicine data & network requests

Medicine information in Apayo comes from the public open data of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS, 식약처) of the Republic of Korea. Most of this data is bundled inside the app. For a small number of less common medicines, the app may request label information in real time from the Korean public data portal.

These requests contain only the medicine identifier being looked up. They do not include any personal information about you — no identity, no location, no health profile.

05Location

Apayo's pharmacy guides show a fixed, curated list of pharmacies. The app does not track your GPS location or share your location with anyone. If a future version offers location-based pharmacy search, it will ask for permission first and this policy will be updated.

06Reviews you write

Apayo lets travelers share reviews of medicines and pharmacies. Writing a review is optional. When you post one:

• Your review (rating, tags, any text) is stored on our server (Supabase) and shown publicly to other users, so it is not private.
• You are identified only by an anonymous ID created on your device. You may optionally upgrade to Sign in with Apple to keep your reviews across devices and earn a "verified writer" badge.
• Every review passes an automated safety filter before it appears; reviews that may contain unsafe medical instructions, personal information, or abuse are held for check.
• You can delete any of your own reviews at any time in the app, which removes them from our server.
• To delete your account and all associated review data, email us (see Contact below) and we will erase it.

Reviews are personal opinions, not medical advice. We do not sell your data. We may share it only with the infrastructure provider (Supabase) that stores it on our behalf, and where required by law.

07Community guidelines

To keep reviews safe and useful, by posting you agree not to submit content that:

• gives specific dosage, prescription, or "take this instead" medical instructions, or claims a medicine cures a disease;
• contains someone's personal information (phone, email, ID numbers);
• is abusive, hateful, harassing, spam, or otherwise objectionable.

There is zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. Every review can be reported from inside the app, and you can block a user so their reviews are hidden from you. We review reports and remove violating content, and may remove or block repeat offenders. Reported content is acted on promptly (typically within 24 hours).

08How your information is used

Information is used only to make the app work for you:

• On-device data (profile, reminders, scans) powers personalized warnings, reminders, and medicine identification — it stays on your device.
• Reviews you post are used to display community ratings and reviews to other users, and to run safety moderation.

We do not sell or rent your information.

09Children

Apayo is a general-audience medical-information app and is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect information from anyone.

10Your choices

• Deleting the app removes all locally stored data (profile, reminders, history) from your device.
• You can turn camera or notification permissions on or off at any time in iOS Settings.
• You can clear your health profile inside the app at any time.
• You can delete any review you posted from inside the app, and request full deletion of your review account by email.

11Not medical advice

Apayo provides general information to help overcome the language barrier. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a pharmacist or doctor before taking any medicine.

12Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles information, we will update this page and revise the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be reflected in the app.