Pocket Aurora Papers
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to sort my documents into folders?
No. Search finds a document by any word on its pages, its title or its tags, so there are no folders to keep. If you want home and work apart, use spaces: Personal, Work, School or any you name.
Which languages does search understand?
English, Czech, German, French and Spanish. The interface is English for now.
Does it work without internet?
Yes. Scanning, text recognition and search all run on the phone. Syncing to your other devices waits until you are back online.
Does it need an account?
No. You can scan, read and search your archive without signing in. Signing in is optional, and needed only for what goes through our service: syncing your documents to your other devices, the email address, share links and suggestions. You sign in with your Google account; Sign in with Apple comes with the first release, so there is no new password either way. Signing in stores the email address that account gives us, the ID that Google (or later Apple) gives us for you, and a record of each device you sign in on: the device name iOS reports, a key made on that device, and when it was added. Your IP address is not stored with your account. The service, including mail to your Papers address, is hosted by Amazon Web Services in the EU.
How does the Papers email address work?
Papers gives you a private address. Forward a bill or a statement to it from an address you have allowed (up to ten), and its attachments become documents in your archive. Each message is checked first: a virus scan, a size limit of 25 MB, and that it passes the sending domain's authentication check (DMARC). The mail is received in the EU, and only its attachments are kept; the message itself is deleted once it is processed, and otherwise about a day later.
Is my text sent to an AI?
Only if you turn on suggestions; they are off until you do. Then the text read from your pages, never the page images, is sent to an AI model (Claude, by Anthropic) running on Amazon Web Services in the EU, to fill in details you have left empty, such as the issuer, amount, due date and type. Each one is marked as suggested until you keep, change or reject it, and you can turn suggestions off at any time in Settings. That stops further sending; text already sent is not recalled.
How do bill reminders work?
Give a document a due date and Papers reminds you three days before and on the day. The reminder does not name the bill or show anything from it. Mark it paid when it is done; the To pay tab lists everything still open.
Who can open a document I share by link?
Anyone who has the link, and its password if you set one. The document is encrypted on your iPhone, and the key is in the part of the link a browser never sends to us, so the copy we store cannot be opened without the link. The link stops working after the time you set, up to 30 days, or the number of opens you set, up to 25. Ten wrong passwords revoke it, you can revoke it yourself at any time, and deleting the document revokes it too. The encrypted copy is deleted about a month after the link is made. Once revoked, a link cannot be opened again, though a download address it had already handed out can keep working for up to five minutes. The page that opens the link comes from us, so this is not end-to-end encryption. More on our privacy page.
Is my scan changed when I edit it?
No. The original file is never overwritten. Edits, like straightening or rotating a page, create a new version, and the original stays exactly as you captured it.
What happens when I delete a document?
Deleted documents can be restored for 30 days. After that they are removed from the device. If you are signed in, the titles, tags, page images and their text are removed from our servers 30 days after you delete. A device of yours that was offline keeps its copy until it next connects, and our backups of the records keep them for up to 35 more days. A shared link to the document is revoked at once, though a download address it had already handed out can keep working for up to five minutes.
Is it encrypted?
Files on your iPhone are protected by iOS Data Protection, which encrypts them when your iPhone has a passcode. The app lock uses Face ID or your passcode. If you sign in, the cloud copy in the EU is encrypted while stored, with keys we manage, and kept across at least three availability zones within one EU region: separate groups of data centres, each with its own power and network. More on our privacy page.
Can I add PDFs I already have?
Yes. Share a PDF or a picture to Papers from Mail, Safari, Files or any app with a share button, or open Files inside the app and pick one. It is added to your archive, and the original file is kept unchanged.
Can I get my documents out?
Yes. Send a whole document as a PDF or as pictures (JPEG or PNG) at the quality you choose, or only the pages you pick. You can also export your whole archive at once, in Settings › Export: a folder with a PDF of each document, its original pages, the text read from it, and a spreadsheet of every document's details. It is made on your iPhone, needs no connection, and does not count against your storage, so it works even if you are over your limit or your paid plan has ended.
Is there an Android or web version?
Pocket Aurora Papers starts on iPhone, with iPad and Android planned. A web version is not part of this release.
When does it launch, and what does it cost?
We will tell the waitlist first. Prices are not final yet.