Privacy Policy
Last Updated: August 21, 2026
Viewly is an iPhone app by Lunaria Labs Ltd that lets you view and save publicly available Instagram content — posts, reels, stories, highlights and profile pictures — by pasting a link or searching a username. This Privacy Policy explains what information the app collects, how it is used, and what choices you have. Viewly has no sign-up and no login: we never ask for your Instagram credentials, your email address or your name.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Information You Provide by Using the App
Viewly has no account system, so the only information you give us is what you type or paste in order to look something up:
| Data Type |
Examples |
Purpose |
| Instagram Links |
A post, reel or story link you paste into the app |
Sent to our servers so the media it points to can be fetched and displayed |
| Search Terms |
An Instagram username or name you search for |
Sent to our servers to return matching public profiles |
| Profiles You Open |
The public identifier of the Instagram profile whose posts, reels, stories or highlights you view |
Fetching that profile's public content |
| Story Notification List |
Up to five Instagram accounts you choose to be alerted about (Pro feature) |
Kept on your device; their identifiers are sent to our servers when the app checks for new stories |
| Collections |
Collection names and the media you save into them |
Stored on your device only — collections are never uploaded to us |
| Preferences |
Notification settings, onboarding state, recently viewed list |
Stored on your device to keep the app in the state you left it |
We never ask for your Instagram account. Viewly does not log in to Instagram on your behalf, does not post, like, follow or message from your account, and cannot show content from private accounts you do not already follow. There is nowhere in the app to enter an Instagram username and password — if anything ever asks you for one, it is not us.
1.2 Information Collected Automatically
- Install Identifier: a random identifier generated on first launch and kept in your device's Keychain (synced through iCloud so it survives a reinstall). It is not your name, email or Apple ID, and it is not linked to your Instagram identity. It is what ties your subscription, your crash reports and your usage events together.
- Device Information: device model, iOS version, app version, language and region.
- Usage Data: which screens you open, which features you use, how many profiles, posts, reels and stories you viewed in a session, and which paywalls were shown. See section 9 for what these events contain.
- Crash Reports: technical logs, device state and diagnostic information when the app crashes or hits an unexpected error.
- Install Attribution: if you installed Viewly after tapping an Apple Search Ads ad, Apple tells us which campaign, ad group and keyword it was, so we know which advertising works.
- Free Usage Count: how many profiles you have opened on the free tier, kept in the Keychain so the free allowance is not reset by reinstalling.
No advertising identifier. Viewly shows no ads, contains no advertising SDKs, and does not use the IDFA. You will never see the "Allow App to Track" prompt, because we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
1.3 Device Permissions We Request
Viewly asks for a permission only when a feature needs it:
- Photos (add only): requested the first time you save a photo or video to your library. Viewly can only add media to your library — it cannot read, browse or scan the photos you already have.
- Notifications: requested if you turn on story notifications or a subscription reminder. See section 8.
- Clipboard: when you tap the Paste button, the app reads the link on your clipboard. iOS may ask you to allow it. Viewly reads the clipboard only in response to that tap, and it does nothing with clipboard text that is not a supported Instagram link.
- Background App Refresh: used, if story notifications are on, to let iOS wake the app occasionally to check for new stories.
What we do not access: Viewly does not use your camera, microphone, contacts, calendar, reminders, location or Apple Health data.
2. How We Use Your Information
2.1 Providing the Service
- Fetch and display the public Instagram content you ask for
- Save media to your photo library and to your on-device collections
- Check for new stories from the accounts you added to story notifications
- Determine whether you have an active Pro subscription and which features are unlocked
- Tell you about a new version, or require an update when an old version can no longer work
2.2 Improving the App
- Understand which features are used and where people get stuck
- Diagnose and fix crashes and errors
- Measure whether a change made the app better or worse
- Detect abuse and protect our infrastructure from automated or excessive use
3. Third-Party Services and Data Sharing
3.1 Service Providers
Viewly relies on the following services. Each receives only the minimum information needed to do its job, and each has its own privacy policy:
| Service |
Purpose |
Data Shared |
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) |
Our own backend, which fetches the public Instagram content you request |
The link, username or profile identifier you looked up, your install identifier, and the network metadata (such as IP address) that any internet request carries |
| PostHog |
Product analytics |
Usage events and device information, linked to your install identifier. Includes the usernames of profiles you viewed — see section 9 |
| Bugsnag |
Crash reporting and performance monitoring |
Device information, crash and error logs, and your install identifier |
| Superwall |
Paywalls and subscription management |
Your install identifier, which paywalls were shown, and purchase and subscription status |
| SpendOwl |
Apple Search Ads attribution and subscription reporting (a Lunaria Labs tool) |
Your install identifier and the campaign details Apple returns |
| Apple |
App distribution, in-app purchases, notifications |
Purchase and subscription records handled by Apple under its own privacy policy |
| GitHub |
Serving a small configuration file the app reads at launch |
Nothing about you is sent — the app only downloads a file |
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising or with data brokers. Viewly contains no ad networks, no Google Analytics, no Facebook SDK and no advertising SDK of any kind.
3.2 Screen and Session Recordings
Viewly does not record your screen or your sessions. Our analytics collect discrete events (for example "a reel was viewed"), not screenshots or video of the interface.
3.3 Legal Disclosure
We may disclose information if we are required to do so by law, or where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, to protect our rights, or to investigate abuse of the service.
4. Instagram Content
Viewly displays content that is already publicly accessible on Instagram. A few things are worth being explicit about:
- Viewly is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Instagram or Meta Platforms, Inc. Instagram is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.
- When you look something up, our servers request that public content and pass it back to your device. Responses may be cached briefly on our infrastructure to reduce load and speed up repeat requests.
- We do not build profiles of Instagram users, and we do not maintain an archive of anyone's Instagram content. Media that you choose to save into a collection is downloaded to your own device, not to our servers.
- Viewing a profile through Viewly is anonymous in the sense that we do not act as you — but that also means Viewly cannot access anything that is not already public.
If you are an Instagram account holder and you have a concern about your content being accessible through Viewly, contact us at merve@lunarialabs.com and we will respond.
5. Data Storage and Security
5.1 On Your Device
Most of what Viewly keeps about you never leaves your iPhone: your collections and their downloaded media, your recently viewed list, cached profile pictures, your preferences, and your story notification list. This data is protected by your device's own security (passcode, Face ID, Touch ID) and is removed when you delete the app.
5.2 On Our Servers
Our backend runs on Amazon Web Services in the United States (US East, Ohio). Requests are transmitted over TLS, and every request is signed so that our endpoints only answer the app. We keep server logs for a limited period for security, abuse prevention and debugging.
5.3 Security Measures
- All network traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS)
- API requests are authenticated and signed per request
- Access to analytics and crash data is limited to our team
- Sensitive local values are stored in the iOS Keychain
Important: no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
6. Data Retention
- On-device data: kept until you delete it in the app or delete the app itself
- Analytics events: retained for up to 2 years
- Crash reports: retained for up to 90 days
- Server logs: retained for a short operational period, typically no more than 90 days
- Subscription records: retained for as long as needed to honour your subscription and to meet accounting and legal obligations
7. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights over the information we hold that is linked to your install identifier:
🔍 Access
Request a copy of the information we hold about you
✏️ Correction
Request correction of inaccurate information
🗑️ Deletion
Request deletion of the information we hold
📦 Portability
Request your data in a portable format
⛔ Restriction
Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
🚫 Objection
Object to processing based on our legitimate interests
Because Viewly has no account, we identify your data by your install identifier. You can also clear most data yourself at any time: delete collections and recent items in the app, or delete the app to remove everything stored locally. To exercise a right against our servers or our analytics, email merve@lunarialabs.com. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Notifications
With your permission, Viewly can send you:
- Story notifications (Pro): an alert when one of the accounts you added posts a new story
- Subscription reminders: a reminder before a free trial converts, if you asked for one
These are local notifications. Viewly schedules them on your device with Apple's notification system. We do not operate a push server and we do not register a push token, so no notification is ever sent to your phone from us. To know whether there is a new story, however, your device asks our servers about the accounts on your story notification list — a few times a day, at times iOS decides.
You can turn notifications off at any time in the app or in iOS Settings.
9. Analytics
We use PostHog to understand how Viewly is used. Events are linked to your install identifier so that a problem you report can be reproduced. Analytics are disabled entirely in development builds.
Please note: a session summary event includes the
Instagram usernames of the profiles you opened during that session, along with counts of the posts, reels, stories and highlights you viewed. We use this to understand how the app is actually used and to size our infrastructure. This information is not sold, not shared for advertising, and not disclosed to the Instagram accounts concerned. If you would rather we did not collect it for your install, email
merve@lunarialabs.com and we will exclude your identifier and delete the events we hold for it.
10. Children's Privacy
Viewly is not directed at children. It is intended for users aged 17 and over, in line with its App Store age rating, and content shown in the app comes from Instagram and is not curated or moderated by us. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
11. International Data Transfers
Our servers are in the United States, and our service providers may process data in the United States and elsewhere. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, this means your information may be transferred outside your country. Where that happens, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum where applicable) as the safeguard for the transfer.
12. European and UK Privacy Rights (GDPR)
If you are in the EEA or the UK, our legal bases for processing are:
- Contract: to deliver the content you request and to provide the subscription you bought
- Legitimate interests: analytics, crash reporting, security and abuse prevention, and improving the app
- Consent: notifications, and anything else you explicitly opt into
You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing that already took place, and you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
13. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)
If you are a California resident:
- Right to Know: you can ask what categories of personal information we collect and how they are used
- Right to Delete: you can ask us to delete the personal information we hold
- Right to Non-Discrimination: we will not treat you differently for exercising a privacy right
- Do Not Sell or Share: we do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising
14. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page, and for material changes we will also notify you in the app. Continuing to use Viewly after a change means you accept the updated policy.
15. Data Breach Notification
If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify affected users and the relevant authorities without undue delay and, where required, within 72 hours of becoming aware of it. We will explain what was affected, what we are doing about it, and what you can do.
