Your library stays yours.
Papyrus is local-first. Your PDFs, notes, annotations, evidence, search index, and library database stay on your Mac or iPad unless you choose to export, share, look up metadata, turn on iCloud Sync, or configure WebDAV sync.
Summary
- No Papyrus account is required.
- Papyrus does not include advertising, telemetry, or third-party analytics SDKs.
- Your library is stored locally by default.
- Network requests happen only for features you choose, such as metadata lookup, iCloud Sync, or WebDAV sync.
- The optional Safari extension runs only when you invoke it and hands captured papers to the app on your device.
Local Data
Papyrus stores research data on your device, including the library database, imported PDFs, linked-file bookmarks, annotations, Markdown notes, project evidence, reading progress, local search indexes, preferences, and rolling local backups.
Credentials that should not be stored in plain text, such as WebDAV passwords, are stored through the system keychain where supported by the platform. iCloud Sync uses the Apple ID and iCloud account already configured on your device; Papyrus does not ask for or store your iCloud password.
Network Use
Papyrus does not upload your library to a Papyrus cloud. The app may contact outside services only when a feature needs a network request.
Metadata lookup
When you ask Papyrus to enrich metadata, it may send public identifiers or search terms, such as DOI, arXiv ID, ISBN, PMID, title, or author names, to services including Crossref, arXiv, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, OpenLibrary, NCBI / PubMed / PMC identifier services, Zenodo, and doi.org.
Safari extension
The optional Papyrus Import extension for Safari runs only when you invoke it — from the toolbar button, the Save Link to Papyrus context-menu item, or its keyboard shortcut. It reads the page or link you chose in order to extract citation details (title, authors, year, venue, DOI or arXiv ID) and locate a PDF, then hands that capture to the Papyrus app on your device. Papyrus may then download the paper's PDF from its source when you ask for one. The extension does not run on pages you have not invoked it on, does not collect browsing history, and sends nothing to any Papyrus server — there are none.
Apple services
Downloads, App Store account records, iCloud storage, CloudKit sync, and push delivery are handled by Apple. Apple may process data according to Apple's own policies and the Apple ID you use.
System language models
On supported systems, Papyrus may use Apple-provided on-device Foundation Models for metadata synthesis when enrichment results are ambiguous or incomplete. Papyrus does not run its own hosted AI backend.
Sync
Sync is optional. If you turn on iCloud Sync, Papyrus uses Apple's CloudKit service under your iCloud account to sync library records, PDFs, notes, annotations, evidence, folders, tags, projects, and sync state across devices where you enable the feature. Papyrus does not operate its own cloud backend for this data.
If you configure WebDAV sync, Papyrus connects to the WebDAV destination you provide. WebDAV sync may include the library database, PDFs, notes, evidence, sync manifests, restore points, your server URL, and your username. The WebDAV server's storage, retention, security, and access controls are governed by that server.
Your Choices
- Use Papyrus offline.
- Skip metadata enrichment when you do not want identifier lookups.
- Leave iCloud Sync and WebDAV sync disabled.
- Use Copy Into Library when you want Papyrus to manage PDFs, or Keep PDFs In Place when you want files to remain where they are.
- Delete exports or shared files from their destination when you no longer need them.
Deleting items removes them from active use, but older local backups, iCloud records, or WebDAV restore points may contain historical copies until they rotate or are removed according to your settings and provider retention.
Contact
For privacy questions, email zdfu189@gmail.com, visit Support, or open an issue on GitHub.