Processed on-device
Every stage — capture, filtering, estimation, history — runs on the handset. There is no server component your data passes through, because there is no server.
Privacy & limitations
Your data stays where you are
VitalVein was built on a single premise: the most private place for your health data is the device in your hand, and it should never have to leave it. This page explains exactly what that means — and, just as importantly, what the app cannot do.
Nothing uploaded
Camera frames, accelerometer samples, waveforms, and results are never transmitted. The app requests no network permission for its core function.
Yours to erase
No account, no cloud backup, no shadow copy. Delete a session and it is gone; uninstall the app and every reading goes with it.
What is stored
On your device, and only your device
Kept locally so your history and trends work, held in the app's private storage:
- Session results — the estimated vital signs and their confidence grades
- The processed waveform for each session, so you can review the trace
- Timestamps and any notes or tags you add yourself
- Your app preferences and capture settings
Raw camera frames are held in memory only for as long as it takes to turn them into a waveform, then discarded. No video or photo of you is ever written to storage.
What is never collected
Photos or video of youFrames are never saved to disk
Location or contactsNot requested, not read
Analytics or trackersNo third-party SDKs in the capture path
An account or profileYou never sign up or log in
Sharing & export
You decide what leaves the device
On-device by default does not mean locked in. When you choose to share a reading — with a clinician, a family member, or a study — VitalVein exports it, and only then does anything leave the phone.
Exports are explicit actions you take: a session or a date range becomes a CSV (including the raw waveform samples) or a readable summary, which you then send however you like. The app does not sync in the background and has nowhere to sync to. If you take part in a pilot or validation study, any data you contribute is shared through a separate, clearly described consent step — never silently, and never as a condition of using the app.
Limitations
What VitalVein is not
Being straight about the boundaries is part of being trustworthy inside them.
It is not a medical device
VitalVein has not been cleared or approved by any medical regulator. It is a wellness and screening tool. Its outputs are estimates, not diagnoses, and must never be used to make or change a treatment decision, including anything to do with medication.
It does not replace proper equipment
A validated pulse oximeter, a clinical blood pressure cuff, and a laboratory blood test remain the reference. VitalVein is designed for the situations where those are not available or not to hand — a first look that tells you whether a proper measurement is worth seeking, not a stand-in for one.
Accuracy depends heavily on conditions
Poor lighting, movement, cold or poorly perfused fingers, and lower-quality cameras all degrade the signal. Optical methods can also perform less well on darker skin tones — a well-documented limitation across the field that we treat as a core problem to solve, not a footnote. Confidence grades exist precisely so a compromised reading is visible as one.
It cannot detect an emergency
VitalVein is not a monitor and will not alert anyone if something is wrong. Never rely on it in an emergency or to watch over someone at risk. If you or someone else has symptoms that worry you, contact your local emergency service or a clinician regardless of any reading the app shows.
If in doubt, seek care. No reading from this app — reassuring or alarming — should change that. When symptoms and a measurement disagree, trust the symptoms and talk to a professional.
Questions about how your data is handled?
We would rather answer them directly than hide behind a wall of legal text.