It depends on how you feel about tracking: Burner declares data used to track you. The sensitive items are contacts and user content. In total the label lists 7 data types; 33% of contacts backup apps we checked declare tracking.
Burner privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
Burner's developer reports using identifiers to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
Did Burner ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what Burner's developer declared.
Location is not on Burner's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Burner lists User Content on its label, linked to you. Choose Limited Access and pick only the photos you want to share.
Burner lists Contacts on its label, linked to you. Limited Access shares selected contacts instead of your whole address book.
Burner declares data used to track you, so expect the “Allow to track?” prompt. Tap Ask App Not to Track; the app must keep working without it.
Health & Fitness is not on Burner's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What Burner collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| ContactsSensitiveLinked to you | The people in your address book or social graph. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Contacts: choose Limited Access to share only selected people, or None. |
| User ContentSensitiveLinked to you | Messages, photos, videos, audio recordings, documents and support chats you create or upload. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos: choose Limited Access or None; review Microphone and Files access too. |
| Contact InfoLinked to you | Your name, email address, phone number or postal address. | Use Sign in with Apple with Hide My Email where offered, and check the app's account and marketing preferences. |
| PurchasesLinked to you | What you have bought or tend to buy. | Review in-app marketing settings; subscriptions are listed in Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions. |
| IdentifiersUsed to track youLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
| Usage DataLinked to you | What you tap, open and view inside the app, plus which ads you have seen. | There is no single iOS switch. Look for an analytics or personalised-ads toggle in the app's own settings. |
| DiagnosticsLinked to youNot linked to you | Crash logs, launch times, hang rates and energy use. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements › Share With App Developers controls what Apple passes on; the app's own crash reporting is separate. |
What Burner's label means for you
Burner's label has 1 type under “Data Used to Track You”, 7 types under “Data Linked to You”, 1 type under “Data Not Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Tracking is the declaration that most separates apps. It means identifiers from Burner can be combined with data from other companies to target or measure ads, or shared with data brokers. On iOS 14.5 and later, the app must ask your permission before tracking you through the advertising identifier; answering “Ask App Not to Track” blocks that identifier and tells the developer you have declined.
The items that deserve the most attention are contacts and user content. Uploading contacts shares other people's details, not just yours.
Contacts backup apps upload your whole address book — other people's names, numbers and addresses, not just yours. Check where the backup is stored, whether it is encrypted, and how to delete it from the server.
Among the 126 contacts backup apps in our snapshot with a label, 33% declare tracking, 48% collect data linked to you and 33% say they collect nothing. Burner lists 7 data types, more than the average of 2.2 for this group.
Utilities range from calculators to VPNs, so their labels vary more than any other category. A simple tool that collects identifiers and usage data for tracking is a sign of advertising SDKs.
Settings to check for Burner
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Photos
Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos. Limited Access lets you pick exactly which pictures the app can see; Add Photos Only lets it save without reading your library.
- 3
Contacts
Settings › Privacy & Security › Contacts. Limited Access shares only the people you select instead of your whole address book.
- 4
Sign-in
When creating an account, Sign in with Apple can give the app a relay address from Hide My Email instead of your real one.
- 5
Lock the app
On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold the icon and choose Require Face ID. Anyone who picks up your unlocked phone then needs your face, fingerprint or passcode to open it.
- 6
Notifications
Settings › Notifications › Burner › Show Previews: When Unlocked keeps message and account details off the Lock Screen.
Does Burner track you?
Identifiers. Apple defines tracking as linking data from this app with data from other companies' apps, websites or offline sources for targeted advertising or ad measurement, or sharing it with a data broker.
Lock Burner behind Face ID
- Find Burner on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. Burner now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not Burner has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About Burner
| Developer | Ad Hoc Labs, INC |
| App Store category | Utilities (also Productivity) |
| Latest version | 7.21.0, released October 2026 |
| First released | April 2012 |
| Requires | iOS 18.0 or later |
| Size | 194 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ |
| Languages | 1 (EN) |
| Bundle ID | com.adhoclabs.burner |
The current version shipped in October 2026, so the app is actively maintained and its label is likely current. Labels are updated by developers when practices change.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what Burner sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask Burner's developer: How do I delete my contacts from their server later?
Burner vs similar contacts backup apps
- Burner (this app)
- Dingtone
- IT Contacts Manager
- Who You Know
- My Contacts Backup + Transfer
- Contacts backup to vCard & csv
- Contact
- Contacts cleaner duplicate
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to Burner
All contacts backup apps → Who tracks you? A–Z → Apps that collect contacts → Privacy label decoder →
Your Burner privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
True: it lists identifiers under Data Used to Track You.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Contacts appears on its label.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.