OpenManual Content & Document Source Policy
A clear line between finding public documentation and trying to defeat access controls.
What OpenManual is
OpenManual is not a central manual repository. It is a device-document finder and local reader. Documents remain owned by their respective rights holders, and this page is not a license to any third-party material.
What it may look for
Once a device is identified, OpenManual starts a search by itself. It makes bounded public HTTPS requests directly from your iPhone or iPad to manufacturer, regulator, archive, and public-web sources. It does not use an OpenManual account or proxy for that lookup. Through version 1.6, if “Check manuals others kept” was on, it also checked a shared list of documents people kept with earlier versions of OpenManual, sending a key made from the maker, if one is known, and the model or catalog number (privacy policy, section 5). Version 1.7 has no shared list. For a public web search, its isolated, nonpersistent browser component can render a search-results page and inspect public result pages, up to 24 on up to 12 sites, to find direct document links and, when a result page holds instructions as text with no file to link, to make a PDF of that page the way Print to PDF does in Safari. It types into nothing and clicks nothing: it opens search addresses, some that a site publishes and some common patterns such as /search?q=, with the catalog or model number in the address. It does not recursively crawl from one page to another. Candidate files are checked before the app offers them as possible documents. You can also open a document you independently import from Files or share into the app through iOS. A public URL, or a file that passes a technical check, is not by itself a guarantee that a document is official, current, accurate, complete, licensed for reuse, or applicable to a particular device.
Access-control boundary
OpenManual does not ask for your credentials, reuse your Safari sessions, retain browser history, cookies, or signed-in sessions after a lookup, type into forms or click buttons, solve CAPTCHAs, bypass paywalls, work around download gates, or evade any other access control. It does not proceed through a source that needs a login, account, payment, approval, or another user-authorized step. From version 1.7 it lists the page where the document is, and takes no file from it. Open that source yourself in Safari and import a document only if you have the needed rights.
Your review and rights
Before you save, rely on, reproduce, export, or share a document, verify its manufacturer, model, revision, region, and source. You are responsible for the rights needed for documents you import, retain, reproduce, or share. OpenManual may cache a PDF you choose locally and make it available through the iOS Share Sheet; it cannot recall a file once another app, service, or person receives it.
Reports and requests
If you are a rights holder or have a content concern, email gunnarguy@me.com with the source URL, document title, your relationship to the material, and the action you are requesting. The publisher can review OpenManual’s handling of a source; it cannot remove material from the originating host, a user’s independent backups, or a destination outside OpenManual’s control.
Related pages
Read the Terms of Use for the rules that apply to the app, and the Privacy Policy for what an online request may disclose to a source.