Privacy by design

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 23, 2026

Photo Flashlight is built so your pictures stay yours. Your photos and videos never leave your device. The app organizes your library on the phone itself; what syncs between your devices is the organization — tags and small perceptual fingerprints — never the images.

This policy explains what information Photo Flashlight (“we,” “us”) processes, how, and why, for our iOS and Android apps and this website. If anything here is unclear, email us at hello@photoflashlight.com.

The short version

• Your photos never leave your device. We do not upload, copy, store, or have any access to your original photos or videos.
• No ads, no advertising trackers, no selling of data. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics-tracking SDKs to profile you.
• Sync is optional and tags-only. If you choose backup or sync, only your tags, organizational metadata, and perceptual fingerprints travel — not your images.
• You can use the whole app locally. Most functionality works entirely offline with no account.

What stays on your device

All of the core work happens locally. When you grant access to your photo library, the app reads your photos to show thumbnails, to compute a perceptual fingerprint (a small hash that recognizes an image without containing it), and to suggest labels using on-device machine learning. These operations run on your phone. The image data, the thumbnails, and any machine-learning processing do not leave the device and are not sent to us.

What syncs if you enable backup or sync

Backup and sync are optional features (some are paid). If you turn them on, the following is sent to our sync service so your organization can follow you to another device or be restored later:

• Tags and organizational metadata you create — for example tag names and how items are grouped.
• Perceptual fingerprints (hashes) of your photos. These let a tag re-attach to the same picture on another device. They are derived from images but do not contain or reconstruct them.
• Timestamps and identifiers needed to match and merge changes across your devices.

We do not receive your photos, videos, thumbnails, or albums through this process. Synced data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with our cloud infrastructure providers.

Account information

If you create a sync account, we process the email address you sign in with, and the minimal credentials needed to authenticate you and route your synced tags to the right account. If you use the app locally without an account, we do not collect this.

Purchases

Subscriptions and one-time purchases are processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play and managed on our side through RevenueCat, which tells the app whether a purchase is active. We never receive or store your payment card details — those are handled entirely by Apple or Google. We receive only purchase and entitlement status (for example, “sync is active”).

Service providers

We rely on a small number of providers strictly to operate the service. They process data only on our behalf and only as needed:

• Apple and Google — app distribution and payment processing.
• RevenueCat — subscription and entitlement management.
• Cloud hosting providers (including Cloudflare for this website, and our database and sync backend) — to store and synchronize your tags and account data.

This list may change as our infrastructure evolves; we will keep it accurate.

How we use information

We use the limited information above only to:

• Sync and back up your tags and organization across your devices and restore them when you ask.
• Authenticate your sync account and keep your data separated from other users’.
• Provide and validate purchases and subscriptions.
• Maintain, secure, and troubleshoot the service.

We do not use your information for advertising, profiling, or sale to third parties.

Permissions we request

• Photo library access — so the app can show, fingerprint, and tag your photos on the device. This access is used locally; it does not result in your photos being uploaded.

Data retention and deletion

Locally created tags and fingerprints live on your device until you delete them or uninstall the app. If you use sync, your synced tags and account data are retained while your account is active. You can request deletion of your account and the tag data we hold by emailing hello@photoflashlight.com; we will delete it within a reasonable period, except where we must retain limited records to meet legal obligations.

Security

We use encryption in transit and reputable cloud providers to protect the tag and account data we hold. Because your photos remain on your device, the most sensitive content never reaches our servers at all. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and limit what we collect in the first place.

Children

Photo Flashlight is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will remove it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under GDPR or CCPA/CPRA), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export the personal information we hold about you, and to object to or restrict certain processing. We do not sell personal information. To exercise any of these rights, email hello@photoflashlight.com.

International transfers

We may process and store data on servers located outside your country. Where we do, we take steps intended to ensure your information continues to be protected consistent with this policy.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. When we make material changes, we will revise the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Continued use of the app after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email hello@photoflashlight.com.