Privacy

Privacy Policy

Photo Expanse processes your photos and videos on your device. It does not upload them or send us personal data, and it does not require an account.

Last updated: October 20, 2026

What this policy covers

This policy explains how information is handled when you use the Photo Expanse app, visit photoexpanse.com, or contact us.

At a glance

• There is no account to create and no Photo Expanse server.
• The app processes your photos and videos on your device.
• The app does not send us personal data, and we do not receive or store your photos and videos.
• The app contains no advertising, analytics, or tracking.
• The website uses privacy-focused, aggregate analytics.
• We do not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising.
• We do not receive information that directly identifies you unless you choose to contact us.

Your photo library

Photo Expanse asks you to choose whether it can access your full photo library or only selected items. With Limited Access, the app can see only the photos and videos you select and the information Apple Photos provides about them. It cannot access your other items or your albums. You can change your selection at any time using Edit Selection in Photo Expanse’s Settings, or through System Settings.

The app uses the access you grant to show your photos and videos, build a local index, prepare thumbnails, and make the changes described below.

The local index can include information Apple Photos provides about each item, such as asset identifiers, dates, media types, dimensions, duration, favorite status, location, original filenames, and the names of albums and places. This information and the thumbnails prepared by the app stay within Photo Expanse’s storage on your device. We cannot view or retrieve them.

If a photo or video is stored in iCloud, Apple Photos may download it as you browse or when you open, share, rotate, or zoom into it. These downloads use Apple’s service to bring your media onto your device. That connection is handled by Apple, not by a Photo Expanse server.

Your existing Apple Photos sync settings still apply. Changes made through Photo Expanse, including favorites, albums, rotations, and deletions, can sync to your other devices through Apple Photos.

Changes and how to undo them

Photo Expanse changes your library when you ask it to, or according to automatic archiving rules you enable in Settings.

Favorite

Tap Favorite again to remove it. You can also remove it in Apple Photos, which uses the same favorite status.

Archive

Move the item back to At Hand.

Mark for Later

Remove the item from Later.

Rotate

Your original photo is preserved when you rotate it. Rotate the item back to its original orientation to reverse the change.

If Photo Expanse’s rotation is the only edit, the app restores the original. If the photo has other edits, it rotates the edited version and keeps those edits.

Revert to Original in Apple Photos also undoes the rotation, but it removes all edits.

Delete

Deleted photos and videos go to Recently Deleted in Apple Photos. You can normally recover them for up to 30 days, unless they are permanently deleted sooner.

Photo Expanse has no separate recovery bin, and recovering an item does not restore its previous History in Photo Expanse.

Clear History

Clearing History permanently removes the records of your actions. It does not undo those actions or change your photos, videos, favorites, or organization.

Deleting always goes through Apple’s own system confirmation.

Albums and automatic archiving

With Full Access, Photo Expanse keeps two regular albums, Archived and Later, in a Photo Expanse folder in Apple Photos. Adding or removing items in these albums also updates Archive and Later in Photo Expanse. If you delete either album in Apple Photos, Photo Expanse creates it again and adds back the items that are in Archive or Later.

With Limited Access, Photo Expanse manages Archive and Later within the app instead of updating albums in Apple Photos. Granting Full Access later adds the items currently in Archive and Later to their albums; it does not automatically archive other existing items.

Automatic archiving is off until you turn it on in Settings. There, you can choose whether new screenshots, screen recordings, or both go directly to Archive. This includes newly captured and imported items, regardless of when they were taken. Turning a setting on or off leaves existing items where they are.

Sharing

You choose where to send a photo or video. With Share and Share Compressed, Photo Expanse prepares a copy without its location, capture date, captions, or details about the camera and its owner, and gives it a neutral filename. A shared photo can keep basic exposure settings, such as aperture and shutter speed; a shared video carries only its picture, sound, and orientation. For photos, Share Compressed also reduces the file size and quality, and keeps no metadata at all. Share Original sends the untouched file instead, including its location, other metadata, and original filename.

Data stored on your device

Photo Expanse stores its index, thumbnails, History, preferences, and other information needed to remember your choices on your device. History records your actions in Photo Expanse, the items that automatic archiving moves, and changes made in Apple Photos or on another device to favorites and to the Archived and Later albums. It does not record deletions.

If you delete a photo or video from your library, hide it in Apple Photos, remove it from your selection, or turn off photo access, Photo Expanse permanently deletes the app data it holds about that item, including thumbnails and History. Restoring access does not restore previous History. Removing access does not itself delete the photo or video from Apple Photos.

You can limit or revoke photo access in your device settings. Deleting Photo Expanse removes the organization stored on your device; your photos and videos remain in Apple Photos. Any Archived and Later albums in Apple Photos are not removed, and with Full Access, a reinstalled Photo Expanse reads your organization back from them. Deleting the app does not undo changes already made in Apple Photos. Offloading the app may preserve its local data.

Apple may include eligible app data in device backups according to your Apple and device settings. We cannot access those backups.

How the app is built

Photo Expanse uses only system frameworks and libraries included with Apple platforms, together with code written for Photo Expanse. It has no third-party runtime dependencies, analytics SDKs, advertising SDKs, or cloud AI services.

Using fewer outside components reduces privacy and security risks, but cannot eliminate them.

The website and analytics

Cloudflare delivers and protects this website. In doing so, it processes technical information needed to serve and secure the site, such as an IP address, requested page, referring page, browser or device type, approximate location, and security events.

Cloudflare Web Analytics is the only website analytics service we use. It gives us aggregate information about visits and performance, such as pages viewed, referring sites, browser and device types, country, and timing measurements. Its analytics beacon does not use cookies or browser storage and does not fingerprint visitors. We review this information only in aggregate and do not use it for advertising, cross-site tracking, or identifying individual visitors.

When you contact us

If you email us, we receive the address you write from and anything you choose to include, such as your name, message, technical details, or attachments. If you start the email from Photo Expanse’s Settings, the draft also includes the app version and build number, and your device’s system name and version, which you can change or remove before sending. Please do not send photos or other sensitive information unless it is necessary for your request.

Contacting us is optional. If you do not provide a return address or enough information about your request, we may be unable to respond or help.

We use email-routing and mailbox providers to receive, store, and respond to messages. We use your message only to answer your request, provide support, protect Photo Expanse, and meet legal obligations.

How long information is kept

Data created by the app remains on your device until the app removes it, you clear it (as you can with History in Settings), or you delete the app.

Cloudflare currently makes Web Analytics reports available to us for six months. According to Cloudflare, it keeps unsampled analytics-beacon data for seven days and then reduces older data to sampled aggregate data. Technical information used to deliver and secure the website is kept according to Cloudflare’s service settings and retention schedule. We keep any information available to us only as long as needed to operate and protect the website, investigate abuse, or meet legal obligations.

We normally keep support and privacy correspondence for no longer than 12 months after the last interaction. We may keep it longer when reasonably necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim.

How we use information and our legal grounds

Where data-protection law requires a legal ground, we rely on the following grounds:

• For website delivery, security, and aggregate performance measurement, our legitimate interests in operating, understanding, and protecting Photo Expanse.
• For messages you send us, our legitimate interests in responding, providing support, and protecting Photo Expanse. When a response is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement, or to perform an agreement with you, we rely on that necessity instead.
• For records or disclosures the law requires, compliance with legal obligations.
• Where the law requires consent for a specific use, your consent. You may withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.

We do not rely on a legitimate interest where your rights and interests override it.

Service providers and transfers

The app does not send your photo-library data to us or to our service providers. When you use a system sharing option, the copy goes only to the destination you choose and is then handled under that destination’s privacy practices.

For the website and email, we use service providers only where needed for website delivery and security, aggregate analytics, email routing, and mailbox service. They may process information in countries other than your own. We do not allow them to use information they process for us for targeted advertising.

Where an international transfer requires protection under applicable law, we rely on an adequacy decision or approved contractual safeguards, including standard contractual clauses. You can contact privacy@photoexpanse.com to request information about, or a copy of, the safeguards that apply.

No sale, advertising, or profiling

We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it for targeted advertising. We do not use personal information we receive to profile you or make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Your choices and rights

You can control Photo Expanse’s access to your library through your device settings. Depending on where you live and the circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict our use of personal information we hold about you, and to object to certain uses. Where applicable, you may also have rights to data portability, to withdraw consent, and to complain to a data-protection authority.

Because the app does not send us its local data, we cannot retrieve, correct, or delete that data for you. You control it on your device. For information we hold, contact privacy@photoexpanse.com. We may need to verify that a request concerns you before acting on it. You may also complain to the data-protection authority where you live or work, or where you believe a violation occurred.

Children

Photo Expanse is a general-audience app. It is not specifically directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us so we can review and, where appropriate, delete it.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures intended to protect information in our care. No storage or transmission method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when Photo Expanse, the website, or our legal obligations change. We will publish the revised policy here and update the date above. When appropriate, we will highlight material changes.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, email privacy@photoexpanse.com.