Privacy Policy

1 Who we are

Photine (the "app") is operated by Jiang Zhongqing ("we", "us" or "our"). For questions and requests about this policy or about personal information, email support@photine.app.

You do not need to sign up to use the app, and you do not need to give us your name, email address or similar information.

2 In short

Only when you have agreed to "AI data usage" and start crafting does the app send a downscaled copy of the photo, stripped of location and other metadata, through our servers to OpenAI or OpenRouter in the United States, to craft the artwork you asked for. Our servers delete this copy within 24 hours. We do not sell data, and we do not use it for advertising or tracking.

3 What data we process, and why

For these purposes, we provide some of this data to the recipients listed in section 5.

• Original photos and artworks are stored on your device and are not uploaded. An artwork leaves the app only when you tap Save or Share.
• AI provenance: the artwork files you save or share carry information stating that they were made with AI (IPTC metadata: the AI-assisted credit, the digital source type, and the model and style used), and we do not remove it. The C2PA Content Credentials that OpenAI writes into the original file stay with that original file inside the app; artworks are upscaled before export (and free artworks also get a watermark), so exported files do not carry these credentials.
• Precise coordinates are never sent to us, to OpenAI or to OpenRouter: the device asks Apple's geocoding service to turn them into a city name, and only the city (or the state or province where there is no city) and the country or region go with your artwork. If you do not allow location access, crafting continues as usual, just without the place text.
• People in photos: we do not perform facial recognition, we do not extract facial features, and we do not identify who the people in a photo are. If other people appear in a photo, please make sure you have the right to use it.
• UID: the UID shown under Settings › About is derived from the identifier above, and is used only to find your records when you contact us.
• Age: we do not collect your date of birth or age; we only ask you, when we ask for your permission, to confirm that you are 18 or older or have a guardian's consent (see section 7).
• Payment: Apple collects payment for subscriptions and Artwork Packs; we do not receive your payment card details.

4 How long data is kept

• The photo copy, capture time and place name: deleted within 24 hours after crafting ends.
• The artwork file: kept for your device to retrieve, for at most 7 days.
• The identifier and the Artwork Pack balance associated with it: kept until you request deletion or the service ends. Pack artworks never expire, and we need these records to keep your balance for you.
• Other data: kept only for as long as needed for the purposes listed in section 3, then deleted.
• Backups: deleted data may remain in our service providers' backup and recovery records for up to about 30 days, after which it is overwritten.

Photos and artworks on your device are kept until you delete them in the app.

5 Who receives data

We provide data to the following recipients only to the extent each of them needs it to perform its function:

• OpenAI (OpenAI OpCo, LLC, United States): the photo copy, capture time, place name and style instructions, to craft the artwork. We do not send it your name, device identifiers or IP address.
• OpenRouter (OpenRouter, Inc., United States): only when OpenAI is busy, it passes the same content on to OpenAI to craft the artwork. It does not keep the photo or the artwork, only records such as usage and processing time; content suspected of child sexual abuse is the exception and may be kept for review and reporting.
• Server and network providers: running our servers, storage and network.
• Subscription management provider: the identifier and purchase records, to verify purchases and manage subscriptions and artwork counts.
• Apple: payment, device verification, push notifications, and turning a photo's location into a city name.

About OpenAI:

• OpenAI processes this data only to craft the artwork and to prevent abuse, and does not use it to train models.
• To prevent abuse, inputs and outputs are generally kept for up to 30 days, and may be kept longer where the law requires it, or where reasonably necessary to protect its services or third parties from harm. Content flagged by safety systems may be reviewed by people.
• OpenAI does not accept requests from you directly; we are responsible for handling them.

We have data processing terms with OpenAI and the service providers above, requiring them to process data only on our instructions and only to provide this service (OpenAI also processes it to prevent abuse, as described above), to take appropriate security measures, and to protect it at a level no lower than this policy. Apple handles data under its own terms and privacy policy. These recipients may process data outside your country or region. Beyond these recipients, we do not provide your data to anyone, except where the law requires it. We do not sell data.

Providing data to OpenAI and OpenRouter in the United States: OpenAI and OpenRouter are in the United States. Before we provide data to them, that is, before you craft your first artwork, the app asks you, separately, to agree to "AI data usage". The United States has no comprehensive federal personal information protection law; protection comes instead from sector-specific laws and from state laws (for example the California Consumer Privacy Act), and the United States participates in the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules system (now the Global CBPR). A survey by Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission (as of October 2021) did not list any rule in the United States requiring data to be stored within the country or requiring cooperation with the government. For details, see the Commission's page on the United States (in Japanese): https://www.ppc.go.jp/enforcement/infoprovision/laws/offshore_report_america/

6 Your rights

You can ask us to:

• tell you about, or let you see, the data we hold about you (including records of providing it to others), or give you a copy of it;
• add to or correct that data;
• stop collecting, processing or using that data, or providing it to others;
• delete that data.

You can also withdraw your "AI data usage" permission at any time.

• Withdrawing permission: withdraw it under Settings › AI & Data.
• Other requests:
  • Email support@photine.app and include the UID shown under Settings › About. Where necessary, we will ask you for further information to confirm that it is you.
  • A legal representative, or an agent you have authorized, may also make a request.
• Responses: we respond without undue delay, and at the latest within 15 days of receiving your request; in complex cases we may extend this by another 15 days and will tell you why. There is no fee, and we will not treat you differently for making a request.
• What deletion means: once the data on our servers is deleted, any remaining pack artworks cannot be restored; a subscription can be recovered with "Restore purchases".
• If you do not give your permission, or withdraw it: you cannot craft new artworks, but your saved artworks and the app's other features are unaffected.

Residents of US states:

• You may also have the right to confirm whether we process your data, to access, correct and delete it, and to obtain a copy of it, as well as the right to opt out of the sale of personal data, targeted advertising and profiling.
• We do not sell personal data, we do not engage in targeted advertising, and we do not engage in profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects; we do not process biometric data for the purpose of identifying a specific individual, and we do not collect precise geolocation.
• If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to the same email with "Privacy appeal" in the subject line. Within 60 days of receiving your appeal, we will tell you in writing what we decided and why; if you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may file a complaint with the Attorney General of your state.

Users in Singapore: you can contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at support@photine.app.

7 Minors

The app is intended for users aged 16 and over. Users under 18 must first get a parent's or guardian's consent; the app asks you to confirm this when it asks for your permission. If we learn that someone under 16 has given us data, we will delete the related records on our servers. Parents and guardians can contact us by email.

8 Security

We take the following measures:

• we have a basic policy and rules for handling personal data, for which the operator is personally responsible, and we review them regularly;
• we protect the devices and accounts used for administration against theft and with access controls;
• we encrypt data in transit, and data past its retention period is deleted automatically;
• we have contracts with our service providers and supervise their security management.

Data may be processed in the United States and other countries, and we take the measures above with an understanding of the personal information protection systems in the countries concerned. If you ask, we will tell you about the specific practices, including the countries where data is processed, without undue delay, to the extent this does not compromise security.

9 Tracking and "Do Not Track"

Neither the app nor photine.app contains third-party analytics, advertising or tracking tools, and neither uses cookies for analytics, advertising or tracking; we do not allow any third party to use them to collect information about your activities over time and across different apps or websites. We therefore do not respond differently to "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals.

10 Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially (for example new categories of data, new recipients or new purposes), we will announce the change in the app or on photine.app before it takes effect and update the effective date and version at the top of this page; where needed, we will ask for your consent again.

11 Contact

support@photine.app