We respect the privacy of our users and are committed to protecting their personal information.
Personal information, such as your name and email address, are not collected.
PhotoCull is a desktop photography application that helps you review images stored on your own computer, choose what to keep, and remove what you don’t need. PhotoCull can also interact with Google Photos—limited to albums PhotoCull creates—so you can create those albums and upload selected photos to them. This policy explains what we access, how we use information, if/when we share it, how we protect it, and how you can control it.
1) What PhotoCull Accesses
A. On your device (local-only)
- Image files and folders you select (e.g., on internal/external drives or network shares).
- File metadata needed to display thumbnails and basic info (e.g., filename, size, modification time, image dimensions, EXIF/IPTC/XMP tags where present).
- Local cache of thumbnails/previews to make browsing faster.
- App settings (e.g., preferences, last opened folders).
- Optional crash diagnostics (only if you choose to send): crash dump file(s), app logs, OS version, hardware/driver info, file paths that may appear in process memory, and a small metadata text report you approve before sending.
B. Google user data (via Google Photos Library API)
We request the minimum scopes needed for the functions to:
- Read album names created by PhotoCull
- Add photograms to existing Google Photo albums
We do not request broad library read or delete scopes from Google Photos. PhotoCull does not read albums/media you or other apps created unless they were created by PhotoCull.
During Google sign-in, we also receive standard authentication sufficient to show you which account is connected.
2) How PhotoCull Uses Your Data
Local images & metadata
- Generate and display thumbnails/previews.
- Delete files. Deleting occurs on your device (Recycle Bin).
Google Photos data
- Create albums in your Google Photos created by PhotoCull.
- Upload photos you explicitly choose to PhotoCull-created albums.
- List/read only PhotoCull-created albums and their items so you can manage them from within the app.
Diagnostics (opt-in)
- If PhotoCull crashes, you can review and choose whether to send a crash report (dump + small metadata text file). We use these solely to debug and fix issues.
What we never do
- No selling of data.
- No ads based on your data.
- No reading of Google Photos content outside PhotoCull-created data.
- No hidden uploads of your photos to our servers.
3) If/How Data Is Shared
- Google: When you connect Google Photos, PhotoCull communicates directly with Google’s APIs over HTTPS. Your chosen photos are uploaded to Google Photos; we do not proxy or store your photo content on our servers.
- Crash report hosting (only if you opt in to send a crash report): crash files you approve may be uploaded to our support server/hosting provider for analysis by our team.
- Service providers: We may use reputable infrastructure/hosting providers (e.g., web hosting for crash uploads). They are bound by agreements to process data only to provide the services to us.
- Legal: We may disclose information if required by law or to protect rights, safety, or the integrity of our services.
- No sale of data and no third-party advertising use.
4) Storage & Security
On your device
- Thumbnails and settings are stored locally.
Summary of Google User Data Disclosures (for OAuth verification)
- Data Accessed:
- Albums and media items created by PhotoCull in your Google Photos.
- Ability to upload media and create albums in your Google Photos.
- OAuth tokens and basic account identifiers to manage sign-in/out.
- Data Usage:
- Read only PhotoCull-created albums/items to show them in the app.
- Create albums and upload the photos you select to those albums.
- No reading of non-PhotoCull content; no advertising; no resale.
- Data Sharing:
- Shared with Google Photoss to perform the actions you request.
- Not shared with third parties for marketing.
- Optional crash reports (if you choose to send) may be stored with our hosting provider solely for debugging.
- Storage & Protection:
- Tokens stored locally, protected by OS secure storage (e.g., Windows DPAPI).
- All API calls over HTTPS.
- Optional crash reports stored with access controls and deleted on schedule.
- Retention & Deletion:
- Google Photos content you create via PhotoCull lives in your Google account until you delete it.
- You can revoke PhotoCull’s access anytime