Privacy Policy

1. Data We Access

Photos and Metadata

PicSift accesses photos you select through the macOS/iOS file picker or the Photos library (with your permission). For each photo, PicSift reads:

• Image pixel data (for scoring and display)
• EXIF metadata (camera model, focal length, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, capture date)
• Location data embedded in photo EXIF (latitude/longitude), if present
• File path and filename

This data generates quality scores, detects scenes, identifies faces, finds duplicates, and powers search. All processing happens on your device using Apple's CoreML framework. Your photos and metadata are never transmitted to any server.

Face Data

PicSift uses on-device machine learning to detect faces in your photos. This produces face bounding boxes, face embeddings (mathematical representations for grouping), and quality metrics. Face data is stored locally and never transmitted off-device. You can delete all face data by removing PicSift's database or uninstalling the app.

Curation Decisions

Your keep/skip/reject decisions, star ratings, tags, and Smart Album configurations are stored locally on your device.

2. Data We Store

PicSift maintains a local SQLite database on your device containing references to photo file paths (not copies), quality scores, scene categories, face embeddings, semantic search embeddings, your curation decisions, and Smart Album configurations. This database exists only on your device. You can delete it at any time.

3. Optional Cloud Sync

PicSift may offer iCloud sync as a feature. If enabled, it uses Apple's CloudKit to sync curation decisions only (keep/skip/reject status, star ratings) between your devices. No photos, scores, face data, or embeddings are synced. We cannot access your iCloud data. You can disable sync at any time.

4. Network Connections

PicSift does not contact any Syrinx Ventures servers.

5. Data We Do Not Collect

• No analytics or usage telemetry
• No third-party analytics services
• No crash reports (logging is local-only)
• No device identifiers, IP addresses, or location data
• No user accounts or profiles
• No advertising
• No selling, sharing, or transferring data to third parties

6. Machine Learning Models

PicSift bundles and optionally downloads ML models for photo scoring and search. These run entirely on your device. No photos or results are sent to any server. Models are downloaded from GitHub using standard HTTP requests.

7. Children's Privacy

PicSift does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The app does not require an account and processes everything locally.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

All data is stored on your device. Delete PicSift's Application Support folder or uninstall the app to remove all data. For iCloud sync data, disable sync and use Apple's iCloud storage management. We retain no data on any server.

9. Your Rights

Because PicSift does not collect or transmit personal data to our servers, you have full control via your device's file system. Your data is in a SQLite file you can inspect, back up, or delete at any time.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be noted in PicSift's release notes.