Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how [Your Company Name] (“we”, “us”) collects, uses, and protects personal information when you use photowallah, an event-photo face-search service (the “Service”). Because the Service uses facial recognition, please read the section on facial-recognition data carefully.

1. Who we are

[Your Company Name] operates the Service. Event organizers (“Organizers”) create events and upload photos; guests (“Guests”) log in to view those photos and may take a selfie to find photos of themselves. For photos an Organizer uploads, the Organizer is the controller of that content and we process it on their behalf.

2. Information we collect

• Account information — your email address, display name, a securely hashed password, and your role (admin, organizer, or guest).
• Event content — photos uploaded by Organizers, and event details such as name, date, category, description, and folders.
• Selfies — if a Guest uses “Find your photos”, the selfie image is received only to run the search (see below).
• Usage data — basic records needed to run the Service, such as which galleries you have visited and photos you have marked as favorites.
• Cookies — a single essential session cookie keeps you logged in. See our Cookie Policy.

3. Facial-recognition data

To make photos searchable, the Service analyzes faces. We want to be precise about what is and is not stored:

• Event photos: when a photo is processed, we detect faces and compute numerical face descriptors (mathematical vectors, not images). These descriptors are stored and associated with the photo and its event, solely to power the “Find your photos” search within that event.
• Guest selfies: when a Guest searches, the selfie is processed in memory to compute a temporary descriptor, which is compared against the event's photo descriptors. The selfie image and its descriptor are never written to disk, never logged, and discarded immediately after the search. We do not build or keep an ongoing biometric profile of any Guest.

Facial-recognition matching is probabilistic: it may miss photos of you or, rarely, suggest a photo that is not you. If you do not wish to use face search, you can still browse the gallery normally.

4. How we use information

• To provide the Service — authentication, hosting and serving event galleries, and running face search.
• To send transactional messages you request, such as one-time login codes and password-reset links.
• To secure the Service, prevent abuse, and comply with law.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

5. How photos are stored and served

Photos are stored in private cloud object storage. By default, uploaded photos are optimized and their camera/GPS (EXIF) metadata is stripped to reduce what is retained; Organizers may choose to keep originals. Photos are never publicly accessible by direct link — they are streamed through the Service only to a logged-in user who has access to the relevant event (and, where an Organizer sets one, has entered the event PIN).

6. Sharing and processors

We share information only with service providers that help us operate, under appropriate safeguards: a cloud hosting/storage provider, and (where configured) an email delivery provider for login codes and reset links. Organizers control who can access their events via login and optional PINs. We may disclose information if required by law.

7. Data retention

• Event photos and their face descriptors are retained until the Organizer or an admin deletes the photo or event, after which they are removed from storage.
• Account information is retained while your account is active and deleted on request.
• Selfies are not retained at all.

8. Your rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can update your profile and password from your account page, and you can contact us to exercise other rights. To request deletion of your account or of photos you appear in, contact us at privacy@photowallah.com. For photos uploaded by an Organizer, we may direct your request to that Organizer as the controller of that content.

9. Security

We protect information with measures including hashed passwords, private storage, access-controlled serving, and event-level login/PIN gating. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and limit what we keep.

10. Children

The Service is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information without appropriate consent. Organizers are responsible for having a lawful basis and any required consents for people who appear in the photos they upload, including minors.

11. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, by additional notice.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at privacy@photowallah.com. This Service is operated from India.