Your photos stay on your device
Photos you take or choose are processed in your browser. They are not uploaded to our server or to anyone else, and we do not store them. There's no account, so we don't know who you are.
What your browser keeps
- Your last photo, for the open tab. The tool keeps a copy of your last photo, cropped around your face, with the document and adjustments you chose, in the browser's session storage. That lets you save it again if the page reloads. Start over deletes it, and so does closing the tab.
- Two settings. Whether the measurement guides and the hands-free voice are on is saved in your browser's local storage, so the tool remembers your choice next time. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them.
- A closed notice. If you close the notice about in-app browsers, session storage remembers that until you close the tab.
- The face detection files. The face detection models and the code that runs them, about 16 MB, are kept in this site's cache storage so the tool starts faster on your next visit. They're the same public files for everyone and hold nothing about you or your photos. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them.
None of this is sent to us.
Face detection
To find your face, the page downloads open-source face detection models from Google's MediaPipe project, served from this site. On a photo tool page the download starts only when you tap Take photo or Choose a photo, or drop a photo on the page. Opening a page downloads none of these files. Only the models travel to your device; your photo never goes the other way. The detection data exists only in your browser's memory while the page is open. We do not collect, keep or share biometric data.
Camera
Your browser asks for your permission before the page can use the camera. The camera turns on only after you tap Take photo, and only to show the preview and take the photo you keep. Once the guide sees your face lined up for half a second, it takes that photo by itself; the shutter button works too. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere. The camera stops when you take the photo or close the camera, and you can remove the permission at any time in your browser's site settings.
If you'd rather not allow the camera, tap Choose a photo and pick a picture taken with your phone's own camera app. That doesn't need camera permission.
Hands-free voice is off until you turn it on. It reads the camera hints aloud with your browser's built-in speech feature. Some browsers use an online voice service for this; the text is only the hint, such as "Move closer".
Anonymous usage counts
To learn which parts of the tool work and where people get stuck, the page counts a few anonymous events. Each one is a short message to our own server with an event name, such as "camera started", "photo taken automatically", "photo saved", "background check failed" or the name of an error, and the kind of browser, such as Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android. Some events add one short detail: a time range, such as "face detection loaded in 2 to 5 seconds" (and whether it came from your browser's cache), "you waited 5 to 10 seconds for it" or "the check took under 2 seconds"; what started its download: the camera or a photo you chose; the camera hint that was showing when you tapped the shutter, or one that stayed on screen for a while, such as "turn your head a little to your left"; which fix you tapped, such as whitening the background; the problem you tapped Try again for, or the one the camera guide asked you to correct before keeping the photo, such as "head turned"; why the background check failed, with the wall's brightness rounded to tens, such as "looks gray, 170 of 255"; the head's turn and tilt rounded to a few degrees, such as "turned 5 to 8 degrees", for the photo checked and for the camera guide when the photo was taken; how far the chin moved between the guide and the photo, in a few coarse steps; or which of the camera's frames was kept. After you save a photo or a signature, the page may ask "Did it work?"; if you answer, it counts your yes or no and the one reason you tap. If the tool hits an error, your browser sends an anonymous report to our own server with a code for the error and the page's address; the report holds no personal data and nothing from your photo, and no cookies are used.
These messages never contain your photo or the points the face detection finds on your face. The few rounded readings above, such as the head turn in bands of a few degrees or the wall's brightness in tens, are all they carry about the photo, and none of them can show who you are. They use no cookies and no identifiers. We only add up how often each event happens, and we don't use them to identify you.
Our server also counts page views in the same anonymous way: for each view it keeps only the page's address, the time, the name of the site that linked to it (such as google.com) and whether the visitor looked like a search engine robot. These counts hold no IP address, no browser details and no identifier.
What our server receives
Like any website, our server receives your IP address and browser details when it sends you a page or receives a usage count. We use them only to deliver the site and keep it secure.
Cookies
This site doesn't use cookies or third-party analytics. Besides the storage described above, nothing is kept in your browser.
Changes to this policy
If we change what the site collects, we'll update this page and the date at the top.
Questions
Questions about privacy? Email hello@passportphotoathome.com.