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Pfotos Terms of Service

Last updated: April 2, 2026

By accessing or using Pfotos, you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the service.

Our Core Commitment: Your photos, family records, and personal history are yours. Pfotos exists to help you organize, preserve, and share them — not to profit from them. We will never sell your data to commercial entities. We will never allow unauthorized government surveillance of your family's memories. And we will always be transparent about how your data is used and when it is accessed.

1. Description of Service

Pfotos is a private photo organization and family-history application that allows users to upload, organize, tag, and collaborate on photos and related information. Private content is stored in secure private vaults accessible only to you and those you invite. A public commons allows users to voluntarily contribute and search historical and genealogical records.

2. Account Responsibilities

Keep your account credentials secure
You are responsible for activity under your account
Ensure uploads comply with applicable law

3. User Content & Ownership

You retain full ownership of all content you upload. You grant Pfotos a limited, non-exclusive license to store, display, process, and back up your content solely to operate the service on your behalf. We do not claim ownership of your content. We do not use your private content for advertising, training, or any commercial purpose.

3.2 Shared & Public-Interest Information

Names, relationships, and historical references contributed to the public commons may reflect publicly available or commonly sourced information. Pfotos does not guarantee accuracy of user-supplied data and does not claim ownership of such information.

4. Privacy & Stewardship

Pfotos operates as a steward of your information, not an owner. PFarms are private by default and access is role-based. You control who you invite and what permissions they have. Pfotos staff do not access your private vault content except as described in our Privacy Policy — and we will notify you when any such access occurs, unless prohibited by law.

5. Prohibited Use

No unlawful or infringing uploads
No attempts to bypass security or access controls
No abuse, scraping, or disruption of service
No commercial resale without permission
No uploading of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any content that exploits or endangers minors

6. Biometric Data & Face Detection

Pfotos may use face detection technology to help you tag and organize photos within the app. By using Pfotos, you agree to the following:

Face detection is used solely to assist with photo organization features within Pfotos
Biometric or facial data derived from your photos is never sold, shared with third parties, or used outside of Pfotos for any purpose
The public search headshot, if provided, is voluntarily submitted by you and may be visible to other Pfotos users via the public commons search
You may request deletion of your biometric data at any time by contacting privacy@pfotos.app
Users in Illinois, Texas, Washington, and other states with biometric privacy laws have additional rights described in our Privacy Policy

7. Content Moderation

Pfotos uses automated scanning (including Google Vision API Safe Search and Microsoft PhotoDNA) to detect and remove illegal or harmful content. Flagged content may be reviewed by our team. Accounts found uploading prohibited content will be suspended and reported to relevant authorities where required by law.

8. Advertising

Pfotos may display contextual advertisements within the app. Ads are selected based on general geographic location only. We do not use tracking cookies, behavioral profiles, or personal identifiers for ad targeting, and we do not share your data with advertisers. Your private content is never used for or exposed to advertising purposes. If our advertising model changes materially, we will notify you in advance.

9. Government & Law Enforcement Demands

Our position: Government or law enforcement access to your private family data is treated with the same seriousness and resistance as any attempt to commercially exploit your information. We oppose both equally.

Pfotos will not voluntarily provide your private data to any government agency, law enforcement body, or intelligence service without a valid, legally-enforceable court order, subpoena, or warrant. Specifically:

We will always challenge overbroad, vague, or legally deficient demands before complying
We will notify you of any government demand for your data as promptly as the law permits. If a gag order or national security letter prohibits immediate notification, we will notify you as soon as the prohibition is lifted
We will never build backdoors into Pfotos at the request of any government or agency
We will never participate in mass surveillance programs or provide bulk access to user data
We publish a Warrant Canary as part of our annual transparency report (see Section 10)
Any government access that does occur will be logged, documented, and disclosed in our transparency report to the extent permitted by law

10. Transparency

Pfotos publishes an annual transparency report at pfotos.app disclosing:

The number and nature of legal requests received from government or law enforcement
The number of accounts for which data was disclosed
A Warrant Canary — a statement confirming whether Pfotos has ever been compelled to secretly disclose user data or install a backdoor
Whether Pfotos has been subject to any mass surveillance order

We believe you have a right to know how your data is being treated — by us, and by those who demand it from us.

11. Billing & Plans

Some features require a paid plan. Billing terms and pricing are described within the app and may change over time with advance notice. Nonpayment may result in feature limitations.

12. Beta & Experimental Features

Beta or experimental features may change, be removed, or behave unexpectedly. They are provided "as is."

13. Termination

You may terminate your account at any time and request deletion of your data. Pfotos may suspend or terminate accounts for violations, legal requirements, or security concerns. We will notify you of any suspension or termination except where prohibited by law or required for security purposes.

14. Disclaimers

Pfotos is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pfotos is not liable for indirect or consequential damages, user-generated content errors, or certain data loss scenarios.

16. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, United States.

17. Contact

Support: support@pfotos.app
Privacy: privacy@pfotos.app
Abuse: abuse@pfotos.app