Latent Frames Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 9, 2026

Short version: Latent Frames shows and organizes your photos where they already are: on your iPhone or iPad, on a drive, on a computer or NAS on your network, or in storage you connect. We do not collect, store, transmit, or sell your photos or any personal information. There are no accounts with us and no servers of ours. Anything the app keeps beyond your device stays in your own storage or your own iCloud, which we cannot read.

What we collect

Nothing, unless you write to us. Latent Frames does not collect personal data. We do not require an account, we do not use analytics or advertising SDKs, and we do not track you across apps or websites. What the app keeps in your own iCloud (see below) is stored for you by Apple, under your Apple Account; it never reaches us. If you send us a problem report or an email, we receive what you send (see Problem reports).

How the app works with your photos

You choose the folders the app may read. The app reads the photos and their metadata in those folders to show them to you, and it makes thumbnails and image fingerprints on your device so it can find similar photos. All of this processing, including the on-device machine learning used to compare images, happens on your iPhone or iPad. Your photos are never uploaded to us or to any third party.

What the app writes, and where

Only to your own storage, and only what you ask for. Tags you add are saved inside each photo, in its standard metadata, where other apps such as digiKam, Immich and Lightroom read them; a photo that can't hold them gets a small sidecar file (.xmp) beside it. When you move, rename, rotate or delete a photo, the app changes the file where it lives; a deleted photo goes to your storage's trash or to a .latentframes folder inside your library, where you can restore it.

Your iCloud

So that your other devices don't have to scan a library again, and so your review progress follows you, the app can keep the library's index in your own iCloud account, in the app's private CloudKit database; it asks first. For each photo, listed by its file name and folder, the index holds image fingerprints (numbers describing how it looks), its date, size and the keywords saved inside it, and whether you have reviewed or deleted it. It also holds how your tags look (each tag's name, colour, cover photo, place in the order and whether it is folded) so they look the same on all your devices. For each device that shares it, it notes whether it is an iPhone or iPad, its iOS version, when it last checked in, and a random code the app made for it. It never contains your photos. It is stored under your Apple Account, and we cannot read it: we have no key, no dashboard and no way to access it. You can keep the index in your library folder instead, or remove it from iCloud, in the app's Settings.

Network access

The app connects only to the places you add, such as a computer or NAS on your network, a storage bucket or a cloud drive, and to iCloud. To find computers and NAS on your network, iOS asks your permission to use the local network. The app makes no analytics or tracking requests, and it has no servers to send anything to.

Passwords and sign-ins

Passwords, keys and sign-in tokens for the places you add are stored in your device's Keychain. They are never sent to us, and they are left out when you copy a source's settings to another device. If you turn on the app lock, iOS checks your Face ID, Touch ID or passcode itself and tells the app only whether it matched.

Cloud drives

If you connect a cloud drive such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, you sign in on the provider's own page, and the app receives an access token that stays in your device's Keychain. The app uses that access only to list your folders, show your photos and read their metadata, and, when you ask it to, write tag sidecars and move, rename or delete files. What it reads from the drive is processed on your device. Anything derived from it (thumbnails, fingerprints, file names) stays on your device and, if you use the iCloud index, in your own iCloud. It is never sent to us or to any third party, never used for advertising, and never read by people. You can remove the app's access at any time in your provider's account settings.

Latent Frames' use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Problem reports

Latent Frames keeps a short record of its own slowdowns and errors on your device for two weeks, so that if something goes wrong you can tell us what happened. Nothing in it leaves your device on its own. If you choose Settings → Report a problem, the app shows you the report and opens an email to us with it attached (or the share sheet, where Mail isn't set up); it is sent only if you send it. The report holds the app and iOS versions, the device model, the kinds of sources (such as SMB or Dropbox) and their photo counts, indexing progress, free storage, how long things took to load, this device's random code in your iCloud index, and the slowdowns or errors of the last two weeks. It never holds your photos, places, or the names of files, folders, tags, servers or accounts. We use a report only to answer you and fix the problem, and we never share it.

Deleting your data

Deleting the app removes everything it kept on your device. To remove the index from iCloud, use the app's Settings, or delete the app's data in your device's iCloud storage settings. Sidecar files and the .latentframes folder are ordinary files in your storage; you can delete them like any other file.

Children's privacy

The app is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and revise the date above. Material changes will be reflected in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email hello@latentsnap.com.