Pic Jar — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 12 September 2026

Pic Jar ("the app", "we", "us") lets a group of people pool the photos and videos they take during a shared event into one shared album. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and how it is handled. Pic Jar is developed by UseFull Apps.

Information we collect

• Account information (Google Sign-In): your name, email address, and profile photo, used to identify you to other members of events you join and to secure your account.
• Photos and videos: when you enable auto-add or manually add media, camera photos and videos you took during an event's date range are uploaded to that event's shared album so other members can view and download them. We do not scan or upload screenshots, downloads, or media from other apps.
• Location: if a photo you add contains GPS location data in its metadata, that location is stored with the photo and shown to event members (for example, on the photo details and map). We do not track your device's live location.
• Event data: event names, dates, membership, and who has downloaded which photos.
• Notifications: a device notification token so we can send you push notifications about your events (for example, that someone asked to join an event you own, or that a member added new photos).
• Usage and diagnostics: we use Google Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics to understand which features are used and to detect and fix crashes. This includes app-usage events and, on a crash, technical details such as the error and device state. We do not collect an advertising identifier and we show no ads.

How we use your information

• To operate the core feature: sharing your event photos and videos with the members of the events you belong to.
• To authenticate you and manage event membership and owner approvals.
• To send you notifications about activity in your events, and optional reminders to download shared photos.
• To understand how the app is used and to diagnose and fix crashes, so we can improve Pic Jar.

Sharing and storage

Photos, videos, and event data are stored on Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Storage and Cloud Firestore). Your content is visible only to approved members of the events you join. We do not sell your data, and we do not show advertising. We do not share your data with third parties except the cloud, analytics, and crash-reporting providers (Google) used to run and improve the app.

How we protect your data

We use the following safeguards to protect your personal and sensitive data, including your photos, videos, location metadata, and any data received from Google APIs:

• Encryption in transit: all communication between the app, our servers, Google Cloud, and Google APIs uses HTTPS (TLS). We do not accept unencrypted connections.
• Encryption at rest: photos, videos, and event data are stored in Google Cloud Storage and Cloud Firestore, which encrypt all data at rest.
• Extra encryption for Google access grants: the Google Photos refresh token is additionally encrypted by our server with AES-256-GCM before it is stored, using a key kept in Google Cloud Secret Manager and never stored alongside the data. Short-lived Google access tokens are held in server memory only while a transfer runs and are never written to storage. The encrypted token cannot be read by the app or by any user.
• Authentication: every request to our servers must carry a verified Firebase Authentication sign-in token; requests without one are rejected.
• Access control: database security rules and server-side membership checks ensure that only approved members of an event can see its photos, videos, and details, and that users can only read their own account data. Photo and video files are not publicly accessible: they can only be reached through signed links that are issued to event members and expire automatically (within 15 minutes for uploads and 60 minutes for downloads).
• Limited internal access: access to production systems and stored user data is restricted to the developer, and is used only when needed to operate the app, provide support you request, or meet legal obligations. We do not have access to your Google Photos library.
• Data minimisation: we request only the permissions needed for the features you use. For Google Photos we request add-only access and store only what is needed to complete the transfer.
• Deletion: when you disconnect Google Photos or delete your account, the stored grant is revoked with Google and deleted from our systems.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your data and will notify affected users as required by law if we become aware of a security incident affecting their data.

Google Photos (optional)

If you choose Send to Google Photos for an event, you connect a Google account and allow Pic Jar to create albums and add photos and videos to that account's Google Photos library (photoslibrary.appendonly). This is add-only access: Pic Jar cannot see, change, or delete any photos, videos, or albums in your Google Photos library.

• We use this access only to create an album for the event and copy the event's photos and videos into it when you ask us to. We do not share your albums with anyone.
• To run the transfer in the background, we store an encrypted access grant (a refresh token), the email address of the connected Google account, and a record of which items were already sent.
• Items sent to Google Photos count toward that Google account's storage and stay there if you disconnect or delete your Pic Jar account.
• You can disconnect at any time in the app (Account → Google Photos → Disconnect) or at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Disconnecting or deleting your Pic Jar account revokes the grant and deletes the stored token.
• Pic Jar's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Data retention and deletion

• The photos and videos you add to an event remain in that event's shared album until you remove them, the event's owner removes them, or the owner deletes the event.
• You can remove photos you added at any time from within the app.
• You can delete your account and its data at any time from within the app (Account → Delete account). This removes your account, every event you created together with its photos and videos, and the photos you added to events created by others. You can also request deletion by emailing us (see Contact); for details see our account-deletion page.

Permissions

The app requests access to your photos and videos (to find event media), media location (so photo GPS can be shown), and notifications (for event activity and reminders). You can decline or change these in your device settings; some features will be limited without them.

Children

Pic Jar is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

We may update this policy; material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above.

Contact

Questions or data-deletion requests: usefullaps@gmail.com