Privacy Policy

1. Privacy at a glance

PhotoJournal is designed as a local-first application.

• Your private journal entries, saved locations, notes, and attached photos are stored locally in PhotoJournal-managed storage on your device.
• PhotoJournal does not currently require an account and does not currently provide cloud sync.
• We do not sell personal data.
• We do not use your data for targeted advertising.
• We do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
• PhotoJournal does not currently include third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.
• Location access is used while you use location-related features. PhotoJournal does not request continuous background location access.
• Camera access is optional.
• Apple’s system photo picker gives PhotoJournal access only to the photos you explicitly select.
• Sun, Moon, and other astronomy information is calculated locally from saved location and capture information.
• Weather information is retrieved on demand using Apple WeatherKit when you open a saved location. WeatherKit results are not permanently stored in your PhotoJournal journal.
• Export and import are user-controlled. PhotoJournal does not automatically upload your journal to us.
• Paid Photo Maps, if introduced, are intended to use Apple’s In-App Purchase system. Apple handles payment details; PhotoJournal does not receive your full payment-card information.

2. Scope

This Policy applies to:

1. the PhotoJournal iOS application;
2. curated free and paid Photo Maps offered through PhotoJournal if and when that feature becomes available;
3. the PhotoJournal website and support services associated with www.nikospsal.com;
4. PhotoJournal data import and export features; and
5. support or privacy communications sent directly to us.

Sections relating to Photo Maps apply only when those features are made available.

This Policy does not govern unrelated third-party apps, websites, storage providers, or services that you choose to use with PhotoJournal. Those services apply their own privacy policies.

3. Information processed on your device

3.1 Location and capture information

When you add a location, PhotoJournal may process and store:

• latitude and longitude;
• horizontal-accuracy information;
• the time at which the location was measured;
• whether iOS supplied full or reduced location accuracy;
• the date and time at which you created the entry;
• your device’s time-zone identifier;
• captured compass heading or direction information, when available;
• identifiers needed to maintain and recover the entry; and
• technical status or error information needed to save, recover, or complete an entry.

This information forms part of the saved PhotoJournal entry.

PhotoJournal uses location only while you use location-related functionality. It does not request continuous background location access.

If location information is unavailable or permission is denied, PhotoJournal may still save an entry without coordinates rather than discarding the capture.

3.2 Journal content

Depending on what you add, PhotoJournal may locally store:

• a name for the location;
• free-form notes;
• identifiers and timestamps used to organise and update the entry;
• locally calculated Sun, Moon, light, and astronomy information; and
• other metadata needed to display and manage the entry.

Because notes are free-form, you control what they contain. Avoid recording personal information about another person unless you have a lawful reason to do so.

WeatherKit responses are handled separately as described in Section 4.2 and are not permanently stored as part of your PhotoJournal entry.

3.3 Photos and files you choose

You may attach images by using:

• the camera;
• Apple’s system photo picker; or
• the system file picker.

PhotoJournal may locally store:

• the original image file you selected or captured;
• locally generated thumbnails or derived image files used for efficient display;
• the original filename, when available;
• image type, dimensions, file size, and date added; and
• local file references required to display and remove the image.

PhotoJournal keeps a local copy of images you attach.

Metadata already embedded in an image, including EXIF metadata that may contain camera, date, or location information, can remain in the locally stored copy.

PhotoJournal does not intentionally use this embedded metadata for advertising, profiling, or tracking, and the current release does not upload your attached photographs to us.

PhotoJournal does not request unrestricted access to your entire photo library. Apple’s system photo picker provides access only to items you explicitly select.

3.4 Astronomy and local calculations

PhotoJournal may use a saved entry’s:

• coordinates;
• capture date;
• capture time;
• time zone; and
• related capture information

to calculate Sun, Moon, light, or other astronomy information locally on your device. These calculations do not require your private entry to be uploaded to PhotoJournal servers.

3.5 Local App Group storage

PhotoJournal may use an Apple App Group container to store journal information and app-managed files.

This storage remains part of PhotoJournal’s local application environment and is used to support PhotoJournal functionality and possible related Apple app extensions.

Using an App Group does not by itself upload your private journal to us or to another server.

3.6 Export and import

PhotoJournal allows you to export journal information as a PhotoJournal JSON file.

An exported file may contain information represented by the export format, including saved locations, coordinates, timestamps, names, notes, capture metadata, and related journal information.

Export happens only when you request it.

PhotoJournal passes the generated file to Apple’s system file-sharing or document interface so that you choose where the file is stored.

Depending on your choice, an exported file may be stored:

• locally on your device;
• in iCloud Drive; or
• using another Files-compatible storage provider you select.

Those storage providers process exported files under their own privacy terms. PhotoJournal does not automatically send exported journal files to us.

When importing, PhotoJournal reads only the JSON file that you explicitly select through the system file picker. Import is performed locally and merges supported PhotoJournal data into your journal according to the application’s import rules.

You are responsible for protecting exported files because they may contain precise saved locations and other private journal information.

3.7 Downloaded Photo Maps

If curated Photo Maps become available, downloaded map content and local download status may be stored on your device.

A Photo Map may contain published coordinates, sample photographs, descriptions, access notes, or other photography guidance created or licensed by us.

Downloading or purchasing a Photo Map does not automatically give the map creator access to your private journal, saved locations, notes, photos, or current location.

4. Information transmitted off your device

4.1 Core journal operation

PhotoJournal does not currently operate an account service or cloud database for your private journal.

Your entries, notes, precise saved locations, capture information, and attached photos are not transmitted to us for journal storage or synchronisation.

Apple may independently process information while providing operating-system and platform services used by PhotoJournal, including services such as:

• App Store distribution;
• MapKit;
• system permissions;
• the system photo picker;
• iCloud or device backups;
• StoreKit; and
• WeatherKit.

Apple processes information according to its own privacy terms and applicable legal obligations. See Apple’s Privacy Policy.

4.2 Apple WeatherKit

PhotoJournal uses Apple WeatherKit to provide weather information for saved locations.

Weather is retrieved on demand when you open a location that has sufficient saved location and capture information.

PhotoJournal does not retrieve Weather data for every saved location when the app starts.

To request weather corresponding to the saved capture, PhotoJournal may provide WeatherKit with:

• the saved latitude and longitude of the entry; and
• the saved capture date or time period needed to retrieve relevant weather information.

The request is made to Apple’s WeatherKit service.

The returned information may include weather conditions such as:

• temperature;
• cloud cover;
• wind;
• precipitation;
• visibility;
• weather condition; and
• related weather information provided by WeatherKit.

PhotoJournal uses WeatherKit information to display weather associated with the saved location and capture time.

PhotoJournal does not permanently store WeatherKit weather responses in your journal.

PhotoJournal may temporarily hold a WeatherKit result in application memory during the current app session to avoid making unnecessary duplicate requests. This temporary cache is not part of your saved PhotoJournal journal and is discarded when the relevant application session or process ends.

If WeatherKit is unavailable, there is no network connection, or suitable historical weather cannot be returned, PhotoJournal displays Weather as unavailable rather than substituting unrelated current weather.

Weather failure does not prevent a location from being saved or otherwise affect the locally stored journal entry.

Apple independently operates WeatherKit and handles WeatherKit requests according to Apple’s privacy terms and legal requirements.

PhotoJournal displays the Apple Weather attribution required for WeatherKit-generated information.

4.3 Free and paid Photo Maps

If the Photo Map library becomes available, PhotoJournal may process information needed to show, unlock, download, and restore maps, including:

• a Photo Map or product identifier;
• whether a map is free, downloaded, purchased, available, or restored;
• Apple StoreKit transaction information needed to validate an entitlement; and
• technical information needed to deliver the requested map.

Paid digital Photo Maps offered inside the iOS application are intended to use Apple In-App Purchase.

Apple processes your Apple Account and payment information. PhotoJournal does not receive your full payment-card number, card security code, or online-banking credentials.

PhotoJournal may read StoreKit transaction information needed to unlock or restore a purchase.

If server-side purchase verification is introduced in the future, this Policy will be updated if that materially changes how personal data is processed.

4.4 Website and content-delivery logs

When a PhotoJournal website, support page, or future downloadable Photo Map is delivered through hosting or content-delivery infrastructure, the provider may process ordinary technical information such as:

• IP address;
• request date and time;
• requested page or file;
• browser or user-agent information;
• response status; and
• security or error information.

Where such identifiable logs are under our control, we use them only for purposes such as:

• delivering requested content;
• securing the service;
• preventing abuse;
• diagnosing failures; and
• maintaining availability.

We do not use website or delivery logs to reconstruct the private locations contained in your PhotoJournal journal.

Identifiable delivery and security logs under our control are normally retained for no more than 90 days, unless longer retention is reasonably necessary for a specific security incident or legal obligation.

PhotoJournal does not currently use advertising cookies. If non-essential analytics, advertising technologies, or cookies are introduced, this Policy and any required consent mechanisms will be updated before their use.

4.5 Support and privacy requests

If you contact us, we may receive information you choose to provide, including:

• your name;
• email address;
• message;
• attachments;
• device or application details; and
• information needed to investigate your request.

Do not send private journal exports, photographs, or precise locations unless they are necessary for your support request and you are comfortable sharing them.

5. How and why we use information

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful, but it stops future processing based on that consent unless another legal basis applies.

6. When information is shared

We do not sell or rent personal data.

We do not share private journal content for advertising.

Information may be processed by the following recipients where relevant:

• Apple: for App Store distribution, MapKit, operating-system services, WeatherKit, StoreKit purchases and restoration, system file/photo interfaces, device backups, and other Apple platform services. Apple handles its independent processing under its own privacy terms.
• Hosting, content-delivery, domain, and email providers: where necessary to operate PhotoJournal websites, deliver future Photo Maps, provide support, protect services, and handle communications.
• Storage providers you choose: if you export a PhotoJournal file to iCloud Drive or another Files-compatible service.
• Professional advisers and authorities: where reasonably necessary to obtain legal, accounting, tax, or security advice, protect rights and safety, investigate misuse, or comply with a binding legal obligation.
• A successor operator: if PhotoJournal or substantially all relevant assets are reorganised, sold, transferred, or otherwise succeeded, subject to applicable law and appropriate notice.

Where a service provider processes personal information on our instructions, we require appropriate confidentiality, security, and data-protection safeguards consistent with the service provided and applicable law.

Independent providers such as Apple or storage providers you select operate under their own privacy terms and legal responsibilities.

Purchasing or downloading a future Photo Map does not give its author access to your private journal merely because they created the map.

7. No advertising, sale, or cross-app tracking

PhotoJournal does not currently:

• display third-party advertising;
• use advertising identifiers;
• sell personal data;
• share personal data with data brokers;
• track your activity across other companies’ apps or websites;
• use private journal content for targeted marketing; or
• make decisions about you through profiling or automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

8. Retention and deletion

8.1 Information stored locally

Journal entries, notes, saved locations, capture metadata, images, thumbnails, imported data, and related local information remain in PhotoJournal-managed storage until:

• you delete the relevant item;
• you remove the application; or
• they are otherwise removed through normal iOS storage-management behaviour.

When you delete an entry or attachment, PhotoJournal removes its active journal reference and performs app-managed cleanup of associated local files.

PhotoJournal may also reconcile its local storage to remove files that are no longer referenced by a journal entry.

Deleting PhotoJournal ordinarily removes app-managed local data, subject to normal iOS, App Group, backup, and restoration behaviour.

Your Apple device, iCloud, computer, or other backup configuration may preserve copies independently of PhotoJournal. To remove backup copies, use the controls provided by the relevant backup or storage provider.

8.2 WeatherKit data

WeatherKit results are not permanently stored in the PhotoJournal journal.

Weather information may be held temporarily in memory during the active app session to avoid duplicate network requests.

PhotoJournal does not maintain a historical WeatherKit database of your saved locations.

Information processed independently by Apple is retained according to Apple’s own policies.

8.3 Exported data

Once you export PhotoJournal data, the exported file exists independently of the journal inside the app.

Deleting the original entry from PhotoJournal does not automatically delete copies that you previously exported.

You must delete exported copies yourself from the Files location, cloud storage provider, computer, backup, or other destination where you saved them.

8.4 Information processed off device

• Identifiable website or future Photo Map delivery logs under our control are normally retained for no more than 90 days unless a security incident or legal obligation requires longer retention.
• Support and privacy correspondence is normally retained for up to 24 months after a request is resolved unless it is reasonably required longer for a dispute, security matter, or legal obligation.
• Transaction, accounting, tax, and legal records are retained only for the periods reasonably required to provide or restore purchases, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and comply with applicable law.
• Apple-controlled information is retained according to Apple’s own policies.
• Information held by a Files-compatible storage service that you selected is retained according to that provider’s terms and your settings.

When information under our control is no longer reasonably necessary, it is deleted or anonymised.

9. Security

PhotoJournal stores private journal data using app-managed iOS storage, including an App Group container where required for application functionality.

PhotoJournal uses security measures appropriate to the local nature of the application, including:

• iOS application sandboxing;
• file-protection controls;
• data minimisation;
• bounded image processing;
• local thumbnail generation; and
• limited network disclosure.

Weather information is requested only when needed for the location being viewed rather than bulk-fetching weather for your complete journal.

No device, storage system, application, or internet transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

You are responsible for protecting access to:

• your device;
• device passcode;
• Apple Account;
• backups; and
• exported PhotoJournal files.

10. International data transfers

Some independent providers or service providers may process information outside Greece or the European Economic Area.

Where we control an international transfer of personal data, we use an appropriate legally recognised mechanism where required, such as an adequacy decision or approved contractual safeguards.

Apple and other independent infrastructure or storage providers may process information in locations described in their own privacy notices.

11. Your choices and rights

11.1 Device and application controls

You can:

• deny or revoke PhotoJournal’s location permission in iOS Settings;
• deny or revoke camera permission in iOS Settings;
• choose only specific images through Apple’s system photo picker;
• choose which files to import;
• choose whether and where to export PhotoJournal JSON files;
• remove individual attachments;
• delete individual journal entries; and
• remove PhotoJournal from your device.

Revoking location or camera permission does not automatically delete journal information already stored locally.

You can delete stored entries and attachments separately.

Exported files are independent copies and must be deleted separately from the storage location where you saved them.

11.2 GDPR and other privacy rights

Subject to applicable law, conditions, and exceptions, you may have rights to:

• receive information about how personal data is processed;
• access personal data we control about you;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request deletion;
• restrict processing;
• receive portable data where applicable;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests;
• withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent; and
• lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority.

Most private PhotoJournal journal content exists only in application-managed storage on your device and is not accessible to us.

We therefore cannot remotely view, export, modify, correct, or delete that local journal content for you.

Use PhotoJournal’s in-app controls, iOS settings, Files controls, or application removal for data stored locally or exported by you.

For personal information that we do control, such as privacy or support correspondence, contact: support@photogall.com.

We will respond to valid privacy requests in accordance with applicable law.

If the GDPR applies, you may also lodge a complaint with the Hellenic Data Protection Authority or another competent data-protection authority in the EU or EEA country where you live, work, or believe an infringement occurred.

12. Children

PhotoJournal is a general photography utility and is not designed specifically for children.

PhotoJournal does not currently:

• require user accounts;
• knowingly create advertising profiles about children; or
• use private journal information for targeted advertising.

If a parent or guardian believes a child has sent personal information to us through support or another off-device communication channel, contact support@photogall.com.

We will review the request and take appropriate action where required.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy when PhotoJournal’s features, providers, legal requirements, or data practices change.

Material changes will be identified by a new Last updated date and, where appropriate, communicated in the application or on our website.

This Policy should be reviewed before PhotoJournal introduces materially different functionality such as:

• user accounts;
• cloud journal sync;
• user-to-user sharing;
• a creator marketplace;
• personalised recommendations based on private saved locations;
• advertising;
• analytics or attribution SDKs;
• server-side journal processing; or
• materially different payment, weather, storage, or content-delivery systems.

14. Contact

For a privacy-related request, use the subject line “PhotoJournal Privacy Request.”