EARLY ACCESS / DATA HANDLING
Your photographs.
Your choice.
Scanning your library happens on your Android device. Signing in does not upload it.
What you choose to upload
Only an album or period you explicitly select is uploaded. Fotlas sends compressed JPEG previews up to 1600 pixels and 400 KB, with capture dates, map coordinates and place labels. It does not send original files. EXIF metadata is removed from preview files. Photos marked Private, hidden photos and demo photographs are excluded.
Your account
Your email identifies your account and receives sign-in codes. Supabase hosts account records and album metadata in the project's EU region (Ireland). New previews uploaded by Fotlas 0.3.16 or later are stored in a private Cloudflare R2 bucket restricted to the European Union. Earlier previews remain in private Supabase storage during the transition. The website stores your login session in this browser; sign out on shared devices. The website requests previews through an authenticated Fotlas endpoint. During the transition, legacy owner-only Supabase URLs may be used and expire after 60 seconds. Cloud albums stay visible only to their owner unless the owner explicitly publishes a selected trip.
Journeys you share
Publishing creates a separate selection of non-private photos with dates and place labels. Anyone holding its unpredictable link can view and save that selection without an account. Coordinates are rounded by default; precise locations require an explicit choice. Labels may still name a specific place. Later album additions do not enter an existing publication automatically. Links expire after 7, 30 or 90 days and can be closed in My account. Expiring a link does not delete the owner’s cloud album.
Shared previews are delivered through the Fotlas server in Cyprus from private Cloudflare R2 or legacy Supabase storage. The server checks expiry, revocation and current privacy before delivering each image. A messenger may retain the title and cover used in a link preview; closing a link cannot remove copies already saved elsewhere. Shared pages are marked not to be indexed; possession of the link, rather than a password, grants access.
Optional AI title suggestions
After a separate confirmation, Fotlas sends selected place names, date ranges and photo/day counts to OpenRouter and its model provider to suggest three English titles and a subtitle. No images or precise coordinates are sent for this feature. Requests require providers supporting zero data retention and disallow training use. Fotlas stores the input facts and generated suggestions privately in your Supabase account to reuse results. Your edits and photo selection remain in a local draft on this device until publication; full draft synchronization is not included. You can skip AI and write your own title.
Optional AI photo selection
Prepare with AI is a separate opt-in action. In Fotlas 0.4.4, it reviews every accessible non-private photo in the selected album. Prepare this year with AI reviews the selected year. Each request sends one or two JPEG previews through Supabase to OpenRouter and its model provider: the photographed area is at most 640 pixels on its long side, with a 45-pixel identification strip added outside the image; each encoded preview is at most 120 KB. This action does not send EXIF, dates, precise coordinates or place labels. Earlier app versions use smaller previews in batches with dates and approximate place labels. Unreadable and uncertain memories are kept for review. Completed checks are saved on this phone so preparation can resume; existing selections remain unchanged until preparation finishes. This is separate consent for the chosen album or year, not automatic transfer after scanning. Requests require zero-retention providers and disallow training use; EU-only routing is not configured for AI. Images are processed in request memory and are not saved to Fotlas cloud storage by this action. Fotlas retains private input hashes, generated assessments and usage records in Supabase for caching and budget control. You can pause future submissions; a request already sent cannot be retracted. The proposed selection remains a local draft until you explicitly publish. Private photos are excluded. Omitted photographs remain available and no originals are deleted. You can skip AI or change every proposed selection.
Changing your mind
Marking an uploaded photo Private, hiding it or deleting it through Fotlas queues removal of the cloud copy. The app must be online and signed into the same account to finish removal. A pending notice means the old copy may still be available on the website. Photos made shareable again are not automatically re-uploaded. Anyone who previously saved a copy retains it.
Early-access limits
Up to 2,000 cloud photo records and 50 albums per account. Previews are not a backup of your original photographs. Cross-device library sync, family accounts and self-service account deletion are not included in this preview. Do not rely on it as your only archive.
Detailed maps in the Android app and optional shared-page maps use Mapbox. Opening a web map sends map-area requests to Mapbox. Fotlas counts shared-page opens and installation-link clicks in aggregate; these are approximate browser events, not verified installs. No recipient email, IP address or fingerprint is stored in those counters. This website uses no advertising scripts.