Privacy Policy
This policy explains what PixAfar collects when you use our website and mobile apps, why we collect it, who else can see it, and what you can do about it. It is written to describe what the service actually does rather than to cover every hypothetical, and we will update it when the service changes.
PixAfar is a travel photography service. You create galleries tied to places you have visited, add your own photos and videos, and the app animates journeys between them on a 3D globe.
The most important thing to understand: galleries you mark as public can be opened by anyone who has the link, without an account and without signing in. Share links are unlisted, not private. Only share them with people you intend to see your photos.
Who we are
PixAfar operates this service. For any privacy question, correction, or deletion request, contact us at support@pixafar.com. We aim to respond within a few business days.
What we collect
| Category | What it is | Why we have it |
|---|---|---|
| Account details | Your first and last name, email address, and a password (stored only as a cryptographic hash, never as text we can read). | To create your account, sign you in, let you reset your password, and send you service email. |
| Your photos and videos | The image and video files you upload. We remove the location data your camera embeds in them (see below). | They are the content of your galleries. We store and serve them so you and anyone you share with can view them. |
| Places you enter | The map coordinates you pin, the city, region and country, the trip date, and the departure point and mode of travel you choose for the flight animation. | To place your galleries on the globe, map and Atlas, and to animate journeys. |
| Technical data | IP address, browser and device type, pages requested and timestamps, recorded in standard web server logs. A session cookie that keeps you signed in. | To operate and secure the service, diagnose faults, and prevent abuse. |
| Usage analytics | Aggregate measurement of page views and interactions through Google Analytics. | To understand which parts of the service are used so we can improve them. |
Location data inside your photos
Photos and videos usually carry hidden metadata written by the camera. When location services are switched on, that includes the exact coordinates the shot was taken at — often far more precise than the place you pinned.
We remove that location data when you upload. It is stripped from photos and videos as they arrive, before anything is stored or shared, so it is not present in the files we serve — including the full-size originals behind a public share link. Photos uploaded before we introduced this have been cleaned as well.
Stripping is done without re-compressing your images, so nothing is lost in quality. We keep the orientation flag, so portrait photos still display the right way up.
How your information is shared
People you share with
When you mark a gallery public and use the share link, anyone holding that link can view that gallery's photos, its title, the place and date, and your display name — without an account. The same applies to a shared Atlas link, which lets the recipient browse the public galleries within it. Links stay valid until you make the gallery private again.
Service providers
- Google Analytics — measures site usage. We configure it to record the page you are on without the query string, so gallery share identifiers are not sent to Google. See Google's privacy policy.
- Esri (ArcGIS) — supplies the map imagery. Because your browser fetches map tiles directly from Esri, Esri receives your IP address and the area of the map you are viewing. See Esri's privacy statement.
- Our hosting provider — operates the servers that store your account and files.
Everyone else
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for advertising. We do not use it to build profiles about you across other websites. We will disclose information if we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to protect the safety of a person or the integrity of the service.
Where your data is held and for how long
Account details and uploaded files are stored on servers in the United States and kept while your account is open. Web server logs are retained for a limited period for security and troubleshooting. When you delete a gallery, its photos are removed from the service. When you delete your account, we delete your account record and your uploaded photos and videos.
One thing is kept: where a payment was actually taken, we retain the record of that transaction — the date, the amount and the reference — because we are required to for accounting and tax. Your email address is removed from those records when you delete your account.
If you pay by subscription, deleting your account does not cancel it. Subscriptions are billed through PayPal, and only you can cancel one — from Automatic Payments in your own PayPal account. Please cancel there as well, or PayPal will keep charging you after you have gone.
Your choices and rights
- See and correct your information — your name, and each gallery's title, place, date and travel details, can be edited in the app at any time.
- Make galleries private — turning off public sharing stops the share link from working.
- Delete content — you can delete individual galleries and photos yourself.
- Pause your account — in Account Settings, “Pause account” signs you out and stops your share links working, while keeping your galleries and photos exactly as they are. Sign in again at any time to bring it back.
- Delete your account — in Account Settings, “Delete account” permanently removes your account, your galleries, and the photos and videos you uploaded. This cannot be undone. You can also email support@pixafar.com if you would rather we did it for you.
- Analytics — you can block analytics with a browser extension or your browser's privacy settings without affecting the rest of the service.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights over your personal information, including the right to obtain a copy of it, to have it corrected or erased, and to object to certain processing. Write to support@pixafar.com and we will help.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as cryptographic hashes. Access to the servers is restricted. No online service can promise perfect security, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information and we will tell affected users if a breach puts their data at risk.
Children
PixAfar is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact support@pixafar.com and we will remove it.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Significant changes will be communicated in the app or by email.
Contact
Questions, corrections, deletion requests, or anything else about your privacy: support@pixafar.com.