Privacy Policy
1. Overview
PhotoRelay (“PhotoRelay”, “we”) is a macOS app that copies photos and videos from your Apple Photos library to your own Google Photos account. PhotoRelay is the developer and controller of this website and the app. This policy explains what data the app and this website handle.
PhotoRelay has no servers of its own and no user accounts. When you sync, your photos and videos go directly from your Mac to Google’s APIs over HTTPS. We do not receive, store or have access to your photos, your Google credentials or your Google account data.
2. Google user data we access
When you connect Google Photos, PhotoRelay asks Google for the following OAuth scopes and uses each one only for the purpose described:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/photoslibrary.appendonly— lets PhotoRelay upload photos and videos to your Google Photos library and create albums. It does not allow reading your existing library.https://www.googleapis.com/auth/photoslibrary.readonly.appcreateddata— lets PhotoRelay read only albums and items that PhotoRelay itself created. In the app this is used to list PhotoRelay-created albums so you can choose a destination album.https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email— lets PhotoRelay read the email address of the Google account you connected, so the app can show you which account is connected.
PhotoRelay cannot see, list or download the rest of your Google Photos library, including photos you uploaded by other means.
3. How data is used, stored and shared
- Google OAuth tokens and your Google account email address are stored only in the macOS Keychain on your Mac. They are used only to talk to Google on your behalf.
- Sync state (for each item: its local Photos identifier, media type, file size, a checksum, Google upload and media identifiers, sync status, retry count, last error message and timestamps) is kept in a local database on your Mac. While items are being processed, temporary working copies of them may be kept in folders on your Mac.
- PhotoRelay does not send this data to us. We do not sell it, share it with third parties, or use it for advertising, and no person at PhotoRelay reads it.
- The only network destinations the app contacts for Google features are Google’s own servers (sign-in, token, userinfo and Google Photos endpoints).
4. Apple Photos library access
PhotoRelay asks macOS for permission to access your Photos library. It reads your photos, videos and albums locally in order to export them and upload them to Google Photos. This data is not sent anywhere except to Google Photos as part of the upload you asked for.
PhotoRelay can free up space by removing local originals from your Photos library, but only if you turn on the automatic-delete setting in the app and only for items that Google Photos has confirmed as successfully created (an upload that returned a valid Google media identifier that PhotoRelay has stored). Removal is a paid-tier feature, and it is submitted through Apple’s Photos framework, so macOS shows its own confirmation dialog. If you cancel or deny that dialog, nothing is removed.
5. Google API Services – Limited Use
PhotoRelay's 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.
6. Retention and deletion
- Disconnect in the app. Choose “Disconnect Google Photos”. PhotoRelay asks Google to revoke your access token (which ends the authorization) and then deletes the access token, refresh token, token expiry and your email address from the Keychain and from memory. The selected destination album is also cleared. Disconnecting does not delete photos already uploaded to Google Photos, and it does not delete the local sync database or log files. A one-way hash of the last connected account’s email address is kept in the app’s preferences so the app can tell when you connect a different account and reset its sync state.
- Revoke from Google. You can remove PhotoRelay’s access at any time at https://myaccount.google.com/connections.
- Uninstalling. Deleting the app from your Mac does not automatically remove everything it created. The local sync database, log files, preferences and any Keychain items may remain until you delete them yourself (for example with Keychain Access and Finder), or use “Disconnect Google Photos” before uninstalling to clear the Google tokens and email.
- Because we hold no copy of your data, we cannot delete it for you; you control it on your Mac. To ask us anything about it, contact us at the address below.
7. Purchases and licensing
Mac App Store version
Purchases are handled entirely by Apple. PhotoRelay does not receive your payment details.
Direct-download version (“PhotoRelay Unlimited”)
Checkout on our website is handled by Lemon Squeezy, which processes your payment and issues your license key under its own privacy policy. When you activate a license in the app, PhotoRelay sends the following to Lemon Squeezy (api.lemonsqueezy.com): your license key, your Mac’s name (as shown in macOS) and a hardware identifier of your Mac used to count activations. To re-check the license, the app periodically sends the license key and that hardware identifier, and deactivating a license sends them again. A record of the activation is stored in your Mac’s Keychain.
8. Diagnostics and logs
PhotoRelay writes a log file on your Mac (in ~/Library/Logs/PhotoRelay). Logs can include technical events and error messages, and may include your connected Google email address and file names. Logs stay on your Mac and are not sent to us automatically.
A diagnostic bundle is created only when you ask for one in the app. It contains app and macOS version, hardware architecture and memory size, sync counts, recent failure records and recent log lines. Email addresses, local file paths and media file names are replaced with hashed placeholders. The bundle is saved as a file on your Mac and is shared only if you choose to send it to us, for example by email.
9. No analytics in the app
The PhotoRelay app contains no analytics, advertising, crash-reporting or telemetry SDKs, and its own network requests go only to Google (sign-in and Google Photos) and, in the direct-download version, to Lemon Squeezy for licensing. In the Mac App Store version, purchases are processed by Apple.
10. This website
- The home page and the guide pages use Google Analytics to count visitors. Google Analytics sets cookies and sends usage data (such as pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser information and your IP address) to Google. You can block this with browser settings or tools such as the Google Analytics opt-out add-on. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages do not load Google Analytics.
- The site is hosted on Cloudflare, which processes standard web request logs (such as IP address and request details) to deliver the site and keep it secure.
- The home page loads Lemon Squeezy’s script for checkout, and the checkout itself is handled by Lemon Squeezy.
- The site stores your language and light/dark theme choice in your browser’s local storage. This stays on your device.
11. Children
PhotoRelay is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top shows when it last changed, and material changes will be posted on this page.
13. Contact
PhotoRelay — photorelay.app@gmail.com