Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 July 2026

Afterglow turns the photos from a trip you've already taken into a travel book. This page explains, plainly, what happens to your data along the way.

The short version

By default, your photo files stay on your device — we don't upload the actual images. A small amount of technical data — coordinates, timestamps, place names, and whatever you write or say while using the AI features — does travel to our server and on to the services that make the book possible. One optional feature, AI photo assist, can send small thumbnails of your photos for processing when you choose to turn it on; it is off by default and the thumbnails are not stored. Details below.

Your photos

When you add photos, Afterglow reads their EXIF data (location and time) directly in your browser. The photo files themselves are stored locally in your browser (IndexedDB) — they are not uploaded to our servers. Only the coordinates and timestamps extracted from your photos are sent to our server, so we can reconstruct your journey (the route, the stops, the order of the trip). The one exception is the optional AI photo assist feature described below, which sends small thumbnails only when you turn it on.

Cloud saving (when available)

We plan to offer an optional cloud save/resume feature so you can pick up a book on another device. If you use cloud saving (when available), your photos and book data may be stored on our servers for the purpose of letting you resume your work, and will be automatically deleted after a defined retention period. We will update this policy with the specific retention window before that feature goes live.

[OWNER: set and confirm the auto-deletion retention period before cloud saving launches.]

The AI features (interview and page design)

Afterglow uses AI (via Anthropic's API) to help write your journal entries and design your pages. These features send text only to our server and on to Anthropic: place names, dates, photo IDs, captions, and whatever you type or say. No photo pixels are sent as part of these features.

If you use voice input, your speech is transcribed by your browser's own speech engine — the audio itself is not sent to us; only the resulting text is used.

AI photo assist (optional)

Afterglow includes an optional feature, AI photo assist, that can use AI to pick your best photos and match captions to the right picture. It is off by default. Your photos stay on your device unless you turn it on. When you do turn it on — after a one-time explainer you have to accept — Afterglow creates small thumbnails of your photos in your browser and sends them, over a secure connection, to Anthropic's API for processing. These thumbnails are used only to rank or match your photos for that request and are not stored on our servers. You can turn AI photo assist off again at any time, and the on-device tidy-up tools (hiding blurry photos, removing duplicates) never send anything — they run entirely in your browser.

Other services we use

Building your journey and book involves a few third-party services, each of which receives only the technical data it needs to do its job:

• MapTiler — map tiles and geocoding; receives coordinates.
• Open-Meteo — historical weather; receives coordinates and dates.
• OSRM (routing demo server) — receives route coordinates to draw travel paths.
• Vercel — hosts the app and keeps standard server logs.

We do not use analytics or tracking cookies today, we do not run ads, and Afterglow does not require an account.

Printed books

Printed book ordering is not live yet. When it is, if you order a printed book, the data needed to print and ship it — such as your book's content and your delivery address — goes to our print partner to fulfil the order.

[OWNER: name the print partner and link its own privacy policy once ordering goes live.]

Your rights

We are based in the EU and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies. You have the right to access the data we hold about you, ask us to erase it, and request a copy of it in a portable format. You can also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

We process the technical data described above on these legal bases: performance of a contract (to provide the core features you're using), legitimate interest (for example, to prevent abuse of the service), and consent where applicable (for example, optional features you opt into).

Some of the services we use — including Anthropic and Vercel — are based in the United States. Where personal data is transferred there, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, where applicable.

Changes to this policy

If we materially change how we handle your data, we will update this page and change the "Last updated" date above.

Contact

[Contact: hello@—]