Privacy

Photo search privacy: what happens to an upload?

Before uploading, check who receives the picture, how long it may be retained and how you can request removal.

Follow the data, not the button

An upload button may send your photograph through the website’s server to a separate search provider. The website and provider can have different retention policies. Read both before sending a private photograph. A promise not to save an image in an application database does not establish what an upstream provider does.

Prepare a smaller disclosure

Use a copy that excludes unrelated people, documents, addresses and private messages. Keep the original privately if you need it for your own records. Review location metadata as well as visible details; cropping a picture does not necessarily remove its metadata.

How Trace handles API tests

Trace sends the selected image to FaceCheck only after you start the consented test. The integration does not persist uploads or API results in an application database. It requests removal of the search input after completion or cancellation. Network failures can prevent that request from succeeding, and upstream retention remains subject to the provider’s policy. Closing the tab is not confirmation of deletion.

Check the result too

A returned source page is another website with its own privacy practices. Do not assume that following a result is anonymous. Avoid uploading intimate pictures or sensitive documents as a troubleshooting experiment. Read the privacy notice and metadata guide before starting.

Published by Trace with AI assistance. How we use sources and maintain these guides.
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