Privacy policy
Snapgate is an Android application that lets you decide, photo by photo, which images are uploaded to your Google Photos library and which are not.
The one-sentence summary: we operate no servers, your photos never leave your device except towards your own Google account, and only when you ask for it.
Who is responsible
José Francisco Jiménez Alburquerque (jfjalburquerque), the independent developer of Snapgate, based in Spain. You can get in touch at jfjalburquerque@gmail.com.
What data is handled, and why
Your photos
The app reads images from the folders you configure so it can show them to you and ask what to do with them. That reading happens entirely on your device. No copies are sent anywhere, nothing is analysed, and nothing is retained outside your phone's own storage.
Your Google account
If you choose to connect it, Snapgate requests two specific permissions:
photoslibrary.appendonly, which allows it only to add photos to your library.photoslibrary.readonly.appcreateddata, which allows it to see only the albums the app itself created.
With those permissions the app cannot read, modify or delete any photo or album you already had. That restriction is enforced by Google, not promised by us. The access token is stored in the app's private storage on your device and is never transmitted to third parties.
Usage data
None. There is no analytics, no measurement tooling, no advertising identifiers and no automatic crash reporting.
Google user data accessed by the application
If you connect your account, Snapgate requests exactly two Google Photos API scopes and no others:
| Scope | What it allows, exactly |
|---|---|
photoslibrary.appendonly |
Only to add photos and create albums in your library. It is write-only: it grants no read access to anything you already have. |
photoslibrary.readonly.appcreateddata |
To read only the albums created by the application itself, so you can choose which one to send photos to. |
With those scopes, the Google user data the application can access is limited to:
- The title and identifier of albums created by the application itself, in order to offer them as a destination.
- The access and refresh tokens Google issues when you authorise it.
The application does not access your existing photos or albums, your name, email address, contacts, calendar, Drive files or any other Google service. That limitation does not rest on our good faith: Google enforces it by granting only those scopes, and you can verify it on the consent screen before accepting.
What it is used for. Solely to upload to your library the photographs you explicitly approve, and to offer app-created albums as a destination. It is not used for advertising, profiling or model training, and it is never sold or transferred to anyone.
How this data is protected
- In transit. All communication with Google's APIs is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS. The app talks to no other server, because no server of ours exists.
- At rest. Tokens are stored in the application's private storage, isolated by the Android sandbox, which no other app on the device can reach.
- Excluded from backups. The file holding the tokens is excluded from both cloud backup and direct device-to-device transfer. The credential never leaves the phone where you authorised it.
- Least privilege. The most restricted write scope available for this purpose is requested, rather than full library access.
- Retention and deletion. Tokens are kept only while the account remains connected. They are deleted when you disconnect it from the app's settings and when you uninstall the app. You can also revoke access at any time from your Google account permissions page, which invalidates the tokens immediately.
- No third parties. There is no analytics, no advertising SDK and no crash-reporting service that could receive this data.
Who it is shared with
Nobody. The only network communication the app performs is:
- With Google's servers, to upload the photos you approve to your library.
- With Google Play, to verify your purchase.
Retention
Settings, the list of already-decided photos and the access token are kept on your device for as long as the app is installed. Uninstalling removes them completely.
Your rights
You can disconnect your Google account from the app's settings at any time, and revoke access entirely from your Google account permissions page. Since we hold no data about you on any system of ours, there is nothing for us to provide or erase.
If you live in the European Union, the GDPR applies to you. Because we process no personal data outside your device, exercising those rights is resolved by the uninstall and revocation described above. Write to us with any question.
Children
Snapgate is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published on this page with its date. Substantial changes will also be announced inside the app.