The short version
- Your photos never leave your device. All analysis runs on your Mac, iPad or iPhone.
- Cull sends a handful of anonymous usage events, like “a session was opened with 412 photos”, so I can see which features get used. No photos, file names or personal details are included.
- There are no ads, no accounts and no tracking across other apps or websites.
- Purchases are handled entirely by Apple.
1. Who is responsible
Cull is made by Briek Keters, who is responsible for the data described on this page. For any question about privacy, email support@cullphotopicker.com.
2. Your photos
Cull scores sharpness, faces, open eyes, aesthetics and exposure using Apple’s Vision framework, entirely on your device. Photos, previews and analysis results are never uploaded anywhere. Faces are detected to score and zoom to them; Cull does not recognise or identify who is in a photo.
Analysis results, photo rotations and, if you turn on “Learn from my culling”, the personal scoring model built from your keep and reject decisions are stored in Cull’s own storage on your device.
- Folders and drives. Cull only opens folders you choose. When you ask it to, it writes XMP sidecar files next to your photos and copies or moves keeps and rejects to a destination folder. XMP files contain your rating and colour label, plus the author, copyright and keywords if you fill those in under Settings.
- Photos library (iPad and iPhone). With your permission, Cull reads photos from your library to cull them. If you ask it to, it adds photos to Keep and Reject albums, and it can move rejects to Recently Deleted after the system asks you to confirm. If you use iCloud Photos, originals may be downloaded from iCloud by Apple when needed.
3. Anonymous usage statistics
To understand which features are used and where things go wrong, Cull sends a small number of usage events to TelemetryDeck, an analytics service run by TelemetryDeck GmbH in Germany. Each event contains only:
- the name of the event, from the fixed list below, and a count where one is shown;
- whether you’re using the Mac, iPad or iPhone version;
- a random identifier created the first time you open Cull, and a random identifier for the current launch. Neither is derived from you or your device.
| Event | Also sent |
|---|---|
| App launched | — |
| Session opened | number of photos |
| Session opened from the Photos library | number of photos |
| AI analysis finished | number of photos |
| Keeps and rejects saved to Photos albums | number of keeps and rejects |
| Rejects moved to the trash in Photos | number of photos |
| Settings opened | — |
| Export to Lightroom opened | — |
| Purchase completed | — |
No photos, thumbnails, file or folder names, photo metadata, locations, device names, Apple ID, email address or other personal details are ever sent. The random identifier isn’t linked to your identity and isn’t combined with any other data, which is why the App Store lists this as “Usage Data, not linked to you”. As with any internet request, TelemetryDeck’s servers see your device’s IP address when an event arrives; Cull doesn’t include it in the event itself.
The legal basis is legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR): keeping the app working and deciding what to improve, using the least data that makes that possible. Culling works fully offline, and no events are sent while your device has no connection. Because the identifier can’t be tied back to you, I have no way to look up the events from a particular person.
4. Purchases and the free trial
The purchase that unlocks Cull is handled by Apple through the App Store. Cull never sees your payment details or Apple ID; it only receives confirmation from Apple that the purchase went through. Apple’s own privacy policy applies to the transaction.
The start of your 14-day trial is recorded in the Keychain on your device, set so it stays on that device and isn’t synced. Nothing about the trial is sent to me.
5. What Cull doesn’t do
- No advertising and no advertising identifiers.
- No tracking across other companies’ apps or websites.
- No accounts or sign-in.
- No selling, renting or sharing of data with anyone other than the services named on this page.
6. Emailing support
If you email me, I receive your email address and whatever you choose to include, such as screenshots. I use it only to answer you and don’t keep it longer than needed for that.
7. This website
This site is hosted on GitHub Pages by GitHub, Inc., which may log technical details such as your IP address to operate and secure the service. The site itself sets no cookies and uses no analytics, fonts or scripts from other services. Links to the App Store take you to Apple, whose privacy policy applies there.
8. Children
Cull is rated 4+ and doesn’t collect personal details from anyone, including children.
9. Your rights
Depending on where you live, including in the EU, EEA and UK, you have the right to access, correct or delete personal data about you, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive a copy of it. Email support@cullphotopicker.com to use any of these rights. You can also complain to the data protection authority where you live.
10. Changes
If Cull starts handling data differently, this page will be updated and the date at the top will change.