Privacy Policy

1. About ApertureBook

ApertureBook is a platform, operated by Wilkes Software LLC, that lets photographers create photo galleries and share them with clients. Clients may access shared photos through the web app or the ApertureBook mobile app for iOS and Android.

This policy applies to:

• Photographers who create accounts and upload content
• Clients who view or download galleries shared with them

2. Information We Collect

Photographers

• Name and email address
• Account credentials
• Subscription and billing information
• Uploaded photos and galleries
• Invoices you create, including client names, amounts, line items, and payment status
• If you enable online payments, the Stripe account you connect and related payout and identity information (collected and held by Stripe)
• Communications with support

Clients

• Name (if provided) and email address
• Access credentials or invite links
• Photos and galleries shared by photographers
• Billing details on invoices addressed to you
• Payment information you provide when paying an invoice online (collected and processed by Stripe; we do not receive full card numbers)

Automatically Collected

• IP address, device type, OS, and browser
• Pages viewed, actions taken, and access timestamps

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use a small number of cookies and similar local storage. They fall into two groups.

Strictly necessary. These are required for the Services to work and are used without consent, as permitted by law:

Analytics (optional). We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how our website is used, so we can improve it. It records pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser type, and how you arrived at the site. Google acts as our service provider and processes this data in the United States.

We do not use advertising cookies, third-party advertising pixels, or cross-site tracking, and we do not use Google Analytics data for ad personalization.

Your Cookie Choices

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, Google Analytics does not run at all unless you accept it. Everywhere else, analytics runs by default and you may turn it off at any time. Either way, you can change your choice whenever you like using the Cookie settings link in the footer of any page, and rejecting analytics also deletes the analytics cookies already stored on your device.

We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signal. If your browser sends it, we treat that as an instruction to turn analytics off, and we will not ask you again.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Provide and operate the Services
• Create and manage accounts
• Host and deliver photo galleries
• Process subscriptions, and enable invoicing and client payments through Stripe
• Communicate about account activity and support
• Improve platform features and reliability
• Detect and prevent fraud or abuse
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Photos and Uploaded Content

Photos uploaded to ApertureBook remain the property of the photographer or their clients. We store photos solely to provide gallery hosting and sharing functionality. We do not sell, license, analyze, or use uploaded photos for advertising, AI training, or marketing purposes.

5. Storage and Infrastructure

Uploaded photos and data are stored using DigitalOcean Spaces and related cloud infrastructure. Access is restricted and protected using reasonable security measures.

6. Sharing of Information

We do not sell personal information. We may share information only:

• With service providers that help operate the Services (e.g., Stripe for payments and Stripe Connect, DigitalOcean for hosting and storage, Brevo for email, and Google Analytics for website measurement where you have allowed it). When a photographer accepts online payments, invoice and payment information is shared with Stripe to process the transaction
• To comply with legal requirements or lawful requests
• To protect the rights, safety, or security of ApertureBook or its users
• In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, users will be notified

7. Email Communications

We use Brevo to send transactional emails such as account confirmations, gallery notifications, and support responses. We do not send marketing emails unless you explicitly opt in.

8. Payments and Stripe Connect

Payments are processed by Stripe. This covers both (a) ApertureBook subscription fees paid by photographers, and (b) online invoice payments made by clients to photographers through Stripe Connect.

When a photographer connects a Stripe account to accept payments, Stripe collects and processes that photographer's identity, business, and payout information directly. When a client pays an invoice online, Stripe collects and processes the client's payment details. ApertureBook does not store credit card numbers or sensitive payment data; we receive limited transaction information such as amounts, platform and processing fees, payment status, and card brand or last four digits for record-keeping and reporting.

Stripe acts as the payment processor and is responsible for handling payment data, identity verification, payouts, and related compliance. Stripe's handling of data is governed by its own privacy policy.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information and uploaded content only as long as needed to provide the Services, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Photographers may delete galleries or request account deletion at any time.

Accounts scheduled for deletion are retained for 30 days before permanent removal, so a deletion requested in error can be reversed by signing back in. Where an account is suspended, photos and other uploaded media are permanently deleted after 30 days; account records, invoices, and contracts are retained for legal, tax, and dispute-resolution purposes.

10. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Your Rights

Whoever and wherever you are, you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data by contacting us at the email below. We will not treat you differently for exercising any right described here.

European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland

If you are in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, the GDPR (or UK GDPR) applies to our processing and you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to our use of your personal data, the right to data portability, and the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

We rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract for operating accounts, hosting galleries, sending transactional email, and processing payments
• Consent for website analytics, which you may withdraw at any time via Cookie settings in the footer, with no effect on processing carried out before you withdrew it
• Legitimate interests for keeping the Services secure, preventing fraud and abuse, and diagnosing errors
• Legal obligation where the law requires us to retain or disclose information

ApertureBook is based in the United States, so using the Services involves transferring your personal data to the United States. Where we rely on service providers to do so, we use the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or another approved transfer mechanism offered by that provider.

California

If you are a California resident, the CCPA as amended by the CPRA gives you the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, to request its deletion or correction, and to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not run advertising pixels, and Google Analytics is configured for measurement only, not ad personalization. You can still switch analytics off entirely using Cookie settings in the footer, and we honor the Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out.

The categories of personal information we collect are described in section 2, our purposes in section 3, and the service providers we disclose it to in section 6. We do not knowingly collect or sell the personal information of anyone under 16.

Other U.S. states

Residents of other states with comprehensive privacy laws, including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Oregon, Texas, Montana, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Nebraska, have comparable rights of access, correction, deletion, and opt-out, including the right to have a universal opt-out signal such as Global Privacy Control honored. Contact us at the email below to exercise them.

12. Children's Privacy

ApertureBook is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Services indicates acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Reach us at [email protected].