Privacy Policy

Effective date: 10 June 2026 · Applies to the Dispatches iPhone app and dispatches.info

Dispatches is built so your photos stay on your iPhone. Nothing you import leaves the device until you choose to send it to a destination you set up. This policy explains exactly what data the app handles, what (in narrow, optional cases) is sent off your device, and the choices and rights you have.

1. Who we are

Dispatches is an iPhone app for working photographers — import, cull, caption, and deliver photos from the field. For the purposes of UK GDPR, EU GDPR, and similar laws, the developer who publishes Dispatches is the data controller for the limited personal data described here. You can reach us at hello@dispatches.info.

This policy covers the Dispatches iOS app and the dispatches.info website. The website is a static marketing site — it does not run advertising trackers, behavioural analytics, or third-party tracking cookies.

2. The short version

• Your photos stay on your iPhone. Imported photos, videos, RAW files, ratings, picks, and metadata are stored on your device. They only move when you send them to a destination you configured.
• We don't sell your data, and we don't track you. No advertising, no behavioural-analytics SDKs, no data brokers.
• AI Event Briefs are optional and you control them. They send event text and photo metadata — never your photo image files — to Google's Gemini service to draft captions. You can turn this off.
• We never ask you for an AI API key. The AI service is app-managed; there is no in-app key entry.
• Apple handles payments. Subscriptions and credit packs are processed by Apple. The app never sees your card or payment details.

3. What data we handle

Most of what Dispatches touches never leaves your device. The table below lists each category, where it lives, and whether it is ever sent off-device.

4. AI Event Briefs (optional online captioning)

Dispatches includes an optional feature that uses an online AI service to draft richer captions for an event. A single privacy toggle in Settings controls it — something like "Use online captioning for richer event briefs · Off keeps everything on-device." It is on by default, and you can turn it off at any time. When it is off, Dispatches falls back to an on-device captioning engine and sends nothing to the AI service.

What is sent when you run an AI Event Brief

• Event details — assignment notes, location string, and calendar context
• Your typed Event Brief text and, if you dictate, the voice transcript
• Photo metadata snippets — filename, capture time, location, and IPTC fields if set

Who processes it

When online captioning is on, these details are sent over an encrypted HTTPS connection to Google's Gemini API, accessed via Google Firebase, which returns the drafted caption text. The credentials for this service are app-managed and held by us (server-side or as a protected build-time secret) — Dispatches never asks you for an API key, and there is no in-app field to enter one.

Google processes this data as our service provider to generate the caption and return it. Google's handling of API data is governed by its own terms; see Google's privacy documentation for details. We do not use this data to build advertising profiles, and we do not sell it.

5. Security in transit

Dispatches handles two very different kinds of "sending," and we want to be precise rather than overstate.

• App-managed services (AI Event Briefs): the connection to the AI service runs over HTTPS, which encrypts the data in transit.
• Destinations you configure (FTP, email, social, and similar): the security of the transfer depends on the destination and the protocol you choose. Dispatches supports plain FTP, which is not encrypted — with plain FTP, the security of the transfer depends entirely on the server you connect to. If you need the delivery itself encrypted, choose a destination and protocol that provides it. We cannot guarantee the security of servers and services operated by third parties that you point Dispatches at.

6. Subscriptions & payments

Dispatches is sold as a subscription, with optional consumable credit packs, through Apple's App Store. All payments are processed by Apple. Purchases, renewals, billing, and your card details are handled entirely by Apple under your Apple ID — the app never receives or stores your payment information. We receive only the subscription entitlement status needed to unlock the app's features, plus the anonymised, aggregated sales reporting Apple provides to every developer.

7. Diagnostics & crash data

If a crash or performance issue occurs, diagnostic information may be collected through Apple's standard, system-level mechanisms — the same ones that apply across iOS — and only if you have opted in to sharing analytics with developers in your iOS settings. Dispatches does not embed third-party analytics, advertising, attribution, or behavioural-tracking SDKs. We do not profile your activity, and we do not use your photos or captions to train models.

8. Third parties

Dispatches relies on a deliberately small set of third parties:

• Google (Gemini via Firebase) — processes event text and photo metadata to generate AI Event Brief captions, only when you have online captioning turned on. Image bytes are never sent.
• Apple — operates the App Store, processes all payments, and provides the system-level diagnostics described above.
• Destinations you configure — the FTP servers, email providers, social platforms, and similar services you set up receive the photos and metadata you send them. They are operated by you or by third parties of your choosing, under their own terms and privacy practices.

We do not share your data with advertising networks, data brokers, or analytics vendors, and we do not sell your data.

9. Retention & deletion

Your photos, metadata, presets, and settings are stored on your iPhone and stay there until you delete them in the app or remove the app. You are in control: deleting a shoot, a photo, or the app removes that data from your device.

Data sent to the AI service for an Event Brief is processed to return your caption; it is not retained by us as a stored profile. Photos and metadata you deliver to a destination you configured live on according to that destination's own retention rules, which are outside our control.

10. Your rights

Because nearly all of your data lives on your own device, you exercise most of your rights directly — by viewing, editing, or deleting content in the app.

If you are in the UK, EU, or EEA (UK GDPR / EU GDPR)

You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing of your personal data, and to data portability. The developer is the controller and processes the minimum data needed to provide the app's features (lawful basis: performance of our agreement with you and your consent for optional online captioning). You can withdraw consent for online captioning at any time using the Settings toggle. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. To make a request, email hello@dispatches.info.

If you are in California (CCPA/CPRA)

You have the right to know what personal information we handle, to request deletion, and to opt out of "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined under California law, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. To make a request, email hello@dispatches.info.

11. Children

Dispatches is a professional tool aimed at working photographers and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

12. Changes to this policy

If we change how Dispatches handles data, we will update this page and revise the effective date at the top. Material changes that affect what is sent off your device will also be surfaced in the app where appropriate. Continued use of Dispatches after an update means you accept the revised policy.