Privacy
Last updated 3 November 2026
The short version
- In Fast and free mode your photo never leaves your device.
- In Smart AI mode your photo is sent to our server and counted. We don't save it, log it, look at it, share it, or use it to train anything. Our cloud provider, Modal, keeps a copy of each request, encrypted, for up to 7 days and then deletes it.
- There are no accounts, and this site sets no cookies of its own.
- If you write to us with the contact form, we keep your message and any images you attach until we've answered, then delete them.
- Smart AI counts use credits or a one-photo pass. Payments are handled by Stripe: we never see your card details.
- To stop abuse and to offer a free count per day, we count requests per visitor using a scrambled form of your IP address. These counts delete themselves within about a week.
- Our server and payment provider are in the United States, so what you send them leaves Quebec. We explain below how it is protected.
Two ways to count
The photo, your outlines and the matching all stay in this browser tab. Closing the tab removes them.
The photo and your outlines go to our counting server. We don't keep them; our cloud provider deletes its copy within 7 days.
What Smart AI mode sends
When you count in Smart AI mode, your browser sends our server:
- The photo, re-saved as a JPEG and shrunk to at most 2400 pixels on its longest side. The file name, location and camera details (EXIF) are not included.
- Your outlines: the count area, the example objects, and the marks you removed.
- Two settings used for the count.
If you then ask for a credit back, your browser sends the count's reference, the two counts (Smart AI and Fast and free) and a one-word reason. No photo.
The server finds the objects with a specialty AI model and sends back their outlines. Our code holds the photo in memory only while counting it: we never save it to a file or database, never put it in our logs, and never look at it. Your photos are not used to train or improve any model. The model runs on our own server account, so no AI company receives your photos.
Our server runs on Modal (see below), and Modal stores every request it delivers, including the photo and the outlines we send back, encrypted, for up to 7 days before deleting it. We don't use that copy.
Your photo is sent only when you press Run AI count. Switching to Smart AI mode only asks our server for prices and your balance. If you have an access key, your browser sends it with these requests, so the right balance can be shown and charged.
Where the server runs
The counting server runs on Modal, a cloud computing provider. Requests are received and stored in the United States. The counting itself runs on whichever of Modal's computers is free, which can be in another country. Modal handles the network traffic to our server, so it processes your IP address and request details under its own privacy policy. Using Smart AI mode therefore means your photo is transferred outside Quebec, to the United States.
What we keep, and for how long
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your photo and outlines | To count the objects | We keep nothing after the count. Modal, our cloud provider, keeps its encrypted copy of the request for up to 7 days. |
| Request counters: a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address, a time window, and a number | To limit how many AI counts one visitor can run per minute and per day, and to give one free count a day | Deleted automatically within about 7 days (the record of today's free count, within 3 days) |
| Credits: a scrambled (hashed) form of your access key, your credit and photo-pass balance, and a history of purchases and counts (date, credits or passes added or used, and the Stripe payment reference) | To know how many credits you have, and to make sure each payment adds credits exactly once | Until you ask us to delete it, also after your credits run out, so a purchase can always be checked. Our private backups hold copies too. |
| Monthly plans (batch and API customers): the plan's name, usually your company's, its monthly credits and limits, linked to the plan's access key | To give the plan its credits each month and send you a usage report | While the plan runs, and afterwards as long as the purchase records above |
| Messages from the contact form: what it's about, your message, the email address and name if you gave them, and any images you attached (re-saved as JPEG, without location or camera details) | To answer you, and to quote and set up a custom service | Until we've answered and no longer need it, then deleted. Ask us any time to delete it sooner. |
| Service logs: time, number of objects found, number of image tiles, how long it took, and error types. When you ask for a credit back: the two counts (Smart AI and Fast and free) and the reason | To keep the service running and fix problems | Kept by Modal for a limited time (currently 1 day) |
The logs, counters and credit records contain no photos, no outlines and no raw IP addresses: an IP address is only kept as a keyed hash, which can't be turned back into the address. We don't sell or share any of this.
Buying credits or a photo pass
Credits are sold through Stripe. When you buy, you go to a payment page run by Stripe, which collects your payment details and email address under its own privacy policy. Our server then checks with Stripe that the payment went through. Stripe's answer includes your email address, but we keep only the pack you bought and the payment reference. We never see your card number.
Your credits and photo passes belong to an access key, a long random code. There's no account or password: whoever has the key can use its credits, so keep it private. We store only a scrambled form of it, so we can't tell you your key if you lose it. Contact us with your payment receipt and we'll help.
Stored in your browser
- Your access key is saved in this browser's local storage, so your credits are there next time. You can remove it in the Access key box, or by clearing this site's data.
- While you are on Stripe's payment page, a copy of your photo and outlines is kept in this browser tab's session storage, so you can carry on where you left off. It never leaves your device, and it is deleted as soon as you return or close the tab.
- Download image makes the marked photo in your browser. Nothing is sent.
Other services this site uses
- Fonts load from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google's servers when the page opens. See Google Fonts privacy.
- Web hosting. The company that serves these pages may keep standard access logs, such as IP address, time, and the page requested, like any website.
- Advertising. The site shows no ads now. If we add Google AdSense later, ads will only load after you choose in a consent banner, and personalised ads, which use cookies to follow your visits to other sites, only if you agree to them. See How Google uses information from sites that use its services. We would never give ad networks your photos, counts or access key.
Information sent outside Quebec
We use these service providers, outside Quebec:
- Modal (United States): runs our counting server. It receives Smart AI photos and outlines, contact-form messages and images, and holds our credits records.
- Stripe (United States and Canada): handles payments.
- Google Fonts (United States): serves the fonts of these pages.
- The company that hosts these pages.
Before using them, we assessed how they protect information. They send and store it encrypted, may use it only to provide their service to us, and have their own privacy commitments. We send them only what the service needs: no photos are kept by us, and IP addresses are only kept as a keyed hash. Even so, once information is in another country, its laws apply there, and its authorities may be able to ask for it.
Person in charge of personal information
The person in charge of the protection of personal information at Photo Counter is . Write to about anything on this page.
Privacy incidents
We keep a register of privacy incidents. If an incident creates a risk of serious injury, we tell the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec and the people concerned as quickly as possible, and act to reduce the risk.
Your choices
- Use Fast and free mode if you don't want your photo to leave your device.
- Draw a count area in Smart AI mode if only part of the photo matters. The whole photo is still sent, but only that part is counted.
- We don't hold your name, email or photos, unless you sent them to us with the contact form. If you want your credit records deleted, send us your access key (or your Stripe receipt) at the address below.
Your rights
Under Quebec's law on the protection of personal information in the private sector, you can ask what we hold about you and get a copy, have it corrected, have it deleted when we no longer need it, and withdraw your consent. You can also complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec. Because we don't know who you are, we can only find your records from your access key or your Stripe receipt. Write to the address below and we'll answer within 30 days.
This site isn't meant for children under 14. We don't knowingly collect anything about them; a child under 14 should use it only with a parent's consent.
Changes
If we change what the site collects, we'll update this page and the date at the top.
Contact
Questions about privacy: . Our address is on the business information page.