Why on-device AI is better for your event photos

When you host an event that truly matters to you, you want to focus on the people in the room, not the technology in the background. Whether it’s a film premiere, a wedding, or a family trip, you want to capture every memory in high quality. However, there is a critical trade-off most hosts don't see: the privacy cost of convenience. Many shared photo gallery apps claim to offer smart features like facial recognition, but they often achieve this by uploading your photos to their servers. This raises significant concerns about surveillance, data misuse, and long-term ownership.

The risks of cloud-based AI and data harvesting

When you upload photos to a standard cloud server, you are giving that company access to your biometric data. In the modern digital landscape, data can be weaponised. For example, bots can influence your behaviour over time (1). If your likeness is collected on a server, it can be repurposed for training models that monetise your privacy rather than serve your event. There are real-world consequences to losing this privacy. Biometric data collected in the cloud can lead to deepfake risks (defamation through automated image manipulation) and loss of freedom due to monitoring (2). If an event photo gallery is used to train AI for third-party purposes, your guest’s faces could potentially be used for marketing or surveillance without their knowledge. We believe that surveillance should not be the price of convenience.

The Keepsake solution: intelligence that stays on your device

At Keepsake, we chose a different path. We built a system where privacy and utility coexist. Our facial recognition AI runs completely locally on your phone. This means your device performs the face detection work, and the matching happens entirely within your phone's memory. When you want AI, facial recognition runs locally on your phone. No cloud processing, no data harvesting. Guests can find pictures of themselves quickly without manually going through all pictures in the gallery. Your face data never leaves your device, ensuring that the use of AI serves you, not the company. Because the processing happens locally, there is no waiting for server responses. It's protecting your privacy, making your life easier and saving the environment (3) all at once. It's simply better than cloud-based AI.

You own your photos, not us

A common fear among hosts is where their photos will be in 10 years. Many services store photos on their own servers, which can lock you into subscription fees or leave your memories vulnerable if the company decides not to hold them after a few months or if the company shuts down entirely. We prioritise data safety by ensuring photos save directly to a storage solution you already use and trust; your Google Drive or OneDrive. Keepsake doesn't store anything. We are transparent about where photos are stored, allowing you to keep your photos forever without additional hassles or paying Keepsake for additional storage. If you stop using Keepsake, your memories stay in the storage you already use.

Privacy that actually means something

We know you care about your guests. Most guests are comfortable sharing photos at events they're attending - it's contextually appropriate. However, we believe in always respecting privacy preferences. We give guests the option to opt out and allow them to delete their own uploads if desired. Our goal is to provide privacy that actually means something. By using email-based OTP sign-in and access controls, we provide security without invading personal space. We ensure ease of use that respects your guests, even for those who might be less tech-savvy, like an older relative at the event.

Built with real care

We built Keepsake because we wanted a better way to share event photos. We built it with privacy in mind because we're users too, and we care about where our data goes. If people are taking photos at it, Keepsake works for it. We want you to know that we are built with real care, which means Keepsake won't be disappearing without warning, we won't be stealing your data and you'll always have your memories. Unlike the recent trend in tech, we will never change our approach to face detection without telling you explicitly and giving you a choice. Your trust matters more to us than any feature we could build by sacrificing your privacy.

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If you have any questions about how Keepsake handles your data, we are happy to answer them honestly. Reach us at support@keepsakeapp.io.

References

[1] Can AI Change Your View? Evidence from a Large-Scale Online Field Experiment
[2] How Surveillance Technology is Changing Our Behaviour and Our Brains
[3] AI Has an Environmental Problem. Here's What the World Can Do About That.