BackUpYourPhotos
Your photos, on your terms.
BackUpYourPhotos is published by Third Culture Design, Inc. This policy covers the Mac app. It does not replace Flickr’s privacy policy or the separate privacy notice for our website.
Your photos stay between Flickr and your Mac
The app connects directly to Flickr to authorize your account, discover your library, and download originals and metadata to a folder you choose. We do not operate a server that receives your photos, Flickr credentials, metadata, or backup history. The app has no advertising, analytics SDK, or tracking. We do not sell your app data.
Flickr connection
You supply a Flickr API key and secret and authorize read-only access in Flickr's sign-in flow. The app stores the connection credentials and authorization tokens in macOS Keychain. They are used only to communicate with Flickr. Flickr receives requests needed to provide the service, including the requested media and your network address, and handles that information under its own privacy policy: Flickr’s privacy policy.
Files and settings on your Mac
The app stores account names, account identifiers, preferences, and permission to reopen your selected backup folder in its local macOS app storage. Backup folders contain unchanged originals, readable JSON metadata, and backup progress and history. Depending on what Flickr provides, exports may include titles, descriptions, tags, dates, location, privacy settings, and embedded EXIF. They can contain private or sensitive information. Operational listing caches expire after 24 hours; exported files and their metadata remain until you remove them. Local request-pacing records contain timing and retry state and use a hash of the API key as their filename. A rolling diagnostic log keeps the latest 100 response codes, timings, retry instructions, and hashed request identifiers locally; it does not contain credentials, full addresses, titles, or media.
Your backup destination
Exports are ordinary files; the app does not add encryption. Choose a destination and disk protections appropriate for your library. If you select a mounted network or cloud-synced folder, that storage provider may receive the exported files under your arrangement with it. The app does not upload exports to Third Culture Design. Removing an item from Flickr does not delete your saved backup.
Your controls
You can pause a backup at any time. Disconnect this account in Options removes its saved Flickr credentials from Keychain. You can separately revoke the app's authorization in Flickr's account settings. Disconnecting does not delete exported originals or metadata. You control those files and may move or delete them in Finder. Local app settings remain in macOS app storage until removed. We cannot retrieve or delete your local files for you.
Permissions
The app requests network access and access to the backup folder you select. It does not request access to your Apple Photos library, camera, microphone, contacts, or location services.
Support and policy changes
If you email us, we receive the information you choose to include and use it to respond. Please do not send API secrets, authorization tokens, or private photos. We will post material changes to this policy here with an updated effective date. Questions: privacy@thirdculturedesign.com.
Effective October 25, 2026