This Privacy Policy explains how Outpaint.co.uk ("Outpaint", "we", "us" or "our") collects, uses, shares and protects personal data when you use our website and image-outpainting service (the "Service"). We are the data controller for the personal data described below. We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Data controller: Darius Andrei Moldoveanu, a sole trader trading as "Outpaint.co.uk".

For any privacy request or question, contact us at support@outpaint.co.uk.

1. The data we collect

Images you upload, and the generated output. These may contain personal data (for example, if a photo shows people). Your upload is processed transiently and not kept; your generated result is stored for 30 days behind a private, unguessable link so you can retrieve it again — see section 5.
Email address (optional) — if you choose to provide one when you pay, used to send your payment receipt and purchase confirmation. You can leave this blank and still use the Service.
IP address — used transiently for rate limiting. It is hashed in memory before the rate-limit check, and only that one-way hash is sent to our rate-limiting provider (Upstash — see section 4). We never store your IP address, raw or hashed, in our own database, and the raw address never leaves our servers.
Anonymous identifier (cookie) — a random ID that lets you retrieve results you have paid for and helps keep the Service secure. It does not identify you by name.
Payment information — card payments are collected and processed directly by Stripe. We do not receive or store your full card number.
Transform records — for each transform: the requested dimensions, whether it was paid, and a perceptual hash of the output (a short numeric fingerprint derived from the image, used for abuse investigation; the image itself cannot be reconstructed from it).
Content-safety (moderation) logs — every upload and every generated image is automatically safety-screened (see section 3). We log the decision, the safety-category scores returned by the screening model, and your anonymous ID. We never store the image content in these logs.
Technical and usage data — basic logs such as request times and error events, used to operate and debug the Service.

2. How we use your data and our legal bases

To provide the Service (processing your image, returning a result, sending your purchase confirmation) — performance of a contract.
To take payment and issue refunds — performance of a contract.
To keep the Service safe and lawful (content moderation of uploads and outputs, moderation logs, suspension of abusive sessions) — our legitimate interests and legal obligations.
To prevent abuse and fraud (rate limits) — our legitimate interests.
To comply with the law and respond to lawful requests — legal obligation.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use your images to train AI models.

3. Automated content moderation and automated suspension

To keep the Service safe, every uploaded image and every generated image is automatically screened by a content-safety model (provided by OpenAI) before any result is delivered. If an image is flagged, the transform is blocked and you are not charged for it — payment is only ever taken after an image has been generated and has passed screening, so there is nothing to refund.

If a session triggers repeated moderation blocks in a short period, our systems automatically suspend that session pending review. This is an automated decision taken without human involvement at the moment it happens. If you are suspended, you have the right to ask for a human review, to make representations, and to contest the decision — email support@outpaint.co.uk and a person with authority to overturn the suspension will review it and respond.

4. Who we share data with (sub-processors)

To run the Service we use trusted third-party providers who process data on our behalf. Some are located outside the UK/EEA; where that is the case, transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards (such as UK International Data Transfer Agreements / Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, or an adequacy decision).

Stripe — payment processing (receives your email and payment details).
Replicate / Black Forest Labs (FLUX) — the AI model that performs the outpainting. Your image and a generated mask are sent for processing and returned.
OpenAI — two uses: (a) a downscaled copy of your upload may be analysed to guide the outpainting (e.g. detecting whether people are present); (b) downscaled copies of your upload and of the generated output are safety-screened before delivery. OpenAI does not use API data to train its models.
Supabase — our database (hosted in the EU, Ireland), storing the usage, payment, transform and moderation records described in section 1.
Upstash — rate limiting. Receives only a hashed identifier derived from your IP address, never the raw address.
Vercel — application hosting, and Vercel Blob storage for your result image while it remains retrievable (see section 5).
IONOS — domain provider.

Each provider operates under its own privacy terms and a data-processing agreement. We share only the minimum data needed for that provider to perform its function.

5. How long we keep your data

Your uploaded image: processed transiently to generate your result and not retained afterwards. (Once sent to a processor such as Replicate or OpenAI, short-term retention there is governed by that provider's policies.)
Your generated result: stored for 30 days so you can get it back if you lose the tab, your connection drops, or you simply didn't save it the first time — reopening the site on the same device and browser retrieves it automatically. It is also available via a private, unguessable link shown on screen; there is no page that lists or browses results, so having that link (or being on the same device) is the only way to access one. After 30 days it is permanently deleted.
Payment records: up to 6 years from the transaction, as required by UK tax and accounting law.
Moderation logs (metadata only, no images): up to 6 years from creation — matching the limitation period for legal claims — then deleted.
Transform records and usage data: kept while your session identifier remains in use and for up to 2 years after your last activity, then deleted.

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you;
have inaccurate data corrected;
have your data erased ("right to be forgotten");
restrict or object to processing;
data portability;
not be subject to certain automated decisions without safeguards — see section 3 for how to contest an automated suspension;
withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

You can request an export or deletion of your data by emailing support@outpaint.co.uk from, or quoting, the email address you used. We will respond within one month.

What deletion covers: deletion removes your usage records, transform records, and saved billing details from our systems, permanently deletes any stored copy of your generated result from our storage provider, and clears the anonymous session cookie from your browser. Two things are retained, and we are required to tell you why: (a) your payment rows, which are anonymised rather than deleted — the amount, currency, date and Stripe reference survive, with the link to you severed, because a UK business must keep transaction records for six years (HMRC) and UK GDPR Article 17(3)(b) exempts data held to meet a legal obligation; and (b) moderation log metadata, retained under the UK GDPR exemption for the establishment and defence of legal claims (Article 17(3)) and for the prevention of abuse. Neither contains your name, email, IP address, or any image.

7. Cookies and local storage

We use a single strictly necessary cookie to operate the Service: an anonymous session ID (to keep track of your purchases and prevent abuse). It is essential to providing the Service you request, so it does not require a consent banner. If you tick "remember email on this device", your email is saved in your own browser's local storage only — it is not sent to us until you use the Service, and unticking the box removes it. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

8. Children

The Service is not intended for, and may not be used by, anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

9. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest for sensitive fields (AES-256), private storage for your generated result (it has no publicly reachable address, and every request for it is re-checked against your purchase), strict security headers and rate limiting. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security; if a breach occurs that risks your rights, we will notify the ICO and, where required, affected users, in line with UK GDPR.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above shows when it last changed. If we make material changes, we will highlight them on the site.

11. Contact & complaints

Questions or requests: support@outpaint.co.uk. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.