These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the PhotoUncle platform, website, and services (collectively, the "Service"), provided by PhotoUncle ("we," "us," or "our"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you are using PhotoUncle on behalf of a school or organization, you agree to these Terms on that organization's behalf.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By creating an account, signing the school agreement, registering as a parent, or using any part of the Service, you confirm that:
- You are at least 18 years old, or using the Service on behalf of a school with appropriate authority
- You have read and agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy
- You have the authority to bind your school or organization to these Terms if applicable
2. Description of Service
PhotoUncle is a subscription-based SaaS platform that:
- Accepts photo and video uploads from authorized school teachers
- Uses on-device AI face recognition to group photos by student
- Delivers each parent a private gallery showing only photos of their own child
- Provides optional paid download subscriptions for parents ($15/year for photos, $25/year for photos and videos)
3. School Accounts and Responsibilities
Schools subscribing to PhotoUncle agree to:
- Obtain and maintain verifiable parental consent for every child's participation before any photos are uploaded
- Ensure that the Service is used only for legitimate educational event photography
- Keep login credentials secure and not share admin accounts
- Provide accurate enrollment data for billing tier assignment
- Comply with FERPA, COPPA, and applicable state laws governing student privacy
- Accept that PhotoUncle operates as a data processor under the school's instruction for COPPA purposes
Tier Assignment and Billing
School subscription tiers (Micro, Small, Standard, Chain) are assigned at the start of each academic year based on enrollment count. Tiers are locked for the entire academic year and may only be re-evaluated at the start of the next academic year. Billing options are Monthly (9 invoices), Semester (2 invoices), or Annual (1 invoice — 8 months price with 1 month free).
4. Teacher Accounts
Teachers assigned to classes may upload photos and videos, manage students, and send parent invitations. Teachers may not:
- Upload photos unrelated to the school's official events
- Share parent invite links outside of the intended parents
- Access photos from classes they are not assigned to
- Attempt to identify or tag children other than through the provided tools
5. Parent Accounts
Parents register via a signed invite link sent by the school. By registering, parents:
- Confirm they are the legal parent or guardian of the child named in the invite
- Consent to PhotoUncle using one photo or face identification tap to create a facial embedding for their child
- Agree to view only the photos PhotoUncle's AI has matched to their child
- Accept that face recognition results may occasionally be inaccurate, and use the "Not my child" flag to report errors
Parent Download Subscriptions
The $15/year (Photos) and $25/year (Photos + Videos) download plans are sold directly by PhotoUncle to parents. Schools do not collect or process these payments on our behalf. Purchases are final and non-refundable except as required by applicable law.
6. Acceptable Use
You agree not to:
- Upload content that is illegal, abusive, defamatory, or violates any third-party rights
- Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or extract facial embeddings or raw photo data
- Use the Service to build a competing face recognition product or dataset
- Attempt to access another user's account, photos, or private data
- Upload photos of individuals without authorization or proper consent
- Use automated bots, scripts, or crawlers to interact with the Service
- Circumvent any security or access control measures
7. Intellectual Property
You retain ownership of the photos and videos you upload. By uploading content, you grant PhotoUncle a limited, non-exclusive license to process, store, and display that content solely for the purpose of providing the Service to you and authorized recipients.
All platform software, design, branding, and AI models are owned by PhotoUncle. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.
8. AI Accuracy and Disclaimer
PhotoUncle uses AI face recognition to group photos. AI systems are not perfect. Photo groupings may occasionally contain errors. We display an accuracy disclaimer on all gallery pages. Parents can report incorrect matches using the "Not my child" flag. We do not guarantee 100% accuracy and are not liable for misidentification errors made in good faith.
9. Data Storage and Deletion
School event photos, videos, and associated facial embeddings are automatically deleted at the end of the academic year plus 30 days. Individual free-tier events are deleted after 90 days. Paid download subscribers retain download access during their active subscription period only. We are not responsible for loss of data after scheduled deletion.
10. Payments and Refunds
School subscriptions are invoiced per our billing schedule. Invoices are due within 30 days of issuance. PhotoUncle reserves the right to suspend access for accounts with overdue invoices after providing 14 days' written notice. Parent download purchases are one-time payments and are generally non-refundable.
11. Termination
Either party may terminate the school subscription at the end of a billing period with written notice. We reserve the right to immediately suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, particularly those involving unauthorized access to child data or COPPA violations. Upon termination, all associated data is deleted within 30 days.
12. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, PhotoUncle shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from use of the Service, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of revenue, or damages resulting from AI misidentification. Our total liability for any claim shall not exceed the amount you paid for the Service in the 12 months preceding the claim.
13. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of California. If you are a school outside California, you acknowledge that California law governs regardless of your location.
14. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Schools and admins will be notified of material changes by email with 30 days' notice. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
15. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Contact us at legal@photouncle.com or visit photouncle.com.