Lightshot privacy policy

Your account

Lightshot needs an account and an active paid subscription. You create the account with Sign in with Apple when you choose a plan in the iPhone app. Google sign-in isn’t offered yet; if Lightshot adds it, the Google details below apply to people who use it.

When you sign in, Apple confirms who you are and sends Lightshot a stable identifier for your account with Apple, which is how Lightshot knows it’s you next time. Apple also sends your email address. If you choose Apple’s Hide My Email, that is a private relay address that forwards to your own. If you sign in with Google once it’s offered, Google sends the same kinds of details and also says whether it has verified the address.

Apple shares your name only the first time you sign in with Apple, and only if you choose to share it. If you sign in with Google once it’s offered, Lightshot receives the name on your Google profile, and signing in with Google does not give Lightshot access to your Drive, contacts, calendar or Gmail. Lightshot never receives your Apple or Google password.

If you sign in with Apple, Lightshot may keep an Apple token, stored encrypted, for one purpose: revoking Lightshot’s access to your Apple sign-in when you delete your account.

Each sign-in creates a session for that iPhone or browser. Lightshot records the device name where one is available, when the session started and when it was last used. It stores only a one-way hash of the session credential, never the credential itself. You can see your sessions and end any of them on your account page.

If you allow notifications, the Lightshot app sends Lightshot a notification token for that iPhone, issued by Apple, so Lightshot can tell you when a post goes out or doesn’t. The token is kept with that sign-in’s session and deleted when you sign out, turn post notifications off in the app, or delete your account. A notification names only the networks a post went to, never your caption or video, and Apple delivers it.

To prevent abuse, Lightshot limits how often sign-in, session and deletion requests can come from one network address or one account. Those limit records store a one-way digest of the address or account, not the value itself.

The account service does not receive your scripts, recordings or edits. Lightshot does not back them up or sync them between devices; they stay on your iPhone unless you post a video, as described under Posting to social networks.

Creating an account does not subscribe you to marketing emails.

Your creative work

Scripts, recordings, captions and edits are stored in the app on your iPhone. The account system is separate from this local content; cloud backup or cross-device media sync is not included simply because you sign in. The one exception is a video you choose to post or schedule, covered in the next section.

When you export or share, the destination you select receives that content. Pairing a second iPhone sends scripts and recording controls directly to that connected phone through Apple’s nearby-device framework. Device backups and files you save to Photos are managed through your Apple settings.

Posting to social networks

You can connect Facebook Pages, Instagram professional accounts, LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok in the app under Settings › Connected accounts, then post a finished video or schedule it for later. Connecting is optional, and Lightshot posts only when you ask it to.

When you connect an account, the network gives Lightshot permission to post for you. Lightshot’s server stores that access encrypted, together with the account’s name, picture and the Pages or channel it can post to. The access is never sent to your iPhone or any other device.

When you post or schedule, the app uploads that video to Lightshot’s server with the captions, titles and options you chose for each network. The server sends them only to the networks you picked. It deletes the video once every destination has finished, and in any case 48 hours after the latest scheduled time. A video that is uploaded but never used in a post is deleted after 24 hours. Lightshot keeps each post’s details (its time, destinations, captions, status and the links to the published posts) so you can follow it in the app, and removes them 180 days after the post finishes. Information that comes from YouTube, such as your channel’s name and picture and the links to your YouTube videos, is refreshed or deleted at least every 30 days.

Lightshot uses a network’s access only to do what you ask in the app: show which account you’re posting to, upload the video you chose with the options you entered, and, for a video you scheduled, change its time or cancel it when you do. It doesn’t read, change or delete anything else on your accounts.

Disconnecting an account cancels anything scheduled for it and deletes Lightshot’s stored access. Where the network lets apps revoke their own access, as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok do, Lightshot does that too. For Instagram and LinkedIn, also remove Lightshot in that network’s settings. Posts that are already published stay on the network until you delete them there.

Each network handles your posts under its own terms and privacy policy. Lightshot uses YouTube API Services to upload to YouTube: by connecting YouTube you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service, and the Google Privacy Policy applies. You can remove Lightshot’s access to your Google account at any time from Google’s security settings at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. If you do, Lightshot deletes what it stored from YouTube within 30 days. Lightshot’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. The other networks’ policies are at Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok.

To have Lightshot delete the data from a network you connected, disconnect that account in the app, or delete your Lightshot account as described below. If you can no longer open the app, contact us and we will remove it.

Intelligent tools

Lightshot uses Apple frameworks for speech recognition, caption translation, delivery suggestions, audio processing and video editing. These features depend on your device, supported languages and available models. Speech and translation models may need to download before first use.

Voice-following, caption transcription, noise removal, editing and exports run on your iPhone, and so do Apple Intelligence delivery marks and template drafting where your iPhone supports them. If Apple’s newer speech recognizer can’t run for a caption request, Lightshot falls back to Apple’s older recognizer, which it asks to stay on the device; where your iPhone can’t do that, that recognizer may send the audio to Apple under Apple’s privacy policy. Lightshot’s own server never receives your audio for recognition.

Apple may process system diagnostics and framework usage metrics according to your Apple settings and Apple’s policies. Sign in with Apple is processed under Apple’s privacy policy; if you sign in with Google once it’s offered, Google’s privacy policy applies to that sign-in.

Subscriptions

You subscribe in the Lightshot iPhone app through the App Store. Apple handles payment, and Lightshot never sees your card or other payment details. The subscription belongs to your Lightshot account, so it works on every iPhone you sign in on.

When you buy, renew or restore a subscription, and when you sign in, the app sends Lightshot’s server the transactions as Apple signed them, and Apple sends Lightshot updates about renewals, refunds and cancellations. From these, Lightshot keeps a purchase record linked to your account: transaction identifiers, the product (weekly, monthly or yearly), purchase and expiry dates, and its status, such as whether it will renew, is in a billing grace period, has expired or was refunded. Lightshot uses these records to confirm your subscription, restore purchases and end access after a refund.

Weekly, monthly and yearly subscriptions are paid from the start. Creating an account never charges you; you confirm every purchase with Apple.

Account deletion does not cancel an App Store subscription. You can manage subscriptions with Apple.

Website updates and support

When you request Lightshot news, the website stores your email address, signup time and consent. When you contact support, it stores your email address, message and a reference so the team can handle your request. Please do not include private recordings or sensitive information in the support form.

These submissions are stored on the website server. Hosting infrastructure may process connection information such as your IP address. Form rate-limit records use hashed keys, expire after an hour and are pruned on subsequent submissions.

The website has no analytics or advertising scripts. When you follow a link to download Lightshot, the server counts the click under the name of the page it came from, such as “pricing”, without a cookie or your address, and adds that page name to the App Store link as a campaign label. Apple reports installs from those labels to us only as totals, and only for people who chose to share App Store analytics with developers.

The website saves your theme preference in your browser. If you sign in on the website, it sets a session cookie to keep you signed in. That cookie ends when you sign out, or 30 days after you last use it. A second, short-lived cookie links the steps of a website sign-in and expires within 10 minutes. We do not use advertising cookies or sell account or website information.

Your choices

Camera and microphone permissions support recording. Speech recognition supports voice-following and captions. Add-only Photos access lets you save videos, and importing media uses the system picker. Change permissions in iPhone Settings.

You decide whether to receive product emails. You can contact us to stop updates, correct account information or make a privacy request. We may need to verify that a request comes from the account owner.

If you send TestFlight feedback or diagnostics, Apple may share that information with Lightshot’s developer. You decide whether to attach screenshots or other content.

Storage and deletion

Delete scripts and takes from the app library to remove their local copies. Removing the app removes its local data, but does not delete your Lightshot account, cancel a subscription or remove exported files and backups.

To delete your account, open Lightshot on your iPhone and go to Settings › Account › Delete account. You may be asked to sign in again first, to confirm it’s you.

Deleting your account signs you out on every device straight away and erases your name and the email addresses from your sign-in methods. It also cancels scheduled posts, disconnects every social network account (revoking Lightshot’s access where the network allows it) and deletes any videos waiting on Lightshot’s server. Posts already published stay on those networks. The account is marked for deletion, so the same sign-in can’t reopen it. If you signed in with Apple, Lightshot then asks Apple to revoke its access to your Apple sign-in, and retries if Apple is unavailable. Once that is finished, your sign-in identities are removed, so signing in again later creates a new, separate account.

Lightshot keeps a minimal record of each purchase (the original transaction ID, the product and its dates), no longer linked to you, so refunds and fraud checks can still be handled. Deleting your account does not cancel an App Store subscription; cancel it in your Apple Account subscription settings.

Website signup details are kept until you ask for removal or they are no longer needed for requested updates. Support messages are kept as long as needed to resolve your request and follow-up. Contact us to request their deletion. Copies held by Apple, Google, a social network you posted to, a sharing destination or a backup service follow that provider’s policies.

Contact us

Use the Lightshot support form for privacy questions, account-information requests or deletion of website data.