Last updated: 1 October 2026
StyleSnap ("we", "us") provides an AI hair-preview tool at stylesnap.app. For the purposes of UK GDPR, the data controller is Aereo Labs Ltd — contact: hello@aereolabs.co.uk. Aereo Labs Ltd is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration reference ZC236448.
We process your photo only to generate the hair preview you asked for. Our lawful basis is your consent (UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), given when you tick the box before using the app. You can withdraw consent at any time by not using the service; your photo is never stored on our side, so there is nothing of it for us to delete.
If the photo shows another adult, they have not ticked our box, so their consent is not something we can rely on. For that person our lawful basis is legitimate interest (UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)): providing the preview that the uploader asked for, on the strength of the uploader's statement that the person agreed to it, with the photo held only in memory and never stored by us. We have weighed that interest against the rights of the person in the photo, and the balance holds only because we keep nothing, we refuse any request that would sexualise, undress or age the person, and the person can write to us at any time (section 9). If you are that person and you did not agree, tell us and we will act on it.
Your photo shows your face, but we do not use it to identify you or anyone, and we do not create biometric identifiers from it.
To generate the preview, your photo is sent to Google's Gemini API. Google acts as our processor: it generates the result and, under Google's own terms, may retain the photo and the request for up to ~55 days for abuse monitoring, after which it is deleted. That retention is Google's, not ours — Aereo Labs keeps no photo at all. Google does not use it to train AI models. (Figure taken from Google's published abuse-monitoring policy, checked 3 September 2026.) Google's handling is governed by Google's own privacy policy. StyleSnap itself does not store, save or keep your photo or the result — the result is returned to your device and nothing is written to our servers, database or storage.
There is one other processor, and it never sees your photo. If you use an access pass, the pass identifier and its remaining count are kept in a small database run by Upstash, hosted in London. That database holds only what section 2 describes — a random identifier, a date and a number. It never receives your photo, your description, your IP address or any contact detail.
The same database also holds the abuse register described in section 6, and that part does contain your IP address and the description you typed. It is kept apart from the pass records, it still never contains your photo, and it is written only when a request is blocked by our safety filter or reported to us. So the sentence above holds for the pass records; for the abuse register, read section 6, which lists exactly what goes into it.
The same database also holds the counters that make our limits work: a one-way fingerprint of your IP address — not the address itself, and it cannot be turned back into it — next to a small number. They are there so that a block, or a limit on how many previews you can ask for in a minute, counts the same on every one of our servers instead of starting again from zero on each one. Each of those entries deletes itself: within a minute for the rate limits, within an hour for the report limit, within 24 hours for a block. The text you typed is not among them.
Google may process the image on servers outside the UK/EEA (e.g. the United States), under the safeguards set out in Google's terms (such as Standard Contractual Clauses / applicable adequacy).
The pass database described in section 4 is hosted in London, so that data does not leave the UK.
On StyleSnap's side: we do not retain your photo or your generated image. Your photo is held in memory only for the seconds it takes to generate the preview, and it is never written to a server, a database or any storage of ours. For Google's retention, see section 4.
The rest of what we hold is small and short-lived. The rate-limit counters — a one-way fingerprint of your IP address and a number — sit in the London database described in section 4 and delete themselves after a minute, or an hour for the limit on reports. If a request trips our safety filter, that same one-way fingerprint is kept for up to 24 hours so that a block can be enforced, and then deletes itself. It is in the database rather than in one server's memory so that a block actually holds: when it lived in memory, somebody whose next request happened to reach a different server of ours started again with a clean slate. The text you typed is not stored with it. That block is separate from the abuse register described below, which is written down and kept for 30 days. What is on your own device (the localStorage described in section 2) stays there until you clear it.
Access passes are the one thing we keep for longer, and here are both clocks, because they are not the same. The record that a pass has been used is kept indefinitely: it is what stops a spent pass being entered again, and if it expired every old pass would come back to life. It is a random identifier and a date — it identifies nobody, so keeping it does not make you any less private. The count of previews a pass has left is kept for 30 days from the day the pass is activated, and is then deleted automatically.
There is one exception, and we would rather state it than let you discover it. If a request is blocked by our safety filter, or if someone sends us a report, we write an entry to an abuse register. That entry contains the date and time, the text you typed (never your photo), which browser was used, the access pass if there was one, an internal reference for the request, and your IP address in full, not disguised. On a home connection that address and the exact time are normally enough for an internet provider to identify the account behind it. On a mobile network they usually are not, because thousands of people share one address at the same moment; we would like to be able to narrow that down and, on our current hosting, we cannot.
The photo is never kept, not in that register and not anywhere else — not even as evidence of what happened.
Entries in the abuse register are kept for 30 days and are then deleted automatically. Our lawful basis is legitimate interest (UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)): preventing StyleSnap from being used to abuse or sexualise anyone, and being able to answer honestly if someone tells us it has been. We may pass an entry to the police or another competent authority where we believe a criminal offence has been committed or is being attempted; our lawful basis for that disclosure is the same legitimate interest, together with the crime-prevention provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 where they apply. We do not use the register for anything else, and we do not use it to build a profile of you. If that database is unreachable at the moment an entry is written, the same entry is written instead to our hosting provider's runtime logs, which are deleted when those logs rotate.
You may only upload a photo of yourself, or of someone who has given you permission. Do not upload photos of other people without their consent, and do not upload photos of children under any circumstances. Section 3 explains the legal basis we rely on for that person, and section 9 explains their rights.
You must be 18 or older to use StyleSnap. StyleSnap is not intended for children and we do not knowingly process children's data. Before you can use the app we ask for your date of birth; we check it and then discard it — we store only the fact that the check was passed, on your own device.
We are aware that a self-declared date of birth is a gate, not a proof. It is the standard the ICO accepts for a service of this kind, and we would rather describe it accurately than call it something it is not. If you believe a child's photo has been uploaded, contact us or use the report link in the app, and we will act on it.
Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and to withdraw consent. You exercise these rights with us, Aereo Labs Ltd, as the data controller, at hello@aereolabs.co.uk. Google processes your photo on our behalf as our processor; you do not need to contact Google, and if you do, Google will refer you to us. Where Google still holds a copy under its abuse-monitoring retention (section 4), we will ask Google to act on your request, as our contract with Google requires.
Because StyleSnap does not store your photo, in most cases there is nothing on our side to retrieve or delete, and we will tell you so. If you are in a photo that someone else uploaded, the same rights are yours and the same address applies: write to us and we will act on it.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO, ico.org.uk).
We may update this policy; the "Last updated" date will change. Material changes will be shown in the app.