Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 22, 2026
Alike is an iOS app that finds and groups visually similar photos in your photo library so you can review them and free up space. Alike is operated by Oleksandr Solokha, an individual developer based in Ukraine.
This Privacy Policy explains what Alike does and does not collect, where your data lives, and what control you have over it.
The short version: Alike has no account, no sign-in, and no server. Your photos and everything Alike learns about them stay on your device.
Contact
For support, bug reports, privacy questions, or purchase issues:
What Alike Accesses
Your photo library
Alike asks for photo library access once, at the start. This access is required for two things: comparing photos to find visually similar ones, and — only when you ask for it — saving an enhanced version of a photo you chose to keep.
You can grant full access, or grant limited access and choose which photos Alike may see. You can change or revoke this at any time in iOS Settings, under Privacy & Security → Photos → Alike.
Alike reads photo image data and the metadata iOS provides for each asset, such as creation date, approximate capture location when present, file size, and whether the photo is a screenshot or a favourite. This information is used to pre-filter which photos are worth comparing and to show you group details.
Notifications
Alike requests notification permission only if you turn on the weekly cleanup reminder in Settings, and never otherwise. If you never enable that reminder, Alike never asks.
If you enable it, the reminder is scheduled locally on your device by iOS. Alike does not use push notifications and does not register for or receive any remote notification tokens.
What Alike Does With Your Photos
Analysis runs entirely on your device
Alike compares photos using Apple’s Vision framework, which runs locally on your iPhone. Each photo is reduced to a numeric feature print, and photos are grouped when those feature prints are close enough under the sensitivity level you choose.
Your photos are never uploaded. No photo, thumbnail, feature print, or analysis result is transmitted off your device by Alike. There is no Alike server to send them to.
Results are stored locally
Alike caches its results on your device using Core Data and local files, so you do not have to rescan every time you open the app. This local storage includes photo identifiers, feature prints, group membership, estimated sizes, your review progress and selections, cleanup history, the weights Alike has learned from the best shots you picked, and your app preferences.
All of it lives in Alike’s own sandboxed storage on your device and is included in your device backups if you back up your device.
Enhancing a photo you keep
Alike can improve the best shot in a group. It never does this on its own: the result is shown to you as a preview and saved only after you apply it, one photo at a time. The processing happens on your device and nothing is uploaded. iOS keeps the original — the change is stored as a non-destructive edit marked as Alike’s, so it appears in Apple Photos and can be undone from either app. No duplicate is created. Enhancement is not offered for video, in Limited Access, or for photos the system marks as non-editable, and a photo that already carries another app’s edit is changed only after you agree.
Learning which photos you prefer
When you pick a different best shot than the one Alike suggested, the app stores the difference between the two photos’ quality measurements and uses it to rank later groups closer to your taste. It learns only from choices you make inside the app. The values are derived numbers, not photos, they stay on your device, and nothing is sent anywhere. Settings has a button that resets the learning.
Crash Reports
If Alike closes unexpectedly, iOS can later hand the app a diagnostic report about that crash through Apple’s MetricKit framework. Alike keeps the report in its own storage on your device — the 20 most recent at most — and does nothing else with it on its own.
At the next launch, once you are not in the middle of anything, Alike asks you once whether to send it. Send Report opens an email to the address under Contact with the report attached: you can read it first, and it goes only if you send it yourself, from your own mail account. If Mail is not set up, the share sheet opens instead and shows the address, so you choose where the report goes. Not Now sends nothing, and Alike never asks about that report again.
A report contains the crash stack trace — which part of Alike’s code was running — the app version, the iOS version, the device model, and technical details iOS attaches to it, such as the exception type, the processor architecture and your region format setting. For some crashes it also holds the error message Alike produced at that moment. iOS writes the report, and Alike sends it as it is, without adding to it or filtering it — so read the attachment before you send it. It contains no photos. If you email it, the developer also receives what any email carries, such as your email address.
A report you send is used only to find and fix that crash, and is not shared with anyone.
What Alike Does Not Collect
Alike contains no analytics, no third-party crash-reporting service, no advertising, and no tracking of any kind. Specifically, Alike does not:
- upload your photos or any data derived from them;
- collect analytics or usage events;
- use advertising identifiers (IDFA) or ask for tracking permission;
- build a profile about you;
- share, sell, or rent any personal information, because it does not collect any to share;
- use cookies or web beacons.
Alike makes no network requests of its own. The only outbound activity is handled by Apple: subscription purchases through StoreKit, and opening App Store or email links when you tap them.
Deleting Photos
Deletion is always your decision and always requires explicit confirmation.
When you confirm a cleanup, Alike asks iOS to delete the photos you selected. iOS shows its own system confirmation before anything is removed. Deleted photos go to your Recently Deleted album, where iOS keeps them for about 30 days and you can restore them.
Alike never deletes photos silently, never deletes photos you did not select, and cannot bypass the iOS confirmation.
Subscriptions and Purchases
Alike Pro is an auto-renewable subscription sold through Apple. Purchases are processed entirely by Apple using StoreKit.
Alike receives from Apple only what it needs to unlock paid features and restore purchases: your entitlement status, the product identifier of your plan, and the transaction state. Alike never receives your payment card details, billing address, or Apple Account credentials.
Apple’s handling of your purchase information is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy. Subscriptions, cancellations, and refunds are managed through Apple and the App Store.
Your Controls
| What you want | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Change or limit photo access | iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Photos → Alike |
| Stop notifications | Turn off the weekly cleanup reminder in Alike Settings, or use iOS Settings → Notifications |
| Put an enhanced photo back to the original | Alike: Revert to original in the group details; or Apple Photos: Edit → Revert |
| Reset what Best Shot has learned | Alike Settings → Reset Best Shot Learning |
| Decline a crash report | Tap Not Now — Alike never asks about that report again |
| Erase everything Alike stores | Alike Settings → Data & Privacy → Delete Alike Data |
| Remove all data completely | Delete the Alike app from your device |
Delete Alike Data
Settings → Data & Privacy → Delete Alike Data erases everything Alike has stored on your device: scan results and analysis caches, cleanup progress and history, the weights Alike has learned from the best shots you picked, crash reports waiting on your device, and your Alike preferences. This action cannot be undone.
It does not touch your photos, your Recently Deleted album, your photo access permission, or your Alike Pro subscription. After deletion, Alike shows its introduction again without asking for photo access a second time.
Deleting the app removes all of Alike’s local data along with it.
Legal Basis and Your Rights
Alike itself does not collect or transmit personal data, so for everything this policy describes there is no personal data held by the developer to access, correct, export, or erase. The one exception is a crash report you choose to email: the developer then holds that email and its attachment, processed on the basis of your consent — given by sending it — for the sole purpose of fixing the crash. You can ask for it to be deleted at any time, at the address above.
All processing happens locally on your device under your control, and you can erase it yourself at any time using Delete Alike Data or by deleting the app.
If you are in the EU, the UK, Ukraine, California, or another region with data protection rights, those rights still apply — there is simply no server-side data set for them to operate on. If you believe otherwise, contact us at the address above and we will respond.
Children
Alike is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them. The app has no account system, no user-generated content, and no communication features.
Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this page with a new “Last updated” date. Material changes affecting how the app handles your data will also be noted in the App Store release notes.
Governing Law
This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of Ukraine, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer data protection rights you have under the laws of your own country of residence.