Your photos
From the second you upload to the day you delete, here's exactly what happens to your work, who can see what, and what we will never do with it.
The journey
Five steps, and you decide every one that involves someone else.
01
Your files travel from your device straight to our private storage over an encrypted connection. We keep the original exactly as it arrives: same file, same format, same camera data. RAW stays RAW.
02
Originals live in private storage on Amazon Web Services in the US, encrypted at rest (AES-256), with no public access. A second copy is kept automatically in a separate region, so a disaster in one place can't take your work with it.
03
Uploads land in your Library Inbox. Drafts and unfiled photos are seen by no one but you, and nothing is made for anyone else to see until you publish.
04
When you publish, we make smaller display copies with camera data and GPS location removed. Feeds and grids show clean images up to 1600 pixels wide, because a surfer needs to see the wave clearly to know it's them. Open one full screen and it carries your watermark.
05
The full-resolution original goes out only when you say so: you approve a request, send a share link (with an expiry or a download code if you like), or switch on auto-grant.
Who sees what
Clean to find, watermarked to view, and the original stays yours.
Up to 1600px wide, no watermark
Anyone browsing
A clear look at the wave is how surfers know it's them. Camera data and GPS location are removed.
Watermarked Larger view with your watermark
Anyone browsing
Open a photo full screen and it carries your mark: the SurfVault watermark by default, or your own logo on a paid plan.
See the watermark styles Original Full resolution, exactly as uploaded
Only you, plus people you approve
It never goes out until you approve a request, send a share link or switch on auto-grant.
Turn your watermark off and the full-screen view shows clean too. Drafts have none of these: nobody but you sees them until you publish or share.
Sharing
Two ways to get your work to people. Publish to be found, or send a link to deliver.
Best for getting found by the surfers in it
Best for delivering a set to a client, or anyone you choose
Photographers, shapers and brands can send private share links.
From your Library or a session, on the web or in the app. A whole session, or up to 500 photos and videos you pick.
Get a link to send anywhere, or send to a user to deliver it to one SurfVault account as a message, with no link to forward.
Expiry: never, 7, 30 or 90 days. A 6-digit download code: five wrong tries lock the link for 15 minutes. And for a client who has already paid, you can show the photos without your watermark.
They see a clean grid and your watermarked full-screen view, then download the originals one at a time or as a zip. With a free account they can save the set to their own SurfVault, credited to you and counted against their storage.
In Library → Shares, turn a link off or back on, change its expiry, add or change the code, or switch the watermark. Shares also shows when someone saves your link to their SurfVault.
Our promises
Uploading lets us store and show your work on SurfVault, nothing more. We never sell it or license it to anyone.
Your photos and videos are never sent to an AI service, or to any outside company other than our storage provider, Amazon Web Services.
Published work from public profiles can appear, credited to you, in the app and on surf-vault.com. We'll always ask before using it in ads or on social media.
Every account gets the free SurfVault watermark on full-size views. Pick a style, use your own logo on a paid plan, or turn it off. See the styles.
If you charge for your shots, surfers pay you through your own payment app. SurfVault never touches the money and takes 0%. How it works.
Only your original files count toward your plan. Previews, thumbnails and watermarked copies are on us.
Deleting
Deletes wait in your Trash, so a misclick never costs you a shot. Once it's emptied there's no archive and no copy kept for ourselves. Here's the timeline.
FAQ
Not your originals. Anyone can browse the feed images and the watermarked full-screen view, but the full-resolution original needs your approval. If you charge, they pay you directly.
No. We store the original file exactly as it arrives. The smaller display copies are made separately and never replace it.
So surfers can tell it's them. A clear look at the wave is how people find their shots and come to you for the original. Feed images top out at 1600 pixels wide, have camera data and location removed, and the full-screen view carries your mark.
On Amazon Web Services: originals in a private, encrypted bucket in Virginia, with a backup copy in Oregon.
A small number of staff can access accounts to give support and keep the service running, and every access is logged. We never use your work for anything else.
Upload, choose who sees what, and get paid direct.
