Commercial private beta
Privacy Notice
Who operates Image Unit
Image Unit is a private photographic archive and viewing instrument. The Commercial private-beta service at studio.beta.imageunit.co.uk (Studio) and beta.imageunit.co.uk (public share host) is operated by Unity Consulting NW Ltd, company number 15731430, registered in England and Wales. The registered office is 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.
For privacy questions, account-closure requests, or these terms, email privacy@imageunit.co.uk. If you have an Image Unit account, write from the email address on that account so we can recognise the request.
What this notice covers
This notice describes the Commercial Image Unit private beta and how it handles information in the live service. Personal Image Unit at imageunit.co.uk is a separate instance and is not covered by this page.
What information we collect
Image Unit holds information because a photographer uses Studio, because they upload photographs, or because they send a private share. Recipients of a share do not need an Image Unit account.
Photographs and image metadata
When you upload a JPEG, Image Unit stores the original file and generates derivatives used to display the work (including previews and deep-zoom tiles). On this Commercial service, original files may be stored in Cloudflare R2 object storage. The United Kingdom server that runs Studio also keeps the application, the database, and any remaining local working copies needed to process, export, or display the work.
Authorised previews and tiles for a private share may be delivered through Cloudflare infrastructure on the Image Unit media host (currently media.beta.imageunit.co.uk). That delivery is limited to people who already have a valid share or Studio access. It does not publish photographs as a public gallery, and it does not make them anonymously browsable.
From the file we also read photographic metadata where it is present. That can include camera and lens details, exposure information, capture time, creator or copyright tags, and GPS coordinates. A full metadata extract may be kept with the image so Studio can show it. Titles, captions, collection names, and share titles are whatever you type.
You retain ownership of your photographs. Image Unit does not claim ownership. See “Your photographs” in the Beta Terms.
Account and authentication information
Studio access is invite-only. We store the name and email address used for the invitation, your password as a one-way hash, and optional multi-factor authentication details if you enable them.
When you sign in we keep a session so you remain authenticated, and we record login attempts (including IP address and the email used) to limit password guessing. Active Studio sessions store browser and device details and IP address so you can review recent sign-ins and so we can expire stale sessions.
If you use password reset, we store a hashed reset token until it expires or is used. Studio activity logs may record what was changed in the account, with IP address and browser details, for security and support.
We use this account and service information to provide the invited beta service you asked to join.
Workspace and invitations
An Image Unit account (workspace) has a name and members. Pending invitations store the invitee’s name and email, a hashed invite token, expiry, and who sent the invite. We send invitation and security email through our email processor.
Private sharing
A share is a bearer link: anyone who has the unguessable URL, while it remains valid, can open that collection or photograph. You may add a password, an expiry, and controls for metadata, maps, download, and Viewing Insight.
If you send a share by email from Studio, we store the intended recipient name and email with the share, and we record whether the invitation was sent, opened, or clicked. Opening the invitation pixel may store IP address and browser details for that invitation event. That is separate from Viewing Insight on the share itself.
Viewing Insight
The photographer may enable Viewing Insight on a private share so they can understand how the collection is being viewed. Recipients are asked before any individual viewing activity is recorded.
If you choose Allow viewing insight, Image Unit may then create a first-party visitor identifier for that share, record a visit, and store journey events such as which photographs were opened, zoom, play, the contact sheet, and similar Viewer interactions. Parsed device, browser and operating-system class may be stored. New Commercial visits do not retain the raw IP address or the raw browser user-agent string. We do not record the viewer’s name, email, or live geolocation. Photograph GPS on a map, if shown, comes from the photograph’s metadata.
If you choose Continue without, the share remains fully usable. Image Unit does not create that visitor identifier for the share, does not write a visit or journey events, and does not save Resume position that depends on that identifier.
Your Allow or Continue without choice for a share is remembered in this browser for up to 400 days in a small first-party cookie separate from the visitor identifier, so we do not ask again on every visit. It is not used as an analytics identifier.
If the photographer has Viewing Insight switched off, we do not ask and we do not record individual viewing activity.
Individual Viewing Insight records are kept for 90 days, then deleted. Deleting or revoking a share removes its viewing records with it.
We record individual Viewing Insight only after you choose Allow.
Cookies and browser storage
Studio uses a first-party session cookie so you stay signed in. That cookie is required to operate the logged-in Studio.
On a share with Viewing Insight, we may set the Allow/Continue without preference cookie described above. Only after Allow do we set a first-party visitor identifier cookie (a random value, HttpOnly, lasting up to 400 days) to group visits and, for collection shares, to Resume.
If a share is password-protected, a short-lived cookie records that you unlocked that share (14 days, path limited to the share).
The Viewer may keep a visit identifier in sessionStorage for the current browser tab after Allow. Studio may keep display preferences and recent-item lists in localStorage. Image Unit does not use advertising cookies or a third-party analytics tag on the share.
Technical and security logs
The server that hosts Image Unit writes ordinary web-server logs (IP address, time, requested URL). Those logs are for operating and securing the service, not for photographer journey reports. URLs can include share tokens, so logs are treated as sensitive.
Operational monitoring stores health results such as whether backups ran, disk space, and whether Studio and share hosts responded. It does not store customer photographs.
We keep these technical and security records because we have a legitimate operational and security interest in running and protecting the service.
How we use information
We use this information to provide Image Unit: to store and display your work, generate derivatives, run Studio, send invitations and security messages, honour the share settings you chose, produce requested exports, keep backups, detect abuse, and contact you about the beta when needed.
We do not use customer photographs for advertising, sale, or to train models. We do not sell personal information.
Service providers
Image Unit is hosted on a virtual private server in the United Kingdom. The following providers actually receive information in production today:
- The hosting provider and TLS certificate service (Let’s Encrypt) — to run the website and encrypt connections. Studio, the database, and remaining local working copies of files live on this private United Kingdom server.
- Cloudflare — object storage (R2) for photographic files, and Cloudflare infrastructure that delivers authorised image content through the Image Unit media host (currently media.beta.imageunit.co.uk). Access remains controlled by Image Unit share and Studio authorisation. This is not a public gallery and does not make private photographs anonymously browsable.
- SendGrid — transactional email such as workspace invitations and password resets. That includes the recipient address and the content of the message. Customer photograph files are not attached to those messages.
- Wasabi — off-server backup and recovery storage. That includes encrypted backups of the database and of original photograph files, including backup copies of files stored in Cloudflare R2. Backups exist so the service can be restored after a failure.
- Esri ArcGIS Online — map tiles if a share or Studio map uses streets or satellite layers. The viewer’s device requests those tiles directly.
- OpenStreetMap, Nominatim and Overpass — if Studio place search or a photograph map needs geocoding or map features. Photograph coordinates may be sent in that request. OpenStreetMap tiles are also used in Studio place tools.
- Font and script CDNs used to render pages (currently Fontshare, Google Fonts, cdnjs for OpenSeadragon, and Studio icon/font vendors). The browser contacts them directly.
How long information is kept
Active account, photograph, collection, and share records are kept while the account remains open and the item has not been removed.
Items moved to the Bin are retained for 30 days, then permanently removed from live storage. Permanent purge removes the live files and database rows for that item; it does not instantly erase every backup copy.
ZIP exports remain available for 24 hours, then expire and are deleted from live export storage. You may also download original JPEGs from Studio while you have export permission.
Viewing Insight records and Resume position are kept for 90 days on this Commercial beta.
Studio sessions last until you sign out or the session expires. Login-attempt rows and email-queue history are used for security and mail diagnosis.
Pending invitations expire according to the invitation itself. Password-reset tokens expire if unused.
Backups
Image Unit keeps encrypted off-server backups on Wasabi. Application snapshots currently keep fourteen daily, eight weekly, and three monthly copies, with older snapshots pruned. Image Unit also keeps off-server backup copies of current original files that live in Cloudflare R2, so those files can be restored after a failure.
A deleted photograph or closed account can therefore remain inside backup copies until those copies themselves expire. We do not promise that a deletion disappears from every backup immediately.
Account closure
There is no self-service delete-my-account button in this beta. To request closure, email privacy@imageunit.co.uk from the address on your account. We will deactivate access, revoke live shares, and remove live account data. Copies can remain in backups and operational logs until those records expire.
Security
We take reasonable steps to protect Image Unit: encrypted connections, hashed passwords, optional multi-factor authentication, session controls, unguessable share tokens, access checks in Studio, instance separation from Personal Image Unit, off-server backups that have been restore-tested, and operational monitoring.
No online service is perfectly secure, and we do not promise uninterrupted access.
Your choices and rights
You can choose share expiry, password, download, metadata, maps, and Viewing Insight. Share recipients choose Allow or Continue without before individual viewing activity is recorded. You can revoke a share. You can export original photographs and collection ZIP files from Studio. You can move work to the Bin and restore it within 30 days.
UK data-protection law gives people rights in their personal data, including access, correction, deletion, and the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. To exercise those rights, email privacy@imageunit.co.uk.
Changes to this notice
If this notice changes, we will publish the new version here with an updated version identifier. Newly invited users accept the version current when they join. Publishing a new version does not, by itself, lock existing members out of Studio.
Contact
Image Unit is a private photographic archive and viewing instrument. The Commercial private-beta service at studio.beta.imageunit.co.uk (Studio) and beta.imageunit.co.uk (public share host) is operated by Unity Consulting NW Ltd, company number 15731430, registered in England and Wales. The registered office is 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.
For privacy questions, account-closure requests, or these terms, email privacy@imageunit.co.uk. If you have an Image Unit account, write from the email address on that account so we can recognise the request.
This Privacy Notice is version 2026-09-17-v1, effective 17 September 2026.