Aura was created as a more private way for loved ones to share and connect over photos and videos, thus sharing more personal and everyday memories that they would otherwise limit on bigger social networks. As our most precious memories are increasingly digital, Aura frames give a dedicated and safe space in the home to enjoy them with the people you invite. 

In respect to our customers’ privacy, our product design, processes, employees and company are guided and regularly audited by the following principles:

Our Privacy Tenets

1. We only collect data as required to offer, improve or market our products and services.
2. We don't sell your data.
3. We keep your personal information and data secure.
4. We make it easy to exercise your regional privacy rights.
5. We explain exactly what we’re doing with your data in clear and common language.
6. What we say is what we do.
7. If we make significant changes to our privacy policy or processes, we’ll let you know.
8. Our processes and actions are guided by all applicable, regional, privacy laws.

Overview of what we do and don't do

To help you understand the more detailed Privacy Policy, here’s a quick summary of what we do and how you can opt out of certain services. Further below, you will find a helpful list of answers to the most common privacy questions.

Summary of Aura's Data Collection

Aura does not sell your data. Your data, photos and videos remain yours’.  Similar to other photo-sharing platforms, Aura does gather, use, and store data that is required to enable our product and services. This includes:  

• The photos and videos that you upload so we can display them on your frame(s), including their metadata. This does not include facial geometry information.
• Data and permissions, for example granting the Aura Frames app access to photos on your phone’s camera, so you can add them to the frame (Learn More).
• Details we require in order to ship your product (e.g. address and contact details).
• Information we need to store for legal or accounting purposes (e.g. order information).
• Any previous communication that we may have had with you, for example when you contacted our Support team for assistance.
• Analytics and diagnostic data to improve our products and services for all our customers.

In addition, we may process the following data that you can opt out from: 

• Facial geometry information to group your photos and to make it easier for you to pick the ones you wish to display. This data only lives on your smart device (phone/tablet). You can disable this service and the collected data by turning off Smart Suggestions.
• Website cookies to better understand website performance and market our products. You can reject our optional cookie collection when visiting our site. You can also directly control cookie settings in your browser(s):
  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Apple Safari
• Email addresses and/or cell phone numbers for our newsletters to keep customers informed about news or deals. Each email and text message includes an "Unsubscribe" or "Stop" option for you to opt out.
• We also work with partners to serve targeted advertisements. If you want to avoid any Aura advertisements targeted to you based on your information, you’ll want to both clear your cookies (as described above) and send an opt-out request to privacy@auraframes.com.

Most Common Questions about Privacy 

1. Who owns the photos/videos, their copyrights and their metadata?
2. Do you store my photos on your server?
3. Are any photos stored on the frame itself?
4. What type of server do you use to store my files?
5. How do you protect my photos/videos on your server?
6. In what country/countries are my files stored?
7. If we delete a photo from the frame, is it deleted from your server?
8. If I delete my account, will this remove my files from your server?
9. Do you have any backups? Will deleting my account also purge these backups?
10. Are my photos and video edits processed on my local frame or your server?
11. Are our photos/videos processed through AI to spot explicit/illegal content?
12. What exactly is “Smart Suggestions”?
13. Your Privacy Policy states I need “written consent” of the individuals in my photos?
14. Do you use Facial Analysis? If so, where does the processing take place?
15. What are “close proximity” events? Is Aura capturing images of us?
16. How does the “Light sensor” work? Is this a camera?
17. Do you share my pictures, videos or other data with government agencies?
18. Do your employees and staff have the ability to see my photos/videos?
19. Can other frame members see my photos and/or photo library?
20. If I send pictures to a family member’s frame, can their contact list be accessed?
21. Why do I see “somebody liked your photos” notifications? Have I been hacked?
22. What happens when I invite someone to upload photos to my frame?

What was the latest Privacy Policy update? 

Effective November 13, 2024 Aura updated the language in our global privacy policy to align to US state laws and to make the policy easier to read and understand. Here’s what you should know about this update:

1. There are no changes to the data we collect or how we process it. Aura is committed to protecting your photos and personal data in compliance with applicable laws and data protection principles. To review these details and manage your preferences, visit our privacy policy.
   
    
2. We added language to reflect state laws for US residents: The new language specifies what and how information is necessary when a US customer uses Aura's products and features in accordance with data privacy laws. 
   
    
3. Improved readability: We've reformatted and refined the language in our privacy policy to make it easier to read and understand.

We encourage you to review the updated privacy policy and the Q&A in this Privacy FAQ.  If you have any questions, please contact privacy@auraframes.com. 

Thank you for your continued trust in us.

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1) Who owns the photos and videos and the copyright to the photos and their metadata that we upload to your server and the frame?

Aura makes no claims to ownership of photos or metadata that Aura users upload to frames. Users do grant Aura the right to display photos (solely to provide its services), as discussed in Section 7 of Aura’s Terms of Service. Ownership rights (copyright) remain with the individual who took the photo or video originally (or otherwise obtained the rights). 

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2) Do you store my photos on your server?

Yes, any photos or videos that you upload to your frame — via a smartphone or tablet, the web uploader or Google Photos — are stored securely on Aura’s cloud servers, from where they are displayed on your frame. We do not store any of your other photos or videos that you did not upload. 

 

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3) Are any photos stored on the frame itself?

Any photos or videos that you upload to your frame — via a smartphone or tablet, the web uploader or Google Photos — are stored securely on Aura’s cloud servers, from where they are displayed on your frame. This allows us to offer our customers unlimited photo storage.

A small number of files are temporarily stored (= cached) on your Aura frame so it can continue to display photos for a brief period of time during temporary WiFi loss. After 24 hours, the frame will display a “lost connection” error message.  

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4) What type of server do you use to store my files?  

We use Amazon Web Services (AWS),  the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, to store all uploaded photos and videos.  

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5) How do you protect my photos/videos on your server? 

Aura takes data protection extremely seriously. In order to ensure that your data is safe from unauthorized access, we put the following mechanisms in place: 

1. We secure all data in transit, using HTTPS / TLS v1.2 on all uploads from customer devices to our servers, and all downloads from our servers and content-delivery networks to customer frames.
   
    
2. We secure your image and video data at rest, with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) storage using unique and regularly rotated keys. 
   
    
3. We secure our application servers by keeping up-to-date on security patches.
   
    
4. We secure our company against social engineering and other attacks with strong password policies. 
   
    
5. We limit, log, and audit employee access to customer data.
   
    
6. We secure user credentials, for instance by storing only salted and hashed passwords.

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6) In what country or countries might my pictures be stored or processed?

Uploaded photos and videos are stored and processed in the United States. For frames outside the US, photos may additionally be cached temporarily in AWS servers located closer to the country in which the frame resides. This “Content Delivery Network” (CDN) provides high availability and performance by distributing the data closer to end-user locations.

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7) Will deleting photos / videos remove them from your server? 

When a user deletes a photo or video from their frame, using the Aura app’s “remove” feature, the file will be immediately and permanently removed from our servers and frames. If they delete their Aura account all of their photos are deleted from our servers and all of the frames they contribute to.  

Please note:

• Deleting the Aura App from your device does not remove any of the uploaded photos / videos that came from that device
• Logging out of the Aura App does not delete any photos or videos
• Deleting a photo from Google Photos does not remove that photo from our server (= frame) unless you also remove it via the Aura app
• Revoking photo permissions does not cause photos you sent us to be deleted 

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8) If I delete my account are all my photos and videos purged from the server?

Yes, if you delete your Aura Frames account, we will automatically remove any uploaded photos or videos from the frame and from our server. Before considering this option, please be aware that any previous uploads linked to your account will disappear from the frame(s). 

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9) Do you have backups of my pictures or videos?  If I delete my account do you purge my data from all of your backups?

We maintain fault-tolerant copies of photos and videos so that they’re secure in the event of system issues, but we do not keep archival backups. Should we introduce backups for contingency reasons, we will ensure that those data copies get purged automatically when a user deletes their Aura account.

 

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10) Are my photos and video edits processed on my local frame or on your server?

The photos and videos are transformed/cropped by our servers, then color-corrected locally on the frame itself to match each frame’s unique display. 

 

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11) Are our photos or videos processed through AI or other human or algorithmic means looking for “patterns” or matches that may include explicit or illegal content? 

Aura is not a law enforcement agency and we don’t apply any algorithms to identify and report any type of explicit or illegal content. 

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12) What exactly is “Smart Suggestions”?

Smart Suggestions is not one single feature but a banner for a family of features that offer advanced photo recommendations. When activated, Smart Suggestions collect and process certain photo metadata and facial geometry information  from your uploaded photos and from photos to which you have granted Aura access in your connected photo libraries. The facial geometry information never leaves your smart device (phone/tablet). 

This currently includes:

Highlights / Face Filters / People Search
An optional photo recommendation feature that uses metadata and facial geometry information to recommend photos for customers to add to their frame. The facial geometry information is processed locally on the customer’s device (phone/tablet), enabling app prompts for certain photo recommendations (i.e. “Add more photos of the people you’ve already selected for your frame.”)

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13) Your Privacy Policy states I need to get “written consent” of the individuals in the photographs — is that right? 

Unless a user has opted out from “Smart Suggestions” (Photo / Video Access and Privacy), Aura may perform facial geometry analysis to offer y  value-added features, including “Highlights / Face Filters  (see question 12). 

In certain regions and under certain interpretations of local laws, Aura may not be allowed to do this sort of analysis on photos of individuals who have not consented to it. We acknowledge that this permission may not always be easy to obtain, so you can simply disable Smart Suggestions in the absence of such consent (see question 12)  

 

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14) Do you use facial analysis? If so, does the processing take place in the cloud or on device? 

Aura currently uses facial geometry analysis to support value-add features, including “Highlights” / “Face Filter” Users can opt out of these features by turning off the Smart Suggestions option as explained in question 12.   

When active, the facial geometry analysis process occurs only  on the user’s phone/tablet itself and no information  will be uploaded to our servers.

 

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15) What are “close proximity events”? Is Aura capturing images of us?

Some of our early product ranges that were sold via our official retail channels before 2021 offered the following “close proximity” features: 

• activate the frame when a person entered the room
• allow users to change an image by waving in front of the frame  

This was enabled via the following hardware: 

1. a simple "passive infrared sensor" (PIR), of the type commonly used in security or automatic lighting applications. This sensor enabled the "presence" detection.
   
    
2. an infrared gesture recognition sensor, which incorporated a very low-resolution Infrared (IR) camera to detect simple gestures to control the frame, of the same sort as is sometimes included on smartphones. 

The low-resolution IR camera neither recorded any photos nor did it offer the necessary resolution to identify anything beyond movements. Both hardware elements are no longer used in any frames that have been sold by us or our official retailers since 2021. 

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16) How does the “light sensor” work? Is this a camera? 

All Aura frames come with an ambient light sensor that is not a camera but uses a photodiode to automatically adjust the display brightness to the environment. The sensor also enables the automatic “On/Off” function where a frame goes to sleep if the room is dark.

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17) Do you share my pictures, videos or other data with government agencies at any time or for any reason?

Aura has not shared any data with government agencies but situations may arise that require us to do so on a case-by-case basis. In general, we’ll respond to and comply with any lawful order, such as from a court, that requires us to provide data. But we’ve been in this business since 2016 and it hasn’t happened yet. 

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18) Do your employees and staff have the ability to see my photos or videos?

The only Aura employees who can access customer photos are a small number of software engineers who develop our software platform and troubleshoot customer issues. They only access specific customer’s photos at the customer’s request, and Aura has strict guidelines and tracking for this process, including an audit log of every photo accessed. 

 

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19) Can other frame members see my photos and/or photo library? 

Aura frames are places of trust where friends and family come together to share their photos and videos. Therefore, there are no different 'roles' as all invited frame members:

• Have full control over the frame and app settings
• Can see all photos uploaded by all members to the frame (but not their photo libraries)
• Can download / share any photos that were uploaded to the frame 

This is also explained in this article: Access Rights for Frame Members. 

We are aware that some customers would like to see customisable member access rights and this is something that we might add at some point in the future. Frame members can be removed but please be aware that this will also remove any photos/videos that they may have uploaded to your frame. 

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20) If I send pictures to a family members' frame, can their contact list be accessed by Aura?

Our Aura Frames app only uses the "contact" access permissions to make your contacts visible in the app itself, thus allowing you to easily invite those friends and family members that you would like to contribute to your frame. 

If you don't invite anybody via this feature, the access remains — locally — with the app (not with us as a company). In other words, we don’t upload your contact list to Aura. However, if you do use the feature to invite somebody to your frame, we will have to access this particular person's contact information as this is a technical requirement to send out the invitation and to create the link to your frame. 

As part of accepting the invitation, the invitee will then have to create their own Aura Frames account at which point they will be able to contribute to your frame. 

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21) Why do I see “somebody liked your photos” notifications? Have I been hacked? 

All photos and videos uploaded to your Aura frame are secure, private and only viewable to a closed network of people you personally invite.

Below are some examples of why you may have unexpectedly received a "Your photo has received some love on the frame "XYZ" " notification:

1. An invited frame member accidentally sent love via their app (= the heart icon)
    
2. Somebody who lives with the frame accidentally touched the Touch Bar on top of the frame (which triggers a "love" notification > we had cats or children do this before!) 
    
3. The frame had a defective Touch Bar, thus sending unrequested "love" notifications 

Since the love notifications are not immediately sent but collated (to avoid you getting flooded by thousands of individual notifications), they can arrive later in the day, or even at night, when nobody recently requested them.

If you — or another frame member — want to disable these notifications, you can of course turn them off in your smart device settings: Managing the Aura Frames app notifications. 

Alternatively, if you can rule out 1) and 2), we may want to consider a warranty replacement due to an overzealous Touch Bar. 

 

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22) What happens when I invite someone to upload photos to my frame?  

When you invite someone to upload photos to your Aura frame, they will receive a text message or email invite with instructions on how to join the frame. 

Upon sending the invite, their contact information will be visible to all members of the frame within the “Members" section. If they do not accept the invitation within 60 days, their information will be removed from the "Members" List and another invitation must be sent for them to join the frame. If they accept the invite, their new account name will be displayed instead of their phone number or email address. 

Invitees may contact frame members to request removal of their invitation before the 60 days have passed. Removal of an invitation will hide any invitee contact information from the frame "Member" view.

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