Terms of Service

RealTime.Photos is a live event photo sharing platform operated by Nanjing Zhiyin Trading Co., Ltd. at realtime.photos. By creating an account or using our service, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the platform.

Questions? Contact us at hello@realtime.photos.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into contracts to create an account. By registering, you represent that this is the case.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a company, organisation, or other legal entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity. In that case, "you" and "your" refer to that entity throughout these Terms.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and for all activity that occurs under it. Notify us immediately at hello@realtime.photos if you become aware of any unauthorised access.

RealTime.Photos is a tool that enables photographers to share event photos with guests in real time. It includes a photographer dashboard for uploading and managing photos, a guest-facing gallery, face recognition for photo filtering, and QR code access for guests.

We provide the platform as-is. We do not provide photography services, editing services, or any guarantee that the platform will meet any specific outcome for your event or business.

Photos uploaded to RealTime.Photos may be processed by the platform, including compression, format conversion, and optional automatic adjustments. These operations may result in a reduction in image quality compared to the original file. It is your responsibility to retain original unprocessed copies of all photos you upload.

No service level agreement. We make no commitment regarding platform availability, uptime, or response times. We do not offer a formal Service Level Agreement (SLA). Scheduled or unscheduled maintenance may result in temporary unavailability, including during live events.

Your content. You retain all copyright and intellectual property rights in the photos and other content you upload to RealTime.Photos. We do not claim ownership of your content.

Licence to operate the service. By uploading content, you grant RealTime.Photos a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to store, process, reproduce, and display that content solely as necessary to operate and provide the service to you and your event guests. This licence ends when you delete the content or close your account, subject to the retention schedule described below.

Our intellectual property. The RealTime.Photos brand, software, platform design, trademarks, and all associated content are our property or are licensed to us. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of our intellectual property rights to you. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of our platform or software.

Feedback. If you send us suggestions, feature requests, or other feedback, you grant us the right to use it without restriction or compensation.

By using RealTime.Photos to photograph and publish images of other people, you represent and warrant that:

• You have the legal right to photograph the attendees at your event under applicable law.
• You have obtained any necessary consents or permissions from the event organiser and, where required by law, from individual attendees.
• You have informed event attendees that face recognition technology is in use, as required by GDPR Article 13 and any other applicable data protection law.
• The photos you upload do not contain illegal content, do not violate any third party's intellectual property rights, and are not defamatory or harmful.
• You will not use the platform to photograph individuals without their knowledge in contexts where they would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

You are the data controller under applicable data protection law for the personal data of your guests. RealTime.Photos acts as your data processor. The terms governing this relationship are set out in our Data Processing Agreement, which forms part of these Terms. Our general data practices are described in our Privacy Policy.

RealTime.Photos uses third-party cloud services to detect and cluster faces across photos uploaded to an event. This technology is provided solely to help guests find photos of themselves. It is not designed or warranted for identity verification, surveillance, law enforcement, or any other purpose beyond this.

No accuracy guarantees. Face recognition systems can produce incorrect results — including false matches and missed detections. We make no warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of any face recognition result. You agree not to rely on face recognition output for any consequential decision.

Guest selfies are never stored. Images captured by guests for face matching are processed in memory and discarded immediately. They are never written to a database or permanent storage.

Data controller responsibilities. By using face recognition features on RealTime.Photos, you act as the data controller for attendee biometric data under GDPR Article 9. RealTime.Photos acts as your data processor under the terms of our Data Processing Agreement. You confirm that you will: (a) inform attendees at your events that face recognition is in use — your Print-ready QR card (Share tab) is designed for this; and (b) comply with applicable data protection law for the events you manage. RealTime.Photos offers two consent configurations at your election: an in-app consent screen shown to each guest before their photos are surfaced (the default for Standard tier events), or pre-event consent in which you collect consent from attendees through your own registration flow before the event (the default for Custom tier events, including Agency Plan). You are responsible for ensuring your chosen configuration satisfies your obligations under GDPR Article 9(2) or equivalent applicable law.

You agree not to use RealTime.Photos to:

• Upload content that is illegal, obscene, defamatory, or that infringes any third party's rights.
• Photograph or publish images of minors without verifiable parental or guardian consent.
• Use face recognition for surveillance, tracking, or any purpose unrelated to helping event guests find their own photos.
• Circumvent any access controls, rate limits, or security measures in the platform.
• Resell or sublicense access to the platform to third parties.
• Use automated means to scrape, extract, or interact with the platform in ways not intended by its design.
• Access or use the platform for benchmarking, competitive analysis, or monitoring its features, performance, or availability for the purpose of developing or improving a competing product or service.
• Use the platform to develop, or assist in developing, any product or service that competes with RealTime.Photos.

This clause applies to anyone who has created an authenticated account on RealTime.Photos, or accepted a collaborator invitation (i.e. redeemed a /join/[token] link). It does not apply to guest users who access a gallery solely via QR code or direct link without creating an account.

By using the platform under either of the above conditions, you grant RealTime.Photos the right to:

• Identify you as a customer and display your name and/or organisation logo in our marketing materials, website, and commercial documentation — including "Trusted by" sections, pitch decks, and commercial dossiers.
• Use anonymised, aggregated statistics derived from platform usage (for example: total photos processed, total events hosted, total faces identified) for marketing and promotional purposes. Aggregate statistics do not identify any individual user, organisation, or event.

Opt-out. You may withdraw consent for name and logo use at any time by emailing hello@realtime.photos. Withdrawal applies going forward and does not affect any prior use. The right to use anonymised aggregate statistics is not affected by such withdrawal.

Case studies. This clause does not cover case studies, quotes, or endorsements. Use of your name or organisation in a case study or testimonial context requires your separate, explicit written consent and will never be implied from acceptance of these Terms.

We respect intellectual property rights and expect users of our platform to do the same. If you believe that content uploaded to RealTime.Photos infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to hello@realtime.photos with the subject line "Copyright Notice" and include the following:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed.
• The URL or other specific location of the allegedly infringing content on our platform.
• Your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A declaration that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorised to act on the copyright owner's behalf. For US-based claimants, this declaration is made under penalty of perjury as required by the DMCA (17 U.S.C. § 512). For claimants in other jurisdictions, this declaration carries equivalent legal responsibility under applicable law.

We will respond to valid notices by removing or disabling access to the reported content. Accounts that repeatedly infringe third-party intellectual property rights will be terminated.

RealTime.Photos is priced per event, based on the number of photos published to the guest gallery. Pricing details are shown at the time of purchase. All prices are inclusive of applicable taxes where required by law.

Payment is processed by Dodo Payments, our merchant of record, who handles billing, VAT collection, and payment security. By purchasing, you also agree to Dodo Payments' terms of service.

Refunds. If you have purchased a tier and have not yet uploaded any photos to the event, you may request a full refund within 7 days of purchase by contacting us at hello@realtime.photos. Once photos have been uploaded and face recognition processing has begun, no refund is available as costs have been incurred on your behalf.

Upgrades. You may upgrade your event to a higher tier at any time. You will be charged the difference between your current tier and the new tier. The new photo limit applies immediately.

Volume and agency plans. For agencies and organisations running multiple events, we may agree a volume plan under a separate written agreement. In that case, payment is made by direct invoice rather than through Dodo Payments. The separate agreement governs the entire commercial relationship for that arrangement — including payment terms, refunds, liability, marketing rights, termination, and any other matters it addresses — and takes precedence over these Terms of Service to the extent of any conflict.

All event data — including uploaded photos, face recognition data, and associated records — is automatically and permanently deleted on a schedule tied to photo activity, not the event creation date. The exact schedule depends on your tier and is shown in your event settings.

Custom plan events. Events on the Custom plan have a data retention period agreed per contract. There is no standard automatic deletion schedule for Custom events; the retention period is set administratively.

Agency Plan events. Events created under an Agency Plan are retained for the duration of the plan's contract period. On expiry or termination, all plan events enter a 30-day wind-down period, after which Event data is permanently deleted. Face recognition biometric data (face embeddings) is purged 12 months after the first photo upload regardless of plan status, to limit long-term biometric data storage.

We are not responsible for any loss resulting from automatic deletion. It is your responsibility to ensure guests have downloaded any photos they wish to keep before the scheduled deletion date.

The platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties, including:

• Implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
• Any warranty that the platform will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.
• Any warranty that results obtained from use of the platform will be accurate or reliable.
• Any warranty that defects in the platform will be corrected.

This disclaimer does not affect any statutory consumer protection rights you may have under the mandatory laws of your country of residence that cannot be excluded by contract.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, RealTime.Photos and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages — including loss of data, loss of profits, loss of revenue, or loss of business opportunity — regardless of the theory of liability (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise) and even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Without limiting the above, we are specifically not liable for:

• Incorrect, missed, or false face recognition results.
• Any reduction in photo quality resulting from processing operations performed by the platform, including compression, format conversion, or automatic corrections.
• Any misuse of the platform by a photographer, including unlawful photography or failure to obtain required consents from event attendees.
• Data breaches or loss caused by photographer negligence, including sharing event access links with unauthorised parties.
• Loss of photos or event data due to the automatic deletion schedule described above.
• Interruptions to the service, including during live events.
• Loss of revenue, business opportunity, or reputation arising from use or inability to use the platform.

In all cases, our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of the platform shall not exceed the amount you paid for the specific event to which the claim relates.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless RealTime.Photos, its operators, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to:

• Your use of the platform in violation of these Terms.
• Any content you upload, including any claim that such content infringes the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any third party.
• Your failure to obtain required consents or comply with applicable law in connection with your photography activities.
• Any dispute between you and a guest, event organiser, or other third party arising from your use of the platform.

We reserve the right, at your expense, to assume exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you. You agree to cooperate with our defence of any such claim.

You may delete your account at any time from your dashboard. Deletion triggers permanent removal of all your events, photos, face data, and account records.

Suspension. We may suspend your account temporarily — without notice — to investigate a suspected violation of these Terms, unlawful activity, or a security risk. During suspension, you cannot access your account or events, but your data is retained. We will notify you of the suspension and reason as soon as reasonably practicable and will lift it promptly if the investigation finds no basis for further action.

Termination. We may terminate your account permanently if we determine that you have materially violated these Terms, engaged in unlawful activity, or pose an ongoing risk to other users or the platform. Termination results in permanent deletion of all data associated with your account. No refund is issued on termination for cause.

Neither party is liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations under these Terms to the extent that such delay or failure is caused by circumstances beyond their reasonable control, including natural disasters, acts of government or regulatory authority, war, civil unrest, pandemic, failure of internet infrastructure, or the unavailability of third-party services on which the platform depends (including cloud storage, face recognition, and payment processing providers).

If such circumstances persist for more than 30 consecutive days, either party may terminate the affected service arrangement by written notice. Where RealTime.Photos terminates under this clause, it will refund Fees on a pro-rata basis corresponding to the unused portion of the affected event's paid retention period.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and, where applicable, our Data Processing Agreement, constitute the entire agreement between you and RealTime.Photos regarding your use of the platform. They supersede any prior agreements, representations, or understandings between the parties, whether written or oral.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed if modification is not possible. The remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms at any time does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of our right to enforce it in the future.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, without restriction or notice to you.

Notices. Legal notices to RealTime.Photos must be sent by email to hello@realtime.photos. Notices to you will be sent to the email address associated with your account and are effective upon delivery. We may also deliver notices in-app; such notices are effective when posted.

Relationship. These Terms do not create any partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and RealTime.Photos.

Survival. The following sections survive termination or expiry of these Terms for any reason: Intellectual property, Copyright infringement, Disclaimer of warranties, Limitation of liability, Indemnification, and this General provisions section. Any payment obligations accrued before termination also survive.

Dispute resolution. Before commencing any formal legal proceedings, both parties agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute through good-faith negotiation for a period of 30 days following written notice of the dispute to the other party. If the dispute is not resolved through negotiation within that period, either party may pursue their rights through the courts as specified in the Governing Law section.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or via a notice in your dashboard at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the platform after that date constitutes acceptance of the new Terms. The current version of these Terms is always available at realtime.photos/terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Spain and the European Union. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Spain. If you are a consumer resident in another EU member state, you may also have rights under the mandatory consumer protection laws of your country of residence.

If you access the platform from the United States, this choice of law does not deprive you of any consumer protection rights available under the mandatory laws of your state. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you have under applicable US federal or state law that cannot be waived by contract.

We are committed to full compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with respect to the personal data of all users and event guests located in the European Economic Area. For GDPR-related enquiries, contact us at hello@realtime.photos.

RealTime.Photos is operated by Nanjing Zhiyin Trading Co., Ltd. For any questions about these Terms, reach us at hello@realtime.photos.