Guide
Is Cluster safe? What its own pages say about privacy
Invite-only groups, no ads and no third-party data deals by its own account, SSL in transit with no end-to-end claim, and an App Store label with no tracking section at all. The costs are to the files, not the privacy: compressed copies and fifteen-second videos.
Safe from strangers: yes — only members added to a group, or who joined with its invite link, can see it, and public albums are “no longer supported”. Secure against the company: no claim; SSL on the connection and cloud storage the company’s servers read. Legit: Fotoloce, LLC — Cluster Labs, Inc. on the App Store — running the app since 2013 with 22,000 ratings, “a tiny team” with “no big corporation behind this, and no big name investors”.
Who can see the photos
Members of the group, each of whom has an account: an invitee who doesn’t have one is asked to “create one first”, and web viewing works “but you must be logged into your account”. Admins decide who can post and who can invite. Cluster is frank that it can’t stop a member keeping a photo — “If someone can view the photo in an app, they can share it merely by taking a screenshot” — so it doesn’t offer a download block.
What Cluster says about security and AI
“Your photos are saved in high quality and stored in redundant locations in the cloud. Your photos are only accessed over an encrypted connection, so they cannot be located by anyone who does not have access to the group itself.” The privacy policy: “We employ SSL to encrypt communications between our servers and client applications, and do our best to protect our servers so third parties can’t access your private information.” No end-to-end claim, and nothing on the pages we checked about AI or face recognition. The terms add that “Cluster is not a backup service”.
Ads, tracking and the label
“Part of respecting that privacy means we will never sell ads or sell your data”; the family page says “No algorithms, no ads, no data mining”; the privacy policy says no third-party advertising cookies and no third-party data agreements. The App Store label has no “Data Used to Track You” section. What it links to you — payment info, physical address, email, name, phone number, photos and a user ID — is what a company that sells photo books collects. The terms do reserve the right to contact “you and your group members directly via email and other means with promotions for merchandise we offer”.
The files
This is where Cluster costs you. “During the upload process we partially compress them … The images saved are not original, but they are still considered high resolution.” Videos are 15 seconds unless you subscribe, and the per-album archive export sends the stored copies. Nothing is deleted if you stop subscribing.
The short version
Private from strangers: yes. Private from the company: no claim. Ads: none, ever, by its own account. Tracking: nothing on the label. The files: compressed copies and short clips. The privacy ranking sets this beside the other thirteen apps.
| Criterion | Cluster |
|---|---|
| Can the company open your photos? | Yes — SSL in transit, stored in the cloud; no end-to-end claim[1][2] |
| AI or face recognition run on your photos? | Not stated[2][1] |
| Ads? | No — 'we will never sell ads or sell your data'; merchandise promotions by email[3][4][5] |
| App Store label: data used to track you | No 'Data Used to Track You' section; email, name, phone, address, payment info and photos linked[6] |
| Photos kept at full quality? | No — 'we partially compress them … The images saved are not original'[7][8] |
Sources
- Cluster — Cluster support — How are my photos kept safe?, checked 2026-09-13
Your photos are saved in high quality and stored in redundant locations in the cloud. Your photos are only accessed over an encrypted connection, so they cannot be located by anyone who does not have access to the group itself.
- Cluster — Cluster privacy policy, checked 2026-09-13
We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information in personally identifiable form to anyone … We employ SSL to encrypt communications between our servers and client applications … We do not currently have any third-party advertising cookies, nor do we currently have any third-party data agreements that would share any of our customer's info … We provide a tool for downloading user data … You can also delete your account and all your data here: https://cluster.co/user/delete.
- Cluster — Cluster support — Why is Cluster charging a subscription? (January 2023), checked 2026-09-13
Part of respecting that privacy means we will never sell ads or sell your data. Instead, we are supporting the service and our communities by selling merchandise, like photo books, and now opening up our service to subscriptions with enhanced features. We still maintain a free tier of service.
- Cluster — Cluster — The Private Family Album, checked 2026-09-13
Grandparents, siblings, cousins — create a single family album where everyone can post and see every photo and video. No social media accounts needed … No algorithms, no ads, no data mining … Control who can upload photos. Set permissions so only the right people can post.
- Cluster — Cluster terms of use (updated August 2022), checked 2026-09-13
You own all your content (uploaded photos, videos and comments) … We will not sell your personal data … Cluster is not a backup service and you agree that you will not rely on the Service for the purposes of Content backup or storage … While we will not share your information with third parties, we will contact you and your group members directly via email and other means with promotions for merchandise we offer to support Cluster Services … When you sign up for a monthly or annual Cluster Club subscription tier.
- Cluster — App Store listing: Cluster (privacy label, purchases), checked 2026-09-13
Cluster Private Photo Sharing … Developer Cluster Labs, Inc. … iPhone, iPad, Apple TV … Data Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Contact Info (Email Address); Analytics — Identifiers (User ID); Product Personalization — Contact Info (Name); App Functionality — Financial Info (Payment Info), Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number), User Content (Photos or Videos), Identifiers (User ID) · Data Not Linked to You: Analytics — Usage Data (Product Interaction); Diagnostics — Crash Data, Performance Data … In-App Purchases: Cluster Friend $4.99 · Cluster Friend $49.99 · Cluster Family $9.99 · Cluster Pro $19.99 · Cluster Family $99.99 · Cluster Pro $199.99 … Cluster Club is a monthly or annual subscription to give admins more control over their groups … Cluster Club! Our first subscription offering since our first App Store launch almost a decade ago.
- Cluster — Cluster support — Are photos saved in their original high resolution format?, checked 2026-09-13
During the upload process we partially compress them to make the experience on your end better. The images saved are not original, but they are still considered high resolution.
- Cluster — Cluster support — Is there a limit to what can be uploaded into a group album? (2017), checked 2026-09-13
There is no limit to the number of photos or video posts that can be added. On the web, individual image uploads can only be 10MB per image, but uploads via the app are not limited at all. Video uploads are limited to 15 seconds … Video uploads are only an option through the app, and is not an upload option via the web … When uploading photos, we partially compress them to make the experience on your end better.
- Cluster — cluster.co home page, checked 2026-09-13
Group sharing for friends & family. The antidote to social media … Only invited users can see and post to albums … Cluster is simple to access and use through a web browser, so anyone can join and contribute … © 2026 Fotoloce, LLC.
- Cluster — Cluster — About Our Company, checked 2026-09-13
Cluster, Homeroom and Tripcast are independent apps built and maintained by a tiny team of people who care about keeping them running for the long term. The company itself is called Fotoloce. There's no big corporation behind this, and no big name investors … You own everything you upload … When you buy a subscription or order a photo book, you're directly supporting a small, independent business.
- Cluster — Cluster support — Why are you limiting the number of uploads for free accounts?, checked 2026-09-13
We offered the service completely free for almost a decade, so we have a good idea of how many photos & videos people normally share — and the limits are set above that threshold.
- Cluster — Cluster support — How are limits calculated and enforced?, checked 2026-09-13
Group creation limits will be enforced based on the number of groups you are currently an admin in … Upload limits will be based on how many total posts you have uploaded to any group … if one admin of a group has a Pro plan and another admin has the Family plan, the number of allowed members for the group is the larger of 100 or 1,000, so 1,000 members will be allowed within the group.
- Cluster — Cluster support — If I sign up for a subscription, will all the members of my groups receive the subscription benefits?, checked 2026-09-13
Subscriptions follow the account holder, not the group, but members of the group will see some of the benefits. For instance, non-subscribers will be able to view longer videos uploaded by subscribers but those non-subscribers will not be able to post longer videos themselves unless they subscribe.
- Cluster — Cluster support — I’m a long time Cluster user, but I don’t want to subscribe. Will my groups change?, checked 2026-09-13
We currently do not plan to delete groups or memberships for those who choose not to subscribe. But, if you are above the free tier limit, you may not be able to add more groups, members or content until you upgrade your membership.
- Cluster — Cluster support — If I cancel my subscription, will I lose access to my content?, checked 2026-09-13
We currently will not delete content or remove group members from any account. If you are exceeding the free tier allocation, however, you will be prevented from adding additional members, new groups or new content.
- Cluster — Cluster support — How do I add video to a group album?, checked 2026-09-13
Currently the video upload feature is only available via the app (i.e. not via the web) … Video uploads have a time limit of 15 seconds, which you will be asked to trim after uploading (if the file you selected is too long).
- Cluster — Cluster support — Can I view my photos and posts on the web?, checked 2026-09-13
All of your posts are viewable on the web, but you must be logged into your account.
- Cluster — Cluster support — Is what I post public?, checked 2026-09-13
Everything you post is only accessible to members who were explicitly added to the each individual group album and/or people who joined with the invitation link. (In previous versions of the app, you could make group albums “public” which would enable people with the URL to view the group album on the web. This functionality is no longer supported).
- Cluster — Cluster support — How do I join someone else's group album?, checked 2026-09-13
If you click the link in the email it should take you directly to the desired group album. If you don't have an account with us yet you will have to create one first in order for the link to take you straight to your friend's group album.
- Cluster — Cluster support — How do I download ALL the photos from a group album to my device?, checked 2026-09-13
Tap "Get Backup of Photos/Videos" and then "Create Archive" upon which you will be emailed an archive of high-resolution photos from this particular group album for you to use however you'd like.
- Cluster — Google Play listing: Cluster, checked 2026-09-13
Cluster · Cluster Apps · In-app purchases · 500K+ Downloads … Featured under "Best Apps of 2013" by Google.
Questions people ask
Is Cluster end-to-end encrypted?
No claim. ‘Your photos are only accessed over an encrypted connection’ and ‘We employ SSL to encrypt communications between our servers and client applications’ describe the connection; the photos are ‘stored in redundant locations in the cloud’ where the company’s systems can read them — and do, to compress them.
Does Cluster sell your data or show ads?
It says never: ‘we will never sell ads or sell your data’, ‘We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information’, and ‘We do not currently have any third-party advertising cookies, nor do we currently have any third-party data agreements’. The terms allow Cluster to email members with promotions for its own merchandise, such as photo books.
Can strangers see a Cluster album?
No. ‘Everything you post is only accessible to members who were explicitly added to the each individual group album and/or people who joined with the invitation link.’ The old option to make an album public ‘is no longer supported’.