About webpins: who makes it and how it works

webpins is a photo gallery that works in the browser and keeps your photos on your own device, not on a server. It is free, has no ads and needs no sign-up. This page tells you who makes the site, how it works and how it is funded.

Who makes it

webpins is an independent project, made in Brazil and run under the trade name Gira. It does not belong to a larger company and has no connection with Google, Apple or Microsoft. To reach the person who makes the site, write to hello@webpins.net.

Why it exists

Most online galleries ask for an account and keep your photos on a company's servers. That is convenient, but not everyone wants to hand personal photos to a third party just to organize them. webpins starts from the opposite idea: the site is only the program, and the photos never leave the device of the person who adds them.

How it works

• Photos stay in the browser. They are kept in the browser's own storage (IndexedDB), on the computer or phone where you use the gallery.
• The page cannot send your photos. The site tells the browser it may only talk to its own address, webpins.net, and it loads no third-party, analytics or ad scripts.
• It works without internet. After the first visit the gallery opens offline and can be installed as an app. See the guide to the offline photo gallery.
• Password-protected albums are encrypted. The photos in those albums are encrypted with AES-256 on the device itself. See the guide to the password-protected photo album.
• The backup is yours. Since no one else has a copy of your photos, the gallery makes .zip backups and, on a computer, can save everything to a folder. See the backup guide.

What the site keeps about you

Without an account, nothing. As with any website, the host (Cloudflare) sees that a page was opened, with the IP address and the browser, but your photos never get there.

The account is optional and is used for the Professional plan and to write to us. It keeps only your e-mail and, for subscribers, the subscription details. The sign-in e-mail is sent by Resend, and payment happens on Stripe's own pages, which receive the card details; they never go through webpins. The details are in the privacy policy and terms of use.

How the site is funded

webpins shows no ads and sells no data, and the free plan stays complete, with no limit on photos. To cover the costs there is an optional subscription, the Professional plan, which adds extra tools for those who want more. Keeping photos on your device helps too: since they take up no server space, more photos cost the site nothing.

Technology and credits

• Interface in React, built with Vite (MIT license).
• Site and accounts hosted on Cloudflare.
• Nunito and Archivo fonts (SIL Open Font License), served by the site's own files.
• Icons from the Lucide library (ISC license) and .zip files with fflate (MIT license).
• The spacing scale and the motion curves come from the Carbon Design System (Apache-2.0 license). webpins is not an IBM product.

Frequently asked questions

Who is behind webpins?

An independent project made in Brazil, run under the trade name Gira. There is no larger tech company behind it, and you can reach the person who makes the site directly at hello@webpins.net.

Can webpins see my photos?

No. Your photos go from your device into the browser's storage, on that same device, and never reach the site's servers. You can check it yourself: with airplane mode on, the gallery keeps adding photos as usual.

How does webpins make money without ads?

Through an optional subscription, the Professional plan, which adds extra tools. The free gallery has no photo limit and no ads, and no data is sold.