Private photo gallery, with no cloud and no sign-up

By webpins.net, updated on October 1, 2026

Clay illustration: a phone and a laptop with a shield and a padlock, and a crossed-out cloud beside each

A truly private gallery is one where the photos never leave your device. That is how webpins works: the site is only the program that runs in the browser, and the photos are kept in it.

Where the photos are kept

In the browser's own storage (IndexedDB), on the computer or phone where you use the gallery. webpins has no server that receives photos, has no analytics or ads inside the site. Using the gallery needs no account and stores no cookies; only someone who chooses to sign in to the optional account (for the Professional plan, or to write to us) gets a sign-in cookie, and even then the photos never leave the device.

What nobody sees

The photos, captions, albums and dates: none of it is sent to the internet.
Your preferences (theme, order, photo size): they also stay only on your device.

What the hosting sees

As on any website, whoever delivers the page sees that it was opened: the IP address, the browser and the page requested pass through the hosting's servers (Cloudflare). Your photos do not: they never get there. The Privacy and terms page, inside the site, goes into detail.

The precautions worth taking

Without a password, photos are not encrypted. Anyone using the same computer and the same browser can open them. On a shared computer, use a user profile of your own.
Protect sensitive albums with a password. See the guide on password-protected photo albums.
Make backups. If the browser's data is cleared, the photos are gone, and nobody has a copy. The backup guide shows how.

What changes, in practice, compared with a cloud service

You gain privacy and control. In exchange, you give up seeing the same photos on another device without going through a backup, and creating links to share. If that suits you, see also the comparison in Google Photos alternative with no cloud.

How to check for yourself

You do not have to take this guide's word for it. You can see it for yourself:

With airplane mode. Open the gallery, turn on airplane mode and add a photo. It goes in as usual, because nothing needs to be sent.
With the browser's tools. On a computer, press F12, open the Network tab and add a few photos. No upload shows up: the photos do not leave the device.
From the site's settings. webpins tells the browser that the page may only talk to its own address, webpins.net. Even if someone wanted to, the page could not send the photos to another server.

The location inside your photos

Photos taken with a phone usually carry, inside the file itself, the date, the camera model and sometimes the place where they were taken. webpins keeps the original file as it is and uses the date and the camera to organize. None of that leaves your device. But if you download a photo and send it to someone, that data goes along in the file, as with any other gallery. To avoid sharing the location, turn off location in your phone's camera.

Private windows and clearing data

Private or incognito window: it works, but the browser deletes everything when the window is closed, photos included. It is good for trying it out, not for keeping photos.
Clearing your history: deleting only your browsing history does not touch the photos. Deleting cookies and site data does, because that is where the photos live. Make a backup before clearing it.
Another browser or another device: each has its own, separate gallery. To take the photos from one to the other, make a backup in one and restore it in the other.

Frequently asked questions

Can webpins see my photos?

No. The photos never reach the site's servers: they go from your device into the browser's storage, on that same device.

Do I need to create an account?

No. The whole gallery works without an account. The account exists only for the Professional plan and to get in touch with us, and even with it the photos stay on your device.

What if I lose my phone or computer?

Photos that were only on it go with it. That is why it is worth keeping a backup somewhere else, such as a USB stick or your own cloud storage, whenever you add many photos.

Does webpins remove the location from my photos?

No. It keeps the original file as it is, with the date, the camera and sometimes the place where the photo was taken. That data does not leave your device, but it goes along if you download the photo and send it to someone. To stop recording the place, turn off location in your phone's camera.

Sources

About this guide: written by the maker of webpins.net. What it says about the site was checked on webpins itself on the date of the last update. What it says about the browser follows MDN's documentation (see the sources above). Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@webpins.net.

Try it with no commitment: there is no sign-up, and you can use the sample photos before adding your own.

Open webpins