Is Pixtide Safe? What the App Does With Your Photos

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Pixtide is a swipe photo cleaner for iPhone made by Matthew 10:16 LTD, and it never uploads your photo library: sorting runs on the phone, and a photo leaves it if you attach one to a support message yourself. Nothing is deleted until you confirm, and confirmed deletes wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Its App Store label, checked on 4 Nov 2026, lists no tracking but does list data linked to you.

I make Pixtide, so this is the maker's own account, not an independent review. It describes version 2.0. The checks at the end let you test it without taking my word for it.

Pixtide safety facts

Who makes Pixtide

Pixtide is made by Matthew 10:16 LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13247894, registered office 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU). The Companies House register listed it as an active private limited company, incorporated on 5 Mar 2021, when checked on 4 Nov 2026. Search the number there to confirm it.

The App Store listing names the same company as seller and Feral Online as developer. Feral Online is a one-person studio, so there is no support department: messages reach the person who builds the app. The app launched on 11 Mar 2026 and is newer than most photo cleaners. It has 36 US ratings and 15 UK ratings, checked on the App Store on 4 Nov 2026, which is a small sample to judge it by.

What the App Store privacy label lists

Pixtide's App Store privacy label has two sections, Data Linked to You and Data Not Linked to You, and no Data Used to Track You section. This is the label as read on the US listing on 4 Nov 2026:

The support chat is what links most of these rows. Photos or Videos means a photo you attach in that chat, not your library. Customer Support means your messages. Other Data Types covers language, region and time zone. Coarse Location means a rough city or country worked out from the connection, never from your photos. Other User Content means what you type into optional surveys or suggestions.

The label is the developer's own statement. Apple's page says so directly: "This information has not been verified by Apple."

What stays on the phone

Your photos, videos and sorting decisions stay on the iPhone. Sorting, session progress, preferences and deletion all run locally, and Similar shots uses Apple's on-device Vision framework, so no photo, thumbnail or scan result is uploaded. Analytics never include photo content or photo metadata such as locations, dates or faces. The privacy policy has the full wording.

A few things do use the network or outlast the app:

• Place names: if a photo has a location and its card stays on screen for a moment, Pixtide asks Apple's location service for the place name. The coordinates go to Apple for that lookup, not to me.
• iCloud photos: a photo stored in iCloud downloads from Apple so it can be shown.
• Public files: the app fetches two small public files from pixtide.com, community totals and app settings. Neither request carries an install id.
• Purchases: a purchase-records service starts with the app and uses a random id of its own, so Pro can be restored. It also receives your iPhone model, iOS and app version, and your IP address as part of the connection. Apple handles payment, so I never see card details.
• Keychain: your weekly sort count, founding status and any support chat session survive uninstalling. They contain nothing about your photos, and erasing the iPhone removes them.

What happens when you delete

Swiping left in Pixtide only marks a photo. A review screen then shows everything marked, you can rescue any item, and nothing changes until you confirm. iOS then shows its own confirmation, because an app cannot delete from your library without it. Deleting a burst removes every frame.

Confirmed items go to the Recently Deleted album. Apple's support page states: "When you delete photos and videos, they go to your Recently Deleted album for 30 days. After 30 days, they'll be permanently deleted." To restore something, open Photos, then Utilities, then Recently Deleted. There is more on this in where deleted photos go on iPhone.

Two limits apply. If you use iCloud Photos, Apple notes that a deleted photo "gets deleted on all other devices" signed in with the same Apple Account, so this is not a way to clear the phone and keep the iCloud copy. And Pixtide keeps no backup, so after 30 days, or once you empty the album, it cannot bring anything back.

Usage data and how to turn it off

Pixtide collects usage data by default, and you can switch it off at any time. Open Settings in the app, tap Privacy and data, and turn off Share usage data. Collection stops straight away, and anything already recorded goes out in one last upload. There is no confirmation dialog to get past.

While it is on, the app sends which screens and features are used, the timing and kind of each item you sort, whether it was in iCloud, crash reports, performance checks, device model, iOS version and a rough location. It is grouped under a random install id that is not your Apple ID, device ID or advertising ID.

An analytics service processes this on servers in the European Union (Frankfurt) under a data processing agreement. Everything an install sent is deleted within three months after 25 months of silence. The switch does not stop the purchase-records service, the public file requests or a support chat you have opened.

What happens with support chat

The support chat is optional, and nothing is sent to it until you open Support. It is run by a support-chat provider, a UK company named in the privacy policy. Opening it registers your iPhone with the provider, and the app then does so again each time you open Pixtide, so replies can reach you.

That registration carries your device type, iOS and app version, language, region, time zone, a random device id, your Pixtide plan, how you got Pro and a few counts, such as items sorted. No name, email or Apple ID is sent.

Your messages, and any photo you choose to attach, are stored by the provider so I can read them and reply. The chat uses encrypted connections but is not end-to-end encrypted, so do not send passwords or payment details. Chats are not deleted automatically, and uninstalling does not delete them. To remove one, ask in Support or email hello@pixtide.com, and the chat, its messages and any attached photos are deleted.

To opt out, never open Support and use email instead.

What permissions Pixtide asks for

Pixtide asks for two permissions: Photos and, optionally, notifications. The Photos prompt reads: "Pixtide needs access to your photos so you can swipe through and decide which to keep or delete." You can choose full access or limited access, where iOS shows the app only the photos you pick. Limited access is a sensible way to try it first. The app cannot work without Photos access, and you can change this at any time in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security, then Photos.

The notification prompt comes after a sorting session, not at first launch. Reminders are generated on the iPhone, at most one a day. If you have used the support chat, replies can also arrive through Apple's push service. You can decline all of this and the app still works.

The app asks for no location, camera, contacts or microphone access, and shows no tracking prompt. It can check for new photos in the background, which you control with Background App Refresh in iOS Settings.

What Pixtide cannot prove

Some of this rests on trust, so here are the limits. Full Photos access lets any app read your library, and iOS does not restrict what it does next. The App Store label is self-declared, the source code is private, and I have no independent security audit to show you. What I can offer is a dated label, a named company, a written privacy policy and a way to test the network claim yourself.

These checks take a few minutes:

1. Read the label on the App Store listing and compare it with the table above.
2. Turn on App Privacy Report in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security, use Pixtide for a while, then look at when it used Photos and which domains it contacted.
3. Start with limited access, delete a test photo and confirm it appears in Recently Deleted.
4. Read the list of what is collected in Settings, under Privacy and data.

For the same questions about any other app, see are photo cleaner apps safe.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pixtide safe to use?

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Pixtide is a swipe photo cleaner for iPhone that sorts on the device and never uploads the photo library. Nothing is deleted until you confirm, and confirmed deletes wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Its App Store label, checked on 4 Nov 2026, lists no tracking. It does collect usage data by default, which you can switch off, and Apple does not verify the label.

Is Pixtide legit, and who makes it?

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Yes. Pixtide is made by Matthew 10:16 LTD, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 13247894. Companies House listed the company as active on 4 Nov 2026. The App Store shows Matthew 10:16 LTD as the seller and Feral Online, a one-person studio, as the developer. The app launched on 11 Mar 2026 and has 36 US ratings, checked on the App Store on 4 Nov 2026.

Does Pixtide upload my photos?

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No, Pixtide never uploads your photo library. Sorting, Similar shots and deletion all run on the iPhone. A photo leaves the phone in one case: you pick it yourself and send it in the optional support chat, where the support-chat provider stores it so the developer can reply. That is why the App Store label lists Photos or Videos as linked to you.

Does Pixtide sell my data or track me?

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Pixtide's privacy policy says it uses no advertising trackers and does not sell data to third parties. Its App Store label, checked on 4 Nov 2026, has no Data Used to Track You section, and the app shows no tracking permission prompt. It has no ads. It does collect usage data under a random install id, on by default, and that can be switched off in Settings.

Can I get photos back after deleting them with Pixtide?

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Yes, for 30 days. Pixtide deletes through Apple's Photos library, so confirmed items go to the Recently Deleted album. In the Photos app, open Utilities, then Recently Deleted, unlock it, select the items and tap Recover. After 30 days, or if you empty the album first, they are gone. Pixtide keeps no copy of its own, so it cannot restore anything.