By default
The catalog opens and works offline, with no authentication and no remote service.
Trust
What stays on your Mac, and what does not leave it.
A product handling photographic archives should be precise about what it transmits. Here is what moves, what does not, and what you keep if you stop.
In short
Obscura Flow is a local application: libraries, originals, metadata, and archives stay on your disks. AI analysis runs on your Mac through Apple Vision. Only the backup destinations you configure receive data, and only when you act.
- No account required to create, catalog, document, or archive locally
- AI analysis runs on the device, disabled by default
- No images sent to a third-party analysis service
- Outbound transfers go to the destinations you configure
- Metadata in XMP sidecars, readable without the application
Evidence
On-device analysis
Captions, objects, OCR, faces, and near-duplicates are computed locally, with no image transmission.
Reversibility
Descriptions are written in a standard format other software can read.
What never leaves your Mac by default
In local use, none of this data is transmitted.
- Originals
- Photographic files stay in the locations you chose.
- The catalog
- The SQLite database, descriptions, keywords, and inventory numbers are local.
- Analysis results
- Captions, objects, recognized text, and face groupings are produced and stored locally.
- Logs
- Logging stays local; remote logging is optional and explicit.
What is transmitted, and on what action
Local-first does not mean permanently offline. Transmissions exist, and you trigger them.
- Off-site backups
- To the S3, B2, R2, NAS, or folder destination you configured, when you start the upload.
- Licensing and sync
- If you sign in, for licensing and the online features you choose. Local work is never blocked by it.
- Contact form
- The information you enter on this website to get a reply.
- Website analytics
- On this website only, and only after you accept the consent banner.
What you keep if you stop
A preservation tool that made its data unreadable without itself would contradict its own purpose.
- Your originals
- They were never moved off your disks.
- Your metadata
- Written to XMP sidecars, a standard format other software reads.
- Your archives
- Packages accompanied by their manifest, whose contents remain extractable.
- Your exports
- Dublin Core, portfolios, and catalogues raisonnés are standalone documents.
Questions
Is the cloud required?
No. Obscura Flow is local-first and fully usable offline. Cloud features are only used for backups, publishing, and sync that you choose.
Do I need an account?
No. Local use requires neither an account nor a connection. Login only adds licensing, sync, and optional remote logging.
Does AI analysis upload my images?
No. Captions, objects, OCR, faces, and near-duplicate detection run on your Mac through Apple Vision and are disabled by default.
What happens if I stop using Obscura Flow?
Your originals never left your disks, and metadata is written to XMP sidecars, a standard format other tools can read. Archives remain packages accompanied by their manifest: nothing depends on the application still being installed.
Are my original files modified?
No. The app is non-destructive: enriched metadata is written to XMP sidecars, never into the original files.
Are encrypted archives portable?
AES-256-GCM encryption is optional. An encrypted archive can only be restored on the Mac that created it because the key stays in that Mac's keychain.
Decision
Build an archive that stays understandable.
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