FAQ

Privacy and offline use

Do my photos or videos ever leave my computer?

No. Face detection, 512-D embedding extraction, and vector search all run on your machine. No image, video, or face embedding is uploaded, and there is no cloud API anywhere in the pipeline.

Does SnapByFace need an internet connection?

Recognition and search do not need one — they run locally and keep working with the network unplugged. Two things use the network: buying a license in a browser, and the optional device statistics ping. Installing does not download models; they are already inside the 300 MB package.

What exactly is the device statistics ping?

An optional, small request sent on launch containing only: machine code, app version, operating system, language, whether the app is activated, and plan. It is used to count installations and to support licensing.

It does not contain photos, videos, face data, file paths, folder names, library sizes, or any search activity. It is on by default and can be switched off in Settings; when it fails (3-second timeout) it is skipped silently and never retried.

:::note Keep the two statements separate: recognition and search are 100% local, and the only outbound data is that device statistics ping, which carries no media data at all. :::

Do I need an account?

No. There is no sign-up, no email required to use the app, and no login.

Where does SnapByFace store my data?

In ~/.snapbyface/ in your user folder: the SQLite index, extracted face data, your settings, the activation state, and the logs.

Can I use it on confidential material?

Yes — that is the point of running locally. Since nothing is uploaded, the practical controls are the ones you already have: disk encryption, user accounts, and physical access to the machine.

Performance

How much media can it handle?

The design target is tens of thousands of photos and hours of video on one machine. The limits are CPU time for the first analysis and disk speed; re-runs are cheap because unchanged files are skipped.

Why is matching slow on my large library?

Most likely FAISS is unavailable and SnapByFace fell back to a NumPy search. The matches are the same, just slower — see Troubleshooting.

Does changing the threshold re-analyze my media?

No. A threshold change re-matches embeddings that already exist, so it is fast even on a huge library. Changing the video sampling interval is different: it changes which frames exist, so those videos must be analyzed again.

Can I pause a long run?

Yes — pause, continue, or cancel at any time, and finished files stay indexed.

Does it use the GPU?

SnapByFace runs its ONNX models on the CPU. Expect the CPU to be busy during indexing; pausing frees it immediately.

Export

What can I export?

Matched media: copies of the matching photos — and of the full original video files behind video hits — into a folder you choose.

Are exports limited in the trial?

Export works before activation; the trial cap limits how many matches are shown (5 per person, 20 per search). See Activation.

Is there a limit on how many times I can run an analysis?

Yes, in the trial: 100 analyses in total per machine. One analysis is one run over your media folders — browsing results, exporting, and re-matching after a threshold change do not count. After 100, SnapByFace asks you to activate before starting another analysis; results you already found stay browsable and exportable.

What happens to my results when a timed plan expires?

You keep the app and your data. SnapByFace still opens and results already found stay browsable and exportable, but you cannot start a new analysis, and the results view falls back to the trial cap (5 per person, 20 per search) until you renew. Renewing with the same machine code restores full access — nothing is re-indexed or re-run.

Which file formats are supported?

Photos: JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, WebP and HEIC/HEIF. Video: MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, M4V, WebM and TS. Camera RAW files (CR2, NEF, ARW and similar) are not supported — export them as JPEG or TIFF first. Files in other formats are not indexed — after a run, SnapByFace tells you how many media files it skipped, so they never disappear silently.

Does exporting modify my original files?

No. SnapByFace only reads your media; exports are copies.

Can I export video clips?

No. Video hits are previewed in the app at the exact second; exporting one copies the complete original video file.

Reset and removal

How do I remove one person?

Remove them from the person list and their matches disappear from the results view. Their reference photo stays where you keep it.

How do I re-index everything from scratch?

Close SnapByFace, delete ~/.snapbyface/snapbyface.db, then start it again. Activation lives in license.dat, so this does not deactivate your license.

How do I reset all settings?

Delete ~/.snapbyface/config.json while SnapByFace is closed. The threshold returns to 0.45 and the video sampling interval to 1 second.

How do I fully uninstall?

Delete the app (Trash on macOS, Apps & features on Windows), then delete ~/.snapbyface/ if you also want to remove the index, settings and activation state.

Will uninstalling delete my photos?

No. SnapByFace only ever reads your media.

Activation (short answers)

Do I need to be online to activate?

No. The license code is an RSA-2048 signature verified on your machine. Only the purchase step needs a browser.

What if I replace my disk or reinstall the OS?

Your machine code changes, so the old code will not activate. Contact support with your old and new machine codes plus the purchase email.

What does not change my machine code?

Renaming the computer, plugging in a USB network adapter, installing a VM or Docker, connecting a VPN, adding RAM, or updating SnapByFace.

Where do I find my machine code?

In the Software Activation dialog, in a read-only field with a Copy button. Full walkthrough: Activation.