Privacy Policy
Last updated: November 2026
This is a translation for your convenience. The German version at sortiert.io/datenschutz is legally binding.
1. Controller
SocialBrands GmbH, Florastrasse 12a, 9200 Gossau, St. Gallen, Switzerland. For contact details, see the imprint. This policy applies to sortiert.io, the app and the English website sortedd.io (“Sorted”).
2. Principle
Sorted does not store any content from your Google Drive on its own servers and does not keep a user database. The only exception is the counter for the free trial (section 4c), which contains no content and no names. Whatever Sorted needs to remember (categories, suggestions for your files, your encrypted Gemini key) is kept in a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive. If you remove Sorted from your Google account, all access ends.
3. Sign-in with Google and access to Google Drive
When you connect your Google account, we receive your name, your email address, your profile picture and access to Google Drive. With this access, Sorted reads the folders you select, creates the “Sortiert” folder with shortcuts to your files and stores its state in the app folder. Sorted does not move, change or delete any of your files; shortcuts it created itself that are no longer needed after re-sorting are moved to your trash.
The sign-in data (access and refresh tokens) is stored encrypted in a cookie in your browser, not with us. The cookie is technically necessary to keep you signed in and becomes invalid after 30 days without use.
Sorted’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use your data only to provide you with the features of Sorted, do not sell it and do not use it for advertising or to train AI models.
The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of the contract for the use of Sorted).
4. Classification with Gemini
To classify your files, Sorted sends a small preview image of each file, its name, folder and capture date to Gemini by Google, using your own Gemini key. You yourself are the contracting party for Gemini; Google’s terms for the Gemini API apply. Please note that on the free tier of the Gemini API, Google may use inputs to improve its services; on the paid tier it does not. The preview images only pass through our server and are not stored there.
4a. Locations and capture time (Sorted Pro)
With Sorted Pro, Sorted reads the GPS coordinates and capture time stored in your photos and videos. For photos, Google Drive provides this information; for videos, Sorted reads only the beginning and the end of the file. From the coordinates, Sorted determines the nearest city on our server using a list of cities; the coordinates are not passed on to any other service. Sorted stores the location and capture time in your app folder in your Drive. If you share a folder with another person, Sorted grants them read access to that folder and the originals in it on your behalf; Google sends them an email about it.
4b. Payment via Paddle
You buy the subscription from Paddle.com Market Ltd. (United Kingdom), our merchant. For this purpose, Paddle processes your payment details, your email address and your country, issues the invoice and pays the VAT. We do not see payment details. So that Sorted can recognise your subscription, it asks Paddle whether there is an active subscription for the email address of your Google account and keeps the result only briefly in memory. Paddle’s terms and the Paddle privacy policy apply. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
4c. Counter for the free trial
Without a subscription, you can sort 25 photos or videos for free. So that the trial applies only once per Google account, even if you disconnect Sorted and connect it again, Sorted stores a small file with a number for each account: how many files the trial has already covered, plus the time of the first and the last change. The file name is a pseudonym, namely an HMAC value (a kind of fingerprint with a secret key) of your Google account ID. Your email address, your name or content from your Drive are not in it, and without our key the pseudonym cannot be linked to an account. The file is stored with Vercel (Vercel Blob, Frankfurt data centre) and serves only to limit the free trial. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is that each account uses the trial only once. The file is kept for as long as Sorted exists, because otherwise it would lose its purpose; we will delete it on request. For contact details, see the imprint.
5. Hosting with Vercel
The website and the app run on Vercel Inc., USA. When you visit, Vercel processes technically necessary data such as your IP address in order to deliver the site. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The transfer to the USA is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses of the EU Commission; Vercel is also certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
6. Counting page views
So that we know how well the site works, we count page views and sign-ups without cookies and without storing anything in your browser. We only count the page visited, the identifier from the link you came through, the page you came from, and whether you are browsing on a phone or a computer. We do not store your IP address or your browser. We store the counts with Supabase (Supabase Inc., USA) in a data centre in Zurich, Switzerland. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
7. Your rights
You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection, as well as the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. You can remove Sorted’s access to your Google account at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions.