Essential

Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 2026

The short version: we don't sell your data, we don't track you, and we don't use cookies. Images you scan are sent to third-party AI models for analysis and are not stored by us.

Who we are

Essential is an AI image detection service available at essentialai-app.com. It helps you identify whether an image was generated by AI.

For privacy questions, contact us at: privacy@essentialai-app.com

What data we collect

If you use the site as a guest

Nothing is stored on our servers. Your scan count is kept in your browser's local storage only.

If you create an account

Your email address
Your name and profile picture if you sign in with Google
Your scan quota (how many scans you have used) stored in our database

If you make a payment

Your payment is processed entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
We receive confirmation of whether a payment succeeded and which plan you purchased.

Images you scan

When you scan an image, it is sent to Sightengine - a third-party AI analysis service - to determine whether it was AI-generated. The image is transmitted over an encrypted connection.

When Sightengine is highly confident an image is human-made, the image is also sent to Anthropic (Claude) as a second opinion to catch potential false negatives. The two scores are averaged to produce the final result.

We do not store your images on our servers. Each service's own privacy policy governs how they handle images on their end. Based on their documentation, images are not retained after analysis.

Chrome Extension

The Essential Chrome Extension adds a right-click "Scan with Essential" option to images across the web. Here is what the extension does with your data:

Authentication sync — when you are signed in on essentialai-app.com, the extension reads your Supabase session token from that page's local storage and stores it in Chrome's extension storage (chrome.storage.local). This is used only to authenticate scan requests on your behalf. The token is never sent to any server other than essentialai-app.com and Supabase.
Image URLs — when you right-click and scan an image, the image's URL is sent to our API (essentialai-app.com/api/scan). The same image processing and third-party analysis described above applies.
Scan history — extension scan results are written back to your local browser storage on essentialai-app.com. No scan history is sent to our servers.
No browsing history — the extension does not read, collect, or transmit your browsing history. It only interacts with images you explicitly right-click on.

The extension requests the following permissions: contextMenus (to add the right-click option), storage (to store your auth token locally), scripting and tabs (to sync your login session from the Essential website tab). These permissions are used solely for the functionality described above.

Cookies

We do not use cookies. We use browser local storage strictly for functional purposes: keeping you signed in, remembering your scan count, and storing your scan history locally on your device. This data never leaves your browser unless you are signed in, in which case your scan quota is synced to our database.

Third-party services

Supabase - authentication and scan quota database. Data is stored on servers in the EU. Privacy policy
Sightengine - primary AI image analysis. Images are sent here for every scan. Privacy policy
Anthropic (Claude) - secondary AI image analysis. Images are sent here when Sightengine is highly confident the image is human-made. Privacy policy
Stripe - payment processing. Card data is handled entirely by Stripe. Privacy policy
Vercel - website hosting. Standard server logs (IP address, request metadata) are retained briefly for security purposes. Privacy policy

How long we keep your data

Account data is kept for as long as your account is active.
Scan history is stored only in your browser's local storage and is never sent to our servers.
If you delete your account, your data is removed from our database within 30 days.

Your rights

If you are in the EU or UK, you have rights under GDPR including:

Access - you can request a copy of the data we hold about you
Deletion - you can request that we delete your account and associated data
Correction - you can request that we correct inaccurate data
Portability - you can request your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@essentialai-app.com.

Children

Essential is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.