Frequently asked questions

Never. The app reads your photos and makes copies into the new archive; the originals stay exactly where they are, untouched. Duplicates are set aside in the archive, not deleted from your drives. If you ever uninstall the app, both your originals and the archive are still there as ordinary folders.

Scanning, duplicate detection and face recognition all happen on your computer. The one exception is smart event tags: a small preview of each new photo goes through haelstudio.com to our AI provider (OpenAI) to suggest events. The photo isn't kept by us; the tags found for it are, so you're never charged twice. Smart tags are optional — switch them off and nothing is sent. See "Smart tags" below. Apart from that, the app only contacts us to activate your licence key and, about once a day, to check anonymously for a new version (no key, no computer ID, nothing about you).

A download of the installer from your account dashboard, licensed to you. Your archive itself is plain files and folders on your own drive — it never depends on us.

It's emailed to you the moment your payment goes through, and it's always on your account dashboard: log in at haelstudio.com and open Dashboard. The key is shown under "Licence key" with a Copy button, right above the download. Paste it into the app the first time it starts. One key works on up to 3 of your computers, and you can free up a computer from the same page.

Both are the same full app. Hael Studio ($149) includes every new version released in your first 12 months, and you keep it forever. Lifetime ($249) includes every version we ever ship. There's no subscription either way.

Nothing stops working — your copy and every version released in those 12 months are yours to keep. If you want newer versions, add 12 more months of updates for $69 from your dashboard. You can do it anytime, even years later; it brings you up to the latest version.

Yes. Hael Studio owners can upgrade to Lifetime anytime from the dashboard for $100. Same licence key, nothing to reinstall.

Up to 3 of your own computers at the same time, on one licence key. Replacing a PC? Free the old one from your dashboard and activate the new one.

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. The download is about 450 MB and the app takes about 1.2 GB once installed, so allow 3 GB free. Face recognition benefits from 8 GB+ of RAM for large libraries. iPhone videos (HEVC) play in the app when Windows' HEVC Video Extensions are installed.

Full refund within 30 days of purchase, as long as your licence key hasn't been activated on a computer yet. Email support@haelstudio.com with your order details. Payments and refunds are processed by Paddle, our merchant of record. Full details are on our Refund Policy page.

Paddle.com — they're the merchant of record, which means they process payment, calculate tax for your country, and issue your invoice. We never see your card details.

Smart event tags suggest the moment a photo belongs to — a birthday, a holiday, a trip. Each licence comes with a balance of smart-tag photos: 10,000 with Hael Studio, 25,000 with Lifetime. One new photo analysed uses one. The balance is shared by all the computers on your licence (up to 3).

No. Once a photo has been tagged, it's free from then on: rescans, the same photo on another of your computers, and a dropped connection mid-scan cost nothing. Photos the app has already tagged usually aren't even sent again.

In the app, on the Account page (for example "7,560 photos left", with a Buy more button). Before each scan, the setup page also shows about how many new photos it will tag and how many you have left. Your dashboard at haelstudio.com shows the balance for each licence too.

Everything else still finishes — sorting, duplicates and faces don't use smart-tag photos. The scan summary says how many photos missed their tags and offers Buy more. Once you've topped up, your next scan tags them.

From your dashboard at haelstudio.com (the app's Buy more button opens it): 10,000 photos for $15, 25,000 for $30, or 50,000 for $50. They're added to the licence you choose, right away. The $69 updates renewal adds 5,000, and the Lifetime upgrade adds 15,000.

No. Your balance lasts until you use it.

Only a small preview of each new photo (about 768 pixels, with location and camera details removed) and a fingerprint of the file, sent through haelstudio.com to OpenAI with no names or folders attached. We never keep the photo. We keep the tags found for it (a few words and a confidence score) so the same photo is never charged twice. OpenAI doesn't use it to train its models.

Hael Studio licences are for personal and family use. For a business, studio or archive, email support@haelstudio.com — we'll put together a tailored plan.