Px500
- The documents do not say whether your data trains AI.
- Your data is used for personalized ads, including by third-party ad companies.
- Data is shared only with the providers who run the service.
- The policy describes staff access for safety and legal checks.
Photo site that collects device and location data, licenses your images broadly, auto-renews paid plans.
Agent Trust Hub uses AI and may make mistakes. Review reports and confirm their contents before relying on them.
Collected
Name, email, photos, IP, cookies, device IDs, crash data, and geographic location.
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Privacy policy
“500px and its authorized agents may collect information about the device you're using to access 500px, its operating system, unique device identifier, device settings such as language, and crash data.”
Training
They use it to run the site, personalize it, send mail, and license photos if you opt into licensing.
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Privacy policy
“We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our website, mobile application or services. This information allows us to provide you with a customized and efficient experience.”
Sharing
Staff, cloud hosts, analytics, advertisers’ cookies, and other users who see your public profile.
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Privacy policy
“Rest assured that we will not rent or sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below:”
Kept
They do not say a general keep-time; licensed photos can stay in the network for 180 days after you ask to remove them.
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Terms of service
“500px will comply with your written request to remove Visual Content for licensing and distribution where possible based on the manner of licensing within 180 days of receiving such a request.”
Controls
You can edit your profile, turn off most emails, and write to delete or deactivate your account.
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Privacy policy
“You have the right to edit, update, access, or transfer your personal information, or to delete your personal information if you are terminating your registration with 500px.”
Fine print
ban, as-is service, you them, and paid plans auto-renew with limited refunds.
No exact line could be verified.
Expand “Read the exact line” to see the source alongside the explanation.
What you can turn off
The controls and opt-outs their own documents describe, and where they say to find them.
Cancel Premium auto-renewal
Your account settings page
Turn off marketing emails
Email notifications section of your User Profile, or unsubscribe in the email
Edit or delete profile data / close account
User Profile Settings; terminate registration in writing and choose deactivate or delete
Ask questions about privacy
Email support@help.500px.com
If a switch is not where they say, the deletion request above still applies.
Line by line
The lines that matter most, worst first.
If someone sues them because of your photos or account, you may have to pay their legal bills.
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Terms of service
“You hereby agree to and 500px, its affiliated and associated companies and its authorized distributors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, independent and dependent contractors, licensees, successors and assigns from and against all claims, losses, expenses, damages and costs”
For example, if a photo you uploaded leads to a lawsuit, you could owe their attorney fees.
They can shut your account at any time without warning.
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Terms of service
“500px may terminate or suspend any and all Services and/or your 500px account immediately, without prior notice or , for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation if you breach the Terms.”
For example, they could lock you out overnight and you would not get a heads-up email first.
Monthly Premium fees are not refunded even if you cancel right away.
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Terms of service
“We do not provide refunds on monthly subscription payments. Once you cancel your monthly payment, you will maintain access to your upgraded features for 30 days after your final payment has cleared.”
For example, if you pay for a month then cancel the next day, you still lose that month’s money.
If you put photos in licensing, they can , change, and sell them worldwide.
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Terms of service
“By submitting Visual Content to 500px Licensing, you grant to 500px a non-exclusive or exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license to use, , distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform, publicly display and submit for data licensing such Visual Content”
For example, a distributor could put your photo on a poster without asking you each time.
Advertisers can drop their own cookies and 500px does not control them.
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Privacy policy
“Some of our business partners, like our advertisers, may use cookies on our website. We have no access to, or control over, these cookies.”
For example, an ad network could track you across other sites after you visit 500px.
They may collect where your phone or computer is.
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Privacy policy
“500px may collect and use information regarding the geographic location of your devices.”
For example, they could use your location to personalize what you see.
They say they do not read DMs unless someone reports abuse.
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Privacy policy
“but does not read private messages exchanged between users through the 500px’s messenger service unless a user has been reported for inappropriate behavior as outlined in our Terms of Use.”
For example, a normal chat about a photo shoot would not be read unless reported.
They say they do not sell your personal information.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“Rest assured that we will not rent or sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below:”
For example, they claim they will not sell your email list to a marketing company.
Kids under 14 are not allowed; 14–17 are asked to get a parent’s permission.
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Privacy policy
“You must be 14 years and older to register to use the 500px website or mobile application.”
For example, a 13-year-old should not create an account.
Words to know
Legal words from the lines above, in plain English.
- device identifiers
- Codes that single out your phone or computer, used to recognise you across apps and sites. For example, the advertising ID on your phone lets two unrelated apps know they are seeing the same person.
- personal data
- Any information that is about you or can be linked to you, from your name to your phone's ID. For example, your email, your IP address and the list of apps on your phone are all personal data.
- sell or share
- Under California law, selling means passing your data to others for money or other value; sharing means passing it on for targeted ads. For example, letting an ad network use your browsing history in return for ad space counts as a sale.
- indemnify
- You promise to pay the company's legal costs and losses if your use of the service gets it sued. For example, if you post a song you do not own and the label sues the app, you owe the app's lawyer bills.
- service providers
- Outside companies that handle your data on the app's instructions, such as a cloud host or an email sender. For example, the company that stores the app's files in the cloud sees your data but only does what the app tells it.
- limitation of liability
- A cap on what the company will ever pay you if something goes wrong, often only what you paid in the last year. For example, if a leak of your data costs you thousands, the most you may get back is a month's subscription fee.
- worldwide license
- You let the company use your content anywhere on earth, usually for free and for as long as it likes. For example, a video you post can be shown in ads in any country without asking you again.
- sublicensable
- The company can pass its rights over your content on to other companies without asking you. For example, an app can let an advertiser or a partner reuse your video under the licence you gave.
- de-identified
- Data with your name and obvious identifiers removed, though it can sometimes still be traced back to you. For example, your chats with names stripped out may still be kept and studied after you delete your account.
- cookies
- Small files a website saves on your device so it can recognise you and remember what you did. For example, a cookie keeps you logged in and can also tell an ad company which sites you visited.
How we got here · grade B · score 48/100 · 15 of 15 policy answers backed by a verified quote · 2 not stated
What does the app collect beyond what it needs to work?
They collect account and profile data plus IP, cookies, device IDs, crash data, and geographic location.
Does it record your voice, face or body, and what happens to that?
The documents do not describe recording voice, face scans, or body data as biometrics.
Are your chats and uploads used to train AI models, and is that off by default?
Not stated in the documents.
Can employees or contractors read your conversations, and when?
They say they do not read private messages unless a user is reported for inappropriate behavior.
Are you profiled or tracked for advertising?
Advertisers and analytics partners may use cookies they do not control.
Do they sell or share your data, and can you opt out?
They say they will not rent or sell personal information, but they share it with service providers and in business transfers.
What rights do they take over what you type and what the AI makes?
Photos you submit for licensing get a transferable worldwide sublicense; ordinary posts stay yours but they can display them on the site.
How long do they keep your data after you delete it, and can you delete it in the app?
You can edit profile data and terminate registration; licensed photos may take up to 180 days to leave the licensing network.
Does it build a lasting memory or profile of you, and can you see, edit or turn it off?
Not stated in the documents.
Do they commit to basic security, and have they leaked data?
They describe encrypted passwords, limited employee access, and reCAPTCHA; no independent audit is named.
Is there a real age gate, and are teens protected?
You must be 14 to register and 18 for Premium; they recommend guardian permission for ages 14–18.
Will they tell you when the rules change, and is the policy specific?
Policies are dated; they say they will post an announcement for material changes, and continued use counts as acceptance.
Can they close your account without warning, and can you get your data out first?
They may terminate or suspend your account immediately without prior notice for any reason.
If something goes wrong, who pays?
The service is as-is, liability is capped (often $100), and you must indemnify them for claims from your content.
Do subscriptions renew on their own, and can you get a refund?
Premium auto-renews; you can cancel in account settings, but monthly payments are non-refundable and yearly refunds only within 30 days of first purchase.
The privacy policy is 2,914 words at a college level (Flesch reading ease 48); the terms are 8,446 words at a college level.
