Fair AI portraits that look like you — and privacy you can actually verify. This page explains, in plain English, what we collect, where your photo goes, and the rights you have over your data.
Effective date: January 1, 2026LumTale is a web application that turns your photo into a stylized Lumling portrait — a warm, illustrated look we designed ourselves. Our core promise is simple: fair AI portraits that look like you. We built LumTale specifically because most mainstream avatar apps quietly reshape non-white faces to be paler and more "standard." We refuse to do that. We also refuse to hide where your photo goes.
This Privacy Policy applies to the LumTale website and services available at lumtale.com, including our early-access waitlist and our two portrait creation paths, "Door 1" and "Door 2."
LumTale is operated by a small independent team. For any privacy question, you can reach us at hello@lumtale.com. This policy is effective as of January 1, 2026 and governs all personal information we process from that date onward.
We give you a real choice about privacy, and we make it transparent. The single most important thing to understand is that the two doors handle your photo completely differently:
Door 1 runs entirely inside your web browser using on-device machine learning (WebGPU and ONNX inference). When you use Door 1, your photo is read by your own device, transformed in your browser's memory, and the result is shown to you or downloaded by you. Your photo is never transmitted to our servers or to any third party. It does not travel across the network at any point.
Because the image never leaves your device, we have no technical ability to store it, review it, or use it for anything. This is the strongest privacy guarantee we can offer, and it is the default for anyone who wants a truly local AI avatar.
Door 2 produces a higher-quality, illustration-grade Lumling portrait. To do that, the photo you choose to upload is sent from your browser to a vetted, third-party GPU processing partner who renders the portrait on our behalf. This is a genuine upload: the image leaves your device. We disclose it clearly before you upload, link you to the partner's own data-use policy, and we never train on or keep the image afterward.
You decide which door to use. If you do not want your photo to leave your device, use Door 1. If you want the premium cloud render, Door 2 is available with honest, upfront disclosure.
We collect only what we need to run LumTale. Here are the categories, in plain terms:
We do not collect government identifiers, payment card numbers directly (any future payment is handled by a separate payment processor), biometric templates, or any "special category" data beyond the photos you choose to upload. We do not build facial-recognition profiles of you.
We use the limited data we collect for the following purposes only:
We do not use your data to advertise to you on other platforms, and we do not share it with data brokers.
This is the heart of LumTale's promise, so we want to be explicit:
Door 2 relies on a vetted third-party GPU processing partner to render higher-quality Lumling portraits. When you upload a photo through Door 2, that photo is transmitted to the partner's infrastructure, processed to create your portrait, and then deleted by the partner according to the retention terms below and in their own policy.
We selected this partner on the basis of their security posture and data-handling commitments. To be fully transparent, we encourage you to read their data-use policy before uploading. Their privacy practices apply to the uploaded image while it is in their hands:
Read the processing partner's privacy policy →
LumTale remains responsible for choosing and overseeing this partner, and for ensuring your upload is used only to generate your portrait. If you would prefer that your photo never leave your device, use Door 1 instead — no account or upload required.
LumTale is intended for adults and is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. Our waitlist, Door 1, and Door 2 are all designed for users who can lawfully consent to these activities in their jurisdiction.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at hello@lumtale.com. We will delete that information as quickly as we reasonably can. Where a user is between 13 and the age of legal majority in their region, we handle their data only as permitted under applicable law (including, in the United States, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and, in the EU/UK, the GDPR's rules on minors' consent).
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA), gives you specific rights regarding your personal information.
To exercise any California right, email hello@lumtale.com with "California privacy request" in the subject line. We will verify your identity (typically by confirming control of the email address in question) before acting, and we will respond within the timeframe required by law, generally within 45 days.
If you access LumTale from the European Union, the United Kingdom, or the European Economic Area, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR apply to the personal data we process about you.
To exercise any GDPR right, email hello@lumtale.com. We will respond within one month as required by the GDPR. Note that because Door 1 photos never leave your device, there is simply no data about those images for us to access, correct, or erase — the strongest form of data minimization.
We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy:
Across all regions, you have practical control over your data:
| Right | How to exercise it |
|---|---|
| Access — see what we hold about you | Email hello@lumtale.com |
| Correct — fix wrong information | Email us, or (for waitlist) use the unsubscribe/update link |
| Delete — remove your data | Email hello@lumtale.com with "Delete my data" |
| Opt out of communications | Click "unsubscribe" in any email, or email us |
| Opt out of sale/sharing | Not applicable — we never sell or share your data |
We answer every privacy request we receive and act on it within the legal timeframes described above (45 days under CCPA/CPRA; one month under GDPR). Verification is lightweight and proportionate — usually confirming control of the relevant email address.
We take the protection of your data seriously and apply security measures appropriate to the limited data we hold:
No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. We do commit to handling your information responsibly and to notifying you promptly if a security incident affecting your data occurs, as required by applicable law.
We may update this Privacy Policy as LumTale evolves (for example, if we add a new portrait style or processing partner). When we make changes, we will update the "Effective date" at the top of this page and, for material changes, we will note them here or by email to waitlist members where appropriate. We encourage you to review this page periodically. The version that applies to you is the one in effect at the time we process your data.
Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy? We're a small team and we read every message.
Email: hello@lumtale.com
Website: lumtale.com
For privacy requests, please tell us which right you'd like to exercise (access, correction, deletion, or opt-out of communications) and the email address associated with your request so we can verify and respond quickly.