Terms of service.

A host creates an event and invites guests. Guests add photos and, if the host chose it, short video clips, from their phone. The host chooses which ones make the Album, then shares it with the guests, or keeps it private if it is a branded event set up that way. Photos stay for one year from the day uploads closed unless the host pays to keep them longer.

• You must be 16 or over to create a host account, and you are responsible for what happens under it. Keep your password to yourself.
• You are responsible for the event you run: who you invite, what you tell them, and what you do with the photos afterwards.
• A branded event must be set up as one. The business name you give becomes the host that guests see, and the switch cannot be changed after payment.
• We may close an account that breaks these terms. If we do, you can download your photos first unless the law prevents it.

• You give a first name and an email address. No account, no password. The email is how you get the Album and how you log back in.
• Only add photos you took or have the right to share, and only of people who would be fine appearing in the Album.
• You can remove any of your photos while uploads are open. After that, ask us through the contact form.

You keep the copyright in everything you add. Nothing here transfers it.

For a personal event you give the host and the other guests a licence to view, save and share the Album, including your photos, for personal use. That is what the consent box at join says, and it is what an Album is for.

For a branded event you give the business a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide licence, with no fee, to use the photos you add in its own channels: its website, its social media accounts, its newsletters and its presentations. That is what the consent box at join says, in plain words, and we keep a record of what you agreed to. It does not cover paid advertising, television, print campaigns, billboards or resale. For any of those the business needs a separate signed release from everyone recognisable in the photo. You can withdraw the licence at any time by asking for the photo to be taken down (below). From then on the business must stop using it and remove it from its own channels where it reasonably can: a social post comes down, a printed newsletter cannot be recalled. Use before then is not a breach.

Taking a photo of you down. Every photo in a shared Album has "I'm in this photo, take it down". It leaves the Album at once, the host is told, and for a branded event the photo is marked not for marketing and kept out of the business's download. No reason is needed. If you appear in a photo but were not a guest, or the Album is private, write to us through the support form naming the business and the event, and we will do the same.

If you host a branded event you are responsible for how the photos are used and for the law where your event takes place. Guests who join agree to use in your own channels, and that is all the licence covers. For paid advertising, television, print campaigns, billboards or resale you must obtain a signed release from every recognisable person in the photo. That is your responsibility, not hazel's. People who appear in photos but did not join have agreed to nothing, so put the poster line we provide where people can see it, so they know photos may be used and can opt out. Honour every take-down. Never use a photo in which a child is recognisable for marketing without the written agreement of a parent or guardian. Many countries, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and much of the United States among them, require a person's consent before their image is used commercially. hazel grants nothing beyond what the guest has agreed to, and none of this makes hazel a party to your use of the photos.

hazel itself gets only the licence it needs to store, resize, display and send your photos as part of the service. We do not use your photos in our own marketing unless we ask you first and you say yes; that permission is separate, in writing, and you can withdraw it for future use at any time.

• Anything illegal. Child sexual abuse material is blocked, preserved as the law requires, and reported to the authorities without exception; every upload is checked against lists of known illegal images.
• Content you have no right to share, content that harasses, threatens or exposes someone, and sexually explicit content.
• Using hazel to collect photos of people without a lawful reason, or scraping, copying or reselling the service.

Every photo in a shared Album has a Report button. A reported photo is hidden the moment it is reported. A person at hazel then looks at it, usually the same day, and either removes it for good or puts it back, and the host is told either way. We may remove content and close accounts that break these rules, and we will tell you unless the law says otherwise. Hosts see every photo before an Album exists and are expected to leave out anything that should not be there.

• Events up to 6 guests are free. Above that the price depends on the number of guests, photos per person, video, how many days the event runs and whether it is a branded event. Every price is shown before you pay and is the whole price. While hazel is not VAT registered no VAT is charged; if that changes, prices stay the same and include it.
• Payment is taken by Stripe when you create the event. Branded events get an invoice by email.
• Keeping an event for another year is a one-off payment each time. It is never a subscription and we never take money you did not ask us to.
• Refunds. Because the event starts working the moment you create it, you agree that the service begins straight away and your 14-day right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations ends once the first guest has joined or the event has started. Until then, ask and we refund in full. After an event has ended there are no refunds, except where the service did not work as described, in which case your legal rights apply and we will put it right or refund you.
• The number of guests you pay for is the number who can join. If you need room for more, contact us.

One year from the day uploads closed, then the Album goes offline and the files are deleted 14 days later, as set out in the Privacy Policy. We remind hosts three times and guests once. It is the host's responsibility to download anything they want to keep before then, or to renew. We are not liable for photos deleted on schedule after those reminders.

We work hard to keep hazel running, but it is a small service and it will sometimes be unavailable or go wrong. We do not exclude anything the law does not let us exclude, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or fraud. Beyond that, our liability to you for anything arising from an event is limited to the amount you paid for that event. We are not responsible for what a host or a guest does with photos once they have them.

Photos are yours. Keep your own copies of anything that matters to you; an event is a way to collect and share them, not a permanent archive.

We may update these terms. If a change matters we will email hosts and change the date at the top. Continuing to use hazel after that means you accept the change. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, without taking away any protection you have as a consumer where you live.

hazel is a trading name of Digby Studios Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17470419. Registered office: 11 Bowdon Road, London E17 8JB. Contact us through the contact form.