What makes you trust an online image tool with your files?

While building JPG.now, I realized that supporting many image formats wasn’t the hardest problem—earning users’ trust was.

People upload personal photos, client assets, documents, and images containing sensitive metadata. Yet many online converters are unclear about where files are processed, how long they are retained, or whether they are used for other purposes.

For JPG.now, we currently:

• Allow basic conversions without registration

• Encrypt files during transfer

• Automatically delete guest files within 24 hours

• Never use uploaded files to train AI models

• Process lightweight utilities locally when possible

I’m now considering whether these measures are communicated clearly enough—or whether the product needs stronger controls, such as immediate manual deletion and a visible deletion-status indicator.

For those who use online image or file-processing tools:

• What makes you comfortable uploading a file?

• Is automatic deletion within 24 hours sufficient?

• Do you strongly prefer browser-only processing?

• What immediately makes you distrust a tool?

I’d be interested in hearing how other makers approach privacy and user trust. For context, the product I’m working on is JPG.now.