PixelForge
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Privacy

The app collects nothing.

PixelForge was built with privacy at its core. Your images never leave your device, and the app collects no personal data.

Last updated 30 September 2026 · Refora Technologies

In short: PixelForge processes every image on your own computer. The app collects no personal data, no usage statistics and no images. It goes online only to download its engine tools once, and to check GitHub for new versions — which you can turn off. This website counts visits with Google Analytics, which you can opt out of (section 6).

1. Overview

This policy describes how Refora Technologies (“we”, “us”) handles information in connection with PixelForge, a Windows desktop application for AI image upscaling and compression, and with this website.

2. What we collect

Nothing. Specifically, PixelForge does not collect:

  • Images or their metadata — your photos, files and folders are never read by us or sent anywhere.
  • Usage analytics or telemetry — no crash reports, feature usage or session tracking.
  • Device identifiers — no hardware IDs, IP addresses, OS details or fingerprints.
  • Account information — there is no registration or login.
  • Location or system data — no geolocation, system profiling or advertising identifiers.

The app stores your preferences (such as output folders and the chosen model), your input queue if you ask it to, and a short list of recent runs, locally in your Windows user profile. This information never leaves your device.

3. How your images are processed

All processing happens on your computer:

  • Upscaling is done by upscayl-ncnn on your own graphics card. The AI models are bundled with the installer.
  • Compression is done by caesium-clt on your own processor.
  • Results are saved to folders you choose on your own machine. We have no access to them.

At no point does any image, file name, path or result leave your computer.

4. When PixelForge goes online

PixelForge makes only these connections, all to GitHub:

  • First launch. It downloads its two engine tools (upscayl-ncnn and caesium-clt, about 25 MB) from their official GitHub releases, and verifies each against a SHA-256 fingerprint before use.
  • Update check. When it starts, it asks GitHub whether a newer version exists. You can turn this off in Settings with “Auto-check on Startup”.
  • Updates you choose. If you download an update, it comes from PixelForge’s GitHub releases and is verified against its published SHA-256 fingerprint before it is installed.

These requests contain no information about you or your images. As with any web request, GitHub receives your IP address; its handling is described in GitHub’s privacy statement. There is no crash reporting and no license server.

Once the engine tools are installed and the update check is off, PixelForge works with all outbound traffic blocked.

5. Open-source components

PixelForge itself is open source under the GNU GPL v3.0 or later, and its source code is public, so anyone can check what it does. It is built on open-source tools, each under its own license: upscayl-ncnn (AGPL-3.0), upscayl-custom-models (MIT), caesium-clt (GPL-3.0) and Electron (MIT). None of them send data anywhere during normal use within PixelForge. See Credits for details.

6. This website

Everything above is about the PixelForge app. This website works a little differently:

  • Analytics. This website uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are read. It sets cookies in your browser and receives details such as your IP address, browser, device type and the pages you visit, which Google processes under its privacy policy. It is not used for advertising. To opt out, choose Cookies at the foot of any page, then Don’t count me; your choice is remembered in your browser. Browser add-ons that block analytics work too.
  • No advertising. This site shows no ads and loads no advertising or social media trackers.
  • The version number. To show the latest version and download size, your browser asks GitHub’s public API once per visit. GitHub sees your IP address, as with any request. The answer is kept in your browser’s session storage until you close the tab; it is not a cookie.
  • Hosting. The site is hosted by Netlify, which, like any web host, processes standard server logs such as IP addresses to deliver and secure it. Its fonts and images are served from this site itself.

7. Children’s privacy

PixelForge is a general-purpose tool and is not aimed at children. Since we collect no personal data from anyone, no data is collected regardless of age.

8. Changes to this policy

If PixelForge’s behaviour changes, we will update this page and its date, and note significant changes in the GitHub release notes. Our core promise — no collection of your data or images — will not change.

9. Contact

Questions about privacy, licensing or the app: reforatech@gmail.com.