Your family photos are not a data source. They should not be stored like one.
Bigby gives families private, encrypted cloud storage for the photos, videos, and documents that matter most. Everything stays in the UK, and none of it is ever used to train AI.
The photos you take of your children deserve better than a free cloud account
Most families store their photos on Google Photos, iCloud, or similar services because they are convenient and free. That is a completely reasonable choice. But free has a cost, and for photos of your children, it is worth knowing what that cost is.
The platforms that offer free storage are businesses. The data they hold, including the photos you upload, feeds into systems that train AI, target advertising, and build profiles. For most content that is arguably a fair trade. For images of your children growing up, many parents feel differently once they understand what is actually happening.
What most families do not realise
None of this is hidden. It is in the terms of service that almost nobody reads. Here is a plain summary of what storing family photos on a free platform typically means.
AI training on your photos
Several major cloud providers have updated their terms to permit stored images to be used in AI development. That includes facial recognition training, image generation models, and other AI systems. Photos of your children can fall within that scope. Once images are used for training, that use cannot be undone.
Scanning and facial recognition
Free photo storage services routinely scan uploaded images, identify faces, and build profiles linking faces to people. This is how features like automatic tagging work. For most adults that is a minor convenience. For children whose faces are being catalogued without meaningful consent, it raises questions that the convenience rarely justifies.
Data stored outside the UK
US cloud providers store data on US infrastructure under US law. UK GDPR gives your family meaningful data rights, but those rights are harder to enforce when the data sits on a server in another jurisdiction. Bigby stores everything in the UK, where UK law applies without ambiguity.
Shared family accounts and access
Free family cloud accounts often bundle storage across multiple users under a single platform account. That creates situations where one account holder’s privacy choices, or a single compromised password, can expose the whole family’s photo library. Bigby gives each user their own encrypted storage with their own account credentials.
How Bigby works
Encryption at rest, UK infrastructure, and no business model built on your data
Unlike the major cloud platforms, Bigby does not scan, analyse, or profit from the files you store. Here is how that works.
01. Encrypted at rest
Your files are encrypted on our UK servers. The data stored on our infrastructure is in encrypted form, which provides meaningful protection in the event of a storage breach and ensures your files are not sitting as readable plain text on any server.
02. No access to file contents
Bigby does not open, scan, or read the contents of what you store. We have no business reason to and our data processing terms prohibit it. Your photos, videos, and family documents are stored without anyone at Bigby viewing them.
03. No AI training or secondary use
Your stored content is not used for AI training, advertising targeting, or any analysis of any kind. The subscription fee covers the cost of running the service. That is the entire arrangement.
04. Everything stays in the UK
All data is stored on UK-based infrastructure. UK GDPR applies. Your family’s photos, videos, and documents do not leave the UK and are not subject to foreign data laws.
Frequently asked questions
Will Bigby ever use our family photos to train AI?
No. We do not access the contents of your files. Bigby is a subscription service. Your subscription fee covers the cost of storing and delivering your files. There is no advertising model, no AI pipeline, and no commercial reason to analyse what you store.
Can my partner and I both access our shared photos?
Yes. You can share folders with anyone you choose, and they can access what you have shared. For couples or families who want shared storage with collaboration built in, the Group plan provides shared encrypted storage for three or more users from £4.99 per user per month. Each person has their own account and their own access.
Is Bigby difficult to set up and use?
No. Bigby is available on web and desktop and is designed to be straightforward to use. You upload files, access them when you need them, and share what you choose to share. There is no technical knowledge required to get started.
How much storage does a family need?
It depends on how many photos and videos you store and how often. For most families, 100 GB is a reasonable starting point, particularly if you are not storing large video files. The 500 GB and 1 TB plans are better suited to families with extensive photo libraries or those who shoot a lot of video. Storage can be topped up at any point for £1.49 per month per 100 GB.
What happens to our photos if Bigby closes down?
Your files are always yours to download at any time. Bigby supports WebDAV, an open standard, which means you are never locked in. If you ever want to move your files elsewhere, you can. We do not hold your data hostage and there are no export fees.
Why does Bigby charge when Google Photos is free?
Google Photos is free because Google’s business model is built on data. Your photos, the faces in them, and the metadata attached to them have value to Google. Bigby charges a straightforward fee for storage because that is the only thing we sell. No data, no advertising, no profiles. The price you pay is the whole arrangement.
Your family’s memories deserve storage that keeps them private
Private, encrypted, UK-based cloud storage from £3.99 per month. No scanning, no AI training, no data deals.
Annual billing · All prices in GBP · UK data residency · GDPR compliant