Overview

PhotoMe is a secure AI powered image editing application built for photographers, influencers, and everyday users. The platform provides background removal, cartoonifying, portrait restoration, AI headshots, and creative edits using Google AI models. Built for iOS, Android, and Web, the app prioritizes security, global accessibility, and a seamless editing workflow.

Key Features

• AI Powered Image Editing: Integrated multiple AI pipelines including background removal, cartoonifying, face enhancement, painting effects, and professional headshot generation with consistent quality across devices.
• Cross Platform Experience: Built with Expo and React Native for iOS and Android, and React for the web, ensuring feature parity and consistent user experience.
• Secure Media Handling: Implemented Cloudflare R2 for safe, encrypted image storage. All uploaded photos and generated images are fully deletable by the user at any time.
• Authentication and Onboarding: Enabled simple sign ups via Email, Google, or Apple. User data is stored securely with role based permission rules across the backend.
• Subscription and Monetization: Integrated RevenueCat for subscription management on both iOS and Android, including free tries before requiring a subscription and seamless cross device entitlement syncing.
• Custom AI Prompts: Users can upload 1 to 3 images and request specific edits using a natural language prompt system powered by Google AI.
• Compliance and User Protection: Developed features with GDPR, CCPA, and global privacy standards in mind with transparent disclaimers, no cookies, and strong data deletion controls.

Technologies Used

• React Native / Expo: For building the iOS and Android apps with shared code.
• React (Next.js): For the web version of the platform.
• Cloudflare R2: For secure image storage and fast global retrieval.
• Convex: For real-time backend database and user data.
• Clerk: For authentication and user management.
• Vercel: For hosting the web version of the platform.
• Google's NanoBanana: For image generation, enhancement, and transformation.
• RevenueCat: For cross platform subscription management and entitlement tracking.
• Sentry & PostHog: For crash monitoring, analytics, and performance insights.

Challenges and Learnings

One main challenge was ensuring fast, high quality AI processing while keeping the system secure and affordable. Balancing image quality, processing time, and cost involved significant optimization and model selection. Implementing global compliant data handling was also a key learning point, especially with regions like the EU and California requiring stricter data rules. Ensuring that users could delete all their content across multiple devices required building a robust file tracking and cleanup pipeline with Cloudflare. Establishing a clean subscription flow with free tries also required careful handling across Apple and Google to prevent conflicts with local device receipts.

Outcome

PhotoMe is now a stable, secure, and globally accessible image editing platform used for creating professional AI headshots, creative edits, and high quality enhancements. Users enjoy fast processing, clean UI, and transparent privacy controls. With a strong technical foundation and scalable architecture, PhotoMe is positioned to grow into a leading AI powered photography tool worldwide.