Thank you for your feedback. It’s important to address concerns like this with clarity.

The decision to stop updating the GitHub codebase was unrelated to data collection. It was made after someone cloned the open-source project, made minimal changes such as renaming and rebranding it, and then published it as a separate extension. While open source allows for reuse, republishing under a new identity raises concerns and prompted a change in how PhotoShow is maintained.

As for data collection, we never tried to hide it. Anonymous usage data was introduced starting from version 4.50.0 — well after the last GitHub update at 4.36.0. This data helps improve the product and is entirely anonymous. Full details about what is collected are clearly outlined in the privacy policy, and there’s also an option to disable it in the settings.

Currently, data collection is disabled by default for Firefox users due to additional development requirements on that platform. That's also why the option for disabling usage data collection is not present for Firefox versions. PhotoShow complies with the privacy and safety standards of all supported browser stores, which is why it passes their strict reviews for each update and remains available.

Your concern is fully understood, and hopefully this explanation helps clarify the situation. Cheers!

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Edit on 9 Aug 2025, in response to user edit:

As mentioned, PhotoShow’s usage data collection can be disabled in the settings. You can also manage extension access on a site-by-site basis using the browser’s native permissions. If these features or the strict reviews conducted by browser web stores cannot be trusted, there is little else that would help—since an open-source extension could still release something different.