Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about 18IMG.
Privacy and security
Are my images uploaded to a server?+
No. Every operation runs entirely in your browser using the Canvas API, WebAssembly, and Web Workers. Your images never leave your device. You can verify this by opening the browser network panel; you will see no image uploads.
Do you log or track anything I do?+
No. There is no analytics, no cookies, no fingerprinting, and no telemetry. The only state stored on your device is your chosen accent color and dark or light mode, both kept in local storage.
Can anyone at 18IMG see my images?+
No one can. The images never reach our infrastructure. There is no backend that ingests, processes, or stores user content.
Is 18IMG safe to use on a public or shared computer?+
Yes. Because nothing is stored, closing the tab is enough to clear the work from memory. There is no account to log out of.
Pricing and limits
Is 18IMG really free?+
Yes. All 25 tools are free to use, with no signup, no file size limit, and no watermarks on output. There is no paid tier.
What file size limits exist?+
There are no artificial limits. The only constraint is the memory of your device, since processing happens locally. We have tested with images over 50 megapixels on a 16GB laptop.
Why is it free? Who pays for it?+
18IMG is built and maintained by a solo developer. It runs on cheap static hosting. There is no funding ask, but a tip on the Buy Me a Coffee page is appreciated if the tool saved you time.
Tools and features
Which image operations are supported?+
Compress, resize, crop, convert, rotate, filter, watermark, meme, border, merge, split, strip EXIF, color palette, dither, pixel art, ASCII art, GIF, SVG, QR, cartoon, remove background, blur faces, AI upscale, OCR, and collage. 25 tools in total.
Does the Remove Background tool really run AI in the browser?+
Yes. The first time you use it, a small AI model downloads to your device. After that, all processing happens locally. No images are sent to any server.
Does the OCR tool work on handwriting?+
Tesseract works best on printed text. Handwriting recognition is significantly less accurate and may produce garbled output.
Why does the Upscale tool not add new detail?+
The current version uses a high quality canvas resampling. It does not hallucinate new detail like a true AI model would. For genuine detail synthesis, use a real AI model locally.
Offline and devices
Can I use 18IMG offline?+
After the page loads, most tools continue to work without a network connection. The AI tools (Remove Background, Blur Faces, Upscale, OCR) require the first download to cache their models.
Which browsers are supported?+
Any modern desktop or mobile browser. iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS. The app requires JavaScript and WebAssembly support, which means a browser released after 2017.
Does 18IMG work on iPad and iPhone?+
Yes. Every tool is verified on iPhone 15 viewport. Touch interactions are first class: tap to upload, swipe, and pinch to zoom.
Troubleshooting
A tool seems stuck or slow. What can I do?+
Large images and the AI tools use the most memory. If a tool stalls, try with a smaller file first, or close other tabs to free memory.
The downloaded image looks wrong.+
Some browsers have trouble with very large canvas dimensions. Try a slightly smaller output size, or use a different output format.
The download did not start.+
Some browsers block multiple downloads in quick succession. Click the action button again, or check the browser download settings.