Privacy is the architecture.
We do not bolt privacy on as a setting. Most image tools run in your browser, keeping the processing step local. Features that call an external service are identified clearly.
We tried five more. All of them did the same thing. By the time we had compressed, downloaded, deleted our accounts, and cleared our cookies, it had taken an hour. The compression itself took four seconds.
The fix is obvious in hindsight: do the work in the browser. The browser is the most powerful sandbox in the world, and the user already has it open. We had the WebAssembly codecs we needed. The only thing missing was someone willing to take the time to do it right.
So we did. ToolBox Image is what we wanted to use ourselves. One tool at a time, with browser-first processing for common image tasks, no accounts, no email collection, and no upsell. Just a fast, well-designed way to do the work.