refern shutdown notice: tldr: refern will be shutting down on September 13, 2025. All user content will be deleted. Hi all. Didn't expect I'd be making this announcement tonight, but refern. will be shutting down on Sep 13. All user content will be deleted. Reasons - there has been an uptick in reports of CSAM content being found on the platform. I'm unable to make enough time to implement tools and moderate all the content on the platform. I do not want to provide a platform for anyone to host any kind of CSAM or related content whether be public or private - I cannot make enough time to answer and implement all the user requests and yet I feel guilty for being unable to - refern has grown too big for me to handle alone at this point with limited time i have each day and without a team - from its inception up till today, refern's revenue has not broke even with its expense, and it is unlikely for this to change if the app develops at its current rate - refern already uses Google Safe Search API to label NSFW images, but it is incredibly expensive. the revenue refern generates cannot cover the cost to label all the images. I'm just a college graduate and I cannot afford funding refern out of my own pocket for long - I'm honestly tired, burnt out, and stressed out about always having refern in the back of my mind What you should do if you'd like to keep your images, from now until Sep 13th - you can download your collections through the "export collection" menu regardless what plan you're on. What if I made a purchase? - the store is now currently shut down. - if you've made a purchase within August 1 to today, you will be refunded fully automatically (takes about one week to arrive). - if you've made a purchase before that date range, unfortunately i will not be able to refund you since your purchase has been used for server fees., Personal Note It is a shame that it has to go out this way, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished. it is been an incredible journey and a honor developing this with everyone, and I'm happy that I was able to provide some value to you. Thank you all for your support. If I have any new projects (e.g. refern v2 full offline app), I'll post it in our community discord (https://discord.gg/2xbppyeKhW). hopefully I'll see you around. Thanks, Jackson