Reviewing Snug Gallery in Shopify's Settings > Apps

On 5 November 2026 Shopify changed the Settings > Apps page. The index now shows when each app was last active and flags security issues that need attention, and each app's page gathers access, permissions and activity in one section, with labels on permissions that may include sensitive data. It also shows whether the developer has adopted two measures Shopify now requires of public apps: expiring access tokens and enforced IP restrictions. Merchants are going to open that page, look down the list, and ask of every app: what does this one actually touch? This guide answers that for Snug Gallery, permission by permission, and explains how to read the rest of the page for any app.

What changed in Settings > Apps

Shopify has been adding to this page all year. In March it started showing Admin API activity for the last 30 days, which apps can see personal data, and a history of when staff granted new permissions. The November update adds the security status: whether the app uses access tokens that expire and have to be renewed, and whether it limits its API requests to approved IP addresses. Shopify's help page on managing apps describes the section, called Activity and permissions or Access and permissions depending on the store, and notes that it covers third-party apps only; Shopify's own apps are not tracked there.

The useful part for a merchant is not any single label but the combination. An app with broad permissions, no activity in most of them, and no expiring tokens is worth a question to the developer. An app with narrow permissions that it uses regularly and the security measures in place is doing what it says. Here is how Snug Gallery reads on that page.

The three permissions and what each one does

Snug Gallery asks for three access scopes, and the install screen listed them when you added the app. Read and edit files: the gallery stores every image you upload in your store's own Files area, under Content, so the app needs to create files there and read them back to build the gallery. This is also why your images stay in your store if you ever uninstall; the Files versus app-hosted guide goes into that trade-off. Read products: used for the Shop the look feature, where an image is tagged with a product and the gallery shows its title, price and a link. The app reads product titles, prices, handles and images, and writes nothing to products. Edit app proxy: a technical permission that lets the app register the storefront URL customer photo submissions are posted to. It does not grant access to any store data.

That is the list. There is no customer permission, no order permission, no theme permission and no permission to edit your online store content. Shopify's page labels permissions that may include sensitive data, such as customer or financial information, and none of Snug Gallery's three carries that label, because none of them reaches customer records.

People sometimes ask how the app stores gallery settings, captions and layouts if it cannot write to the theme or to products. The answer is app-owned metaobjects: a kind of structured record that Shopify keeps inside your store but that only the app that created it can read or change. Since the 2026-04 API version, apps do not need an extra permission to use their own metaobjects, so they do not appear in the list, and no other app can read them either.

What customer photo submissions mean for the list

If you have turned on customer photo submissions, shoppers can upload photos from a form on your storefront. Because that form posts to the app through a Shopify app proxy, the request arrives signed by Shopify, so the app can verify which store it belongs to without the shopper logging in. The shopper's display name and caption are kept with the submission inside the app, and the photo itself goes to your Files area once you approve it.

This is the one place the app holds anything that could count as personal data, and it is data the shopper chose to give you for publication, not data read from your customer list. The GDPR data request and erasure guide explains how Shopify's compliance webhooks reach the app and what gets deleted when a shop or customer asks. Those webhooks are mandatory for every public app and are the reason the app does not need customer permissions to honour a deletion request.

The security status labels

Expiring access tokens is the first label. When you install an app, Shopify gives it a credential that lets it call your store's API on your behalf. Historically that credential lived until the app was uninstalled, which meant a leaked token stayed useful indefinitely. Expiring tokens are valid for a short window and have to be renewed, so a stolen one goes stale quickly. Snug Gallery is built on expiring offline access tokens and has been since launch, so this label should read as adopted on your page. If it does not, the page may not have refreshed since the last time the app renewed its token; wait a day and check again before writing to us.

Enforced IP restrictions is the second. It means the developer has told Shopify the fixed addresses the app's server calls from, so a request carrying the app's credentials from anywhere else is refused. Shopify made this mandatory for public apps in November 2026, with a hard deadline later in the month, and apps that miss it are flagged on this very page and eventually blocked. Read the label on your own store's page rather than taking any developer's word for it; it is updated by Shopify, not by the app.

Latest activity, shown on the apps index, is the third signal. Snug Gallery talks to your store when you open the app, when you upload or approve an image, and when a shopper submits a photo. It also receives a webhook when your plan changes or when the app is uninstalled. So a store that has not touched its galleries in a month may show an older date, which is normal. What would be odd is a gallery app showing regular activity in Orders or Customers, areas it has no access to in the first place.

Reading the activity table for any app

The activity section lists areas of your store, whether the app can view or edit each one, and the last time it made a request there. Hovering an area name shows a more specific description of what the app can do in it, and clicking a date shows how many view and edit requests were made in the last 30 days. For Snug Gallery you should see activity in Files and, if you use Shop the look, in Products, and nothing else.

Two patterns are worth acting on with any app. The first is an area marked None in the last 30 days for a permission the app insisted on at install time. Either the feature that needs it is one you do not use, or the app asked for more than it needed. Many apps let you turn features off but keep the permission; it does not hurt to ask the developer whether a narrower install is possible. The second pattern is edit access to an area you did not expect, Online Store in particular. Apps with that permission can change theme files, and the third-party script guide shows what happens when two of them disagree.

The permission history, further down, records when a staff member approved new permissions for the app. Apps that add features sometimes ask for more access in an update, and Shopify requires someone with access to the store to accept. If you see an approval you do not remember, the staff member's name is next to it. For Snug Gallery the entries should be the install itself and, at most, an approval you recognise from an update you installed.

A short review routine

Once a quarter, open Settings > Apps and sort by the latest activity. Uninstall anything that has not been active in months and that nobody on the team can name a use for; dormant apps still hold their permissions. For each remaining app, open its page and check the two security labels. Anything without expiring tokens after 1 January 2027, or without IP restrictions after November 2026, is going to be flagged by Shopify and eventually cut off, so a conversation with that developer is better had early. Then skim the activity table for edit access in Customers, Orders or Online Store and make sure you know why each app has it. For a gallery app the answer should be that it does not.

Frequently asked questions

What data can Snug Gallery see in my store?

Files, which it creates and reads to store your gallery images, and products, which it reads for Shop the look tags. It also holds the display name and caption a shopper enters when submitting a photo, if you have that feature on. It has no access to customers, orders, themes or online store content.

Does Snug Gallery use expiring access tokens?

Yes. The app has used expiring offline access tokens since launch, so the Expiring access tokens item on its Settings > Apps page should read as adopted. Shopify requires this of every public app from 1 January 2027.

Why does the app need Edit app proxy if it does not edit anything?

The app proxy is the storefront URL that customer photo submissions are posted to. Shopify requires that permission to register the URL; it does not grant access to any store data. If you never turn on customer submissions the proxy sits unused.

Where are my gallery settings stored if the app cannot write to the theme?

In app-owned metaobjects inside your store. Only the app that created them can read or change them, they need no extra permission since the 2026-04 API version, and they travel with the store rather than with the app's servers.