Systems, methods, devices, media, and computer-readable instructions are described for local image tagging and processing in a resource-constrained environment such as a mobile device. In some embodiments, characteristics associated with images are used to determine whether to store content (e.g., images and video clips) as ephemeral content or non-ephemeral content. Based on the determination, the image is stored in a non-ephemeral camera roll storage of the mobile device, or an ephemeral local application storage. Additional storage operations such as encryption or backup copying may additionally be determined and performed based on the analysis of the content. In some embodiments, such images may be indexed, sorted, and searched based on the image tagging operations used to characterize the content.