Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 17, 2026 · Last Updated: September 17, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Shpots ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use the Shpots mobile application ("the App").

TL;DR

• We collect nothing. There is no account, no sign in, and no server that we run.
• Your spots, photos, and notes stay on your device.
• Maps and weather need coordinates, so those features send a location to the providers listed below.
• iCloud Backup is off until you turn it on, and it copies your spots to your iCloud.
• We don't sell your data. Ever.
• We don't track you across other apps or websites.

1. Information we collect

We collect nothing. The App has no accounts, no sign in, and no backend that we operate. We never receive your spots, your photos, your notes, or your location. There is no database of users, because there are no users to put in one.

1.1 What the App stores on your device

• Spots you save: title, coordinates, address, notes, tags, burnt level, elevation, and timestamps.
• Photos and videos you attach, plus the thumbnails made from them.
• Collections you create: name, description, color, and cover image.
• A display name you choose, used only when you share with a nearby phone.
• Your settings, such as theme and units.

All of it lives in the App's own storage on your phone. Deleting the App deletes it.

1.2 What leaves your device

A few features cannot work without asking someone else a question. Each one sends the least it can, and none of it carries your name or any identifier we created.

• Mapbox draws the map. It receives the area of the map you are looking at, and the coordinates of a spot when the App makes a small still image of it. Searching for a place sends what you typed and a nearby coordinate. Mapbox's map component also reports its own usage data, which can include device location, under the Mapbox privacy policy.
• Apple turns coordinates into an address. This goes through iOS, under Apple's own privacy policy.
• Open-Meteo returns the forecast and the elevation for a spot. It receives that spot's coordinates.
• MET Norway returns sun and moon times for a spot. It receives that spot's coordinates.

These requests carry the technical details every HTTPS request carries, including your IP address. Those providers handle that under their own policies. We see none of it.

1.3 iCloud Backup

iCloud Backup is off until you switch it on in Settings. When it is on, your spots, collections, and media are copied to your own iCloud account so your other devices can read them. This is Apple's storage, held under your Apple ID and governed by Apple's privacy policy. We have no access to it and no way to read it. Switching it off in Settings deletes the copy Shpots put there.

1.4 Sharing with a nearby phone

When you send a spot or a collection to someone next to you, the App advertises the display name you chose on the local network and sends the content straight to their phone. Nothing passes through a server. See Section 6 for what this means for security.

1.5 Information we do not collect

• We do not collect your contacts.
• We do not read your location in the background. The App asks for your location only when you tap to find yourself on the map or attach your current position to a spot.
• We do not embed advertising or analytics SDKs.
• We do not use App Tracking Transparency tracking, and the App never asks for that permission.
• We do not collect your email address, and there is nothing to sign in to.

2. How information is used

Everything the App stores is used to show you your own spots. Nothing is profiled, scored, ranked by an algorithm, or sent anywhere for analysis. The requests in Section 1.2 are used only to answer the question that triggered them.

3. How information is shared

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We hold none of it.

Information reaches someone else only when:

• A feature needs a provider. The four named in Section 1.2, each receiving only what that feature requires.
• You share it. When you send a spot or a collection to a nearby phone, the person you send it to has a copy. What they do with it is up to them.
• You turn on iCloud Backup. Your data goes to your own Apple account.

We cannot receive a legal request for your spots, because we do not have them.

4. Data retention

• On your device: your spots stay until you delete them. Settings has a Delete All Data action that erases everything the App holds.
• With us: nothing, because we store nothing.
• In iCloud: for as long as iCloud Backup is on. Turning it off deletes what Shpots stored.
• With providers: Mapbox, Apple, Open-Meteo, and MET Norway keep request records under their own retention policies, which we do not control.

5. Your rights and choices

You can:

• See your data: every spot, photo, note, and tag is in the App.
• Delete any of it: a single spot, a collection, a photo, or all of it through Delete All Data.
• Turn iCloud Backup on or off: in Settings.
• Withdraw a permission: location, photos, camera, microphone, and local network access can each be revoked in the iOS Settings app.

If you are in a jurisdiction with statutory data rights such as GDPR or CCPA, the usual requests to see, correct, export, or delete personal information have nothing to act on here, because we hold no personal information about you. You are welcome to write to iannparkk@gmail.com and we will confirm that in writing.

6. Security

• Every request in Section 1.2 uses HTTPS.
• Your spots are protected by your device. Use a passcode, and the App's data is protected by iOS encryption along with everything else on the phone.
• iCloud Backup is secured by Apple under your Apple ID.
• Sharing with a nearby phone is not encrypted. The link is direct and short range, and it carries your own spots to a phone you picked from a list. Send only to people you trust, and only when you can see the phone you are sending to.

No system is perfectly secure.

7. Children

The App is not directed to children under 13, or under 16 in the EU and UK. We do not knowingly collect information from children, and in fact we do not collect information from anyone. If you are a parent or guardian with a concern, contact iannparkk@gmail.com.

8. International transfers

The providers in Section 1.2 operate in the United States, Norway, Germany, and other countries. Using a feature that contacts one of them sends that request to wherever that provider runs.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The "Last Updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change. If a change is material, it will be noted in the App before it takes effect.

10. Contact

Questions about this policy:

Shpots
iannparkk@gmail.com

This document is a template. The author is responsible for reviewing it with legal counsel for the relevant jurisdiction.