Privacy Policy
Last updated 10 October 2026
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Who we are
Spotted is run by an individual developer based in Australia, named as the developer on Spotted’s store page. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean the operator of Spotted.
This policy covers the Spotted website and the Spotted apps for Android and iPhone. The Android and iPhone apps have no accounts or sign-in, no ads and no purchases. Optional email accounts exist on the website only.
Email privacy@spotted.pics about privacy or to make a privacy request, or support@spotted.pics for help using Spotted.
What Spotted does
Spotted recommends places near you to take photos. An AI model, run for us by our AI search provider, writes the suggestions using web search. To do that Spotted needs a place: one you type, or your approximate location if you ask for it.
Location
When you agree to place sharing and tap “Spots near me”, Spotted asks your device for your location. On Android you can allow approximate or precise location, only while the app is open. On iPhone you can allow location only while using the app, and turn off Precise Location in Settings. Before it leaves your device, we round it to nearby points up to about 560 metres apart (0.005 degrees). Our server and OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service receive that rounded location. Our AI search provider receives a less detailed location, rounded to points up to about 1.1 km apart (0.01 degrees), plus the area name and the type of spot you chose.
Your unrounded device coordinates stay on your device and are used only for distances and light times. Spotted does not track you in the background and does not ask for background location. You can untick place sharing on the search screen or turn off location permission in your device settings at any time.
Searches
The place you type goes to our server and to OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service, which finds it on the map. The text you type is not sent to our AI search provider. It receives only the area name Nominatim returns (for example suburb, city, state and country), rounded coordinates, the matching time zone and the type of spot you chose. Avoid entering personal information in the search box.
While you type, our server suggests matching towns and cities from a list built into Spotted (from GeoNames). Those letters go only to our server, are not linked to you and are not passed to anyone else. So that suggestions appear quickly, our hosting provider’s cache keeps each set of letters with its suggestions for about a week, and its request logs may hold them briefly (see “Network details”). Choosing a suggestion searches that place as a typed search does: its name and map position go to Nominatim to find it.
We keep place lookups on our server, including the name you searched for and rounded coordinates, so repeat searches are fast and cheap. These lookups are not linked to your device or account. Our server also asks Nominatim and Wikipedia about the suggested places (their names and map positions) to check pins and find photos. How long all of this is kept is set out in “How long we keep information”.
Device identifier
The app creates a random identifier the first time it runs and keeps it on your device. It is not your advertising ID or a hardware identifier. The app sends it to our server with its requests so we can count free searches for each device each month. On our server it is combined with the month and turned into a one-way coded value using a secret key, so we do not store the identifier itself in that counter. Clearing the app’s data or reinstalling creates a new identifier.
Network details
When your device contacts our server, our hosting provider (Vercel) sees your IP address and technical request details and may keep them in logs for a short time. We also derive a one-way coded identifier from your IP address, using a secret key, to limit how often one source can search or report and to spot abuse. It is not your IP address, but it can still recognise repeat activity from the same source, so we treat it as personal information.
Counters created by earlier versions of Spotted may use older, less protected identifiers. We delete them under the schedule below. Map and photo providers also see your IP address (see “Where your information goes”).
Reports
Tapping “Report this suggestion” sends the suggestion’s name, its position on the map, the reason you choose and the time to our server, along with the coded identifier derived from your IP address. We use the identifier to help prevent abuse and to count how many different sources reported the same place. Reports are stored in our Supabase database in Sydney, and a receipt ID is written to hosting logs. Reports do not include your device location, device identifier or saved spots.
We use reports to check suggestions. If several different sources report the same place as unsafe, private, closed or inappropriate, Spotted stops showing it until we have looked at it. Reports reach us by email, and we aim to review reports of unsafe or inappropriate suggestions within two business days.
Accounts and email
The Android and iPhone apps do not offer accounts. On the website, signing in is optional. If you sign in, Supabase stores your email address and account identifier, manages your session, and records technical details of sign-ins such as the time, IP address and browser or device type. Sign-in codes are delivered through Resend, which processes your email address and delivery information to send them. Spotted stores your plan, subscription status and monthly search count against your account. Your sign-in session is stored in your browser’s storage so you stay signed in.
Paid plans are not offered in the Android or iPhone app. If a paid plan is offered on the website, a payment provider (Stripe) takes your payment details. We do not see or store your card number.
Messages you send us
Email sent to privacy@spotted.pics or support@spotted.pics is received by our email provider (Resend) and forwarded to the operator’s private inbox. We use your message and email address to reply and to keep a record of your request.
AI suggestions
Suggestions are generated by an AI model using web search. They can be wrong, out of date or unsafe, and places close or change their access rules. Check access, opening hours, tides, weather, drone rules and local rules before you go, and stay on public paths and behind barriers. Some suggestions are reused for other people for about a week. Use “Report this suggestion” on any spot to flag a problem. See our Terms of use.
Our AI search provider, based in the United States, processes this information for us under its commercial terms, which say it will not train its models on it. Its published policy is to delete inputs and outputs from its systems within 30 days, or up to two years if they are flagged for a policy violation. The model’s web searches are run by the provider’s own search service using the area name.
Where your information goes
Spotted’s server functions run in the United States, so your information leaves Australia when you search. Who receives what, and where:
- Vercel (United States). Runs the website and server, may keep request logs, and provides website analytics.
- Supabase (Australia, Sydney). Our database for request counters, reports, saved suggestions (which hold nothing about who searched) and website accounts.
- Our AI search provider (United States). Runs the AI model that writes the suggestions. Receives the rounded location, area name and type of spot, as described above.
- OpenStreetMap Foundation (United Kingdom and other countries). Nominatim receives the place you type or your rounded location. Map tiles receive your IP address and the part of the map you view.
- Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia (United States and other countries). Photos load straight from Wikimedia, which sees your IP address and the photo requested. Our server also looks up article and photo details for suggested places.
- MapTiler (Switzerland). Only if we switch map tiles to it. It would receive the same details as the tile servers above.
- Resend (United States, with inbound mail handled by servers in Japan). Delivers sign-in emails and receives email sent to our addresses.
- Stripe (United States). Only if a paid plan is offered on the website.
- Your maps or sharing app. Directions and sharing hand the selected place to the app you choose, which has its own policy.
We do not sell your information or use it for advertising. We choose providers that publish privacy and security commitments and rely on their data-processing terms where we can, but we do not control them. The policies of the providers named above are linked below.
How long we keep information
- Place and suggestion caches. Suggestions are kept in our database for seven days, then replaced when someone asks again or deleted in small batches as Spotted runs. Place lookups are kept by our hosting provider and refreshed after 30 days when someone asks again; entries nobody asks for again can stay until the hosting provider removes them, and we clear the whole cache at least every six months. Neither cache holds anything about who asked.
- Request counters. Search and report limits keep a coded identifier for 10 minutes. Limits on new searches from one network keep a coded identifier derived from your IP address for the day or calendar month. Free-search counters keep a coded device or account identifier for the calendar month. Expired counters are deleted in small batches as Spotted runs, and we delete any that remain at least every 90 days. Daily model-call counters contain no personal information.
- Reports. The coded identifier is removed from a report 90 days after it is received. The report itself (place, map position, reason and date) is deleted within 12 months.
- Hidden places (suppressions). A place we decide to stop showing stays on our block list for as long as it needs to stay hidden, and we review the list at least once a year. The list holds the place’s name, position and reason, and nothing about who reported it.
- Hosting logs. Kept by Vercel for a short period set by its plan and settings (hours to days).
- Website accounts. Your email address, plan record and monthly search counts are kept until you delete your account, then removed (see below). Supabase may keep its own sign-in security logs, including IP addresses, under its retention policy, which can outlast your account.
- Email you send us. Kept for up to 12 months after the matter is resolved, then deleted. Resend keeps its own delivery records under its policy.
- On your device. Until you remove it (see below).
Saved spots and your choices
Saved spot details, the last four searches and your place-sharing choice stay on your device and are not uploaded to us. The device identifier is also kept on your device and used as described above. Saved text works offline; maps and photos may need a connection. Unsave a spot to remove it. Tap “Clear” beside recent searches to remove search history. Untick place sharing to withdraw your agreement. Clearing the app’s storage or uninstalling it removes everything held on the device.
On Android, Spotted turns off Android’s cloud backup for the app, so saved spots are not backed up to Google’s servers. On iPhone, in a web browser or on other platforms, backups (such as iCloud Backup) may include this local data, according to your device settings.
Delete your account
The Android and iPhone apps have no accounts, so there is no account to delete in the apps. Accounts exist on the website only. When the account service is available, you can delete your Spotted account on the website: sign in, open Account, choose “Delete account” and confirm with “Delete my account”. This permanently removes your sign-in account, plan record and account-linked search usage. If you have a paid Spotted plan on our website, it is cancelled as part of account deletion.
Saved spots, recent searches, your place-sharing choice and the random device identifier remain on your device until you remove them. Shared place caches, coded request counters and reports are not linked to your sign-in account and are not removed with it; they follow the schedule above.
If the account service is unavailable, or you no longer have the app, email privacy@spotted.pics from the email address you use to sign in, with the subject “Delete my Spotted account”. You can make this request without installing or signing in to the app. If you cannot use that email address, contact us for help verifying ownership. We aim to complete your request within 30 days and will explain any information we must keep and why. Payment, email and authentication providers may keep their own records under their own policies.
Your privacy rights
You can ask us for the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email privacy@spotted.pics. We may ask you to confirm who you are, for example by replying from the email address on your account. We aim to reply within 30 days and do not charge for asking. If we cannot do what you ask, we will tell you why in writing and how to complain.
Most of what Spotted keeps is not linked to your name: counters and reports use coded identifiers and the caches hold no identifier at all. If you only used the Android or iPhone app, we may not be able to find or separate anything about you, and we will say so. Spotted is run from Australia. If privacy law where you live gives you other rights, tell us and we will consider your request.
Complaints
If you think we have mishandled your personal information, email privacy@spotted.pics with the details. We aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, or we have not responded within 30 days, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): oaic.gov.au, phone 1300 363 992.
How we protect information
Traffic between the app and our server uses HTTPS. Our database is private: the app cannot read it directly, and our server reaches it only through a small set of functions that need a secret key held on the server and never placed in the app. The coded identifiers use a secret key, so they cannot be matched to an IP address or device identifier without it. Only the operator has administrator access. No online service is completely secure. If a breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the OAIC as the law requires.
Children and age
Spotted is for people aged 18 or over. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Provider policies
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia · Vercel · MapTiler · Supabase · Resend · Stripe
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows the latest version, and we will highlight significant changes at the top of this page. The app contains a copy of this page, which may be older than the website until you update the app.
Contact
Privacy questions, requests and complaints: privacy@spotted.pics. Help with Spotted: support@spotted.pics. See also our Terms of use.