Privacy Policy

We collect what you give us when you use Snapsmaps, plus a small amount of technical information needed to run the site.

• Your account. Your email address, display name, handle and password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way hash, so nobody at Snapsmaps can read them. You can also add a bio and a profile photo.
• Signing in with Google. If you use “Continue with Google”, Google tells us your Google account ID, email address, name and profile photo. We use the photo as your profile photo. We don't get access to anything else in your Google account.
• Snaps. The photo, its caption, its location (see below), the date it was taken, who can see it (everyone, your followers or only you), and whether you've marked it sensitive.
• What you do on Snapsmaps. Your collections and trips, comments, likes and follows, the notifications they create, and the people you block.
• Reports. When you report a snap, comment or person, we keep what you reported, the reason you chose and any details you add.
• Takedown requests. If you ask us to remove an intimate image (see the Terms), we keep your name, email address, the links you sent and your statement, whether or not you have an account.
• Messages to us. If you email us, we keep the conversation.

Location is the heart of Snapsmaps, so here is exactly how it works.

• Where a pin comes from. When you add a photo, we look for GPS coordinates saved in the photo itself (its EXIF data). If there aren't any, your browser asks for permission to use your device's current location instead.
• You choose the precision of every snap. An exact pin saves the coordinates as they are. “Town or park only” rounds them to about 1 km before they're saved, so the exact spot never reaches our database, and names the snap after the town or area rather than a landmark. Or switch location off and the snap has no pin at all.
• Photo metadata. Photos can carry hidden metadata such as GPS coordinates, the date and time, and the camera or phone model. Before a photo is stored, we read a few details from it that are shown with the snap: when it was taken and its time zone, the camera or phone model, the lens and its settings (focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO), and which way the camera was facing. The direction is only kept when the snap is pinned exactly where the photo says it was taken. We never read serial numbers. Then we remove the metadata from every photo before it's stored: snaps, collection covers and profile photos, full-size photos and previews alike. A snap's location is only its pin.
• Place names, elevation and weather. To label a snap with a place name like “Golden Gate Bridge” and its country, our server sends its coordinates (the rounded ones, for approximate snaps) to a geocoding service: MapTiler, or OpenStreetMap's Nominatim as a backup. This also happens while you're writing a snap, to preview the name. Exactly pinned snaps and trip photos also get the ground elevation at their pin from MapTiler. For the weather when a photo was taken, the server sends its pin's coordinates and the time it was taken to Visual Crossing. Only coordinates and times are sent, never who you are, and the answers are saved with the snap so they're only looked up once.
• Around you. If you use Around you in Explore, your browser shares your location with us rounded to about 10 km, only to find snaps nearby. It isn't saved to your account.
• Your spot on the map. The button that centers a map on you works entirely in your browser; that location isn't sent to us.

You can turn off location access for snapsmaps.com in your browser or phone settings at any time.

• Your profile. Your display name, handle, bio, profile photo, follower and following counts, public snaps and collections, and a map of where your public snaps were taken. Anyone signed in to Snapsmaps can see it.
• Snaps for everyone. The photo, caption, pin and place name, the date it was taken, and its likes and comments. Everyone signed in to Snapsmaps can see them, in feeds and in Explore (places, trips, people and Around you). Anyone who can see one can share a link to it, and its preview on other sites and apps shows the photo and caption.
• Followers-only snaps are shown to you and the people who follow you, unless you add one to a collection that more people can see (below). They don't appear in Explore on their own, and only you can share a link to one.
• Private snaps (Only me) are shown only to you, unless you share a link to one or add it to a collection others can see (below). Your followers can't see them, and they never appear in anyone else's feeds or notifications. Like every photo on Snapsmaps, they can be viewed by Snapsmaps admins to make sure they follow our rules and the law (see below).
• Collections (trips). You choose who can see each collection: everyone, your followers, or only you, and you can change it later. Making a collection more private turns off its share link. A private (Only me) collection is seen by you, Snapsmaps admins and anyone you share a link with. Everyone who can see a collection sees every snap in it, whatever each snap's own setting: its photo, caption, place and date, and a public collection's route also appears in Explore. For a snap they couldn't otherwise see, that's all; its likes and comments stay hidden. A collection's cover is never a snap more private than the collection.
• Share links. A share link has a long, random address, so it can't be guessed. Anyone who has it can open the snap or trip it leads to, with its comments, without an account, and can pass it on. For a followers-only or private snap or trip, only you can make the link, its preview on other sites and apps shows only that something was shared (not the photo, caption or who posted it), and you can turn it off from the Share button; sharing again makes a new link. Making a trip more private (from everyone to followers, or to only you) also turns its link off, including links other people made while more people could see it. A shared trip shows every snap in it, but only each snap's photo, caption, place and date.
• Comments, likes and follows. Your comments are visible to everyone who can see the snap, including people with a link to it. People can see who liked a snap and who follows whom.
• Photo addresses. Like every photo on Snapsmaps, the photo of a followers-only or private snap is stored at a long, random web address rather than behind a sign-in, so anyone you give that direct image link to could open it.
• Blocking. When you block someone, your profile, snaps and collections disappear for them across Snapsmaps, they stop following you, and they can't follow you again. Their likes and comments come off your snaps, and unblocking doesn't bring them back. We don't tell them, though they may notice. Your snaps for everyone stay public, so they could still open one from a share link while signed out. Admins reviewing reports can still see what you post.
• Your email address is never shown to other people.

Anyone who can see a snap can save or screenshot it. We can't control copies made outside Snapsmaps.

• Cookies. We only set cookies when you sign in: one that keeps you signed in, and one that holds your name, handle, email address and profile photo so the app can show your account straight away. If you open a link to Snapsmaps without signing in, no cookies are set. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
• Browser storage. Your browser also keeps a few notes for Snapsmaps that never leave your device: that someone has signed in on it, so the home page opens on Sign in; when you last chose Not now on the install banner; and, until you sign in, the page to take you back to afterwards.
• Activity. While you're signed in, we record which days you used Snapsmaps and when you were last active, to within a few minutes. We use this for overall numbers, like how many people use the site each day, and for moderation, and to hold notification emails while you're using the site. We also keep the time zone your browser reports, so the morning roundup arrives in your morning.
• Server logs. Like most websites, our servers log requests: your IP address, what was requested, when, your browser's user agent and the page you came from. Some entries also include the email address of an account that is signing in or being sent an email. We use logs for security, to limit abuse and to fix problems.
• Email records. We count the emails we send (which kind, and whether it reached the mail server), without addresses.
• No third-party analytics or ads. There are no ad networks, analytics services or tracking pixels on Snapsmaps. Even our fonts are served from our own site.

• To run Snapsmaps: your account, your snaps, maps, feeds, Explore and notifications.
• To send account emails: confirming your email address and resetting your password.
• To send notification emails: comments on your snaps, more comments on snaps you commented on, new followers, and a morning roundup of new snaps from people you follow. Each kind can be turned off in Settings → Email notifications, or with the link at the bottom of every one. We don't send marketing emails or newsletters, and our emails have no tracking pixels.
• To keep Snapsmaps safe: reviewing reports and takedown requests, enforcing our rules, preventing spam and abuse, and limiting repeated sign-in attempts.
• To understand how Snapsmaps is used, in aggregate: people active each day, snaps posted, storage used.
• To meet our legal obligations.

We don't sell your personal information, share it for advertising, or use it to build advertising profiles.

A few companies help us run Snapsmaps. They handle your information only to provide their service to us.

• DigitalOcean hosts the app, the database and photo storage in San Francisco, USA, and delivers photos through its content delivery network.
• Cloudflare sits in front of the site to deliver traffic and protect it from attacks, so it handles your IP address and requests.
• Resend delivers our emails, so it receives your email address and the message.
• MapTiler provides the maps and place names. Your browser loads map images straight from MapTiler, so MapTiler sees your IP address and which parts of the map you look at.
• OpenStreetMap provides backup maps and place names.
• Visual Crossing provides the weather when a photo was taken, from its pin and time.
• Google only if you choose “Continue with Google”. Google's sign-in window is covered by Google's privacy policy.

Snapsmaps admins, a small number of people, can view every photo on Snapsmaps, including followers-only and private snaps, to make sure they follow our rules and the law. They can also see the account details moderation needs: your email address, account status, when you signed up and were last active, how many devices are signed in, how much you've posted and the storage it uses, plus reports and admin notes about accounts. Every admin action is recorded in an audit log.

We may disclose information when the law requires it, or when we believe in good faith that it's needed to protect someone's safety, investigate abuse or protect Snapsmaps. If Snapsmaps ever passes to a new owner, your information would go with it, still covered by this policy, and we'd tell you first.

Links that leave Snapsmaps, like opening a pin in Apple Maps or Google Maps, take you to services with their own privacy policies.

• Your account stays until you delete it.
• Unconfirmed sign-ups. If an email address isn't confirmed within 7 days of signing up, that account is deleted automatically.
• Deleting your account. Choose Delete account in Settings, or email [email protected] from the address on your account and we'll do it for you. Your account disappears from Snapsmaps right away and you're signed out everywhere. For 30 days you can get it back by emailing us from the same address; after that it's erased for good: your profile, snaps and their photos, collections, comments, likes, follows, blocks, notifications, the reports you filed, activity records and sign-ins.
• Deleting a snap or comment erases it for good, right away. A snap goes with its photo, the comments and likes on it and the notifications about it; a comment goes with the notifications that quote it. A deleted photo can stay reachable at its old address for a short while, until our content delivery network's cached copy expires.
• Deleting a collection removes it; the snaps in it stay on your profile.
• Moderation records. Snaps and comments that admins remove for breaking the rules are hidden rather than erased, and kept as moderation records until the account is deleted. Reports about an account are kept too, as are takedown requests, and so is the audit log of admin actions and account deletions, which can include your handle, so moderation stays accountable. A snap also remembers the addresses of share links that were turned off, so a takedown request quoting one still finds it.
• Logs and backups. Server logs are kept for a limited time and then deleted. Database backups held by our hosting provider can contain deleted information for up to 7 days.

In the app you can edit your profile; delete snaps, comments and collections; choose who can see each snap and collection (everyone, your followers or only you); share and turn off links to your followers-only and private snaps and collections; choose how precise each pin is; block and unblock people; choose which notification emails you get; delete your account in Settings; and turn off location access in your browser.

Email [email protected] to get a copy of your information, correct something you can't change yourself, or have us delete your account. We'll confirm the request comes from your account's email address and reply within 30 days.

Depending on where you live, such as the EU, the UK or California, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or take a copy of your information, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to withdraw consent. We honor these requests wherever you live, and we won't treat you differently for making one. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

If you're in the EU or UK, our legal bases are: providing the service you signed up for (contract); security, moderation and understanding usage in aggregate (legitimate interests); your device's location, used only with your permission, which you can withdraw at any time (consent); and meeting legal obligations.

We don't sell or “share” personal information as California law defines those terms.

Snapsmaps uses HTTPS throughout, stores passwords only as salted hashes, makes password reset links single-use and short-lived, keeps sign-in cookies out of reach of page scripts, and rate-limits sign-in attempts. No system is perfectly secure, though. If a breach affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Snapsmaps isn't meant for children under 13, or under the age where you live at which a child can use online services without a parent's consent (16 in parts of the EU). We don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has an account, email [email protected] and we'll delete it.

Snapsmaps is run from the United States and stores its data there. If you use it from another country, your information is transferred to and processed in the US.

When we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your information in a meaningful way, we'll let you know on Snapsmaps or by email before it takes effect.

Questions, requests or concerns about your privacy: email [email protected].