Privacy Policy

Overview
Data We Collect
Location Data
How We Use Your Data
Data Sharing
Legal Requests (Subpoenas & Court Orders)
Content Visibility
Data Storage & Security
Data Retention
Your Rights
Cookies
Children's Privacy
Changes to This Policy

1. Overview

LeelaMaps is a location-based social mapping platform. Because location data is central to what we do, we take your privacy seriously. This Policy explains exactly what data we collect, why we collect it, and how you stay in control.

    🔒 Short version: We collect what you give us (account info, notes, location) to run the map. We don't sell your data. You control who sees what with Private / Friends / Public settings on every note.

2. Data We Collect

Category	What	Why
Account	Username, email address, hashed password	To create and secure your account
Profile	Display name, bio, avatar photo (optional)	To personalise your presence on the map
Notes	Note text, attached media, location (lat/lng), timestamp, privacy setting	Core service — pinning content to the map
Location	GPS coordinates when you use the map or GPS-follow feature	To show notes near you; to power GPS-follow pins
Interactions	Comments, votes, RSVPs, saved lists, friend connections	Social features and notifications
Messages	Direct messages and group chat you send, and who you sent them to	To deliver them, and to act on reports of abuse
Photos & video	Images and video you attach to a note or profile. These are stored by our media host, Cloudinary. A photo can carry hidden location data (EXIF) recorded by your camera — if that concerns you, turn off location tagging in your camera app before photographing somewhere private.	To display the media you post
Phone number	Only if you choose to add one to your profile	So people you share it with can reach you
Date of birth	The date you give at the age gate	To keep adult-only features and mature content away from minors
Purchases	What you bought, when, and the amount. Card details are handled entirely by Stripe and never reach our servers.	Order history, refunds, and the records tax law requires us to keep
Device identifiers	A push notification token from Google (FCM) if you turn on notifications in the app	To send the notifications you asked for. Removed when you turn them off or delete your account.
Technical	Browser type, IP address, session tokens	Security, abuse prevention, debugging
Error reports	When something breaks, the app sends us the error message, where in the code it happened, the page you were on, and your browser version — automatically, including if you are not signed in	So we can find and fix faults. Not used to build a profile of you.

We do not collect data beyond what's necessary to operate the Service.

3. Location Data

Location is at the heart of LeelaMaps. Here's how it works:

Map browsing: The map viewport (the area you're looking at) is stored in your browser's URL and local storage to remember your last position. It is not sent to our servers except when loading nearby notes.
Note location: When you pin a note, the coordinates you choose are stored and associated with your note. The privacy of this location follows the note's privacy setting.
GPS follow: When enabled, your device's real-time GPS position is broadcast to users viewing your note. You can turn this off at any time — when disabled, the pin locks at the last recorded position.
Precision: We store the exact latitude and longitude you provide. We do not reduce precision on your behalf — this is your responsibility when choosing a note's location.
Nearby presence: Some notes are set by their authors to be visible only to people who have actually been near them recently, and some community challenges ask you to spend time at a place. To make those work, while you are using LeelaMaps we keep a short record of the areas you have been in. It is used only to decide whether you qualify to see such a note or complete such a challenge — it is never shown to other users, and other people only ever see that a note is restricted to locals, never anyone's location.

    🕒 Your presence record is deleted after 24 hours. This is enforced by the service on every write, not a setting you have to find. It is also stored coarsely — readings close together are merged into one, so it records the areas you have been in rather than a precise track of your movements — and is capped at 200 records at any time.

Background location in the Android app. If you use the Android app, grant the permission, and want strictly-local notes or place-based challenges to work properly, the app records your location even when the app is closed or not in use. Being somewhere and having an app open are different things: someone who walks past a noticeboard in the morning and opens the app at lunchtime is exactly who a local note is written for, and without this the app has no way of knowing they were ever there.

This background record is handled exactly as described above — coarse, capped, deleted after 24 hours, never sold, never shared with third parties and never used for advertising. It is read by exactly three parts of the app and nothing else: deciding whether you qualify to see a strictly-local note, deciding whether you have spent enough time at a place to complete a challenge, and confirming that two people who are recording a handshake are genuinely in the same area. It is optional: if you decline it, everything else in LeelaMaps keeps working, and only strictly-local notes and place-based challenges are affected. You can withdraw it at any time — with the "Nearby presence" toggle in the app's map options, or in your device's Android settings.

⚠️ Think before you pin: Posting a note with your home address or workplace as a Public note is visible to everyone. Consider using Private or Friends-only for notes near sensitive locations.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect to:

Operate and improve the LeelaMaps service
Show notes relevant to your map view and social circle
Send notifications you've opted into (new notes matching saved searches, friend activity)
Detect and prevent abuse, spam, and violations of our Terms
Respond to your support requests
Analyse aggregate, anonymised usage patterns to improve the product

We do not use your data for advertising profiling or sell it to third parties.

We share data only in these limited circumstances:

With other users: According to the privacy settings you choose on each note
Service providers: Hosting (maps tiles, media storage) under strict data processing agreements
Legal obligation: If required by law, court order, or to protect the safety of users. See Legal Requests for exactly how.
Business transfer: If LeelaMaps is acquired, your data may transfer as part of that transaction — you will be notified in advance

We never sell your personal data.

6. Legal Requests (Subpoenas & Court Orders)

LeelaMaps responds to valid legal process (subpoenas, court orders and search warrants) for data we hold. Here is how we handle it, and what such a request can and cannot reach.

    ⚖️ Private means private from other users, not from us and not from a court. A Private or Friends-only note is hidden from other people, but it is stored on our servers, and a valid legal order can require us to hand it over.

How we respond

We ask for the legal document itself and read it. We do not hand over data because someone asks informally.
We give only what the document specifically covers.
We tell you before we hand over your data, so you have a chance to object, unless the law or a court order forbids it, or telling you would put someone in danger. If we can't tell you beforehand, we tell you once we're allowed to.
If we believe someone faces an immediate risk of death or serious injury, we may share limited information without waiting for an order.
If we receive a valid request to preserve data, we preserve what still exists when it arrives.

What a request can reach, because we hold it

Your account: username, email address, date of birth, phone number if you added one, and the IP address you signed up from
Your notes, including Private and Friends-only ones, with their exact coordinates, and any lines you drew or recorded with GPS
Comments, lists, RSVPs and friend connections
Direct messages and group chats. These are not end-to-end encrypted. We can technically read them, so a valid order can reach them.
Your nearby-presence record, but only the last 24 hours (see Location Data)
Searches you typed, with an area of about 1 km. These are kept for up to 90 days.
Purchases and orders: what, when and how much. Photos and video are held by our media host, Cloudinary.
IP addresses recorded when you accept an agreement or terms, and in our server logs

What a request cannot reach from us, because we don't have it

Your card details. Stripe handles them and they never reach our servers. Stripe answers legal process for its own records.
Your password. We store only a one-way hash.
Presence records older than 24 hours. They are deleted automatically.
Data from a deleted account once the backup window has passed (see Data Retention)

Today every LeelaMaps map runs on our servers. We may later support maps that communities run on their own servers. If we do, this section will say exactly what changes before that option opens.

Questions about legal process go to leela.loop@gmail.com.

7. Content Visibility

Every note you post has a visibility setting you choose:

🌍 Public — visible to all LeelaMaps users and potentially discoverable by search engines
👥 Friends — visible only to users you have approved as friends
🔒 Private — visible only to you

Changing the privacy setting of an existing note takes effect immediately. However, we cannot guarantee that content shared publicly has not already been viewed, saved, or shared by others.

8. Data Storage & Security

Data is stored on secured servers. Passwords are stored as salted one-way hashes — we cannot read your password. We use encrypted connections (HTTPS) for all data in transit.

While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no security system is perfect. Please use a strong, unique password for your LeelaMaps account.

9. Data Retention

We retain your data as long as your account is active, with one deliberate exception:

Nearby-presence records are deleted after 24 hours, automatically and regardless of whether your account is active. See Location Data.

When you delete your account:

Your profile and public notes are removed within 30 days
Backup copies may persist for up to 90 days in disaster-recovery systems
Aggregate anonymised statistics are retained indefinitely
Data required for legal or fraud-prevention purposes may be retained longer

10. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Correction — update or correct your account information at any time via settings
Deletion — delete your account and associated data
Portability — request an export of your notes and content
Opt-out — disable email notifications in your account settings at any time

To exercise these rights, use the in-app settings, or email us at leela.loop@gmail.com. You can also use the in-app feedback form, but the address works whether or not you can sign in — which matters most when the thing you need is to get your data out or deleted.

To delete your account, use Edit Profile → Delete My Account in the app, or open leelamaps.com/delete-account, which works even if you have uninstalled the app or cannot sign in.

11. Cookies

We use a small number of cookies and similar local storage to:

Keep you logged in (session cookie)
Remember your last map position
Store your UI preferences (theme, panel state)

We do not use third-party advertising cookies. You can clear cookies in your browser settings, though this will log you out.

12. Children's Privacy

LeelaMaps is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via email or in-app notification before they take effect. Your continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

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