Privacy Policy

Showplaces is built around a simple idea: the places you save are yours. This policy describes what the app stores, what leaves your device, and what we never collect at all.

Showplaces is made by Ocelot Wrangler, LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company (“we” or “us”), which is responsible for the data described here.

What Showplaces stores

Places you save — their name, description, address, coordinates, tags, and any photos or videos you attach — along with the groups you sort them into and the routes you plan. Everything is kept on your device so the app works offline.

If you have an account, you choose on each of your devices whether its places, groups and routes are backed up to our servers, so they can sync between your devices. That setting is Sync My Showplaces, and the app asks about it when you sign in. With it off, they stay on that device, except the ones you share (see Sharing below). With it on, they are also stored on our servers. Turning it off later lets you keep the copy on our servers as a backup or remove it. A route that is backed up includes the name and location of each stop, even a stop whose place is kept only on your device; the app tells you when that happens. A stop at your current location is never saved as a location. Media files are stored in Amazon S3. You sign in with Apple or with a one-time code we email you. There are no passwords, so we never see or store one. Your account holds your email address and, if you add them, a display name and profile picture. Location data is removed from a profile picture before it is stored. When you accept our Terms of Use, we record which version you accepted and when.

You do not need an account

Showplaces works without signing in. If you never create an account, your places stay on your device and are never uploaded to us. Having an account doesn’t upload them either, unless you turn on Sync My Showplaces or share them.

Location

We do not track where you go. The app uses your location to show you on the map and to help you add nearby places, and that happens entirely on your device.

Showplaces only uses your location while the app is open. It does not run in the background, does not notice when you arrive somewhere, and does not keep a history of where you have been. You can turn location off at any time in Settings, and everything else in the app keeps working.

Contacts

Showplaces never uploads your contacts list. You can choose to import the addresses saved in Contacts as places, from Settings. The app never asks for access to Contacts unless you start an import, and iOS lets you share all of your contacts or only the ones you pick.

The app reads only names and addresses, never phone numbers, email addresses, photos or notes. It shows you the addresses it found, and only the ones you choose become places. To put them on the map, each chosen address is sent to Apple Maps to find its location. Matching them against places you already have happens on your device. A place you import is named after the contact and holds their address and its location. It is stored like any other place you save: on your device, and on our servers if Sync My Showplaces is on or you share it. Contacts you don’t import never leave your device, and neither does the record of which contacts you have already imported. You can turn off Contacts access at any time in Settings.

Sharing

Nothing you save is public by default. When you share a place or a group, we create a link. Anyone who has the link can open it, so send it only to the people you mean to share with. Depending on the mode you pick, a link either hands over a one-time copy or keeps the recipient in sync with yours.

Links can expire, and you can see the links you have sent and turn any of them off at any time. Turning off a link stops anyone new from using it. It doesn’t remove people who already joined through it: you can remove them one at a time, or use Stop Sharing to turn off every link and remove everyone at once. A copy someone has already saved belongs to them. Turning off the link, or deleting your original, doesn’t take it back.

Sharing needs our servers, so whatever you share is stored there even if Sync My Showplaces is off. A one-time copy stores only that copy, until the link expires, is used up or turned off, or you delete the place. A place or group you share so people can follow or edit it is stored itself, and so are places you add to a shared group. With Sync My Showplaces off, it goes back to being kept only on your device once nobody has access to it and no link to it still works.

People you share with in the app see your display name and profile picture, and you see theirs. Nobody else does, except Showplaces staff reviewing a report (see below). Your email address is never shown to anyone you share with. Opening a share link on the web shows what was shared and the display name of the person who sent it.

What Showplaces staff can see

Staff can’t browse anyone’s places, groups, routes or photos. To act on one account, such as deleting it when you ask, staff look it up by its exact account ID, never by searching. That shows its email address, display name, whether it signs in with Apple, when it was created, whether it has Pro, and how many places, groups, routes and photos it owns and shares, but not the items themselves. The one exception is a report, which shows staff a copy of what was reported, as described next. Everything staff do to an account is recorded with who did it and why.

Reports, blocks and moderation

You can report something someone shared with you, in the app or from a share link on this website, and you can block people in the app. Our Terms of Use describe what we can do about what’s reported.

• A report sends Showplaces staff a copy of the reported item as it was at that moment: its text, such as titles, descriptions, tags and the display name of the person who shared it, plus copies of any reported photos, videos or profile picture. A report never copies a place’s location or address.
• A report keeps the account ID of the person who made it, the account ID of the person responsible for what was reported, and which showplace, group, photo, person or link it’s about, along with the reason and any note the reporter adds.
• Reports, their copies, and the notes and actions staff add to them are kept as moderation records after a report is closed, and even after either account is deleted. A decision has to stay explainable if someone appeals it.
• When a report arrives, we email staff to say so. The email says only what kind of report it is, with a link to review it. It contains none of the reported content, the note, or anyone’s account ID.
• A report made from this website isn’t linked to any account, and your IP address isn’t stored with it. Our server logs see it, as they see every request, for 7 days (see Server logs).
• When you block someone, we store who blocked whom, and when. That record is deleted when either account is deleted.
• Reports and blocks are never sent to analytics.

Analytics and crash reporting

We use TelemetryDeck to understand how the app is used, and Sentry to find crashes and errors.

• Analytics are anonymous by design. A random identifier is generated per install — not your Apple ID, not an advertising identifier — and it is salted and hashed on your device before it is ever sent. Deleting the app resets it.
• Analytics are never linked to your account, even if you are signed in.
• Each event records which feature was used, along with technical context: the app version, your device model and operating system version, language and region settings, your time zone as an offset from UTC (such as UTC−5), the time of day, accessibility settings such as larger text or reduced motion, and simple usage counts such as how many sessions you have had and how long they last. It also notes whether you are signed in and whether you have Pro, but never which account. When you answer the app’s request to use your location, an event records whether you allowed it and whether it is precise, but never the location itself. When you import from Contacts, an event records roughly how many places were added and how many addresses could not be found, and whether you shared all of your contacts or only some, but never anything about a contact. The names, descriptions, tags, and coordinates of your places are never included, and neither is your location.
• When you buy Showplaces Pro in the app, an event records the plan, the price, and the country and currency of your App Store account. Like every other event, it is never linked to your account.
• TelemetryDeck does not store IP addresses.

Crash and error reports contain diagnostic information about the failure — such as a stack trace, the kind of error and where in the app’s code it happened, the device model and operating system version, the app version, which of the app’s network requests failed with identifiers removed, and Apple’s own reports of the app freezing or overusing the processor or storage — so bugs can be fixed. They never include what you were looking at or working on, such as the names, notes or locations of your places. Each report carries a random identifier for this install so repeated crashes can be counted. It is not linked to your account, and no IP address is stored. Reports never include screenshots or recordings of your screen.

Purchases

Showplaces Pro is sold by Apple through the App Store. Apple handles payment, and we never see your payment details or your Apple Account.

• When you buy, the app gives Apple your Showplaces account ID, so the subscription can be matched to your account.
• To give Pro to your Showplaces account, the app sends our server the record Apple signs for your subscription. We keep the plan, its renewal and expiry dates, whether it was refunded, Apple’s identifier for the subscription, and which Showplaces account it belongs to. Apple tells our server when the subscription renews, lapses, or is refunded.

Email

If you create an account, we use SendGrid to send account email, such as your sign-in codes. We do not send marketing email.

Server logs

Our servers log every request they receive: when it arrived, the IP address it came from, the web address requested, the response, and the app version or browser that sent it. A web address can include the ID of a place, group, photo or share link, but never what it contains, and a request isn’t logged with the account that made it. When staff act on an account, the log notes its account ID. We use these logs to keep the service running and to fix problems, and they are deleted after 7 days.

Services we use

These companies process data for us, only to provide their service:

• Amazon Web Services runs our servers, database, file storage and this website.
• SendGrid sends account email.
• TelemetryDeck and Sentry receive the anonymous analytics and crash reports described above.
• Apple provides Sign in with Apple and App Store purchases, and the maps, place search and directions in the app, which come from Apple Maps. Apple receives the searches and map areas involved, never linked to your Showplaces account. A share link opened on the web shows its places on an Apple map, which your browser loads from Apple.

What we never do

• We do not sell your data.
• We do not show ads or share your data with advertisers.
• We do not build a profile of you or track you across other apps.
• We do not upload your contacts list.
• The website does not use cookies or third-party trackers.

When the law requires us to share data

We give information to law enforcement or a court only when the law requires it, such as a valid subpoena, court order or warrant, and only what it covers.

US law requires us to report apparent child sexual abuse material, and apparent attempts to sexually exploit a child, to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). If we find something on Showplaces that appears to be that, we stop it being shared and send NCMEC the material and the information we hold about the account that shared it, such as its email address, display name and account ID. We keep what we sent for at least a year, as the law requires, even if the account is deleted. NCMEC may pass the report to law enforcement.

Deleting your data

You can delete your account from within the app. Doing so permanently removes everything you own, including your places, groups, routes, and uploaded media. Any live or collaborative links you created stop working and that content is removed from your collaborators’ libraries. Photos and videos you added to other people’s places stay there, since they are part of those places, but without your name on them.

Who you blocked, and who blocked you, is deleted with your account. Reports are the exception: reports you made, or that were made about something you shared, are kept as moderation records, with their copies of what was reported, as described above.

Deleting your account does not cancel a Showplaces Pro subscription, which Apple bills: cancel it in your Apple Account’s subscription settings. The subscription’s record is kept, so a subscription that is still active can be restored to a new account. It keeps the plan and its dates, Apple’s identifier for the subscription, and your former account ID, which Apple also holds because the app gave it when you bought. Your email address and everything else about you are deleted.

Encrypted database backups are taken nightly and kept for a limited period so data can be restored after an accidental deletion. Backups age out on their own schedule after an account is deleted.

Children

You must be 13 or older to create a Showplaces account. Without an account, the app sends us nothing about you beyond the anonymous analytics and crash reports described above.

Showplaces is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we delete it. A parent or guardian who thinks their child has made one can email us.

Changes to this policy

This policy may change as the app changes. Material changes will be noted by updating the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or a request to access or delete your data, can go to Ocelot Wrangler, LLC at support@ocelotwrangler.com.