Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 October 2026

1. About this policy

tracethoughts ("we", "us") is a service for making maps of ideas that people can explore together. This policy explains what information the service receives, how it is used and who can see it. We do not sell your personal information and we do not show advertising.

2. What we collect

Account: your email address, a password (stored only as a one-way hash, never in readable form), your display name, and your avatar choices (a style, a short seed and a background colour). If you sign in with Google or Facebook, we receive your name and email from that provider. We do not import or use your profile picture: everyone uses a generated avatar.

What you create: maps (address, description, whether public or private, member permissions), pins (title, link, text, preview image address, position), notes, walk-throughs and their captions, items in your personal inbox, suggestions you send to a map owner, and chat messages with their reactions, replies, edits and delivery or seen receipts.

Activity on a map: while you have a map open we record where your avatar is, whether you are online, whether the window is in focus ("away"), whether Do not disturb is on, which pins you moved between (visit trails with times), and who you are chatting with at that moment.

Technical data: like any web service, our servers and hosting provider see your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, and keep logs for security and debugging. Your browser stores your sign-in token and a few preferences (your last map view, chat sound on or off) in local storage. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies or trackers.

3. How we use it

• To run the service: show your maps and pins, place your avatar, open chats between people who are close together, and deliver messages and notifications.
• To keep it safe: sign-in, preventing abuse and rate limiting, and investigating problems.
• To contact you about your account when needed.

4. Who can see what

• Public maps: anyone who opens the map can see its pins, notes, walk-throughs, which members are online and where they are standing, visit trails, and the display names and avatars attached to them. Anyone signed in can join.
• Private maps: only approved members can see this. People who have not been approved see only the map's name and a request-to-join screen.
• Member list: visible to members of the map. The map owner can also see join requests.
• Chat: a message is visible only to the people in that chat, including later when the same group meets again. The map owner cannot read chats they are not part of. Your personal notes chat is visible only to you. Senders can see who has received or seen their messages.
• Your inbox: visible only to you. A suggestion you send is visible to you and the map owner.
• Map owners also see an activity feed of the pins, notes and suggestions that other people add to their map.

As the people who run the servers, we can technically access stored data. We do not read private content as a matter of routine, and only look at it where needed to operate the service, keep it secure, or follow the law.

5. Link previews and other sites

When you add a link, our server may fetch that page to find its title and preview image, and stores the title and the image address. Preview images are then shown directly from the original site, so that site can see the viewer's IP address. Avatars are generated in your browser and are not fetched from any outside service. Sign-in with Google or Facebook is optional and is subject to their own privacy policies.

6. Sharing

We do not sell or rent personal information. We use infrastructure providers (for example hosting and email delivery) who process data for us only to provide those services. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the safety, rights or property of the service, our users or others.

7. How long we keep it

• Your account, maps, pins, notes and walk-throughs are kept until you or the map owner delete them. Deleting a map deletes everything on it.
• Each chat keeps its latest 500 messages. Messages deleted "for everyone" have their text removed. Messages deleted "for me" are hidden only for you.
• Online status disappears within a couple of minutes of inactivity, and stored positions are cleared within about a day. Visit trails are kept as part of the map's history.
• Server logs are kept for a limited time for security and debugging.
• If you leave a map or are removed, content you already added may stay on that map until you or the owner delete it.

8. Your choices and rights

You can change your name and avatar, edit or delete your own pins, notes, walk-throughs and messages, switch on Do not disturb, leave a map, and delete maps you own. You may ask us to access, correct, export or delete the personal information we hold about you, including deletion of your account, by writing to admin@tracethoughts.com. We may need to confirm it is you before acting. Depending on where you live you may have further rights under local law, and you can complain to your data protection authority.

9. Children

tracethoughts is not intended for children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Security

We protect data with measures such as encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, server-side access checks on every request and rate limits. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so please use a strong, unique password.

11. International use

Our servers may be located in a different country from yours, so your information may be processed there.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service or the law changes. The current version is always at this address, with its date at the top.

13. Contact

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: admin@tracethoughts.com.