Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 17, 2026

This explains what the SnackWhere website and app (“SnackWhere”, “we”) collect, why, and what you can do about it. We keep it short and specific.

What we collect

• Just browsing the map or website: nothing about you is stored. Like any website, the servers that deliver it see your network address and what you asked for.
• An account: your email address, a display name, and your password (stored only as a one-way hash, never in plain text). Optionally a profile picture and a business name. We also record when you agreed to the Terms.
• What you add: machines you submit (name, category, address, notes, the pin location, contact info printed on the machine, whether it has a sticker), reviews you write, and the photos you take to verify a submission. Business accounts can add a machine icon.
• What you log: if you use “I bought something here”, the machine, the time, the barcode number of the product you scanned and, if you enter it, the price you paid, so we can show you your own stats. The camera reads the barcode on your phone; no picture of it is saved or sent. If you tell us a scanned product was identified wrongly, we also keep what you say it was and the photo of the product you send, so we can check it.
• Messages and reports: notes from us to you (such as why a submission was declined), reports you send about content or to say a machine is gone or has changed (we pass those to the machine’s owner, or handle them ourselves), and the people you block.

Location

The app asks your phone for your location (only while the app is open) to show the machines closest to you and to centre the map. That location is used on your device and is not sent to or stored on our servers. The pin you place when submitting a machine is saved with the submission. You can turn location off in your phone’s settings and still use the app.

Camera and photos

The camera is used to take verification photos for machines you submit, to scan the barcode on something you bought, and optionally to take a profile picture or machine icon. Pictures you choose from your library are used only for your profile picture or a machine icon, after you crop them.

Who can see what

• Everyone: machines on the map and their details, machine icons, reviews, and the display names and profile pictures of reviewers and of the people who added machines.
• Only you and us: your email, your verification photos, your purchase log and stats, your messages, and your reports and blocks.
• Business owners see totals for their own machines, day by day: how often they were viewed, how often directions were requested, their reviews, and (for purchases people scan) how many were bought, which products, and the prices people chose to enter. They can’t see who viewed, asked for directions or bought anything.

Services we use

• Mapbox draws the maps. Your device contacts Mapbox for map tiles, so Mapbox sees your network address and the area you are viewing. See Mapbox’s privacy policy.
• Cloudflare hosts the website, our servers and our database.
• Expo delivers app updates to the Android app. Your device contacts Expo’s update service, which sees your network address and basic device and app version information.
• Open Food Facts is a free, open product database. Our server asks it what a scanned barcode number is, to show the product’s name. Only the barcode number is sent, never anything about you. Your phone may also load the product’s picture from Open Food Facts, so they see your network address then.
• UPCitemdb is a second free barcode lookup, used when Open Food Facts doesn’t know a product’s brand or name. Again only the barcode number is sent, never anything about you.
• Email: if you reset your password, an email service sends you the code.
• Payments are not available yet. When they are, a payment provider will handle your card details; we won’t see or store card numbers.

We don’t sell your personal information and we don’t run third-party ad trackers.

Signing in on the website

The vendor dashboard keeps you signed in by saving a sign-in token in your browser’s own storage, on your device only. It is removed when you sign out (or clear your browser’s data). The website doesn’t use advertising or tracking cookies. If you create a business account there, we store the same details as an account made in the app: your email, business name and a hashed password, plus when you agreed to the Terms.

Keeping your data

We keep your account and what you added until you delete your account. Our hosting provider keeps routine backups of the database for up to about 30 days, so deleted data can remain in those backups until they expire. We may keep records needed to stop abuse or follow the law (for example, that an account was suspended).

Deleting your account and data

You can do this yourself in the app: Settings, then Delete account. Or follow the steps on our account deletion page, which you can use without opening the app.

When an account is deleted we remove: your email, name, password, profile picture, verification photos, reviews, machine requests, purchase log, product corrections, messages, reports and blocks. What stays: machines you added remain on the map (they are useful to everyone) but no longer show your name, and a machine’s verification photo is deleted with the account.

Your choices

• Change your name, picture or password in Settings.
• Block people and report content in the app.
• Ask for a copy of your data, or for corrections, through the contact page.

Children

SnackWhere isn’t meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has made an account, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change how we handle data we will update this page and, for significant changes, say so in the app.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: see the contact page.