Your information, explained.

Who we are

Pins is an independent project operated by its founder. In this policy, “Pins,” “we,” and “us” mean Pins and its operator. For any privacy question, email support@joinpins.app.

Information we collect

Your account

You can sign up with an email address and password, Sign in with Apple, or Sign in with Google. We receive your email address and a unique account ID. Passwords are stored by our sign-in provider, Supabase, in hashed form; we cannot see them. With Sign in with Apple, Apple may give us a private relay address instead of your email, and your name the first time you sign in if you allow it. With Sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email address, and profile picture link.

Your profile

Your display name, username, bio, optional profile photo, and Account Privacy setting. Profile photos are chosen from your photo library and resized into a new image before upload; Pins does not use your camera. Accounts created with earlier versions may also have a home city on file, which the current app no longer shows or asks for.

Your pins

For each pin: its map coordinates, title, and any note, place name, category, rating, or status (such as want to go or been there) you add, the audience you choose, and when you created it. If you save someone else’s pin, we record which pin it came from.

Your connections

Who you follow and who follows you, follow requests, accounts you block, stars (zero to three) you give to profiles, Circles you create or join with their names, members, and invitations, and the in-app activity notifications these actions create.

Reports and support

When you report a profile, the app opens a pre-filled email to support with the reported account’s name, username, and ID, plus your app version and device platform. You decide whether to send it. Emails you send are described under This website.

On your phone

The app keeps your sign-in session and a few settings, such as whether you have finished the tutorial, in storage on your device.

What we do not collect

Pins does not access your contacts, camera, or microphone, and does not use your location in the background. The app contains no advertising, analytics, or third-party crash-reporting tools, and it does not send push notifications.

How we use information

We use this information to run Pins: to create and secure your account, show your map, share pins with the audience you choose, power search and discovery, show in-app activity, support blocking and reports, answer support requests, and find and fix problems during the beta. We do not sell personal information, use it for advertising, or share it with data brokers.

Location

The first time you open the Home map, Pins asks to use your location while you are using the app. Pins never uses your location in the background. If you allow it, your location centers the map, powers the current-location button, and helps show nearby results when you search. The app requests location at roughly 100-meter accuracy, and iOS lets you choose precise or approximate location.

Your device location is not saved to your account or our database; it stays on your phone while the app is open. When you search for a place, the search provider receives your search text and an area to search near, based on your location or the part of the map you are viewing. If neither is available, MapTiler may estimate a general area from your IP address.

The places you pin are different. A pin’s coordinates are wherever you place it, are stored with the pin, and can be seen by anyone who can see that pin. A pin can reveal a sensitive place, such as your home, even when location permission is off. Do not pin someone else’s private location without their permission. You can change location access at any time in iOS Settings.

Who can see what

Pins content is available only inside the app to signed-in users; nothing is published as a public web page. “Public” means visible to other people using Pins, who can view it and copy it.

Profiles

New profiles start as public. A public profile shows your display name, username, bio, photo, and public map to other users. Follower and following lists can be seen by others when both accounts in a connection are public. You can make your profile private in Profile, Settings, Account Privacy. When it is private, people who search for you can still find your display name and username and send a follow request, but your bio and public map are hidden, and your photo is shown only to people connected to you through a follow, a pending follow request, or a shared Circle. The total number of stars you have received can be seen by other users either way.

Pins

Each pin has an audience: Only Me, selected Circles, all your Circles, or Public. New pins start as Public, shared with all your Circles, until you change the audience. Public pins appear on your public map only while your profile is public. Everyone who can see a pin can see its details, including its note, rating, status, and exact location.

Circles

Circle members can see the Circle’s name, its members, the pins shared with it, and its activity. An invitation is visible to the person invited and the person who sent it.

Saving other people’s pins

Saving someone’s public pin copies its title, place details, and location to your map, but not their note, rating, or status. The copy starts as Public on your map and records who created the original. If the creator later makes the original non-public, public copies change to Only Me. Copies stay on savers’ maps if the original is deleted.

Blocking and activity

Blocking someone hides your profile, pins, and photo from them, and theirs from you. If you are both in the same Circle, you may still appear in its member list. Some actions create in-app notifications that show your name to another person, for example when you follow them, accept their follow request, give them stars, save their public pin, or join or add a pin to their Circle.

Services we use

These services process information to provide their part of Pins:

• Supabase: sign-in, the Pins database, profile photo storage, and account deletion. Our Supabase project is hosted in the United States, so information is processed there wherever you use Pins.
• Apple: Sign in with Apple, Apple Maps (MapKit) map display and place search on iPhone, and TestFlight.
• Google: Sign in with Google, if you choose it.
• MapTiler: place search when Apple search is unavailable, and map display in some app versions.
• Vercel: hosting for this website.
• IONOS: the support@joinpins.app mailbox.

Each service receives standard technical details, such as your IP address, when your device connects to it. Apple and Google also handle their own accounts and apps under their own privacy policies. We may disclose information where applicable law requires it or where needed to protect someone’s safety.

Testing the beta through TestFlight

The Pins beta is distributed through Apple’s TestFlight, which Apple operates under its own terms and privacy policy. While you test Pins, Apple shares some information with us: the day you installed the beta, the latest version you installed, your number of sessions and crashes, and crash logs. If you joined through the public link, Apple does not show us your name or email address.

If you send feedback through TestFlight, we receive your comments and any screenshots you include, along with technical details such as the app version, device, and OS version. Your email address is included only if you choose to enter it. Apple permits developers to use TestFlight information only to improve their app and not to share it with third parties. Feedback you email to us directly is handled as described under This website.

Retention and deletion

We keep your account, profile, and pins while your account exists. You can edit or delete your pins at any time. When you replace your profile photo, the previous photo file is deleted.

Deleting your account

In the app, go to Profile, Settings, Delete Account and type DELETE to confirm. Pins then deletes your profile photo files, profile, pins, categories, Circles you own, your Circle memberships and invitations, follows, follow requests, blocks, stars, the notifications involving you, and finally your sign-in account. Uninstalling the app does not delete your account. If you cannot use the in-app option, see account deletion guidance or Data Requests.

What can remain

Copies other people saved from your public pins stay on their maps, no longer linked to you. Pins other people added to a Circle you owned stay on their own maps. Reports you submitted in the app are kept without your account attached, and emails you sent stay in the support mailbox until they are deleted.

Supabase keeps service logs, which can include IP addresses and request details, for a limited time under its own practices. We have also made occasional backup copies of the database before maintenance work, and information you delete can remain in such a copy until that copy is deleted. No fixed deletion period is promised for logs, backup copies, or support email. Apple keeps TestFlight information under its own practices.

Your choices and privacy requests

In the app you can make your profile private, choose the audience for each pin, edit or delete pins, block people, and delete your account. You can turn location and photo access on or off in iOS Settings.

Use Data Requests for account deletion, deletion of associated personal data, a copy of your information, correction, or another privacy question. There is no in-app data export, so copies are provided on request. A request is not an immediate deletion, and verification may be necessary before account information can be disclosed or changed.

Depending on where you live, applicable law may also give you rights to object to or restrict processing, receive a portable copy, withdraw consent where processing relies on it, or complain to a data-protection authority. Explain the right you want to exercise; the outcome depends on the request and applicable law.

Security

Pins uses encrypted connections and database access rules so that information is available only to the people your settings allow. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Keep your sign-in details private. If you suspect unauthorized access, use the support guidance.

Children and age information

Neither the app nor this website asks for a birth date or age, and Pins does not provide a parental-consent process. If you are concerned about a child’s information, see Data Requests.

This website

Browsing

joinpins.app is a public information and support website. It has no account-registration form, login form, payment form, uploads, or database for collecting requests. To deliver a page, the hosting infrastructure receives request information such as your IP address, requested URL, and browser headers, and may keep operational or security logs. This website does not add analytics, advertising pixels, session replay, or fingerprinting, and it does not request your device location. App screens shown here are static screenshots. Read Cookies for the website’s storage behavior.

Messages you choose to send

If you email Pins, your email service and the receiving mailbox process your email address, message, and any attachments. Messages are used to address the support, beta, or privacy question you send. Sending a support or privacy request is not a marketing signup, and there is no newsletter. Include only the information needed for your question. Do not send passwords, sign-in codes, identity documents, or unrelated private locations.

Email-confirmation links

The email-confirmation page reads the result information in its URL to show guidance. It does not verify your email, sign you in, exchange a token, or create a website session. Recognized credentials and raw error details are removed from the address bar after the page loads; they are not saved in browser storage or forwarded to an app. URL query parameters reach the hosting infrastructure before the page can clear them. Do not paste confirmation links or credentials into support messages.

Changes and contact

We will update this policy when Pins’ information practices change and show the revision date above.

support@joinpins.app