Who we are
PlotStake is an app for recording the boundary of a piece of land or property and finding it again. In this policy, “PlotStake”, “we” and “us” meanthe publisher named on PlotStake's App Store page, which is responsible for your personal data (the “controller”).
This policy covers the PlotStake app and this website, plotstake.app.
What we collect and why
| What | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address, and your Apple or Google sign-in if you use one | To create your account and sign you in | Providing the service you asked for |
| The corners of each boundary you record, with time and GPS accuracy | That is the record: its shape, area and location | Providing the service |
| What you add to a record: name, notes, seller, purchase date and price | To keep it with the record | Providing the service |
| Photos you attach | To keep them with the record | Providing the service |
| Your display name, when you invite someone to walk a plot or walk one for someone | So each of you can see who the other is | Providing the service |
| Your email, if you join the waitlist on this website | To tell you when PlotStake launches | Your consent |
Your records are saved on your phone first, so they work with no signal, and backed up to our database when you're online, so they survive a lost or replaced phone. Each record shows whether it's backed up yet.
Your location
PlotStake asks for permission to use your precise location. It uses it only while one of these screens is open:
- Recording a boundary: to save each corner when you tap “Add corner”. Only the corners are saved, not the path you walked between them.
- Finding a plot: to point you to it and tell you how far away it is. This is worked out on your phone and isn't sent anywhere.
- Opening the map to draw a plot: to start the map near you, using a location your phone already has. It doesn't ask for permission for this.
PlotStake never uses your location in the background and doesn't keep a history of where you've been. You can turn location off in your phone's settings at any time; everything except recording and finding keeps working.
Photos
When you attach a photo, PlotStake makes a smaller copy and removes its metadata, including any GPS position your camera stored, before saving it. The original in your photo library isn't touched or uploaded. Photos are stored in a private space only your account can read.
When someone walks a plot for you
If you invite someone to walk a boundary for you, they join with a one-time code. While the walk is open, you see the plot's name, their display name and each corner they set. You never see where they are between corners. They see the plot's name and your display name, and nothing else of yours. When they finish, the record is created in your account; they keep no copy. Either of you can stop the walk at any time, and an unused invite stops working after 48 hours.
Crash reports
When the app crashes or hits an error it can't recover from, it sends a short report so we can fix it: what went wrong and where in the code, the app version, and your phone's model, system version and language. Before a report leaves your phone, PlotStake removes anything that could say where your land is or who you are: coordinates, Plus Codes, map addresses, email addresses and phone numbers. Reports carry no screenshots, no account ID and no IP address, so they aren't linked to you, and they are deleted after 90 days.
This website and the waitlist
This website doesn't use cookies, analytics or tracking scripts, and it loads its fonts from its own server rather than a third party.
If you join the waitlist, we keep your email address, the date you agreed and which page you signed up on. We use it only to email you when PlotStake launches and about major news. Every email has a link to stop them. To be removed now, email [email protected].
Who handles your data for us
These companies run parts of PlotStake for us. They may only use your data to provide their service to us, under contract.
| Company | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and file storage for your records and photos | European Union (Frankfurt, Germany) |
| Clerk | Sign-in (your email address, and your Apple or Google sign-in) | United States |
| Mapbox | Satellite maps and place search. It receives the map area you view and the text you search, not your account | United States |
| Sentry | Crash reports from the app, with location and contact details removed first | European Union (Frankfurt, Germany) |
| Apple | App distribution, Sign in with Apple, and (when offered) subscription payments | United States |
| Railway | Hosting for this website | European Union (Amsterdam, Netherlands) |
If you share a snapshot or export a file, it goes wherever you send it, such as WhatsApp or email, under that service's own policy.
What we don't do
- We don't show ads.
- We don't track you across other apps or websites, and don't share your data with data brokers.
- We don't sell your personal data.
- We don't look at your records, except when you ask us for help with one, or where the law requires it.
Keeping and deleting your data
We keep your records for as long as you have an account. Deleting a record removes it from your list; deleting your account removes everything.
To delete your account, open PlotStake and go toYou → Delete account. This permanently deletes, from our servers and from that phone: your records, their photos, saved offline maps and your sign-in account. Records you walked for someone else stay with them, since they're theirs. If you can't open the app any more, see Delete your account.
Backups held by our database provider roll over and are gone within their normal backup cycle. Waitlist emails are deleted when you unsubscribe or ask us to.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the EU and UK GDPR, or California's CCPA), you have the right to see the personal data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, take a copy of it, and object to or restrict how we use it. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
Much of this you can do yourself in the app: edit or delete records, export any record as a file, and delete your account. For anything else, email [email protected]. We'll answer within one month. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Where your data is stored
Your records and photos are stored in the European Union (Frankfurt, Germany). Sign-in, maps and app distribution are provided by companies in the United States, so some data is processed there. Where data leaves the EU or UK, we rely on the legal safeguards those providers offer, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
Children
PlotStake isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we'll delete it.
Security
Data travels encrypted between the app and our servers. Every record and photo is locked to the account that owns it at the database level, so one account can't read another's. No system is perfectly secure, but we design PlotStake to keep what it holds to what it needs.
Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect or how we use it, we'll update this page and its date first, and tell you in the app before a significant change affects you.
Contact
Questions about privacy: [email protected]. For help with the app, see Help.