Privacy Policy
Last updated 24 August 2026
LifeMap turns the location information already stored in your photos into a map of where you have been. That is unusually personal data, so this describes exactly what the app reads, what leaves your device, and what it never touches.
What LifeMap reads
With your permission, LifeMap scans your photo library for photographs that carry location metadata. From each one it reads only three things: the coordinates, the date and time, and an identifier that lets it recognise the same photo again.
LifeMap never reads, copies, uploads or transmits the photographs used to build your map. Those images stay in your library and are never sent anywhere. If you separately choose a profile picture, that selected image is uploaded as your public avatar.
What stays on your device
Scanning, trip detection, and travel-stat calculations happen on your device. Your map and detected trips are stored locally so they can appear immediately and continue to work without a connection. Signing out does not delete this device's local map; you can remove points or permanently delete your account and local LifeMap data from Profile.
What is sent, and when
When you sign in, LifeMap backs up the following data to our backend, hosted on Supabase:
- Location points — coordinates and timestamps derived from your photos
- Your account — an account identifier and the email address or private relay address provided by Sign in with Apple
- Your profile — a display name and profile picture, if you choose to set them
- Travel statistics — totals derived on your device for leaderboard scopes, such as distance and countries visited
- Trip preferences — changes you make to detected trips, such as edited titles and dismissed trips
- Safety actions — users you block and reports you submit, including an optional explanation
- Technical service data — ordinary network and security records, such as request time and network address, processed by our service providers to operate and protect the service
The backup supports account features, public maps, leaderboard participation, and reconciling your map after a rescan. LifeMap currently rebuilds your own map from the photo library on the device rather than downloading it as a replacement for that library.
What other people can see
Your profile and leaderboard totals may be visible to other LifeMap users. If you make your map public, other users may also open the backed-up location points that draw it. You can change public-map access from Profile. Your photographs are never shown through LifeMap.
Sign in with Apple
Sign in with Apple is the only way to create an account. Apple lets you hide your real email address, and LifeMap works exactly the same if you do.
Purchases
Purchases and subscriptions are handled by Apple. LifeMap never receives your payment details. The app reads the entitlement information Apple provides so it can unlock Pro features. If you redeem a LifeMap promotional code, its grant and expiry may be stored with your LifeMap account.
Maps
Maps are rendered using Mapbox. Displaying and interacting with a map requires requesting map data for the area being viewed. The Mapbox SDK also describes its collection of de-identified location, map interaction, usage, performance and diagnostic data for map functionality and analytics. Mapbox does not identify this data as tracking. You can use the telemetry choice provided through the Mapbox attribution control on the map. This processing is subject to Mapbox's privacy policy.
Analytics and advertising
LifeMap does not add an analytics or advertising service of its own and contains no tracking SDK. Mapbox's de-identified map telemetry is the limited third-party analytics described above. Your data is never sold, rented or shared with data brokers.
Support
If you contact us for support, we receive the contact details and message you choose to send and use them only to respond to and resolve your request.
Deleting your data
You can permanently delete your account from Profile inside the app. This removes your LifeMap account, backed-up location points, profile and avatar, leaderboard data, trip preferences, promotional grants, blocks, reports, and LifeMap's local data on that device. It does not delete or change anything in your Photos library, and it does not cancel a subscription managed by Apple.
Children
LifeMap is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If this policy changes materially, the date at the top will change and the app will say so.