Privacy Policy
Overview
This policy explains how Cold Forge Works LLC handles information when you use BackDoor Map. You can use local saved places and the community map without an account. You may choose an email account for backup and recovery. Community contributions use a separate random, pseudonymous installation identifier so contributions from one installation can be recognized, limited, and moderated.
Information we collect
Installation identifier
The app creates a random identifier and stores it on your device. It is sent with contributions and may be associated with entrance pins, votes, corrections, correction votes, private reviewer notes, private reports, legal acceptances, contribution restrictions, and moderation records. It is not a user account, but it can distinguish one app installation from another and link its contributions. Signing into backup does not turn this identifier into a public profile or proof of a person's identity.
Crowdsourced map contributions
Depending on what you submit, we may store:
- building addresses and building coordinates;
- reported entrance coordinates and their status;
- confirm or reject votes on entrance pins;
- suggested correction coordinates and votes on those corrections;
- optional private reviewer notes submitted during entrance or correction workflows;
- private reports about active pins or pending corrections; and
- timestamps, app version information, and related workflow records.
Entrance and building coordinates that you deliberately submit are stored on our backend. Do not include door codes, alarm details, personal information, or private access instructions in reviewer notes.
Foreground current location
If you tap the location control and grant permission, BackDoor Map uses your foreground location to show where you are on the map. The app does not request background location. The current implementation does not send or store that live GPS location in the BackDoor Map backend. A coordinate you deliberately choose and submit as a building, entrance, or correction location is different and is stored as described above.
Address search
Address text you search for is sent to a Supabase Edge Function and then to LocationIQ to return address suggestions. Supabase may also receive the installation identifier for rate limiting; that identifier is not added to the LocationIQ autocomplete request. BackDoor Map does not intentionally save search text in its product database, although service providers may keep ordinary request logs under their own practices.
Saved places on your device
Favorites, Recents, saved names, addresses, coordinates, private notes, personal entrance pins and last saved community entrance information are stored on your device. Saved text and coordinates remain available offline; new searches and uncached map imagery need internet. Private notes are not community reviewer notes. A personal pin is not a public contribution unless you separately submit it through the community workflow.
Optional account backup
If you choose account backup, we collect your email address for one-time sign-in codes and maintain authenticated sessions. Signing in alone does not upload saved places. After you enable backup, the app uploads snapshots containing saved addresses, coordinates, names, notes, favorite/recent state, personal pins, saved community information and selection history, with an account-linked device-backup identifier, device label, revisions and timestamps. Check the successful backup time before relying on recovery; changes made offline or while the app is not running may not have reached the server.
Backups are private to your account, not public or shared with coworkers or employers through this feature. Restore is an explicit, previewed import rather than continuous cross-device synchronization. It adds missing places and preserves conflicting local entries. Older snapshots can retain places you later removed locally.
Legal, abuse-prevention, and moderation records
When legal acceptance is enabled, we may store the accepted Terms and Community Standards versions, time, app version, and installation identifier. We also maintain private content reports, installation denylist history, moderation actions, and fixed-window rate-limit counters. Device subjects used in rate counters are hashed; other contribution, acceptance, and moderation records may retain the installation identifier where needed to provide or protect the service.
To avoid repeating a contribution when a response is lost, we retain a hashed installation identifier, random request identifier, submitted-action fingerprint, saved response and timestamp. Saved responses can contain public addresses, coordinates, record identifiers and action outcomes. These retry records are pseudonymous, not anonymous, and do not include a separate copy of the raw request payload. Public contributions and moderation records have their own storage. Private saved-place notes are not uploaded through this contribution-retry process.
How we use information
- provide building search and reported entrance information;
- create, evaluate, correct, and display crowdsourced entrance pins;
- remember an installation's vote or contribution state;
- review private reports and enforce the Community Standards;
- limit spam, abuse, duplicate activity, and excessive requests;
- record acceptance of current legal documents;
- provide optional email sign-in, backup, recovery and account deletion; and
- diagnose reliability, security, and support issues.
Service providers and disclosure
Supabase hosts the app's database, authentication, sessions, cloud backups, RPCs and Edge Functions. Amazon Simple Email Service delivers requested account codes using your email address and email content. LocationIQ processes address-search queries. The map shown in the app uses the platform map provider: Apple Maps on iOS and Google Maps on Android. Those providers handle information under their own terms and privacy policies.
LocationIQ receives address-search queries through our server proxy. The proxy does not forward your account email, private notes, installation identifier or device IP address to LocationIQ. LocationIQ says normal service operation does not store API request content, but request data can remain in security access logs for up to 14 days. Customer-requested support tracing can retain request details until the ticket is resolved, up to 30 days; we have not enabled that tracing. Its processing includes operation, support, security, service improvement, misuse prevention and de-identified aggregate statistics.
We also store encrypted server recovery copies in protected local storage and private Google Drive. These copies can include account records and private cloud-backup data. They are separate from the snapshots you manage in Account backup, and access is restricted.
Our website host processes requests to these pages and the account-deletion form. The form sends your email address and fresh code to our server for ownership verification; the server calls the existing account-deletion service and does not return account session tokens to the browser. Providers may process ordinary request, delivery and security metadata. Support messages are processed separately when you contact us; do not include sign-in codes or private backup contents.
We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, investigate abuse, or support a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards. We do not sell personal data and do not use BackDoor Map data for behavioral advertising.
Analytics, advertising, and tracking
BackDoor Map does not add a dedicated analytics, crash-reporting or advertising package. The Google Maps component on Android has its own diagnostic and usage processing. Google's Maps SDK disclosure describes device and request metadata, crash information, IP addresses, a Maps-specific pseudonymous identifier and map interactions such as panning and zooming. Google uses this information to operate and improve its services under its own terms and privacy policy. This map-provider processing is separate from optional BackDoor Map account backup.
BackDoor Map does not use behavioral advertising. Optional backup accounts do not create public profiles. This website does not add analytics, tracking cookies, or advertising through these BackDoor Map pages.
Retention and deletion
Local saved places remain on the device until you remove them, clear them where the app offers that control, or remove the app, subject to device backup and platform behavior.
Pausing backup or signing out does not delete cloud backups or local places. Deleting a device backup removes its current and previous active snapshots. Deleting your backup account removes the account and its active cloud backups after fresh email confirmation. Use App information > Account backup > Delete backup account, or request account deletion on this website without reinstalling. Local places, exported files and separately submitted community contributions remain. Removing a place locally does not erase it from an older cloud snapshot.
We attempt server recovery backups daily and keep one verified copy for each of the latest seven days with a successful backup. After a new copy is verified, older local copies are removed and older Drive copies move to Trash. Under Google Drive's policy, copies normally remain in Trash for another 30 days. Failed or missed backups can extend retention. Deleting an account does not immediately erase it from these older encrypted copies. Recovery copies are restricted storage, not active accounts.
We keep a restricted account identifier and deletion-request time to prevent disaster recovery from restoring accounts that requested deletion. These records remain while recovery copies could still contain the account. They contain no email address, sign-in code, saved place or private note.
Provider disaster-recovery copies and required security or audit records can remain separately from active application records. Account deletion is not a promise of immediate removal from every recovery copy. A support request does not authorize us to disclose or delete another person's account.
Backend records are retained for as long as reasonably needed to operate and protect the service, preserve map history and vote integrity, respond to requests, comply with law, and maintain moderation auditability. The current system does not set one automatic deletion period for all contribution, legal, or moderation records. Rate counters use fixed time windows, but their final cleanup schedule is still an operational policy decision.
You may request access, correction, or deletion where applicable by following the Data Requests process. Backup-account ownership is verified separately from community contributions. We may need enough detail to locate a contribution associated with an installation. We cannot promise to identify or delete records that cannot be reliably linked to the information you provide. Some records may be retained for fraud prevention, legal compliance, security, moderation history, or as aggregate or anonymized information.
Security and children
The app encrypts saved places on the device with a key held in platform secure storage. Cloud backups use encrypted network transport and provider-managed storage protection and access controls. They are not end-to-end encrypted: authorized service operators can access server-held content. Someone with access to your email account may gain access to backup recovery. Do not store passwords, door codes, alarm details or highly sensitive personal or employer information in notes.
Manual encrypted exports use a separate recovery key. Keep the file and key safe and separate; we cannot reset a lost export key. The key is not included in the export file or account backup. Older plaintext exports remain plaintext. Encryption does not guarantee erasure of earlier storage, operating-system backups, screenshots or exported copies. No system is perfectly secure, and installation identifiers are not strong authentication.
BackDoor Map is a general utility and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly seek personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, contact us so we can review the situation.
Policy changes and contact
We may update this policy as the service changes. We will post the current version and effective date on this page. Material changes may also require renewed in-app acceptance when appropriate.
Questions and privacy requests: support@coldforgeworks.com .