Privacy

Noa is for keeping the places you love and sharing them with people you choose. This page explains what Noa collects when you use the iPhone app or noa.place, why, who can see it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. If anything here is unclear, email privacy@noa.place.

What we collect

• Your account. Your name, username, email address and profile photo. You sign in with Apple, Google or an email and password; from Apple or Google we receive only the name and email address they share with us, never your password.
• What you add. The places you save and the lists you put them in, your notes, photos and videos, comments, likes, replies, the places you mark as visited, the places you suggest to other people’s lists, who you follow, and your privacy settings.
• Your location, while you use Noa. When you add a place, Noa uses your phone’s or browser’s precise location to suggest the places around you, and your location to put nearby places first when you search. When you mark a place as visited, Noa checks your precise location against the place (on iPhone, a photo you took there can count instead) to tell whoever saved it whether you were there; we keep only that answer, not where you were. Noa never tracks your location in the background.
• Where you save places from. When you save a place, we keep a record of where you were, how accurate that position was, the time on your clock, and which place you chose. See “Improving place suggestions” below.
• Your photos, only the ones you choose. If you let Noa use your photo library, it looks through it on your phone to suggest photos you took at a place you are saving, and reads the location and time a photo was taken to suggest where it was. It can also recognise what a photo shows and any text on it, such as a restaurant’s name on a menu. All of that happens on your phone and none of it is sent to us. Only the photos and videos you choose to add are uploaded.
• What you search for. Place names you type into search are sent to Google’s place search to find matches. We don’t keep your searches.
• Diagnostics. Which version of the app you are using, and a record of what the app did and anything that went wrong (for example, a save that failed), linked to your account so we can fix problems you run into. We also receive crash reports. They are designed to leave out what you write and what your photos show.
• Security checks. To make sure requests come from the real app and not from someone impersonating it, Noa uses Firebase App Check, which relies on Apple’s App Attest on iPhone and Google reCAPTCHA on the web.
• On the web, a cookie that keeps you signed in. Noa uses no advertising or analytics cookies.

How we use it

• To run Noa: to save your places, show them to you and to the people you share them with, and to tell you when someone follows you, likes or replies to something, or suggests a place.
• To find places, and to get better at suggesting the right one.
• To keep Noa secure and working, and to fix what breaks.

We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t use it for advertising.

Who can see what

• Other Noa users can see your name, username and profile photo, how many people you follow and how many follow you, and everything you add to public lists. What you add to a private list is visible only to you and the people you give access to. A place you mark as visited is visible only to you and the person who saved that place, unless you choose to show it on the place: then anyone who can see the place can see that you went, along with any message or photo you sent with it.
• Anyone with a link can view a public list or place on noa.place without signing in.
• Our service providers process data for us, and only to run Noa: Google (Firebase, for sign-in, the database, file storage, server code, crash reports and App Check; Google Cloud, for diagnostic logs; and Google Maps Platform, for maps and place search), Apple (Sign in with Apple and App Attest), and Vercel (which hosts noa.place).
• We may also disclose information where the law requires it.

Improving place suggestions

When you save a place, Noa keeps a record of where you were, how accurate that position was, the time on your clock, which place you chose, and where it sat in the list we suggested. We use these records, together with other people’s, to learn where people actually are when they save a place, so that Noa can suggest the right one more often and rely less on outside services. Only Noa’s own systems can read these records; other users can’t. Each one is deleted automatically two years after it was made.

Where your information is stored

Noa’s data is stored with Google in data centres in the United States, and noa.place is served by Vercel, which may process requests in other countries. Your information is therefore sent to and held outside Australia, mainly in the United States.

How long we keep it

• Your account and what you add: until you delete it, or ask us to delete your account.
• Diagnostic logs: 30 days.
• Crash reports: up to 90 days.
• Place-suggestion records: two years.

Your choices

• You can turn off Noa’s access to your location or photos at any time in your iPhone’s Settings or your browser. Noa still works; it just can’t suggest places around you or photos you took.
• You can make any list private, and delete any place, note, photo, comment or reply you added.
• You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and everything in it, by emailing privacy@noa.place. We’ll respond within 30 days.
• If you have a complaint about how we handle your information, email us first. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

Google Maps

Noa includes Google Maps features and content. Your use of them is subject to the then-current Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.

Changes

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we’ll update this page and the date at the top, and tell you in the app before a change that matters takes effect.