Privacy Policy

SocialMap is a mobile app that shows real-world activities happening near you. You can create an activity on a map, ask to join someone else's, and — once the host approves you — coordinate in a group chat. This policy covers the SocialMap mobile app and this website.

Two design decisions shape everything below. Nobody joins your activity without your approval, and chat only opens after approval. That means less of your data is exposed to strangers than in a typical social app, and it means approval is the moment where more of your profile becomes visible to one specific person.

If anything here is unclear, email us at support@socialmaphq.com and we will answer.

Phone number. You sign in with your phone number. We send a one-time passcode (OTP) by SMS and store your number to identify your account and to stop one person creating many accounts. We never post from it, and we do not use it for marketing.

Profile. Your first name, last name, date of birth (from which we derive your age), gender, a short bio, your interests, and your profile photos. Photos and a real age help other people decide whether to meet you — that is their whole purpose.

Location. With your permission, the app uses your device location to centre the map on you and to show activities sorted by distance. If you decline the permission you can still browse by moving the map manually, but distance-sorted discovery will not work.

Activities. Activities you create (category, description, meeting point, time, participant limit, any age range you set), activities you ask to join, the join requests you send, and the approve/decline decisions you make as a host.

Chat. Messages, reactions, read receipts and any images you send in an activity's group chat.

Push notification tokens. A device token so we can tell you that someone asked to join, that a host approved you, or that a message arrived.

Blocks and reports. Who you blocked, who you reported, what you told us, and what our moderators decided. We keep these to protect other people — see Data retention.

Technical data. Device model, operating system version, app version, coarse IP-derived region, crash traces and error logs. We use this to keep the app working and to investigate abuse.

• Run the service — show nearby activities, deliver join requests, open group chats after approval, send push notifications you asked for.
• Verify it is you — send the SMS one-time passcode and keep you signed in.
• Keep people safe — act on blocks and reports, review content, and restrict or remove accounts that break the Terms of Service.
• Fix and improve the app — diagnose crashes and errors from technical logs.
• Meet legal obligations — respond to lawful requests and keep records where the law requires it.

This is the part most people actually want to know, so it gets its own section.

Your device location is never shown to another user. An activity has a meeting point that you place on the map — that location is public to anyone who can see the activity, so place it somewhere you are comfortable being seen.

There are no private one-to-one messages in SocialMap. Chat exists only inside an activity, and only for participants the host approved.

We do not sell your data. We share it with the service providers below, only to the extent each one needs in order to do its job.

We may also disclose data when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with the law, to enforce the Terms of Service, or to protect someone from imminent harm.

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest. Access to production systems is restricted to the people who need it. Private media, such as your photos, is served through signed, expiring URLs rather than public links.

No system is perfectly secure, and we will not pretend otherwise. If we ever discover a breach affecting your data, we will notify you and the relevant authority as required by law.

We keep your personal data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, the data that identifies you is erased and a limited set of safety records is kept in anonymized form — see Delete your account for the full breakdown, category by category.

Those safety and abuse records — blocks, reports, and moderation decisions — are retained after deletion in a form that is no longer linked to your identity. We do this so that a person who has been reported for harming someone cannot erase that record simply by deleting and recreating their account. This is a deliberate trade-off in favour of the people who were harmed.

You can delete your SocialMap account from inside the app at any time, without asking us. Go to Profile → Settings → Delete Account.

Full instructions, and exactly what is deleted, anonymized or retained, are on the Delete your account page. If you cannot open the app, email support@socialmaphq.com from the phone number on the account.

Depending on where you live — including under Israel's Protection of Privacy Law and the EU GDPR — you may have the right to access a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, and receive it in a portable format.

You can exercise most of these directly in the app: edit your profile to correct it, and use Delete Account to erase it. For anything else, email us at support@socialmaphq.com and we will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

SocialMap is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18, and if we learn that we have, we delete the account. If you believe a minor is using SocialMap, tell us at support@socialmaphq.com.

SocialMap's servers and databases are hosted in the European Union (AWS, Frankfurt). Some of the providers listed above process data in other countries, including the United States. When data leaves the EU we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.

If we change this policy in a way that materially affects you, we will tell you in the app before the change takes effect. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.

Questions, corrections, or a data request — write to support@socialmaphq.com. A real person reads it.