Privacy Policy

Plushie Scout ("we," "our," or "the app") is operated by KLMN Studio LLC. This policy describes what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

What we collect

Plushie Scout collects the display name (a nickname — no real name needed) and avatar you choose during onboarding. To sign you in we use Clerk with either a one-time email code or Google/Apple sign-in, so we hold the email address tied to your account but never your password. We store the pins (store locations) you create, the photos and notes you add, and the names you give your plushies.

Location

Your device's location can be used to center the map and help you place a discovery. As you browse, the app sends the visible map area — and sometimes its center point — to our API so we can return nearby stores and rumors. If you use Find Me, those coordinates may be derived from your device location. We use them to answer the request and do not build a location history or access location in the background. Your live blue dot is rendered on your device. If you create a discovery, we store the chosen store coordinates with that pin.

Checking that a pin is a real store

When you create a pin, we send that pin's coordinates to Google Places to check whether a real shop exists there. This is a child-safety step — it is how we avoid publishing someone's home on a public map — which means the check necessarily runs before we know whether the location is residential. A pin we cannot confirm as a business stays private to its creator until we have reviewed it.

A pin is normally dropped where you are standing, so the coordinate sent to Google may be your location at that moment. It is a one-time location snapshot, not continuous or background location, and we send Google nothing that identifies you. Browsing may send a location-derived map area to our own API as described above; Google receives a coordinate only when you choose to create a pin.

What we don't collect

We do not collect your age, gender, phone number, or contacts. We use no advertising identifiers, run no ads, and never track you across other apps or websites. We never sell your data.

How we use your data

Guest discovery, map, and store responses include only vetted store summaries and general rumor summaries. They do not include or list photos, captions, plushie names, notes, your display name or avatar, account identifiers, or private collections. After a free sign-in, Plushie Scout users can see community details: photos and notes on store discoveries, plushie names attached to those photos, and the display name and avatar credited to a discovery. Your content is used only to operate that community map and for the safety checks described in this policy — verifying that a new pin is a real business and scanning uploaded photos for unsafe content, recognizable faces, and likely personal details. It is never used for advertising or profiling.

Photos

Photos you upload are stored on Cloudflare R2. Guest map and store responses do not list or show photos, and opening a stored photo requires a signed-in session. Published community photos are presented after sign-in; private collection photos are limited to their owner. Every photo is scanned automatically for unsafe content, recognizable faces, and likely personal details, and can be reported by other scouts. Flagged photos are hidden pending review. Keep recognizable faces, names, license plates, and other identifying details out of frame. Hands or arms holding a plushie are okay.

Diagnostics

We use Sentry to collect crash reports and basic performance data so we can fix bugs. Web addresses in those reports have their query strings stripped. This data is never used for advertising or tracking.

Third-party services

We use the following services to operate the app. Each has its own privacy policy, and we share only the minimum data each service needs to do its job:

• Clerk — sign-in and account management (email code, or Google/Apple sign-in)
• Cloudflare R2 — photo storage
• AWS Rekognition — automated photo moderation; every uploaded photo's image bytes are sent to Amazon Web Services to be scanned for unsafe content, recognizable faces, and likely personal details
• Sentry — crash reports and diagnostics
• Resend — transactional email (for example, moderation alerts)
• Mapbox — address search; when you search, Mapbox receives the search text and the current map center, which may be derived from your device location
• Google Places — verifying that a new pin is a real business. When a pin is created, that pin's latitude and longitude are sent to Google to check whether a shop exists there. This is a child-safety step: it is how we avoid publishing a home address on the public map, so the check necessarily runs before we know whether the location is residential. Google receives the submitted coordinate only when you create a pin, and receives nothing identifying you.
• Railway — API hosting and database

Purchases

If you buy a Scout Pass, the purchase is processed by Apple or Google — we never see your card details. We store a record of the purchase so we can unlock your account across your devices.

Children's privacy

Plushie Scout is a family app, not a service directed to children under 13, and we rely on Apple's and Google's age controls at sign-in. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided data, email privacy@plushiescout.app and we will delete it promptly.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account any time in Settings → Delete account (or email privacy@plushiescout.app). This deletes the photos you uploaded, your patches, and your personal data, and anonymizes your account. The pins you placed stay on the map — other scouts rely on them — credited to "A Wandering Scout" rather than to you. If a purchase of yours was refunded, we keep that purchase's store transaction identifier (a receipt number, not your identity) after deletion so a refunded purchase can't be reused.

Security

We use HTTPS for data in transit, short-lived signed URLs for photo access, rate limits on high-risk and public endpoints, and other security safeguards. However, no system is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify users in the app. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.