What we keep about you,
and how to make us forget it.

Who is responsible

The data controller is ArtDots, an independent project. For anything about your data, write to hello@artdots.org.

What we collect

Reading the public pages (the welcome page, the artist, collection and gallery pages, and the list of galleries) needs no account and collects nothing about you beyond the anonymous visit statistics described at the end of this list. The map and the photos are for members only. Creating an account and logging finds involves the following.

Your account

• E-mail address, received from the sign-in method you choose.
• Sign-in provider id: an identifier from Apple, Google or our e-mail code login, so we can recognise you next time. We never see or store a password.
• Nickname, which is public, and an optional name and avatar.
• Where you live, as a city or region, or "visiting". Used to understand which cities have finders, not to locate you.
• How you heard about the project, language and your hunt preference (hunt mode or explore mode).
• The date you accepted the terms and confirmed you are 18 or older.

What you contribute

• Photos you upload. Location metadata inside the photo is read to place the find and is not kept in the stored file beyond what the browser leaves in it.
• The camera: a photo comes from your device's camera or photo library, through the system's own prompt, only when you choose to add one (to log a find, or for your avatar). Nothing is read from the camera or the library outside that moment.
• The location of each find (coordinates and the address we derive from them).
• Comments, artist suggestions and claims you make.
• Reports you file about other content, including the reason.
• Connections: requests you send and accept, and members you block. Connected members see your recent finds with photos and the connections you have in common; other members see only your nickname, avatar, city, member since, counts and the pieces you discovered. Using someone's invite link connects you to them. A setting in your profile controls whether you appear in search and suggestions.

Push notifications

Only in the iPhone and Android app, and only if you turn them on in Settings. We then keep your device's push identifier (a token), the platform (iOS or Android) and when the device was last seen. Each notice is delivered by Apple's service (APNs) or Google's (Firebase Cloud Messaging, FCM), which receive the token, the short text of the notice (for example "AnaK commented on your find #031") and a link to open it in the app; never a photo or the text of a comment. Turning the switch off deletes the token, and so do signing out and deleting your account.

Invite requests

If you ask for an invite, we keep the e-mail address, the name you give, your city, the reason you wrote, the link if you add one and the language of the page. Only the operator of ArtDots sees it, only to decide on your invite and to send it by e-mail (through Resend). The address, name, reason and link are erased 90 days after we decide, or after 180 days if the request is still open; what stays is a scrambled fingerprint of the e-mail, the city and the dates. To have it erased sooner, write to hello@artdots.org.

Visit statistics

Every page records a visit: the page, the channel you came from (for example a link shared on WhatsApp) and a random visitor id that lives in your browser's local storage. The id is not linked to your account, contains nothing about you and can be cleared by clearing site data. No IP addresses are stored by us and nothing is sent to an analytics company.

Why, and on what basis

• To run the service you asked for (performance of a contract): your account, your finds, the map, the leaderboard, share cards, e-mails with your login code.
• To keep it safe (legitimate interest): the text filter, reports, the review queue, rate limits, blocking abusive accounts and understanding which pages and channels bring people in.
• Legal duties: answering a lawful request from an authority, or keeping a record of a takedown.
• Consent: access to your device's location, which the browser asks you for and which you can refuse or revoke at any time. We only use it to place a find; we never store your live position.

We do not profile you, we do not make automated decisions about you, and we do not sell or share your data for advertising.

Where it is stored, and who helps us

We use a small number of providers to run ArtDots. Each one only receives what it needs for its job.

• Supabase: the database and the photo storage. This is where your account, finds and photos live.
• Netlify: serves the website itself.
• Apple: Sign in with Apple and the iPhone push service (APNs). When you sign in with Apple, Apple sends us the e-mail address you choose to share (it can be a private relay address), an identifier and, if you choose to share it, your name; for push, Apple receives the device token and the text of each notice.
• Google: Google sign-in and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), the Android push service. When you sign in with Google, Google sends us your e-mail address, an identifier and the name and picture of your Google account, of which we only use the name, to suggest a nickname; for push, Google receives the device token and the text of each notice.
• Resend: sends transactional e-mails, such as your login code. They receive your e-mail address for that purpose only.
• CARTO: provides the map tiles, drawn from OpenStreetMap data. Your browser requests them directly, as it would any image, so CARTO sees your IP address and the area you are looking at, as with any map. Nothing else about you is sent.
• OpenStreetMap: the map data comes from the OpenStreetMap contributors, credited on every map. Its geocoder, Nominatim, is below.
• Nominatim (OpenStreetMap's geocoder): when you log a find, its coordinates are sent to Nominatim to turn them into an address. Only the coordinates of the find are sent, never your own position or identity.

These providers may process data outside the United Kingdom, the European Union or Brazil, in particular in the United States. Where that happens, the transfer relies on standard safeguards recognised by the GDPR and the LGPD, such as standard contractual clauses in the provider's data processing terms.

How long we keep it

• Your data is kept while your account exists.
• When you delete your account, your profile, finds, photos, suggestions and reports are deleted. If you were the first to find a piece, the discovery passes to the next person who found it, so the piece stays on the map with no trace of you. What else is deleted, and when, is in Deleting your account.
• When a piece is removed (by its author or after review), its photos are purged from storage after 30 days.
• Login codes expire in minutes and are not kept.
• Visit statistics are anonymous from the start and are kept as aggregate numbers.
• Connections and blocks are deleted when either of the two accounts is deleted.
• When sending a find fails, the app records a short technical note linked to your account: which step failed, the error code and how many tries. Never the photo, the place or what you wrote. It helps us fix the problem and is deleted after 180 days.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, at any time, in the app or on the website.

1. Open Profile and tap Settings (the gear at the top).
2. At the bottom, tap "Delete my account".
3. Confirm twice. The account is deleted at once; no e-mail is needed.

You do not need the app: the same steps work in any web browser at artdots.org, after signing in the way you usually do.

What is deleted at once

Your account and sign-in, your profile (nickname, name, avatar, city and preferences), your finds and their photos, your comments together with the replies to them and the comments on your finds, your reactions, reports, support for artist suggestions and name suggestions, achievements, connections, blocks, follows, notifications, push devices, the invites you created and your invite requests.

What takes longer

• Photo files. The app removes them from storage in the same step. Any file left behind (for example after a dropped connection) is no longer shown anywhere and is removed by a weekly clean-up, normally within 8 days.
• Activity log. Our technical log records actions by an internal account code, not by your nickname or e-mail address. After the deletion that code points to no one. Its lines are deleted after 180 days, except the few records we keep for moderation, consent and the invite chain (for example that an account was deleted, that a report was filed or that notifications were turned off).

What stays, without you

• Pieces that other people also found stay on the map with their finds; if you discovered one, the discovery passes to the next person who found it. A piece you added that nobody else found is deleted with your find.
• An artist page or a gallery you managed stays on ArtDots, unclaimed and without your name. An artist you suggested for a piece can stay on that piece as a suggestion, and events you announced for a gallery stay on its What's on.
• People who joined with your invite keep their accounts.
• If the account had been blocked for breaking the Terms of Use, a scrambled fingerprint of its e-mail address is kept, so the same address cannot join again.

If you cannot sign in

Write to hello@artdots.org from the e-mail address of your account and ask us to delete it. Once we have confirmed that the address is the account's, we delete it within 30 days.

Your rights

Under the GDPR and the LGPD you can:

• Access the data we hold about you and receive a copy.
• Correct it. Nickname, name, avatar and preferences can be edited in your profile.
• Delete it. Use "Delete my account" in your profile; it works immediately and needs no e-mail. You can also delete individual finds. The steps, and what is kept, are in Deleting your account.
• Take it with you (portability): ask us and we will send your finds and profile in a machine-readable format.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest, and withdraw consent for location access at any time in your device settings.
• Disconnect or block anyone at any time, from their profile or from Profile > Connections.

To exercise any of these, write to hello@artdots.org. We will answer within one month. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom or to the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD) in Brazil, or to the authority of the country where you live.

Children

ArtDots is not directed at people under 18 and we do not knowingly collect data from them. We do not collect dates of birth. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that a minor has created an account without your consent, write to us and we will delete it.

Cookies and local storage

ArtDots does not set advertising or tracking cookies. Your browser's local storage holds your session (so you stay logged in), your preferences (hunt or explore mode, language) and the random visitor id described above. Until a find is sent, its photo and details wait in your browser's storage on this phone and nowhere else. All of it is strictly necessary to run the service or is anonymous, which is why you do not see a cookie banner. Clearing site data in your browser removes it all.

Changes to this policy

If we add a provider, collect something new or change how long we keep data, we will update this page and the date at the top, and we will show a notice in the app for anything that matters. Old versions are available on request.

Contact

Anything about your data: hello@artdots.org. For the rules of the game, read the Terms of Use.