Privacy Policy
Last updated November 10, 2026
Locale is an app for sharing photos and tagging what's in them, so people can find and buy the things they see. This policy explains what we collect, why, who it goes to, and what you can do about it. We don't sell your information and we don't show ads.
What we collect
Your account
Your email address (we send sign-in codes to it; there's no password), your username, display name, bio and profile photo, the topics you pick, and your confirmation that you're 18 or older.
What you post and do
Photos and videos you post, captions, stories and highlights; the items you tag on them (names, brands, stores, links and prices); people you tag, mention or reply to; hashtags; comments, likes, saves, collections and your wishlist; answers you give or receive on "Where's this from?" posts; who you follow, block or report; and messages you send.
Activity used for stats
When most of a post is on your screen, we record that you viewed it. We also record when you open a tagged item or tap through to a store. Posters see these only as totals; they never see who viewed a post or tapped an item. Stories are the exception: the person who posted a story can see who viewed it.
Your device
If you turn on notifications, a push token that lets us send them to your phone. Our hosting provider also keeps standard technical logs, such as IP addresses and request times, to run and secure the service.
Photos, camera and contacts
Locale only receives the photos and videos you choose to post or check. Before a photo is published, we remove its hidden metadata, including the location where it was taken. If you choose Find friends from contacts, your phone turns your contacts' email addresses into one-way codes (SHA-256 hashes) and sends only those codes. We match them against existing accounts and don't store them. You can stop others finding you this way in Settings.
Location
Locale doesn't ask for your location and doesn't collect your precise location.
Earnings and payouts
When someone taps a store link on Locale, we record the tap with a click ID and the item it came from. If a purchase follows, the affiliate network reports the order value, commission and status for that click ID; it doesn't tell us who the buyer is. If you set up payouts, Stripe collects your identity, tax and bank details directly. We receive your Stripe account's status and the status of each payout, not your bank account number.
Instagram, if you connect it
Your Instagram user ID and username, and an access token that lets us read your posts. The token is kept on our servers and never sent to the app. We read your recent photos so you can choose which to import, and we copy only the posts you choose. We never post to Instagram.
When you contact us
Your email address and whatever you tell us.
How we use it
- To run Locale: sign you in, store and show your posts, deliver messages, and keep the app working.
- To choose what you see: the For you feed ranks posts in your topics and from people you follow above other recent posts. We don't build advertising profiles.
- To send notifications you've allowed, such as new messages, comments, sales and price drops. You can switch each kind off in Settings.
- To find items in photos, only when you ask: when you tap Find items automatically or Find similar online, the photo goes to an AI service that names the items in it (never people) and to a product search service that looks for matching products online.
- For price alerts: once a day we read the public product pages of items people have saved to check for price drops and restocks. No information about you is sent to the store.
- For creator stats and earnings: to show posters their totals, credit sales to the person who tagged the item, and pay out earnings.
- For safety: to review reports, hide content that breaks our rules, enforce daily limits that stop spam, and meet legal obligations, including reporting child sexual abuse material.
We don't use your posts or messages to train AI models.
What other people can see
- Your profile (name, username, bio, profile photo and posts) can be seen by anyone using Locale, and your profile photo can be opened by anyone who has its link.
- Posts, comments and item tags can be seen by people who can see the post. Like counts are shown; the people who liked a post are not listed.
- Stories are visible for 24 hours, unless you add them to a highlight on your profile.
- People you tag or mention are notified and can remove a tag of themselves.
- Messages can be seen only by the people in the conversation. Notifications say who messaged you, never what they wrote.
- Earnings are visible only to you.
Companies that help run Locale
We share information with these companies only so they can provide their part of the service for us:
| Supabase | Hosts our database, stored photos, sign-in and server code. |
|---|---|
| Expo, Apple and Google | Deliver push notifications to your phone. |
| Mux | Processes and streams videos. |
| Anthropic | Identifies items in a photo when you ask Locale to find them. |
| SerpApi | Runs the product search (Google Lens) for those items and for Find similar. |
| Affiliate networks | When you tap a store link, the network receives the link and a click ID (not your name or email) so a purchase can be credited. |
| Stripe | Verifies creators' identities and sends payouts. |
| Meta | Instagram sign-in and reading the posts you choose to import, only if you connect Instagram. |
| Email and website providers | Send sign-in codes, handle email to our addresses, and host this website (Cloudflare). |
When you follow a link to a store, you leave Locale, and the store's own privacy policy applies to what you do there.
When we disclose information
We may disclose information if the law requires it (for example, in response to a valid court order), to report child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as US law requires, or to protect people's safety or our rights. If Locale is sold or merged, your information would pass to the new owner under this policy.
How long we keep it
- Your account and posts: until you delete them or your account. A deleted post disappears from Locale at once.
- Expired stories stay in your account, visible only to you, until you delete them.
- View and item records for stats are deleted when the post, or the viewer's account, is deleted.
- Notifications are deleted 7 days after they're sent.
- Push tokens are removed when you sign out on that phone.
- Contact hashes aren't stored at all.
- Your Instagram token is deleted when you disconnect Instagram. Posts you imported stay until you delete them.
- Earnings, commission and payout records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires (usually seven years), even after you delete your account.
- Reports and moderation records are kept as long as needed to keep Locale safe and meet legal obligations.
Your choices and rights
- Edit your profile, and delete your posts, comments and stories, at any time.
- Turn each kind of notification on or off in Settings, or turn notifications off on your phone.
- Stop people finding you from their contacts in Settings, under Finding you.
- Block people, and disconnect Instagram, at any time.
- Delete your account. See how to delete your account.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what information we hold about you, get a copy of it, correct it, delete it, or object to how we use it. To ask, email privacy@shoplocale.app from the address on your account. We'll reply within 30 days (45 days where the law allows), and we won't treat you differently for asking.
California residents: we don't sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising.
If you're in the European Economic Area or the UK: we use your information to provide the service you signed up for (contract), to keep Locale safe and improve it (legitimate interests), to meet legal obligations, and, for push notifications and contact matching, with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Age limit
Locale is only for people 18 and older. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we delete it.
Security
Photos for posts are stored privately and reach the app through short-lived links. Photo metadata is removed before publishing. Instagram tokens and payment details never reach the app, and every change to your data goes through checks on our servers. No system is perfectly secure, so if you think your account has been misused, contact us right away.
Where data is processed
Locale is run from the United States, and our providers may process data in the United States and other countries. Where the law requires it, we rely on safeguards such as standard contractual clauses for these transfers.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.
Contact us
Email privacy@shoplocale.app with any privacy question or request.