LostSpot privacy policy
Last changed: · Version 1
LostSpot is an app that helps people who have lost something find someone who has found it. This policy explains what information the app collects, what we use it for, who receives it, how long we keep it, and what rights you have.
In short
- You can use the app and write a report without an account. You sign in with your email address only when you publish a report.
- We never ask for your name, phone number or address.
- Your reports are not public. The other person in a possible match sees only some of the details.
- Hidden details, the exact location and your email address are never shown to anyone else.
- Photos are shared only in a private chat after a possible match, and the place a photo was taken is removed before it is sent.
- If you agree, an AI service from an outside provider helps compare reports. It never receives your name, your email address, places or dates.
- There are no ads, we sell no information, and the app uses no tracking or analytics tools.
- You can delete your reports and your whole account yourself in the app.
- A person reviews every report about a user. We can remove content and close accounts that break the terms.
Who is responsible
Adcomer AS (organisation number 829 872 382), Messeveien 208, 2004 Lillestrøm, Norway, is the data controller for the information in LostSpot. Send questions about privacy to support@lostspot.no.
What we collect, and why
When you use the app without an account
A draft report is stored only on your phone, with its hidden details and exact location encrypted. It is not sent to us until you publish. The language you choose is also stored only on your phone.
Your account
- Your email address, to send you a sign-in code and link your reports to you.
- When your account was created. The other person in a chat sees the month and year ("Member since").
- Your language (Norwegian or English), so that emails and notifications are in the right language.
- Your sign-in, so you stay signed in until you sign out.
- Your answer on whether the AI service may review your reports, and when you gave it.
Before we send a sign-in code, a human check makes sure a person is signing in. It processes, among other things, your phone's IP address and technical information about the phone.
Your reports
When you publish a report, we store:
- whether you lost or found something, and its category and subcategory;
- the title and description;
- hidden details, which only you can see;
- colours and brand or model, if you gave them;
- the place you chose (address or place name, postal code, town and municipality) and its coordinates, or two places if you lost something between two places;
- the date (or a range of days) and the time of day;
- the status (active, returned or closed) and when the report was created and last edited.
We also record when you publish and edit reports, to prevent misuse.
Possible matches
Our server compares your reports automatically with other people's reports (see "Possible matches and AI"). A possible match is stored only on the server, together with the assessment behind it.
Chats and photos
When there is a possible match, you get a private chat. We store the messages and photos you send, when they were sent, which message each of you has read up to (for "Seen" and the unread count), and warnings the app shows the recipient, for example when a message mentions payment.
Photos are made smaller on your phone, and the place a photo was taken and other hidden information in the file are removed before it is sent. The server checks the file before the other person can see it. The original is never uploaded.
The typing indicator goes directly between the two phones and is not stored.
Blocking and reporting
If you block someone, we store who blocked whom. If you report someone, we store the reason, your comment, the message you pointed to if any, and a copy of the latest messages and photos in the chat as evidence. We also record when you report someone, to limit how many reports an account can send.
Moderation
A person at LostSpot reviews every report about a user. No decision is made automatically. If content or an account breaks the terms, we can remove messages and photos, hide reports and close accounts (see the terms). We store what we did, when, and which report, chat, message or account it concerned, but never the messages, reports, photos or email address themselves. We also record when someone at LostSpot reads the evidence in a report.
If we close an account, we store a fingerprint of its email address, made with a secret key, for as long as the closure stands. It is not the address itself, and without the key nobody can tell which address it is. We use it only to stop the same email address from creating a new account. A closed account is deleted 90 days after it was closed. If you want to know why your account was closed, you can ask us at support@lostspot.no.
Notifications
If you turn on notifications, we store your phone's push token and whether it is an iPhone or an Android phone, linked to your account and your sign-in. We also store when we sent you a notification, to limit how many you get. The text of a notification is not stored.
Technical logs
The servers log requests for operation and security, including the time and the IP address. The logs contain no text from reports or messages.
Why we are allowed to do this
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Your account, reports, possible matches (including the AI review), chats, photos, notifications and language | Our agreement with you to use LostSpot (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)) |
| The human check, limits against misuse, warnings, blocking, reports and evidence, reviewing reports and acting on them (including closed accounts and the fingerprints of their email addresses), and technical logs | Our legitimate interest in keeping LostSpot safe and preventing fraud and misuse (Article 6(1)(f)) |
| Letting the other person read a chat for 30 days after you delete a report or your account | The other person's legitimate interest in keeping what you wrote to each other for a while, for example to report it (Article 6(1)(f)) |
| Giving information to the police or other authorities when the law requires it | Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) |
The AI review, notifications, location and the camera also need your permission in the app or on the phone.
What the other person sees
Nobody can search for reports or people in LostSpot. The other person in a possible match sees only this:
- If you lost something, the person who found something sees: the title, description, subcategory, colours, brand or model, the area (town or municipality), the date or range of days, and the time of day.
- If you found something, the person who lost something sees: the category and subcategory, the area, the day and the time of day.
- In the chat, the other person sees what you write and send, and the month and year your account was created.
The other person never sees your email address, your hidden details, the exact location, the street address or the postal code.
Possible matches and AI
When you publish or edit a report, our server compares it automatically with other active reports. A possible match is only a suggestion. It never proves that an item is yours or that the other person is the right one, and it has no other effect on you than giving you a chat.
If you agree, we also ask an AI service from an outside provider whether two reports describe the same item. It receives the texts of the reports, including the hidden details, and some information our server works out about the pair. It never receives names, email addresses, addresses, places, coordinates or dates. If you type a name or a phone number into the text yourself, it is sent too, so please don't.
The app asks you before a report of yours is reviewed by AI for the first time. If you say no, we compare your reports without AI, and you may get fewer possible matches. You can change your mind in Profile.
The AI never decides on its own, and its answers are never shown to anyone. They are stored only on the server and are deleted with the report.
Who we share information with
We never sell information and never share it for advertising. These providers process information for us, under data processing agreements that let them use it only to provide their service to us and require them to protect it at least as well as we do:
| Provider | What they do | What they receive | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud service | Database, sign-in, photo storage and server functions | What is stored in LostSpot | In the EU. Support and some sub-processors are outside the EU/EEA |
| Email service | Sends the email with your sign-in code | Your email address and the email with the code | USA |
| Human check | Makes sure a person is signing in | IP address and technical information about the phone | USA and other countries |
| AI service | Reviews possible matches, if you agreed | The texts of two reports and some information about the pair, as described above | USA and other countries |
| Notification service | Passes notifications on to Apple and Google | The push token, a fixed notification text in your language, and an internal ID | USA |
You can ask us for the names of the providers.
These also receive information, but process it under their own terms:
- Apple and Google deliver notifications to your phone. A notification has a fixed text, for example "New message", never the content of a report or a message.
- A public Norwegian map service suggests addresses and places. Your phone sends the text you type in a place field, and your position when you tap "Use my location". Nothing else about you or the report is sent.
- Your phone's own map service (Apple on iPhone, usually Google on Android) receives your position, or the address you type, when the public map service does not answer.
- The provider of the human check also uses the information to improve its bot detection, and is then a data controller itself.
- The police and other authorities may receive information when the law requires it.
- A company that takes over LostSpot, for example after a reorganisation, receives the information needed to continue the service, under this policy.
Transfers outside the EU/EEA
Some providers are in the USA or use sub-processors outside the EU/EEA. When information is transferred there, it is based on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses in our agreements with them, or on the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework for companies certified under it. You can ask us for a copy of the clauses.
How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account (email, language, sign-in, your answer about AI) | Until you delete your account |
| A report, with its hidden details and AI reviews | Until you delete the report or your account |
| Chats and photos | As long as both reports exist. When a report is deleted, or someone tapped "Not my item", the other person can read the chat for 30 more days. Then it is deleted for good |
| Reports about people, and their evidence, that we have not reviewed yet | Until we have reviewed them |
| Reports about people, and their evidence, where we took no action | 90 days after the last report or the decision, whichever is later, even when the report, chat or account is deleted |
| Reports about people, and their evidence, where we took action | 1 year after the decision. Longer only if the police or other authorities ask us to keep them |
| When you sent a report about someone (for the limit on reports) | 25 hours |
| The log of what we did in moderation (without content) | 3 years |
| The fingerprint of a closed account's email address | As long as the closure stands |
| A closed account | 90 days after it was closed. Then it is deleted in the same way as when you delete your account yourself |
| Blocks | Until one of the two accounts is deleted |
| When you published and edited reports | 90 days |
| Your push token | Until you sign out, turn off notifications or delete your account, or after 90 days without the app being opened |
| When we sent you a notification | 7 days |
| Technical logs | Up to 7 days |
| Two reports where someone tapped "Not my item" | Only the reports' IDs, so the two reports are never suggested again. They say nothing about you once the reports are deleted |
| Email at the email service | Up to 30 days |
| Texts at the AI service | Deleted within 30 days and not used to train AI models. The provider may keep content longer if it breaks the provider's usage policy or the law requires it |
| Notifications at the notification service | The notification text is not stored. The receipt is deleted after 24 hours |
When you delete a report or your account
You can delete a report in "My cases". The report, its hidden details and its AI reviews are deleted at once. A chat without messages disappears for both of you. A chat with messages disappears at once for you, and the other person can read it for 30 more days.
You delete your account in Profile → Delete account. It happens at once. If something goes wrong on the way, nothing is deleted, and you can try again. When your account is deleted:
- All your reports are deleted as described above.
- Push tokens, blocks, the logs of publishing and editing, and your sign-in are deleted.
- The drafts on your phone are deleted too. When you only sign out, they are kept.
- In chats with messages, the other person can read what you wrote and sent for 30 days. Your account is removed from those messages at once.
- Reports about people that you sent, and reports about you, are kept as long as the table above says.
- The same email address can later create a new, empty account, unless we closed the account for breaking the terms.
What the providers have already received is deleted on the schedules in the table above. Deleted information may also remain for a short time in backups before it is gone.
On your phone
- Your sign-in is stored encrypted on your phone, and so are the hidden details and the exact location of a draft.
- Chats and photos you receive are kept only in memory while the app is open, and are not saved on your phone. The app has no button to save photos, but anyone can take a screenshot.
- The app uses your location only when you tap "Use my location", and the camera only when you take a photo to send. When you pick a photo, the app receives only that photo. You can refuse every permission, and the app still works.
- The app uses no cookies, advertising IDs or analytics tools.
Security
All traffic between the app and the servers is encrypted. Access rules on the server make sure that only you can see and change your reports, and that only the two of you in a possible match can read the chat and see its photos. Photos are kept in private storage, and access is checked every time a photo is fetched. If a security breach could affect you, we will tell you and the Norwegian Data Protection Authority as the law requires.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- see what we have stored about you, and get a copy;
- have mistakes corrected (you can also edit your reports in the app);
- have your information deleted (you can also delete your reports and your account in the app);
- ask us to restrict processing;
- object to processing based on legitimate interest;
- receive your reports and messages in a machine-readable format (data portability).
Email support@lostspot.no from the email address your account uses, so we know it is you. We answer within one month.
If you think we process your information against the law, you can complain to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, Datatilsynet (datatilsynet.no). We appreciate it if you contact us first.
Age limit
You must be at least 16 years old to use LostSpot. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 16, we delete it.
Changes
We update this policy when the app changes, for example when new ways to sign in arrive. For significant changes, we tell you in the app before they take effect. The date at the top shows when the policy last changed. If the Norwegian and English versions differ, the Norwegian version applies.
Contact
Adcomer AS · Messeveien 208, 2004 Lillestrøm, Norway · support@lostspot.no