Privacy Policy

1. Overview

Play Spotter ("we", "our", or "the app") is a community-driven mobile application designed for adult parents and caregivers to discover family-friendly places and activities.

This app is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly.

By using the app, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

2. Information We Collect

A. Information You Provide

• Name, if provided
• Email address
• Account information, including username, nickname, and profile preferences
• Submitted content, such as reviews, photos, listing edits, reports, place suggestions, and events
• Contribution activity, including earned points, contribution levels, and feature usage history
• Advertiser or business information, if applicable
• Messages or requests you send to us

B. Location Data

With your permission, we may collect approximate or precise location, ZIP code, city, or manually entered location data. Location data is used to show nearby places, personalize search results, support map features, and serve geographically relevant local advertisements.

If you opt in on Android to Nearby verify prompts (Profile → Notifications), the app may use background location only while that setting is on to register geofences (~250 m) around nearby play places and deliver an optional local notification inviting you to verify listing details when you are on-site. This feature is off by default, is not used for advertising, and can be disabled in the app or in device location settings.

We do not track location in the background unnecessarily, sell precise location data, or use location for unrelated purposes. You can disable location access at any time in your device settings.

C. Automatically Collected Data

We may collect certain information automatically, such as:

• Device type and operating system version
• App interactions, such as screens viewed, taps, searches, saved places, and feature usage
• Session data and basic analytics
• Crash logs, diagnostics, and performance data
• Ad impressions, ad requests, ad clicks, and related ad performance events
• IP address and approximate region, where collected by service providers

D. Advertising-Related Information

If ads are enabled, third-party advertising services, including Google AdMob, may collect, receive, use, or share certain device and ad-related information. This may include device identifiers, advertising identifiers, IP address, approximate location, app interactions with ads, diagnostic information, crash or performance data, and other information used to serve, measure, limit, personalize or non-personalize, and improve advertising.

E. Payment Information

If you make a payment as an advertiser, payments are processed by Stripe. We do not receive, store, or have access to your full card number, CVV, or bank account details. Stripe processes and stores payment card data directly and is PCI-DSS compliant. We receive only non-sensitive transaction data such as payment status, last four digits, card type, and billing metadata necessary to fulfill and record transactions.

3. How We Use Information

We may use information to:

• Provide, operate, maintain, and improve the app
• Show local search results, maps, saved places, and nearby recommendations
• Display local sponsored ads when available
• Display third-party fallback ads when no local ad is available
• Measure ad performance and prevent ad fraud
• Monitor usage, performance, reliability, and security
• Review, moderate, validate, or rank submitted content, including user-submitted events
• Track contribution activity and display contribution levels or points where applicable
• Detect fraud, abuse, safety issues, or policy violations
• Process advertiser submissions and payments
• Send transactional and operational communications related to your account or submitted content
• Comply with legal, platform, tax, payment, and safety obligations

If we send promotional or marketing emails, each email will include an unsubscribe link. We will honor opt-out requests promptly in accordance with applicable law, including the CAN-SPAM Act.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell personal data.

We may share limited information with service providers that help us operate the app, such as payment processors, analytics providers, infrastructure providers, cloud storage providers, database providers, authentication providers, mapping/place data providers, moderation tools, and advertising partners.

Service providers may include Stripe, Google Cloud, Firebase, Google Maps Platform, Google AdMob, MongoDB Atlas, and similar providers used to operate, secure, analyze, advertise, or improve the app.

Third-party services may process information according to their own privacy policies and terms. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security practices, or policies of third-party services.

5. Advertising and Google AdMob

Some content is labeled as "Sponsored." Sponsored content may include paid advertising from local businesses. We do not endorse or guarantee advertised businesses, products, services, offers, or claims.

We may also display third-party fallback advertisements using Google AdMob when no approved local advertisement is available for a placement, region, or screen.

When ads are shown, Google and its advertising partners may collect, receive, use, or share certain information from your device to provide, measure, improve, personalize, or non-personalize advertising, depending on your device settings, consent choices, location, applicable law, and Google policies.

We do not provide local advertisers with individual user profiles, saved places, uploaded photos, search history, precise personal location data, or personal information for ad targeting. Advertiser reporting, if provided, includes only aggregate or campaign-level metrics.

Google explains how it uses information from sites and apps that use its services here:

How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services

You can manage personalized ad settings here:

Google Ad Settings

6. Cookies and Local Storage

The app and its website use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to support authentication, remember preferences, enable app functionality, and support analytics and advertising. This applies to all users, regardless of location.

Third-party services we use, including Firebase, Google Maps Platform, and Google AdMob, may set their own cookies or use device storage as part of their services. You can manage cookie and storage preferences through your browser settings or device settings, though disabling certain technologies may affect app functionality.

7. Crowdsourced Content

Play Spotter is a community-driven platform. Content may be submitted by users or third parties. We do not guarantee accuracy, completeness, reliability, safety, availability, accessibility, or suitability. Users are responsible for verifying information before visiting or relying on a listed place, activity, event, or business.

8. Children's Privacy

This app is intended for adults, including parents and caregivers. The app is not directed to children under 13 within the meaning of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and applicable law. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13.

If a parent or guardian believes their child under 13 has provided personal information through this app, they may contact us at privacy@play-spotter.com to request review and deletion. Upon verification, we will delete that information from our systems promptly and will not use it for any purpose.

We do not provide child accounts. Advertising is not intended to be directed to children.

9. Data Retention

We retain data only as long as necessary to operate the app, provide services, comply with legal obligations, maintain business records, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, prevent abuse, and improve app safety and reliability.

Some submitted content may remain available in the app unless removed by us, deleted through app functionality, or required to be removed by law or policy.

Inactive accounts may be subject to data deletion policies after an extended period of inactivity. We will notify you before deleting an inactive account where feasible.

10. Security

We implement reasonable safeguards to protect data. However, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, data loss, misuse, or service interruptions will never occur.

11. Data Breach Notification

In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify affected users and applicable authorities as required by applicable law, including Nebraska's data security and breach notification statutes and any other applicable state or federal law. Notification will be provided through the contact information associated with your account or through in-app notice, as appropriate.

12. Your Choices

You may be able to:

• Disable location permissions in your device settings
• Limit or reset your device advertising identifier in your device settings
• Manage personalized ads through Google Ad Settings
• Delete your account and associated account data from the app: Delete your account
• Opt out of non-essential communications via the unsubscribe link in any marketing email
• Contact us with privacy questions or deletion requests

If personalized ads are disabled, you may still see ads, but they may be less relevant or based on general factors such as approximate location, app context, or the content being viewed.

California Residents

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, or sell
• The right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions
• The right to correct inaccurate personal information
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
• The right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@play-spotter.com. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Other State Privacy Rights

Residents of other states with applicable privacy laws (including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, and others) may have similar rights regarding access, deletion, correction, and opt-out. Contact us at privacy@play-spotter.com to submit a request.

13. Consent for Certain Regions

For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we may request consent before using cookies, local storage, advertising identifiers, or personal data for personalized advertising where required by law or Google policy. Users may be able to manage their choices through a consent prompt or device settings.

14. Tracking

We do not sell user data or provide local advertisers with personal profiles.

If third-party advertising is enabled, Google AdMob and its advertising partners may collect and process ad-related information through their SDKs and services. Depending on your device settings, consent choices, and applicable law, this may include information used for personalized or non-personalized advertising, ad measurement, frequency capping, fraud prevention, security, and reporting.

15. Google Play Data Safety

Because the app may use Google AdMob and other Google services, some data may be collected or shared for advertising, analytics, app functionality, fraud prevention, security, diagnostics, and performance. The app's Google Play Data Safety disclosures should be reviewed and kept consistent with this Privacy Policy and the SDKs used in the app.

16. Limitation of Liability & Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Play Spotter and Lucht Applications LLC are not liable for privacy violations, data corruption, unauthorized access, service interruptions, hardware or software failures, third-party service issues, or other legal causes of action reasonably anticipated by Play Spotter or the user of these services.

The user agrees to indemnify and hold Play Spotter, Lucht Applications LLC, and their officers, directors, employees, contractors, and agents harmless from any and all claims, damages, liabilities, losses, expenses, and costs, including reasonable legal and accounting fees, related to: (a) your access to or use of our services or third-party services; (b) your violation of this Privacy Policy or our Terms; or (c) your negligence or willful misconduct.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from use of Play Spotter shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or $100 USD, whichever is greater, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

Any action, regardless of form, arising out of or relating to a dispute must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action has accrued.

17. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Nebraska, USA. Any legal proceedings shall be filed in Douglas County, Nebraska, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

18. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of the app after updates means you accept the updated Privacy Policy.

19. Contact

privacy@play-spotter.com