Money Maps Privacy Policy

Effective date: 9 October 2026

This policy explains how Money Maps Limited collects and uses personal data when you use the Money Maps app for iPhone and our website, moneymaps.net. We have kept it plain and specific to what Money Maps actually does.

1. Who we are

Money Maps Limited is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17479270). We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

Address: Unit 82A James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds IP28 7DE, United Kingdom
Email: info@moneymaps.net

If you have any question about this policy or your data, email us at the address above.

2. The short version

You can browse Money Maps without an account.
If you sign in, we hold your account details and the content you contribute.
Your location is used to show nearby shops but is not stored, except when you add a photo or report a closed shop.
Your display name and points appear on public leaderboards.
The app shows banner ads from Google AdMob. Before any ad loads, users in the UK, EEA and Switzerland are asked for consent. Ads are personalised only if you allow it.
We have no analytics or crash-reporting tools of our own, and we do not sell your data.
Our database is stored in the EU (Ireland).

3. What we collect and why

Account details

You can create an account with Sign in with Apple. We collect:

your email address, or the private relay address Apple gives us if you choose "Hide My Email";
your first name, if Apple shares it the first time you sign in, or the name you type in Me;
account identifiers (the identifier Apple gives us for Money Maps, and our own user ID).

We use these to run your account, link your contributions to you, decide whether you can upload photos, and reply to you about your account.

Display name and leaderboards

Your display name is shown publicly next to your points and rank on the monthly and all-time leaderboards. We do not show your email address, and there are no profile pictures. Your detailed points history is visible only to you.

Location

If you allow it, the app uses your device location only while the app is in use. On your device, it is used to centre the map, show distances and walking times, set your home currency, and hand directions to a maps app.

To find shops near you, the app sends the map position (which is usually your location) to our server with each search. We do not store it. It may appear briefly in our server logs (see section 8).

The exception is photos and reports:

Photos: when location is on, each photo you upload is saved with the position and time it was taken.
Closed-shop reports: saved with the position, accuracy, distance from the shop and time the photo was taken, so we can check you were at the shop.

The app re-saves photos before uploading, which removes the original hidden photo data (EXIF), including any location in it.

You can turn location off at any time in iPhone Settings. The app still works, but you will need to move the map or search yourself.

The saved position and time of photos and closed-shop reports are not visible to the public.

Our ads provider, Google, does not receive your precise location. It may estimate your approximate location from your IP address (see "Ads" below).

Photos

Signed-in users with an email address can upload photos. Photos you upload are public on the shop page.

Rate-board close-ups help check and update rates. They are deleted automatically after 30 days.
Shop-front photos help people recognise a shop. They stay on the shop page until we remove them through our photo review, or until the claimed business asks us to by emailing info@moneymaps.net (for example when a newer or better photo is uploaded). If you delete your account, shop-front photos you added stay on the shop page but are no longer linked to you (no name, location or time). We keep only the upload date, which is not linked to anyone.
Closed-shop photos are taken at the shop when you report it closed. They are hidden from the public unless the report is accepted.

If you use "Scan the board", the text on the rate board is read on your device. The scan is not sent to Apple.

Please avoid taking photos that show people's faces or personal information.

Rates, reports and points

When you add, confirm or suggest a rate, we record the rate, the shop, the time and your account. You can also report a wrong rate, report a shop as permanently closed, or report a photo. We award points for useful contributions and keep a record of your points.

Adding a place

If you add a new shop, we store the shop's details and position and record that you added it.

Claiming a shop

If you claim a shop for a bureau, we collect the business name, your name and role, email, phone number, website and company number so we can check the claim and contact you about the listing. We keep these details in our business contacts records.

We also keep records needed to stop rival businesses editing a competitor's listing.

Monthly prize

We run a monthly PayPal prize for users aged 18 or over. If you save a PayPal email address in Me, we use it only to pay any prize you win. It is never shown publicly. You can remove it at any time with Remove PayPal email in Me. The full rules are at https://www.moneymaps.net/prize-rules.

Settings on your device

Preferences such as your home currency, search radius, map style, units and hidden photos are stored only on your device.

Support emails

If you email us, we use your message and email address to reply.

Server logs

Our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs of requests to our server, including IP address, device and browser type, and the request made (which can include the map position). These are used to keep the service running and secure.

The app shows a banner ad on the map and list screens, provided by Google AdMob through Google's ads software (the Google Mobile Ads SDK) built into the app.

Consent first. If you are in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland, Google's consent form appears before any ad loads. You can change your choice at any time in Me, under Ad privacy choices.

Tracking. iPhone's App Tracking Transparency prompt asks whether Money Maps may track you. Only if you allow it can Google use your device's advertising identifier (IDFA) to show personalised ads. If you decline, or have not decided, ads are non-personalised and Google does not receive the IDFA. You can change this at any time in iPhone Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Tracking.

Google's ads software may collect:

Device identifiers: the advertising identifier (IDFA) if you allow tracking, otherwise an app-specific device identifier | Linked to you? Yes | Used for tracking? Only the IDFA, and only if you allow tracking | Purpose: Showing and measuring ads
Advertising data, such as the ads you see and tap | Linked to you? Yes | Used for tracking? No | Purpose: Showing and measuring ads
Product interaction, such as app launches and taps | Linked to you? Yes | Used for tracking? No | Purpose: Measuring ads and analytics
Approximate location, estimated from your IP address | Linked to you? Yes | Used for tracking? No | Purpose: Showing relevant ads and measuring ads
Crash, performance and other diagnostic data | Linked to you? No | Used for tracking? No | Purpose: Keeping the ads software working

Google's consent form also uses approximate location, performance and interaction data, but only to make the form work.

We do not give Google your name, email address, precise location, photos or account data.

What we do not use

We have no analytics or crash-reporting tools of our own. Google's ads software collects the usage and diagnostic data described above. Apple may send us crash reports if you have chosen to share them with app developers in your iPhone settings.

4. Our lawful bases

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each use of your data.

Running your account and the app's features, including leaderboards and points | Lawful basis: Contract
Using your device location to show nearby shops and set your currency | Lawful basis: Consent (you choose through the iPhone permission prompt and can withdraw it in Settings)
Saving the photo position with photos and closed-shop reports, and checking them | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (keeping listings accurate and preventing false reports)
Publishing and moderating rates, photos and reports | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (keeping information accurate and useful for everyone)
The monthly prize, including paying winners by PayPal | Lawful basis: Contract (the prize rules)
Listing exchange businesses from public information, and checking shop claims and preventing misuse by rival businesses | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (helping consumers compare prices)
Website waitlist emails | Lawful basis: Consent
"List your exchange" form and website chat | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (replying to your enquiry)
Personalised ads, including use of the advertising identifier | Lawful basis: Consent (Google's consent form and Apple's tracking prompt)
Storing or reading information on your device for ads | Lawful basis: Consent, as required by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)
Showing non-personalised ads, preventing ad fraud and limiting how often you see the same ad | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (funding a free app). This applies only where no information is stored on or read from your device without your consent.
Security, preventing abuse and fixing faults | Lawful basis: Legitimate interests
Keeping records the law requires, for example prize payments | Lawful basis: Legal obligation

5. Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it with service providers who process it for us, with Google for ads, and in the limited cases below.

Supabase hosts our database, accounts, photo storage and server functions in the EU (AWS, Ireland).
Apple provides Sign in with Apple and maps through Apple MapKit. Map display, place search and walking directions are requests to Apple, handled under Apple's privacy policy.
Google Maps or Waze: if you choose one of them for directions, the shop's location is passed to that app or website. Your use of it is covered by its own privacy policy.
Google (AdMob) shows ads in the app. For AdMob, Google acts as an independent data controller under its own terms, not as our processor, so it decides how it uses the data its ads software collects. See Google's Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy) and "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" (https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites).
PayPal is used to pay prize winners.
Wix hosts our website, its forms and its chat.
Other users can see the photos you upload, the rates you post, and your display name, points total and rank on leaderboards. They cannot see your email, your points history or the location saved with your photos.
Authorities, if the law requires it.

Shop listings include data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL). Some chains' rates come from their public websites. No user data is sent to OpenStreetMap or to those chains.

Purchases

If you make an in-app purchase in future, Apple handles the payment; Apple tells us the purchase was made, but we do not receive your card details.

6. Businesses we list

We list exchange businesses using public information, such as the business name, address, opening hours and publicly displayed rates. We do this under legitimate interests: helping consumers compare prices.

Sometimes a listing includes personal data, for example a sole trader's own name, or the contact details of the person who claimed the listing. We also handle this under legitimate interests.

If a listing names an actual person, we will remove or anonymise that person's name on request.
The business itself, its location, opening hours and prices stay on the map while it trades, because this is information about a business that offers its services to the public. A listing comes off the map only once the business has permanently closed.
We will always correct inaccurate details.
Contact details of the person who claimed a listing are kept while the listing is managed, and for up to 24 months after our last contact with them.

Our Terms of Use explain business listings in full: https://www.moneymaps.net/terms.

7. International transfers

Our database is in the EU (Ireland), which the UK recognises as providing adequate protection. Google (for ads), Apple, Wix and PayPal, and Google Maps or Waze if you choose them for directions, may process data in other countries, including the United States. Where that happens, the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations (including the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework) or by standard contractual clauses with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

8. How long we keep data

Account details and display name: until you delete your account. Deletion happens straight away.
PayPal email: until you remove it in Me or delete your account.
Points: until you delete your account.
Rate-board close-ups and board-scan photos: deleted automatically after 30 days, or straight away if you delete your account.
Closed-shop report photos: deleted with the report after 12 months, or straight away if you delete your account.
Shop-front photos: kept until we remove them through photo review, or a claimed business asks us to by emailing info@moneymaps.net (for example when a better photo is uploaded). If you delete your account, they stay on the shop page but are no longer linked to you (no name, location or time). Only the upload date is kept, and it is not linked to anyone.
Closed-shop reports and photo reports: deleted automatically after 12 months.
Rates, rate history and wrong-rate reports: kept as part of each shop's history. If you delete your account, rates you posted stay without your name.
Shop-claim and business contact details: while you manage the listing, and for up to 24 months after our last contact with you.
Prize payment records: 6 years, for tax and accounting.
Support emails: 2 years.
Website form entries (waitlist, List your exchange, contact and chat): until our launch outreach is finished or 24 months, whichever is sooner. You can unsubscribe from the waitlist at any time.
Server logs: 1 day.
Ads data: Google keeps the data its ads software collects under its own retention policies. See https://policies.google.com/technologies/retention.

We do not currently keep database backups. If that changes, deleted data may stay in backups for up to 7 days before being overwritten.

9. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

Access: get a copy of your personal data.
Rectification: correct data that is wrong or incomplete.
Erasure: ask us to delete your data.
Restriction: ask us to limit how we use your data.
Objection: object to uses based on our legitimate interests. For business listings, see section 6.
Portability: receive the data you gave us in a common format.
Withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, at any time. This does not affect what we did before you withdrew it. For ads, use Ad privacy choices in Me. For tracking, go to iPhone Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Tracking. For location, go to iPhone Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services.

To use any of these rights, email info@moneymaps.net. We may need to confirm your identity first. We will reply within one month.

For data that Google holds for ads, you can also use the tools described in Google's Privacy Policy.

You can delete your account at any time in the app: go to Me, then Delete my account. See https://www.moneymaps.net/delete-account.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at https://ico.org.uk.

11. Children

Money Maps is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. You must be 18 or over to take part in the monthly prize. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.

12. Security

Our database uses row-level security on every table, and every change you make through the app is checked against your verified signed-in session, not against identity details sent by the app. All data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Email addresses and PayPal emails are never shown to other users. Account deletion runs on our server, and the app never holds our administrator keys. No system is completely secure, so please tell us straight away if you think your account has been misused.

13. Our website

moneymaps.net is hosted by Wix, which processes website data on our behalf.

Waitlist form: we collect your email address to tell you about Money Maps.
"List your exchange" form: we collect your business name, email and any other details you give, so we can contact you about listing your bureau.
Contact form and chat: we collect what you send us so we can reply.

Cookies

Our website does not use Google Analytics, advertising or social media tracking pixels, or marketing cookies. Wix sets cookies and similar technologies that the site needs to work and stay secure, for example to manage your session and the chat. Wix also collects basic statistics on the site's performance and usage. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some parts of the site may then stop working.

The Money Maps app does not use cookies. Google's ads software in the app stores and reads information on your device, as described in section 3, with your consent where the law requires.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the app or the law changes. We will change the effective date at the top, and if a change is significant we will tell you in the app or by email.