Scout

Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 10, 2026

This policy explains how the Scout mobile app (“Scout,” “we,” “us”) collects, uses, and shares information when you use it. Scout turns trips into a collection: you visit real-world places and unlock digital patches. You can start using Scout as a guest, with no account required.

1. Information we collect

Account information. If you create an account, we collect your email address and, optionally, a display name. You can sign in with Apple, with Google, or with an email and password. Signing in with Apple or Google shares your email (and name, if you choose to share it) with us. Guests are identified only by an anonymous device identifier.
Location. With your permission, Scout uses your device’s precise location to detect when you arrive at a place and automatically unlock the corresponding patch, and coarse (city/state) location for region-based patches. If you enable it, location may be used in the background so patches can unlock while the app is not open. We store the coordinates associated with patches you collect. You can turn location off at any time in Settings or your device settings.
Photos. If you use the photo-import feature, Scout reads the location (GPS) metadata and dates of photos in your library on your device to find places you have already been. For most accounts the photos themselves are never uploaded. If you choose to add a photo to a patch’s community gallery, that image is uploaded and stored.
Cloud album (limited availability). Cloud album is enabled by us for individual accounts and is off unless we have turned it on for yours. When it is on, Scout uploads a resized copy (not the original file) of each photo that matched a place, so your album survives a lost or replaced phone. The uploaded image files contain no embedded metadata; the capture location, date and camera details are stored separately in our database, alongside a fingerprint of the original file used to recognise the same photo after a restore.
User content. Comments you post on patches, patches you submit, and similar contributions are stored and associated with your account.
Purchases. If you make a purchase, our payments provider records your purchase history and entitlements. Payment card details are handled by Apple/Google and are never received by us.
Usage and diagnostics. We collect basic product-interaction events (for example, opening the app, viewing or collecting a patch) to understand engagement, and crash and performance diagnostics to keep the app stable.

2. How we use information

To provide core functionality — detecting arrivals, unlocking and syncing patches, and maintaining your collection across devices.
To operate accounts, community features, and purchases.
To analyze usage so we can improve Scout, and to diagnose crashes and performance issues.
Where cloud album is enabled for your account, to store your album so it survives a lost or replaced phone, and to serve any album pages you choose to share.

If cloud album is enabled for your account, you can create a link to a campaign, a collection, a place, or a single photo. Anyone with the link can view those photos without signing in, so treat a link as public: share it only with people you intend to see those photos.

Links are long random tokens and are not listed, indexed, or discoverable — but they are not password-protected.
Nothing is shared until you create a link. Creating one never shares your whole album, only the campaign, collection, place, or photo you chose.
You can stop sharing at any time from the same place you shared. The page then stops working.
Images served on a shared page contain no embedded location or camera metadata.
A shared page names the place the photos are filed under, which may be as broad as a city or state.

3. What we do not do

We do not use your data to track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
We do not collect the advertising identifier (IDFA) and do not use third-party advertising networks in the app.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it with data brokers.

4. Service providers

We share information with vendors who process it on our behalf, solely to provide the app:

DigitalOcean — server and database hosting for your account and collection.
RevenueCat — managing purchases and entitlements.
Sentry — crash and performance diagnostics.
Apple and Google — sign-in and map display.
Shopify — if you buy physical merchandise from our store, your order is processed by Shopify under its own privacy policy.

Each provider processes data under its own privacy policy.

5. Storage, retention, and security

Your data is stored on secured servers and retained for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the app. Guest data lives on your device until you create an account, at which point it syncs to your account. We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information.

Cloud album images are stored privately on Amazon S3 and are never publicly listed. They are served only to you, or through a share link you created, and always through short-lived signed URLs. If we turn cloud album off for your account, uploading stops and any share links stop working immediately, but your stored images are kept until they are deleted — by you deleting your account, or at your request.

6. Your choices and data deletion

You control location, photo, and notification permissions in your device settings. To access, correct, or delete your account and associated data, email us at alan@scout-patches.com from the address associated with your account, and we will process your request promptly. Deleting your account removes your profile, collected patches, contributed content, and any cloud album images and share links, subject to any records we are required to keep by law.

7. Children

Scout is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by the “Last updated” date above.

9. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email alan@scout-patches.com.