Privacy Policy

Effective: 13 October 2026. Previous version: 5 October 2026.

Who we are

Hexology is a geospatial platform that lets people place stories, images, audio and collections into objects, spaces and places for others to discover. It is provided through our free iOS and Android apps; the Hexology Viewer at app.hexology.co, a public website for reading content without the app; and our websites at hexology.co, about.hexology.co and blog.hexology.co (together, the “Services”).

The Services are operated by EoID Ltd, trading as Hexology, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 8555581) with its registered office at 10 Shingle Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5RH, United Kingdom. EoID Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with and what your rights are. A shorter plain-language summary is on our Privacy 101 page. If anything here is unclear, please email hello@hexology.co.

What personal data we collect

Information you give us

• Account details. When you create an account we ask for your name, a @userhandle (your display name) and an email address, which we verify by sending you a confirmation email. You choose a password, which we store in encrypted form.
• Optional public email. You may add a second email address to be shown on your profile so that other people can contact you directly. This is optional and is public if you add it.
• Content you post. Posts, comments, collections, sources, images and any links you include, together with the location you attach the content to. Everything you publish is public.
• Reports. If you report a post, we record that the post was reported so that we can review it.
• Messages to us. Anything you send to hello@hexology.co or through the contact form on about.hexology.co (your name, email address, the reason for contacting us and your message), or by email in reply to a message from us.
• Newsletter sign-up. If you subscribe to our newsletter using the form on our websites, we collect your email address. You receive a confirmation email and are only added to the list if you click the link in it.

Information collected automatically

• Device identifier (browsing without an account). You can use the app to browse content without creating an account. To make this work we assign your device an anonymous identifier. It is not linked to your name or email. If you log out or uninstall the app, anything you collected while browsing anonymously is lost.
• Location. The app asks your device for its precise location while you are using the app. We use it only to show you content that has been placed nearby and, if you post, to let you place your content in the world. We do not store your location, keep a history of where you have been, use background location or track you. The only location we keep is the one you attach to a post, which is part of that public post. You can turn off location access in your device settings; the app cannot show nearby content without it.
• Crash and performance reports. If the app crashes or runs slowly, a report is sent to us so that we can fix the fault. It contains technical information about your device (model, operating system version, app version), the state of the app when the problem occurred, performance measurements such as how long screens took to load, and an installation identifier. It does not contain your name, email or content. We receive these reports through Google Firebase and, if you have opted in on your device, through Apple’s and Google’s own crash reporting.
• Website logs. When you visit our websites, your request passes through Cloudflare, which serves our pages and protects them from attack, and reaches our web host, IONOS. Both record standard server logs: your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the time. We use these to keep the sites secure and running. To count visits we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which runs on every page, sets no cookies, stores no personal identifiers and gives us aggregated page-view and performance figures only; it does not track you across sites. Our websites set no cookies for visitors; see our Cookie Policy.

The Hexology Viewer

The Viewer at app.hexology.co lets anyone read public content — sources, posts, collections, keyword pages and contributor pages — in a web browser, without an account or the app. Content can only be created in the apps. When you use the Viewer:

• Our servers receive your request. The Viewer runs on Cloudflare’s network, so Cloudflare receives each page request with your IP address and browser details. Cloudflare may keep routine records of requests, including your IP address and the address requested (which, for a “what is near here” request, contains the centre of the rounded area described below), for a short period to run and protect the service. Our own program on Cloudflare does not keep a log of requests; it keeps only short diagnostic messages (for example, when our platform does not answer) for up to seven days, and these contain no personal data. Viewer pages tell other services only that a request came from app.hexology.co, never which page you were on. The Viewer uses your IP address briefly to limit excessive requests and protect the service. The Viewer fetches content from our platform on Amazon Web Services using a Hexology service account, not anything that identifies you, and keeps copies of public content for up to a day so that pages load quickly. Images are stored with Amazon Web Services and delivered through Cloudflare.
• Visit counting. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits in aggregate, sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device and does not identify or follow individuals. The Viewer sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser, shows no advertising and has no other analytics or trackers. Fonts are served by the Viewer itself.
• The map uses two independent services. The Viewer’s front door and its map page both show a map. Map tiles come from OpenFreeMap, built from OpenStreetMap data, and load as soon as the page opens, so your browser contacts OpenFreeMap directly and it sees your IP address and roughly which area you are looking at (to about a kilometre on a desktop and two on a phone); OpenFreeMap states that it does not log IP addresses in normal operation. Place names come from Photon, a service run by komoot GmbH in Germany on OpenStreetMap data. Your browser sends Photon, with your IP address, only two things: the text of a place search as you type it, and the coordinates of a point you have chosen, so that its town name can be shown. A chosen point is one you searched for, set by hand more than 300 metres from where your device says you are, or arrived at by a link. Photon is not contacted when the map opens, after Around Me, for a point within 300 metres of your own position, or when you open a source on the map, and it never receives your own position. These are separate organisations with their own privacy policies and are not acting on our instructions.
• Around Me and your location. You can share your device’s location by pressing Around Me or the map’s locate-me button, or by opening a saved Around Me address; in every case your browser asks your permission first, and the Viewer never asks without it. Your exact position stays in your browser: it is shown as a dot on the map (and, on desktop, as coordinates and a short location code), and it is never saved, never put into the page’s address and never sent to us. If you move the pin and press Set within 300 metres of where your device says you are, the Viewer still treats that point as your own position and applies the same rules. To find sources near you, your browser sends us only the centre of a neighbourhood-sized area (about 275 by 175 metres) around you. Our platform receives that request from our own server, not from you, so it does not learn who asked, and the list of sources for that area is served from a copy for up to twelve minutes, and kept for up to a day only as a fallback if our platform fails; it holds nothing about who requested it. We do not store your location. If you refuse location access, the map still works.
• Sharing your own position. On desktop, if you have used Around Me and then press Share in the map’s location box, the copied link contains your position as a short location code accurate to about 15 metres, and the Viewer tells you so at that moment. Nothing is shared unless you press Share. On phones, no shared link contains your position.
• Links to places. After you search, press Set or open a link to a place, the map keeps the chosen point in the page address after a # sign, to about one metre, so that reloading, going back or copying the address returns you to it. The page address, including everything after the #, is not sent to Cloudflare or to anyone else; what Photon receives is described above. A Share link carries the point by design — a short location code and town for a chosen point, or the full location code alone (about 15 metres) for your own position after Around Me. When the link is your own position, the Viewer tells you so before you copy it (“Link copied (your location, ~15 m)”). This is the only way your position is revealed, and only because you chose to share it. A link made before 13 October 2026, with the point after a ? rather than a #, is sent to Cloudflare once when it is opened, then rewritten.
• Sharing and other links. Share buttons copy a link or open your phone’s own share options; nothing is sent to us. Links written by contributors in their posts lead to other websites that we do not control. Some buttons invite you to install the Hexology app and link to the App Store and Google Play.
• Reporting a post. Each post has a “Report this post” button, which opens our contact form on about.hexology.co in a new tab, where you can choose “Report offensive content that violates our policies”. The form asks for your name, email address and a message, so that we can respond; it is handled like any other message to us (see Messages to us above and Web3Forms under Who we share your data with).

We do not collect your phone number, date of birth, home address, contacts, photos other than those you choose to upload, or any data from social media accounts. We do not offer login through any third-party account.

Why we use your data, and our legal basis

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each use of personal data.

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling or automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. We do not sell personal data.

Content moderation

Every image you upload is checked automatically by an image-recognition service (Amazon Rekognition) for content that breaches our standards. If an image is flagged, the post is not published and is held for review by a member of our team. Any user can report a post from within the app; a reported post is removed promptly and sent for human review, after which it is either restored, kept in quarantine or deleted. Because the Viewer keeps copies of public content for up to a day, removal takes effect across the Viewer within about a day, and copies of images held by our delivery network may take time to expire. Moderation decisions are always reviewed by a person. Reports made through the Viewer reach us through our contact form; we use your email address only to confirm the report and tell you the outcome. If your post is removed and you think that was wrong, you can contact us and we will review it.

Our newsletter

Our newsletter is sent through Buttondown. When you subscribe, Buttondown sends you a confirmation email; if you do not click the link in it, you are not added to the list and receive nothing further. Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately. Your email address is used only to send the newsletter and is kept until you unsubscribe, after which it is deleted from the list. We do not add app users to the newsletter; it is sent only to people who have signed up and confirmed. We do not track whether you open the newsletter or which links you click.

Who we share your data with

Everyone. Your name, @userhandle, short biography, website (if you give one), any public email you add, and everything you post — including the location you attach to it — are public. Anyone using the app or the Viewer can see them, and they may be indexed by search engines. In the Viewer, each contributor has a public page showing their name, @userhandle, biography, website and public posts; your public email is shown in the apps but not on the Viewer, and contributor pages are marked so that search engines do not index them. Because the Viewer keeps copies of public content for up to a day, a post you delete in the app may remain visible on the web for about a day afterwards, and copies of its images held by our delivery network may take time to expire. Please think before including anything private in a post, and remember that a location attached to a post can reveal where you have been.

Service providers who process data for us. We use a small number of companies to run the Services. They act on our instructions and may not use your data for their own purposes.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosts our platform, database and media storage (including the images shown in the apps and the Viewer) in its Frankfurt, Germany data centre; provides our authentication system; sends our service emails; and provides the Amazon Rekognition image-scanning service.
• Google. Google Maps draws the map in the app and receives your device’s coordinates to do so; Google Firebase receives crash and performance reports.
• Apple and Google (app stores) distribute the apps and provide their own crash reporting where you have opted in on your device. Their handling of your data is governed by their own policies.
• Cloudflare delivers our websites and protects them from attack, hosts and runs the Viewer, delivers the Viewer’s images, and keeps routine server logs; its Web Analytics counts visits to our websites and the Viewer without cookies or personal identifiers.
• IONOS hosts our websites and keeps their server logs.
• Web3Forms (Web3Creative, India) operates the contact form on about.hexology.co. It receives your name, email address, reason and message, emails them to us at hello@hexology.co and keeps a copy for 7 days before deleting it. Its own hosting is on Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare and Hetzner, and it may pass your IP address and email address to the spam-filtering services CleanTalk and Akismet to check that the submission is not automated.
• Buttondown (Buttondown, LLC, United States) stores the email addresses of newsletter subscribers, sends the confirmation email and the newsletter, and handles unsubscribes.

Independent services your browser contacts. The Viewer’s front door and map page load map tiles from OpenFreeMap (Hyperknot Software Kft., Hungary), and place names come from komoot’s Photon service (komoot GmbH, Germany), both built on OpenStreetMap data. Your browser contacts them directly, as described under The Hexology Viewer above. They receive your IP address and the map area, search text or chosen point, process it under their own privacy policies, and are not acting on our instructions.

Others. We may disclose personal data if the law requires it, to respond to a lawful request from a court, regulator or law-enforcement body, to enforce our Terms of Service, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Hexology, our users or others. If Hexology is sold or merges with another business, user data may be transferred to the new owner, who will be bound by this policy.

We do not share your data with advertisers, and we have no advertising partners.

Where your data is stored and international transfers

Our platform and your data are hosted by AWS in Germany. The UK government has recognised the European Economic Area as providing adequate protection for personal data, so transfers between the UK and Germany do not need additional safeguards. Google, Cloudflare and Buttondown may process data on servers outside the UK and EEA, including in the United States; where that happens, the transfer is covered by the UK–US Data Bridge or by standard contractual clauses approved for use in the UK. Web3Forms operates from India and processes contact-form submissions on infrastructure in several regions; those transfers are covered by standard contractual clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum under our data processing agreement with Web3Forms. The Viewer runs on Cloudflare’s global network, so a page request is handled at the Cloudflare location nearest to you, which may be outside the UK and EEA; Cloudflare’s transfers are covered as above. OpenFreeMap is operated from Hungary and Photon from Germany, both within the EEA. If you use the Services from outside the UK, your data will be transferred to and processed in the locations above.

How long we keep your data

• Account and content: for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, your account details and content are removed from the Services immediately and automatically.
• Backups: our systems are backed up; deleted data may persist in backups for a limited period before being overwritten.
• Anonymous device identifiers: until you log out, uninstall the app or clear its data.
• Crash and performance reports: retained by Google Firebase for the period set by Google.
• Website and Viewer logs: retained by Cloudflare and, for our websites, IONOS for a short period for security purposes. The Viewer’s own diagnostic messages are kept for up to seven days. Cloudflare Web Analytics holds only aggregated figures.
• Viewer content copies: public content is cached by the Viewer for up to a day; the list of sources for an area is served from a copy for up to twelve minutes and kept for up to a day as a fallback.
• Messages and enquiries: for as long as needed to deal with your enquiry and any follow-up. Contact-form submissions are also held by Web3Forms for 7 days and then deleted.
• Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe. Sign-ups that are never confirmed are not used.
• Moderation records: we keep a record of removed content and moderation decisions for as long as needed to meet our legal duties and to deal with any dispute.

We may keep data for longer where the law requires it or where it is needed to resolve a dispute.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you, and receive a copy of it.
• Download your data. You can request a copy of your account data and content; we prepare this manually and will provide it within 28 days.
• Correct inaccurate data. You can update your account details in the app. Posts and collections cannot be edited once published, but you can delete them and post again.
• Delete your data. You can delete individual posts and collections, or delete your whole account, from within the app. Deletion is immediate.
• Object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and ask us to restrict processing in some circumstances.
• Withdraw consent at any time: location permission in your device or browser settings, and the newsletter through the unsubscribe link in any issue.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab) (ico.org.uk (opens in a new tab), 0303 123 1113) if you are unhappy with how we handle your data. We would appreciate the chance to resolve your concern first.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@hexology.co or use the contact form on about.hexology.co. We may ask you to confirm your identity before acting on a request. We will respond within one month.

Children

You must be at least 13 years old to create a Hexology account. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will remove it.

Security

Your data is encrypted in storage and in transit. Access to our systems is restricted, and passwords are stored in a form we cannot read. No system is completely secure, so please choose a strong, unique password and tell us straight away if you think your account has been accessed without your permission.

Cookies

Our websites and the Viewer set no cookies for visitors and use no advertising tools. We count visits using Cloudflare Web Analytics, which sets no cookies, stores no personal identifiers and does not track you across sites. We also use Google Search Console, which tells us how our pages appear in Google Search and places nothing on our pages. Our apps store account and session information on your device so that you stay logged in. Details are in our Cookie Policy.

Links to other sites

Posts may contain links to other websites, and our websites link to services such as LinkedIn, the App Store and Google Play. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites; please read their policies.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our Services or the law change. The current version is always at about.hexology.co/privacy-policy, with its effective date at the top, and every Viewer page links to it. If we make a significant change, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Contact

Email: hello@hexology.co
Contact form: about.hexology.co
Post: EoID Ltd, 10 Shingle Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5RH, United Kingdom