Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective May 22, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how Dtecto ("we", "us", "Dtecto") collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use the Dtecto iOS application and the dtecto.app website (collectively, the "Service").
1. Information We Collect
Information you provide
- Account information. When you sign in with Apple, we receive a unique identifier and, optionally, your name and email if you choose to share them.
- Finds you log. Photos, notes, category labels, visibility setting (private or public), and the GPS coordinates captured at the moment you log a find.
- Hunt sessions. Start time, end time, optional name.
- Community posts. Anything you publish to the Community feed, including likes and comments.
- Customer support correspondence. Emails you send to support@dtecto.app.
Information collected automatically
- Device and usage data. Device model, iOS version, Dtecto version, IP address, crash reports, and product analytics (screen views, feature taps).
- Purchase data. Subscription status, purchase timestamps, and renewal events relayed by Apple and our subscription management partner (RevenueCat).
Location
We request precise location at the moment you log a find. If you decline the location permission, finds are logged without coordinates.
Hunt route recording (Pro). While a hunt is active, Pro members' devices record a GPS trail of where they walked — including while the screen is locked, so the route stays complete with the phone in your pocket. iOS shows the system location indicator whenever recording is active. Route recording starts only when you start a hunt, stops when you end it, and the resulting route is private to your account — it is never shown to other users and never sold or shared with advertisers or data brokers. Outside an active hunt, we do not collect location in the background.
Motion & fitness data
With your permission (iOS "Motion & Fitness"), we read your step count and walking distance from your device for the duration of each hunt, and store those two numbers with the hunt record so you can see how far you walked and how many steps you took. We use motion data solely for this hunt-statistics feature. It is never used for advertising, never shared with or sold to third parties, advertising platforms, data brokers, or information resellers, and you can revoke access at any time via iOS Settings → Privacy → Motion & Fitness.
On each app launch, when the device's "while in use" location permission has already been granted, we capture a single location sample and reverse-geocode it on-device to a coarse city, state, and country. Only those coarse labels are stored on your profile (e.g., "Plano, Texas, US") to power community features like "find detectorists in your area." We do not store or share precise coordinates outside the explicit per-find flow described above.
We also store the timestamp of your last app launch
(last_seen_at) so we can surface active community
members in suggested-follows. This is a server-side timestamp,
not a tracking pixel — nothing is captured between launches.
2. How We Use Information
- To operate, maintain, and improve the Service.
- To process AI find identification — your photo is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic, Claude vision API) and discarded after the response is returned. We do not retain copies on the AI provider's systems and the AI provider does not train on your photos.
- To process subscription purchases and renewals.
- To display your public finds and community posts to other users.
- To send transactional emails (e.g. account-related notifications).
- To investigate fraud, abuse, or violations of our Terms.
- To comply with legal obligations.
3. Sharing
We share information only with the third-party processors listed below, each acting on our behalf:
- Apple Inc. — Sign in with Apple, App Store subscription processing, push notifications.
- Supabase Inc. — Database, authentication, file storage hosting (United States).
- Anthropic, PBC. — AI find identification (United States). Photos sent for ID are not retained or used for training.
- RevenueCat, Inc. — Subscription state management (United States).
- Mapbox Inc. — Map tile rendering (United States).
- Sentry / Functional Software, Inc. — Crash and error reporting (United States).
- PostHog Inc. — Product analytics (United States).
- Microsoft Clarity — Anonymized session recordings and heatmaps for the marketing site at dtecto.app. Captures clicks, scrolls, and page views; does not collect personally identifiable information (United States).
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers.
4. Your Choices
- Account deletion. Settings → Delete Account permanently removes your account and all associated data (finds, hunts, posts, photos) within 30 days.
- Per-find privacy. Every find has a visibility toggle — private finds are never shown to other users or pinned on the public map. You control whether a public find shares its location.
- Location permission. Revoke at any time via iOS Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Dtecto.
- Motion & Fitness permission. Revoke at any time via iOS Settings → Privacy → Motion & Fitness → Dtecto; hunts then record duration only.
- Notifications. Manage via iOS Settings → Notifications → Dtecto.
- Subscription cancellation. iOS Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions → Dtecto.
5. Children
Dtecto is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
6. Data Retention
We retain account-associated data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, all associated data is removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law (for example, tax-related records linked to subscription purchases).
7. Security
We use industry-standard transport encryption (TLS) for all network traffic and at-rest encryption for stored data. No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. International Users
Dtecto is operated from the United States. By using the Service you consent to the transfer and processing of your information in the United States. Where applicable, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses with our processors to cover cross-border transfers.
9. Changes
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Effective" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be surfaced in-app and via email where appropriate.
10. Contact
Questions? Email us at support@dtecto.app.
Trader contact information (EU DSA): postal address and phone number are displayed on the App Store product page within the European Union.