Privacy Policy

• Account information: your email address; a password (held only as a secure hash by our authentication provider); username; display name; optional profile photo; optional home town; and profile details such as your units and "detecting since".
• Finds you log: the item, description, photo, depth, target ID (VDI), detector model, your notes, the find type, and whether you mark the find public or private.
• Location of finds: the precise coordinates you attach to a find, which we store in encrypted form and disclose only in accordance with the visibility you choose.
• Community activity: your follows, blocks, comments, reactions, saved finds, hashtags, reports you submit, and the direct messages you send to other users.
• Permits: if you add a Miner's Right or permit, its details and image, which are processed to extract the relevant fields (see clause 4).
• Notifications: a device push token, if you enable push notifications.
• Device location: collected while the app is in use to show nearby ground and, if you start a recording, to draw your walk track.
• Technical and security information: your IP address and basic logs, used to operate and secure the Service, prevent abuse and apply rate limits.

Precise location can be sensitive information. We collect and use your device location and find coordinates only with your consent (including the operating-system location permission), for the purposes described in this policy. You may withdraw consent by revoking the permission in your device settings; some features will then be unavailable.

We collect personal information directly from you when you register, set up your profile, log finds, use community features, or contact us; and automatically (such as IP address and logs) when you use the Service.

We handle your personal information to: provide, secure, maintain and improve the Service; operate the community feed, messaging and notifications; keep the community safe (including moderation and handling reports); comply with our legal obligations; and respond to your support and contact enquiries. We do not sell your personal information and do not use it for third-party advertising.

We disclose personal information to service providers only as needed to provide the Service:

• Supabase - database, authentication and file storage.
• OpenAI - automated moderation of text and images.
• Anthropic - find identification and reading fields from permit images you upload.
• Open-Meteo - weather and tide information for sites.
• OpenStreetMap / CARTO - the map basemap.
• Macrostrat - the geology layer.
• Brevo - sending emails (including moderation notices and contact messages).
• Expo - delivering push notifications.

Some of our service providers store or process data outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union. By using the Service you acknowledge that, where we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, APP 8.1 may not apply and we may not be accountable under the Privacy Act for that recipient's handling of your information. We take reasonable steps to use reputable providers.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Your home town and the precise coordinates of your finds are encrypted at rest with a key held separately from the data; your email and password are held and hashed by our authentication provider; and encryption is applied in transit. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

We do not send you direct marketing without your consent. Any such message will include a means to opt out.

You may request access to, or correction of, the personal information we hold about you by contacting us. You can also edit your profile and delete your finds within the app. We will respond within a reasonable time and may need to verify your identity.

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes above, to meet legal obligations, and to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. You may request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us. Deleting the app removes your on-device walk tracks.

Recorded walk tracks are stored locally on your device - not on our servers - and are never shown on the community feed. They leave your device only if a future feature requests, and you grant, explicit opt-in consent.

The Detector Trails website does not use cookies or any advertising, analytics or third-party tracking. The mobile app keeps you signed in using your device's secure storage, not browser cookies.

The Service is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

If you have a privacy complaint, please contact us and we will investigate and respond. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

We may update this policy from time to time. We will update the "last updated" date and, for material changes, notify you in the app.

Privacy questions, access, correction or deletion requests: please use the contact form at https://detectortrails.com/contact.