MootsMap is a map for finding the right people nearby, run by Janzen Works LLC. This policy says what we collect, what we do with it, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read.
What we collect
- Before you sign in: the public home page looks up your IP address to show a map of your rough area and how many members are near it. The address is read and forgotten; nothing is stored or sent to anyone.
- Age: your date of birth, to confirm you are 18 or over. If you give a date under 18 we delete the account at once and keep only a one-way code of the email, so the address cannot sign up again until the day it turns 18.
- Account: your email address, and a sign-in code sent to it. There is no password. If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account's email address, name and profile picture; the picture is stored only if you choose to use it as your photo.
- Profile: a handle you choose, your date of birth, your gender, one photo if you add one, links to other channels if you add them, and a short summary.
- Location: where your device says you are, checked each time you open the map, so your pin follows you when you travel. We store the exact point, and only the latest one.
- Searches: what you are looking for, in your words, with any conditions you set.
- Messages: what you write to other members in chat.
- Connections: who you follow, friend, block or report.
- Technical: a session cookie that keeps you signed in, and the usual server logs (address, browser, pages, times).
How we use it
- Matching. Your summary and searches are turned into numbers (embeddings) by a model that runs on our own servers. Matching compares those numbers. Nobody appears on your map unless your search fits them and theirs fits you.
- Showing you to others. People who match you see your handle, age, photo, summary, links, a match score, a one-line explanation, and a position a few blocks from where you are. They never see your exact location, your email, or your birth date.
- Notices. Email, and push notifications on devices where you turn them on, when someone matches or messages you. You can turn these off in settings.
- Safety. Photos are checked automatically before they appear. Reports are reviewed by a person, who can read the conversation reported.
AI
The setup chat, your summary draft, search drafts and match explanations are produced with Claude, a model from Anthropic. We send it what you tell us in the chat, your summary and searches, and, for explanations, the summary and searches of the person being explained. The chat itself is not stored anywhere; only the summary you approve is kept. We do not use your data to train models, and neither does Anthropic under our agreement with them.
Who else sees it
- Other members, as described under matching. Only people who match you, or whom you have friended or messaged.
- Services we run on: hosting and a database, an email provider for sign-in codes and notices, a map tile provider (OpenFreeMap, which receives the map area your browser is looking at), and Anthropic for the AI steps above. ZIP codes are matched to places with data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), inside our own database.
- Nobody else. We do not sell data, show ads, or share your information with advertisers or data brokers.
- If the law requires it, for example a valid legal request, or a report of apparent child sexual abuse material, which we must report to NCMEC.
Your location
Your exact position is used only to compute distances and is never shown to anyone. Others see you at a point a few blocks away, placed so that watching it over time reveals nothing more. Your pin is where your device says you are: it updates each time you open the map and cannot be placed by hand. We also compare it with the rough region your connection comes from and refuse a pin far from it, so people cannot appear in a city they are not in. Nothing about the connection is kept.
Photos
When you add a photo we resize it and remove all metadata, including any location your camera stored in the file. Anyone can ask us to remove an image of them; we remove it within 48 hours.
Keeping and deleting
We keep your data while you have an account. Delete your account from settings and it all goes, right away: profile, searches, messages, photo, connections, and the notices we sent. Server logs are kept for up to 30 days.
Your choices
- Edit your handle, summary, links and photo in settings; move your location from the map.
- End any search; block anyone, which removes you from each other’s maps.
- Turn email and push notices off in settings.
- Delete your account, and everything in it, from settings.
- Ask us what we hold about you, or to correct it, at the address below.
Age
MootsMap is for adults 18 and over. We do not knowingly keep an account for anyone younger; if we learn of one, we remove it.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will tell you by email before it takes effect. Questions and requests: privacy@mootsmap.com.