Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 19, 2026
This policy explains what information cip.cafe (“C.I.P.”, “we”, “us”) collects when you use the app, how we use it, and who it is shared with. cip.cafe is a mobile-first web app for finding, rating, and privately logging coffee & tea cafés, and for sharing café finds with people you connect to. By using cip.cafe you agree to this policy.
Information we collect
We only collect what the app needs to work:
- Your Google account basics. When you sign in with Google, we receive and store your name, email address, and profile photo, along with the account identifiers and tokens Google provides so we can keep you signed in. We request only basic sign-in access — we do not read your Gmail, contacts, calendar, or files.
- Content you create. Your café visit reports — your 1–5 rating, written comment, optional “memory” note, mood, tags, and visit date — plus any photos you upload, your saved / future café list, cafés you hide, and the taste-preference tags on your profile.
- Your connections and shares. The invite links you create or redeem, the connections (“squad” / “travel mates”) that result, the cafés and notes you send to a connection, and any users you tag in a report.
- Location (only with your permission). If you allow it, your browser shares your device location so we can find cafés near you. We use your coordinates in the moment to run the search; we do not keep a history of where you have been.
- Basic usage data. Your last-active time, your current theme choice, and per-day counts of map/search requests (used to enforce rate limits and run an internal operations dashboard). We do not use Google Analytics, advertising trackers, or third-party analytics SDKs.
- Cookies. A sign-in session cookie (to keep you logged in) and a theme-preference cookie (
cip_theme, remembers Patrol vs. Passport). We do not set advertising cookies.
How we use your information
- Sign you in and keep your session active.
- Show cafés near you and let you search by your tastes.
- Save your reports, ratings, photos, lists, and preferences.
- Let you connect with people and share cafés, reports, and memories.
- Enforce usage limits, prevent abuse, and keep the service secure.
How your information is shared
With people you connect to. Your ratings, comments, photos, and notes are private to you and the connections you share them with. When you tag a connection in a report or send them a café, that content — along with your name and profile photo — becomes visible to them in their app. Your reports are never posted publicly, and your in-app ratings are never written back to Google or any public review site.
With service providers who run the app for us. We share the minimum needed with:
- Google — for sign-in, and for maps and café search. When you search, your search text and location coordinates are sent to Google’s Maps/Places services to return results. Google’s handling of that data is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy.
- Cloudflare R2 — stores the photos you upload. Note: uploaded photos are served from a public web address, so anyone who has a photo’s direct URL could view it. Don’t upload photos you need to keep private.
- Railway — hosts the app and the database where your account and content are stored.
We do not sell your personal information or share it for third-party advertising. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, safety, or security of our users or the service.
Data retention & deletion
We keep your account and content for as long as your account is active. Cached café details from Google are refreshed and retained in line with Google’s terms. You can delete individual reports, saved cafés, and connections in the app at any time. You can also permanently delete your entire account and its associated data at any time from your profile — this removes your reports, photos, saved cafés, connections, any tags of you in other people’s reports, and your account record, and cannot be undone. If you need help, email us at [email protected].
Your choices & rights
- View and update your preferences, reports, and connections in the app.
- Turn café location access on or off in your browser or device settings.
- Sign out at any time from your profile.
- Request a copy of your data, or its deletion, by contacting us. Depending on where you live (for example, the EU/UK or California), you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, or port your data, and to object to certain processing.
Security
We use reasonable measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections and access controls, and sign-in tokens are stored server-side. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children
cip.cafe is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country), and we do not knowingly collect their information.
International users
cip.cafe is operated and hosted in the United States. If you use the app from elsewhere, your information will be processed there. By using cip.cafe you consent to this transfer.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Significant changes may be highlighted in the app.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your data? Contact the cip.cafe team at [email protected].