Privacy
Privacy Policy
What the PickIt app handles, why, who else is involved and how long anything is kept.
The short version
- No account, no sign-up, no password. Just a nickname and an emoji.
- Rooms delete themselves automatically, at the latest 24 hours after someone last joined.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking, and we never sell data.
- Device location is optional. We only ask the host of a restaurant room, and our server never saves it.
01 Who we are
PickIt is a group decision app made by an independent developer in the United Kingdom. Friends join a shared room with a short code, swipe on movies, TV shows or restaurants, and see what everyone matches on. No account is needed.
In this policy, “PickIt”, “we” and “us” mean the developer of the app. We are responsible for the information described here. Questions go to google.dining808@passmail.com.
02 What we handle
This is everything the app handles, why, and how long each piece is kept.
| Information | Why | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname and emoji face | So people in your room can see who’s there. Use any name you like; it doesn’t need to be your real one. | Room lifetime |
| Room name and code | To create the room and let friends join it. The code is stored as a salted hash, not in plain text. | Room lifetime |
| Your votes | Your likes and nopes, plus the card details (title, poster, place name and so on) needed to work out and show the matches. | Room lifetime |
| Rough country | Worked out by our hosting provider from your internet connection, not your GPS. It sets which streaming services apply and warns the host if your group is spread across countries. Other people in the room can see it. | Room lifetime |
| Device type | Whether you’re on iPhone or Android, so restaurant rooms can use Apple Maps when everyone is on an iPhone. | Room lifetime |
| Host’s device location | Only in restaurant rooms, only from the host, and only with permission. Used to find places nearby. See section 03. | Not saved |
| Technical request data | Our hosting provider keeps short-lived request logs (such as IP address and the address requested) so we can fix problems. They never include the host’s device location. | Up to 7 days |
| App settings on your phone | Small flags such as “intro already seen”, plus cached images and fonts, so the app doesn’t repeat itself or reload everything. | On your phone |
| Feedback you email us | Your email address and message, plus the app version, OS version and phone model the app adds to the email. Only if you choose to send it. | Until resolved |
03 Location, in detail
Rough location, from your connection
When you create or join a room, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) estimates your country from your internet connection. PickIt keeps just the country code in the room. When the host sets up a restaurant room, the same estimate is used to show a city name and as a backup search area. This does not use your phone’s GPS and needs no permission.
Device location, with your permission
- Who: only the host, only in a restaurant room, and only when they choose dine-in spots. Guests are never asked.
- When: once per restaurant search, while the app is open. PickIt never tracks you in the background.
- How precise: roughly street level (around 100 metres) if you allow precise location, or a wider area if you don’t.
- Where it goes: to Apple Maps on the host’s iPhone when everyone in the room uses an iPhone; through our server to Google’s Places service (Google sees our server, not your phone); and, only if neither finds anything, to OpenStreetMap directly from the host’s phone.
- What others see: each restaurant card shows its distance from the host’s search point, so people in the room could get a rough idea of the area the host searched from.
- What we store: nothing. When the search goes through our server, the location travels inside the encrypted body of the request, which our hosting provider’s request logs don’t record. Our server passes it straight to Google without saving it.
If the host says no, PickIt uses the rough area from their connection instead, and if that isn’t available, a default spot in London. You can also swipe on cuisines, which needs no location at all. You can change location permission at any time in your phone’s Settings.
04 How and why we use it
We only use this information to:
- run rooms, so you and your friends can see each other
- build the deck of movies, shows or restaurants, then tally votes and show matches in real time
- find restaurants near the host
- answer your emails and fix bugs
- keep the service working and stop it being misused
Under UK data protection law, we rely on legitimate interests to provide the service you asked for, keep it secure and answer your messages. We rely on your consent for device location, which you can withdraw at any time in your phone’s Settings.
05 How long it’s kept
Everything in a room lives in a temporary room on our server that deletes itself automatically. If nobody joins the host, it’s gone within 3 minutes. Otherwise it’s deleted 24 hours after the last time someone joined or rejoined, which takes every nickname, emoji, vote, card and country code with it.
- Ending a room closes it for everyone and deletes all of its data straight away. Nobody can get back into it with its code.
- If the host removes someone, the room deletes their nickname, emoji, country, device type and votes straight away.
- We don’t keep any history of rooms, who was in them or what anyone swiped on.
- Our hosting provider’s request logs are deleted within 7 days.
- What’s stored on your phone stays until you delete the app. Your phone may clear cached images sooner.
- Feedback emails are kept only as long as we need them to deal with your message.
06 Other services involved
PickIt relies on these services. We never send them your nickname, votes or room code.
Any service that delivers an image, font or map to your phone receives a normal web request, which includes your IP address.
07 What we don’t do
- No accounts, and no email address, phone number or real name required
- No advertising, and no advertising identifier
- No analytics or crash-reporting tools inside the app
- No tracking you across other apps or websites
- No selling or sharing your information for advertising or profiling
- No access to your contacts, camera or microphone, and PickIt can’t see your photos
If you tap Save Image when sharing a room invite, your iPhone asks before adding that picture to Photos. PickIt can add it but can’t read your library.
The motion sensor is only used to notice when you shake your phone to send feedback. That happens on your phone and nothing is sent anywhere.
08 Security
Everything between the app and our server is encrypted (HTTPS and secure WebSockets), and room codes are stored as salted hashes. Anyone with a room’s code can join while the room is open, so only share it with the people you’re deciding with. The host can remove anyone from the room’s settings. No online service can promise perfect security, but we keep as little as possible for as short a time as possible.
09 Children
PickIt is not meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has used the app, contact us and we’ll delete any related data we can find. Room data deletes itself in any case.
10 Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask to access, correct or delete your information, and you can object to or restrict how we use it. You can withdraw location permission at any time in your phone’s Settings.
There are no accounts and rooms are temporary, so we usually can’t tell which data is yours, and it will have deleted itself within 24 hours anyway. If you contact us while your room is still open, include the room code and your nickname and we’ll help.
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We’d appreciate the chance to sort it out first.
11 Changes
If PickIt changes how it handles information, we’ll update this page and the “Last updated” date at the top.
12 Contact
Email google.dining808@passmail.com. We usually reply within 48 hours.