Privacy policy

This policy covers the Shadowmark Maps app for iPhone and Android and the website shadowmarkmaps.com. Last updated 18 October 2026.

Who we are

Shadowmark Maps is run by Shadowmark Ltd ("we"), a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17533305), registered office Level 30, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AB. We are the controller of the personal data described here. For anything about your data, email support@shadowmarkmaps.com.

The short version

• There is no account to create, and there are no adverts.
• We don't track you across other apps or websites, we use no analytics tools, and we never sell data.
• Your location is used on your phone, to show where you are and to warn you near protected sites. We don't receive or store your position.
• Your finds, saved areas and settings stay on your phone.
• Payments are handled by Apple or Google. We never see your card details.

What stays on your phone

• Location and compass. If you allow location access, your position is used on your phone for the blue dot, for protected-site warnings and to record where a find was made. The compass reads your phone's motion sensors.
• Finds log. Photos (taken with the camera or picked from your library), notes, positions and grid references are stored only in the app on your phone, and in your phone's own backups (iCloud or Google) if you use them. We have no copy and can't recover them, so export them if you want a backup of your own. Exports go only where you send them.
• Search. Place search runs on your phone, using place lists built into the app. What you type isn't sent anywhere.
• Saved offline areas, settings (including where the map was when you closed it), your Pro status and the protected-site outlines the app has already downloaded.

Deleting the app deletes all of this.

What the app sends over the internet

• Map images. Like any map, the app downloads images for the area on screen. They come from the services that publish them: the national LiDAR services (such as the Environment Agency, IGN and USGS), OpenFreeMap for the base map, Esri for satellite imagery, and Mapterhorn for 3D terrain. Each request names the map area and, as with any web request, includes your phone's IP address. It doesn't include your position, an account or a device ID. Each provider handles its requests under its own policy; the data and licences page lists them all.
• Our servers. Pro views and A3 prints come from our own servers, hosted by Cloudflare. We use these requests only to send back the map or print. To stop overuse, the server counts print requests from each IP address for one minute; it doesn't store them. We don't keep logs that link an IP address to the areas you view.
• Protected-site warnings. The outlines of England's Scheduled Monuments (from Historic England's National Heritage List) are built into the app. The red areas on the map and the warning when you're near one are worked out on your phone, so your position is never sent anywhere for them, and they work with no signal.
• Saving an offline area downloads the map images for that area once and stores them on your phone. Satellite imagery is never saved.
• Purchases. If you buy Pro, Apple or Google takes the payment. To confirm what you've bought and restore it on another device, we use RevenueCat, a service that processes purchases for us. RevenueCat receives a random app user ID that the app creates, your purchase receipts and history, and your country and currency. It never receives your name, email or card. We can see these purchase records, for example to answer a refund question.
• Links to other websites (such as Historic England list entries) open in your browser, and those sites' own policies apply.

What we don't do

• No advertising, no advertising identifiers and no tracking across apps or websites.
• No analytics or crash-reporting tools of our own. Apple and Google give app makers anonymous, aggregated statistics (such as downloads and crash rates) from people who chose to share them. We can't identify anyone from these.
• This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.
• No selling or renting of personal data, and no sharing it for marketing.

Our legal bases (UK GDPR)

• Purchases and restoring them: to perform our contract with you.
• Location: you choose whether to allow it in your phone's settings, and it is used on your phone.
• Delivering maps and keeping our servers secure: our legitimate interest in providing the app you asked for.
• Replying to emails you send us: our legitimate interest in helping you.

Who else handles data

• Processors that act on our instructions: Cloudflare (hosting for our servers and this website) and RevenueCat (purchase records).
• Organisations that decide for themselves how they use the data they receive: Apple and Google (app stores and payments), and the map and data providers whose services the app calls directly.

RevenueCat is based in the United States, and Cloudflare runs a worldwide network. When personal data leaves the UK, we rely on the safeguards UK law requires, such as UK adequacy regulations or the ICO's international data transfer agreement.

How long we keep it

• Data on your phone stays until you delete it or the app.
• Purchase records at RevenueCat are kept while you have Pro, and afterwards as long as tax, accounting and refund rules require.
• We keep support emails as long as we need them to deal with your request and any follow-up.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to correct it, delete it, restrict its use or move it to another service. You can also object to how we use it. We hold very little: to find your purchase record, send us the order number from your App Store or Google Play receipt.

Email support@shadowmarkmaps.com. We reply within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, tell us first; we acknowledge complaints within 30 days. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113.

Age

Shadowmark Maps is for adults aged 18 and over. It isn't aimed at children, and we don't knowingly collect children's data.

Security

The app and website use encrypted (HTTPS) connections only. Your finds and saved areas are kept in the app's own storage on your phone, protected by your phone's own security. Anyone who can use your unlocked phone can see them.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also say so in the app's release notes.