Effective date: July 16, 2026
Hotpla ("the app", "we", "us") is a personal place-saving app. It stores your data on your device first, then syncs it to your own private account so it carries over between devices. This policy explains what the app collects, where it goes, and who can see it.
The app signs you in automatically and anonymously the first time you open it — no name, email, or sign-up form required to use the app. You can optionally link that session to your Google or Apple account so your data follows you to a new device. If you do, our authentication provider (Firebase Authentication, operated by Google) retains the basic profile info that sign-in method provides (typically your email address). We do not use this to contact you or share it with anyone.
Content you create — place names, notes, tags, saved pin coordinates, "liked" status, and visit history — is stored locally on your device and synced to a private area of our database (Google Firebase/Firestore) tied to your account. This synced copy is readable only by you; it lets your data survive an app reinstall or move to a new device. Photos you attach to a place stay on your device only and are never uploaded.
You can connect with another user by exchanging invite codes — this requires both people to enter each other's code, so a connection is never one-sided. Connecting shares your display name (from your linked Google/Apple account, or "Anonymous" if you haven't linked one) with that person, and theirs with you.
Each place you save has a visibility setting, private by default:
Neither setting exposes your notes or photos, which stay private regardless of visibility. You can make a place private again or delete it at any time, which removes it from whichever view it was in.
Hotpla can request access to your device location. This permission is optional — the app works without it. When granted, location is used to:
If you save a place, its exact coordinates become part of that place's data and are handled per sections 2–3 above.
Hotpla uses the Google Maps Platform to display maps and the Google Places API to let you search for and import real-world places into the app. Searching sends your typed search text, and an approximate ~5 km-wide area (never your exact location), to Google. Selecting a place from search results sends that place's Google identifier to fetch its name, location, phone number, and website. This processing is governed by Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy, and the Google Maps Platform terms.
Place details sourced this way (name, approximate location, phone, website — not your personal notes) may be added to a shared, moderated directory used by the app, so other users searching the same real-world place can benefit from it too.
The app contains no advertising, no analytics, and no third-party tracking or ad SDKs.
We do not sell or rent your data. Data is only ever shared as described above: with people you've connected with (Friends-visibility places, section 3), with anyone using the app (Public-visibility places, section 3), with our infrastructure provider (Google Firebase, which hosts the app's database and authentication), and with Google's Maps/Places APIs to provide map and search features.
Hotpla is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.
If this policy changes, we will update the effective date above and post the new version at this URL.
If you have questions about this policy, or want your account data deleted, contact us at: hello@moko.fyi.