BarScout ("we," "our," or "us") is operated by Lucky Charm Studio LLC. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your data when you use the BarScout mobile application.
Account information. When you create an account, we collect your email address and display name. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name and email from those providers.
Location data. With your permission, we access your device's GPS coordinates to verify that you are near a bar when you submit a crowd report, and to show you nearby bars. We do not store your precise GPS coordinates on our servers — only whether proximity was verified at the time of a report. You can use the app without granting location access; GPS verification is optional. If you ask us to bring BarScout to your city, we store an approximate location (rounded to roughly one mile) along with the city name so we know where demand is.
Crowd reports. When you submit a crowd-level report for a bar, we store the bar ID, crowd level, timestamp, and your user ID. Reports are associated with your account for leaderboard and badge purposes.
Photos and video. If you are verified staff or an owner of a venue, you can post photos and short videos to that venue's page. We store these files, along with their dimensions, size, and duration. Every photo and video is automatically screened for unsafe content before it can appear publicly, and anything flagged is reviewed by our team. See "Automated content screening" below.
Business account information. If you claim a venue, we collect the role you claim (owner, manager, marketing, or staff), any note you provide to support the claim, and the outcome of our review. Venue staff can see aggregate statistics about their own venue — such as how many people viewed it — but never information identifying which individuals viewed, saved, or reported at it.
Content reports. If you report a photo or video, we store which item you reported, the reason you selected, any detail you add, and your user ID, so we can review the report and prevent abuse of the reporting system.
Push notification token. If you grant notification permission, we store a push token on our servers so we can deliver alerts such as friend check-ins. You can revoke notification permission at any time in your device settings.
Friend connections. If you use the Friends feature, we store the user IDs of accepted friend connections and, when "Share Tonight" is enabled, your current bar check-in (bar name and an expiry timestamp).
Usage data. We collect basic app usage information such as which screens you visit and actions you take, to help us improve the app. This data is not sold.
Diagnostic data. When the app crashes or hits an error, we collect a technical report to help us fix it. These reports can include your account identifier, your IP address, and a recording of the app screens involved in the error. They are used only for diagnosing and fixing problems.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
Every photo and video posted to a venue page is sent to Google Cloud's Vision and Video Intelligence services, which automatically check it for adult, violent, or otherwise unsafe content. This happens before the content can be seen by anyone else.
If the automated check flags something — or fails to complete for any reason — the item is held and reviewed by a person on our team before it can be published. Nothing is published on the strength of an automated check alone failing open.
These services receive the image or video file itself. They do not receive your name, email address, or account identifier.
BarScout shows optional rewarded advertisements, supplied by Google AdMob, which you can choose to watch in exchange for bonus points. You are never required to watch an ad to use the app.
BarScout does not ask for permission to track you across other companies' apps and websites, and does not use your device's advertising identifier for that purpose. The ads you see are not personalized using cross-app tracking.
To serve and measure ads, AdMob does process technical information from your device, such as general device type, coarse location, and whether an ad was viewed or completed. You can limit ad personalization and reset your advertising identifier in your device settings at any time. See Google's advertising policies.
BarScout relies on the following third-party services to operate:
We retain your account data for as long as your account is active.
Photos and video posted to a venue page are temporary. They expire when the venue's session ends, and both the files and their records are then deleted.
Crowd reports are retained indefinitely as part of a bar's aggregate history, because they are what makes the app useful — they show how busy a venue tends to be. When an account is deleted, its reports are stripped of any link to the person who filed them, as described below.
You can delete your account at any time from within the app: Settings → Account → Delete Account. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone.
Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, display name and avatar, points, level, badges and streaks, saved bars, friends and friend requests, check-ins, any content reports you filed, and any venue access you held.
Your past crowd reports are not deleted. They remain as anonymous venue history: your user ID is removed and your display name is replaced, so the report is no longer connected to you or to any account. An unlinked crowd level with a timestamp does not identify anyone, and it is the record that bars and other users depend on.
If you signed in with Apple, deleting your account also revokes BarScout's access to your Apple ID.
You may also request deletion by contacting us at the address below.
BarScout is intended for users 21 years of age and older, consistent with the legal drinking age in the United States. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 21. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data by contacting us at the address below. You can also delete your account directly within the app, as described in section 7.
We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) and row-level security policies on our database. Photos and video are stored privately and served through expiring, signed links rather than public URLs. No system is perfectly secure, and we encourage you to use a strong, unique password.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through the app or via email. Continued use of the app after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Lucky Charm Studio LLC
privacy@barscout.app