Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 29, 2026

GMapFood is a browser extension that re-sorts a restaurant's Google Maps photos by upload date and quality, so recent photos aren't buried under years-old ones. This policy explains exactly what data the extension shares, what it never touches, and how you stay in control. GMapFood is operated by the GMapFood team and is an independent tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.

The short version

• We share only derived metadata about photos — never the images themselves.
• We collect no account, no personal data, no browsing history, and no location about you.
• Sharing is on by default to build a shared, date-sorted photo index, and you can turn it off at any time in the extension settings. Re-sorting keeps working locally even when sharing is off.
• The only purpose is to improve date-sorted photo results. We do not sell data or use it for advertising.

What we collect

When you view a place on Google Maps and contribution is enabled, the extension sends the following derived metadata to our backend:

• Anonymous install id — a random UUID generated on your device. It is not linked to any account, email, name, or any other identifier, and we cannot use it to identify you.
• Place details — the Google place id, the place name, and the latitude/longitude of the restaurant (its location on the map — never your location).
• Photo metadata, for each photo of that place: the photo URL template (a link to Google's image, not the image bytes), the upload date and its precision, the image width and height, and our computed recency and quality scores.
• Dish categories — the dish/category labels Google attaches to photos (e.g. "Tiramisu", "Pizza"), used to power search-by-dish.

What we never collect

• No image files or image bytes. We only reference Google's own photo URLs.
• No personal data: no name, email, account, or contact details.
• No location about you — only the restaurant's coordinates.
• No browsing history, no pages you visit, and no activity outside the photo metadata described above.
• No cross-site tracking, no advertising, and no sale of data. (See “Analytics” below for the limited, anonymous usage measurement we do.)

How sharing works and how to opt out

Contribution is enabled by default so everyone — including future mobile clients — benefits from a shared, date-sorted photo index. On first run, the extension shows a clear disclosure with a one-tap way to disable sharing. You can also change it any time: open the extension's Settings and uncheck “Contribute anonymous photo metadata,” or clear the Backend URL field to disable contribution entirely. The core re-sorting feature works fully on your device regardless of this setting.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand, in aggregate, how GMapFood is used — for example how many people install it and how often the photo panel is opened. We have configured it for privacy: analytics requests are flagged non-personalized (no advertising use), and we never sell or share this data.

• On this website, analytics cookies are set only after you accept the consent banner. If you decline — or simply ignore it — Google Analytics runs in a cookieless mode. You can revisit your choice by clearing this site's storage.
• In the extension, we send anonymous usage events — installation, opening the photo panel, and changing the sort order — that carry only your random anonymous install id, the event name, and the extension version. The extension itself sets no cookies. These events are independent of the photo-metadata sharing setting: to stop all communication with our backend (analytics included), clear the Backend URL field in the extension's Settings.

Purpose and legal basis

We process this metadata for a single purpose: to build and improve a date- and quality-sorted photo index that powers the extension and related clients. For users in the EEA/UK, our legal basis is our legitimate interest in operating and improving the service with anonymous, non-personal metadata; you may object at any time by disabling contribution.

Service providers

We use the following subprocessors solely to host, store, and measure the use of the service:

• Cloudflare — edge hosting for our API (Workers).
• Supabase — managed database where the derived metadata is stored.
• Google Analytics — privacy-configured, aggregate usage analytics (see “Analytics” above).

We do not sell or share this data with advertisers or other third parties.

Data retention

Derived photo metadata is retained while it remains useful to the date-sorted index. Because records are tied only to an anonymous install id, they contain no personal data to retain about you.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or CCPA/CPRA, including access, deletion, and objection. Since the data we hold is anonymous and not tied to your identity, the most reliable way to stop further collection is to disable contribution in Settings. To request deletion of data associated with a specific install id, reach us via our contact form with that id (shown in the extension's Settings page). We do not sell personal information.

Children

GMapFood is not directed to children and does not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new “Last updated” date.

Contact

Questions or requests: reach us via our contact form.