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Terms & Conditions

Last updated: 19 August 2026 (version 3.0)

Welcome to The Plot ("App"). These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of The Plot, operated by ThePlot LTD ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") in the United Kingdom. By creating an account or using the App, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.

What changed in this version

  • Section 5 covers finding a place from the photos you choose for a post.
  • Section 6 covers browsing the map.
  • Section 8 is new. It explains what happens when you share a post outside the App, in particular that anyone with the link can open it.

1. Eligibility

  • You must be at least 16 years old to create an account and use the App.
  • By using the App, you confirm you are old enough and legally able to agree to these Terms.

2. Your account

  • Provide accurate information when you create your account and keep it up to date.
  • You are responsible for keeping your account secure. The App supports passwords, passkeys, Sign in with Apple, Sign in with Google, and biometric sign-in (Face ID, Touch ID, or fingerprint). Keep your sign-in methods and device secure.
  • You are responsible for activity that happens under your account.

3. Acceptable use

You agree to use the App lawfully and respectfully. You will not:

  • Post illegal, defamatory, abusive, harassing, hateful, or misleading content.
  • Post sexually explicit, violent, or otherwise offensive content.
  • Submit fake reviews, spam, or deceptive content.
  • Impersonate others or misrepresent your connection to a place or person.
  • Upload content you do not have the right to share.
  • Attempt to disrupt, overload, hack, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorised access to the App or its systems.
  • Use the App to collect or harvest other people's data without a lawful basis.

Breaking these rules may lead to content removal, suspension, or termination of your account, and where appropriate we may take further action.

4. Content you create and your voice notes

  • You own your content. You keep ownership of the photos, place selections, written notes, ratings, tags, and voice notes you upload.
  • You grant us a licence to run the App. By posting, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for example, compress or reformat for performance), and display your content for the purpose of operating and providing the App and its features to you and the people you share with. This licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies in technical backups that then expire, anything we must keep by law, and previews already cached by platforms you have shared to (see Section 8).
  • Voice notes. When you record a voice note, you agree that we may store it, turn it into text (a transcript), and process that transcript, including with AI, to produce vibe words and search terms about the place. We do not create a voiceprint and do not try to identify you by your voice. This is explained in the Privacy Policy.
  • The shared place database. Where you have chosen to contribute, you grant us the right to use information derived from your posts and transcripts (about places, in a pooled and anonymised form) to build and maintain shared travel information for the benefit of all users. This is about places, not about identifying you. Your audio recording itself is never added to that database.
  • AI-derived information is a signal, not a fact. Vibe words, search terms, and similar AI-derived information are there to help people discover places. They are not guaranteed to be accurate and should not be treated as definitive.
  • Moderation. We may remove content that breaks these Terms. You can report inappropriate content or users in the App, and we aim to review reports promptly.

5. Finding a place from your photos

  • Cameras usually save the location where a photo was taken inside the photo file. When you choose photos for a post, the App reads that saved location on your device so it can suggest where you were, instead of making you search for the place by hand.
  • We send the coordinate, not the photo, to Google Places to ask what venues are nearby, and show you the results to choose from. We do not store the coordinate, and it is not attached to your post.
  • We only read the photos you have chosen for that post. The App does not scan your photo library.
  • The location information is removed from photos before they are uploaded, so it does not travel with the image.
  • You can decline this. On Android it needs a separate permission you can refuse; on either platform you can turn off location tagging in your camera or search for a place by hand. The App works either way.

The Privacy Policy explains this in more detail.

6. Location and map features

  • The App includes location features. With your permission, and only while you are using the App, it may use your device location to show nearby content, centre the map on you, suggest nearby places when you add a post, and set your "home" location if you choose.
  • When you browse the map, we ask Google what venues are in the area you are viewing so we can show them as pins. Map imagery is provided by Mapbox.
  • Only public posts appear on the map to other people. Posts from private accounts are not shown to people who are not entitled to see them.
  • You can also enter places manually, and you can use the App without granting location access.
  • You control location permission in your device settings and can turn it off at any time.
  • You are responsible for the location information you choose to publish in your posts. Think before you share precise locations, especially your home or your current whereabouts.

7. Your privacy settings

Your account is private by default and you choose who can see your content. The one exception is sharing a link outside the App, which is covered in Section 8. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

8. Sharing outside the App

When you share a post or trip to another app, whether a messaging app, a social platform, or anywhere else, we create a link that shows a preview of it, including its title and cover photo.

Please read this carefully:

Anyone who has that link can open the preview, whether or not they use The Plot, and whether or not your account is private. The platform you share to will normally fetch and keep its own copy of the preview image in order to display it.

  • Sharing is always your choice. Nothing leaves the App unless you tap share.
  • We cannot recall a link once you have sent it, and we cannot remove copies held by other platforms. Deleting the post removes it from the App, but a preview already cached elsewhere is outside our control.
  • Only share links with people you are happy to show that content to.
  • To create the link we use a third-party service (Branch), and the share card may include a map drawn by Mapbox and weather information from Open-Meteo. These are listed in the Privacy Policy.

9. Content ownership and intellectual property

  • The App itself, including its design, branding, logos, and software, belongs to us or our licensors. You may not copy, modify, or reuse it except as allowed by these Terms or the law.
  • You must own or have the rights to everything you upload.
  • If you believe content in the App infringes your copyright, contact us at info@theplot.world with the details. We may remove infringing content and may suspend repeat infringers.

10. Service availability and changes

  • The App and its features may not always be available, and we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service.
  • We may add, change, or remove features at any time.
  • We may carry out maintenance that temporarily affects availability.
  • Some features depend on third-party services (for example maps, place search, and weather). If one of those is unavailable, the related feature may not work, and we are not responsible for their availability.

11. "As is" and "as available"

The App is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, to the extent permitted by law. We do not guarantee that the App will meet your expectations, be error-free, or that the information in it (including user-generated information, AI-derived information, place suggestions, and weather) is accurate or complete.

Place suggestions made from your photos are suggestions only. They are based on the coordinate your camera recorded, which can be inaccurate, particularly indoors. Always check that the place shown is the right one before you post.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

  • We are not responsible for the accuracy of user-generated content, AI-derived information, or place and weather information supplied by third parties.
  • We are not liable for issues caused by third-party services such as Google, Mapbox, Branch, OpenStreetMap, or Open-Meteo.
  • We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential losses.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected.

13. Account suspension and termination

  • You may delete your account at any time from within the App.
  • We may suspend or terminate accounts that break these Terms, or restrict access where we reasonably need to (for example, to protect users or comply with the law).
  • When you delete your account, we handle your data as set out in the Privacy Policy.

14. Advertising and sponsored content

  • Sponsored or promoted content may appear in the App.
  • Where content is sponsored, we will label it clearly.

15. Reporting and safety

  • You can report content or users in the App.
  • We may remove content, and suspend or ban users, to keep the community safe.
  • If content suggests a risk to someone's safety, we may take appropriate action, including contacting the authorities where the law requires or allows it.

16. Law enforcement and legal requests

  • We may disclose data to authorities where the law requires it, as described in the Privacy Policy.
  • You confirm you are not on any government sanctions or restricted-parties list that would make it unlawful for us to provide the App to you.

17. Governing law and disputes

  • These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
  • If you have a problem, please contact us first at info@theplot.world so we can try to resolve it informally.
  • If you are a consumer in the EU or another region, you may have additional rights under your local law, and nothing here removes those.
  • Only the original English version of these Terms is legally valid; any translation is for convenience only.

18. Changes to these Terms

  • We may update these Terms from time to time.
  • If we make a material change, we will let you know in the App. Continuing to use the App after a change means you accept the updated Terms.
  • The "Last updated" date at the top shows the current version.

If you have any questions about these Terms and Conditions, contact us at info@theplot.world.