Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 24, 2026

Vantage (the app at shootvantage.com and the Vantage iOS app) helps photographers find places to shoot and the right light to shoot them in. Vantage is operated by Jon Flaherty, an individual (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what information Vantage handles, why, who processes it for us, how long it is kept, and the choices you have.

1. What we collect

Your account

• Email and password. You need an account to use Vantage. Your password is stored by our authentication provider (Supabase) as a salted hash; we never see it.
• Sign in with Google (web only). If you choose it, Google shares your email address, your Google account ID, and the name and profile picture on your Google account. We use the email to identify your account; we do not display your Google name or picture.
• Sign-in records. Our authentication provider records when you sign in and the IP address and browser or device you signed in from, for security and abuse prevention.

What you save in the app

While you are signed in, the following is synced to your account so it follows you across devices: spots you mark “want to go” or “been”, your shot checklists, your private notes on spots, saved day plans, your chosen city, your home base, and your display preferences (units, maps app, theme).

Your home base is either the address you type in Settings (with its map coordinates) or, if you tap “Use my current location”, the precise coordinates of where you were at that moment. It is used to rank spots by drive time, to fetch your local weather, and as the starting point for directions.

Location

Vantage asks for your device’s location only when you tap a button that needs it: “Use my current location” in Settings or in the welcome card, and checking in at a photo-hunt stop. It never tracks your location in the background.

• Setting your home base from your location saves those coordinates as described above.
• Checking in at a hunt stop sends your current coordinates to our server, which confirms you are within 150 m of the stop before awarding points. The coordinates may be stored with that check-in.

You can turn location access off at any time in your device or browser settings and type an address instead.

Photos you upload

• When you add a shot to a spot (from your library or the camera), we store the image file, the spot, the time, and your account ID.
• Image metadata. Before any photo leaves your device, the app removes its embedded metadata, including the GPS location where it was taken, the camera make, model and serial number, the owner name, and the time it was taken. It keeps only what is needed to display the image correctly (its color profile and which way up it goes). If the app cannot remove the metadata from a file, it refuses to upload it rather than uploading it as is.
• We also store ratings you give other people’s shots, reports you file about a shot (the reason and any note you add), and photographers you block.

Points, hunts and votes

We keep a record of the craft points you earn, the hunts you join and the stops you complete, and your vote for the next city.

Client shortlists

• If you are a photographer and build a shortlist for a client, we store its title, the spots on it, and the notes you write for your client.
• If you are a client answering a shortlist, you do not need an account. We store the spots you pick, the name you enter, and any comment you leave, and pass them to the photographer who sent you the link (in the app, by push notification, and by email).

Suggestions, feedback and support

• Spot suggestions: the place details you enter and, if you are signed in, your account ID.
• Feedback: your message, its type, the app version, your browser or device description (user agent), your account ID if signed in, and a contact email if you choose to give one. Feedback is also emailed to us so we see it promptly.
• Email to support@shootvantage.com: the message and your email address. It is received by our email provider and forwarded to our inbox.

Notifications

If you turn on conditions alerts, we store:

• your push subscription (on the web, an address issued by your browser’s push service; on iOS, an Apple device token);
• the IDs of the spots you are watching, and your account ID so that client responses can reach your devices;
• the text of notifications waiting to be shown, and the date each spot last alerted you, so you are not alerted twice.

Turning alerts off deletes your subscription.

Emails we send you

We send account emails (for example, password-reset links) and, if you share client shortlists, an email when a client responds. We do not send marketing email.

Technical information

Like any website, the servers that deliver Vantage receive your IP address, browser or device type, and the pages and files requested. Our hosting and database providers keep these logs for security and reliability. We do not use them to build profiles of you.

2. How we use it

• To run your account and sync your saved spots, notes and plans across devices.
• To show weather, sun, tide and drive-time information for your area and the spots you view.
• To display community shots, ratings and points, and to run photo hunts.
• To deliver the conditions alerts and client-response notifications you ask for.
• To moderate community content: review reports, remove shots that break the rules, and honour blocks.
• To answer your support requests and feedback, and to fix bugs.
• To keep Vantage secure and prevent abuse.

We do not use your information for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not share it with anyone for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on these legal bases: performance of our contract with you (providing the features you sign up for); consent (location access, push notifications, and optional contact details, which you can withdraw at any time); and our legitimate interests in keeping the service secure, moderating community content, and improving the app.

3. What other people can see

• Community shots are visible to everyone using Vantage, alongside two initials derived from your account. Your email address is never shown. The image files are stored at public web addresses, so anyone with a file’s address can view it.
• Client shortlists can be opened by anyone who has the link, without an account. Share links only with the people you mean to.
• Everything else you save (notes, plans, checklists, home base) is private to your account.

4. Who processes it for us

We use the service providers below to run Vantage. They process information on our behalf or, where noted, receive it directly from your device when the app loads their content.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the safety of any person, to address fraud or security issues, or as part of a transfer of the service to a new operator (in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information).

5. What stays on your device

Vantage stores your saved spots, preferences and sign-in session in your browser’s or app’s local storage, and the web app caches its own files and spot photos so it works with poor signal. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. Signing out removes your session from the device; clearing the site’s data (or deleting the app) removes the rest.

6. How long we keep it

• Account and synced data: for as long as you have an account.
• When you delete your account, we delete:
  • every photo you uploaded, including highly rated community shots, and the image files themselves;
  • your saved spots, checklists, notes, day plans and home base;
  • your client shortlists and the responses to them;
  • your points, hunt progress, ratings, city vote and block list;
  • the spot suggestions and feedback you sent;
  • your notification registrations on every device;
  • your login (email, password or Google link).
  Reports you filed about other people’s shots are kept for moderation, no longer linked to you. The device you deleted from is also reset.
• Notification subscriptions: until you turn alerts off, or your browser or Apple reports the subscription is no longer valid.
• Support email and feedback: for as long as needed to handle it and keep a record of what was reported.
• Server logs are kept for the limited periods set by our providers.

7. Your choices and rights

• Delete your account: in the app, go to Settings → Account → Delete account and type DELETE to confirm. This deletes the data listed under How long we keep it straight away. If you can’t sign in, email support@shootvantage.com from the address on your account and we will delete it the same way.
• Delete a photo: open “Your shots” in the You tab.
• Location and notifications: turn them off in your device or browser settings, or turn alerts off in Vantage Settings.
• Access, correction, portability: ask us for a copy of your data or to correct it.

Depending on where you live (for example the EEA, the UK, or US states such as California), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights. To make a request, email us; we may need to confirm the request comes from the account holder. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

8. Where it is stored

We and our providers operate in the United States and other countries. If you use Vantage from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in countries that may have different data protection laws, under the safeguards our providers offer (such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses). Our database, file storage and sign-in service (Supabase) are hosted in the United States, in Amazon Web Services’ US East (Northern Virginia) region.

9. Security

Connections to Vantage are encrypted (HTTPS). Database access is restricted per account, so each account can read only its own private data. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach that affects your information, we will notify you as the law requires.

10. Children

Vantage is not directed at children under 13, and you must be at least 13 to create an account. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

12. Contact us