Privacy & your data
Updated September 7, 2026
BrytaLocals helps you research places across the United States. Public facts and their sources are available without an account. This notice explains the information used when you choose additional features.
Accounts and saved research
We store your email address, account verification status, sign-in records, saved searches, comparisons, followed places and preferences. Password accounts use a salted password hash. When you choose Google sign-in, we request your identity and email and use your Google account identifier and verified email to sign you in. We do not request access to Gmail, Google Drive or your contacts.
Newsletters are your choice
You can subscribe with an email address without creating an account. We keep your chosen places, topics, frequency, confirmation and subscription status. Brevo processes email addresses, message content and delivery events to deliver account messages and newsletters. Delivery, bounce, complaint and unsubscribe records help us prevent unwanted or failed mail. Every digest includes a link to manage your preferences or unsubscribe.
What a shared link reveals
A permanent comparison link contains the places and selected metrics you choose to share. Anyone with that link can open it. Personal comparison links are excluded from our sitemap and marked for search engines not to index, but this is not access control. Home and work addresses are excluded from shared comparisons.
Your starting area
On a fresh visit, Cloudflare’s approximate IP-based city may set the initial search area. This does not use your device’s precise location or request location permission. We do not store the IP address for this feature. The city can be wrong, especially with mobile networks or a VPN. You can change it or choose the whole country; your browser remembers that choice. When no city is available, we show the United States.
Addresses, maps and external websites
An address lookup sends the address you enter to the US Census geocoder. Maps load tiles from OpenFreeMap. When you open directions, housing listings, school resources or news links, the destination service receives the information contained in that link and applies its own privacy policy. A live journey check, where available, sends the requested locations and travel settings to Google Maps. External referral tags identify BrytaLocals and the link category; they do not contain your account email or private sign-in tokens.
Cookies, storage and service providers
We use a session cookie to keep you signed in and a short-lived cookie to complete Google sign-in. Your browser can remember metric preferences and whether you have seen interface guidance. Cloudflare hosts the website and processes web requests and operational logs; Hetzner runs the backend, and Neon stores application data in PostgreSQL. Our hosting providers may process IP addresses and request metadata for delivery, security and troubleshooting.
Optional product analytics
We use Mixpanel, with data stored in the United States, to understand which features help people research places. We measure page categories, public places opened and compared, ordinary metrics selected or visible for at least one second, shared places and metrics, saves, sign-in steps, newsletter signup and external resource clicks. Campaign tags (UTMs and channel) help us understand how people find BrytaLocals.
Analytics uses a random browser identifier for up to 90 days and a session identifier that expires after 30 minutes of inactivity. It is not connected to your account email. We do not send passwords, home or work addresses, ZIP codes, precise location, typed searches, report text, newsletter email addresses, demographic, health or accessibility preferences, or private link tokens. We do not use session recordings or automatic click capture. Requests go through our server without forwarding your IP address to Mixpanel.
Checking this browser’s preference…
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control keep analytics off. Local and preview versions never send events. This choice does not affect your account or newsletters.
Reports and support
When you report a fact, we keep the report, its place and metric, any details or source link you provide, and its review history. Administrators can review reports and email operations. Please avoid including another person’s private information in reports.
Retention and your controls
You can edit preferences, remove saved research and unsubscribe from newsletters in the app. Account and research records are retained while you use these features. From your account, you can download your personal research and request account deletion. Deletion requires an expiring email link and an explicit confirmation; it removes private research, reports and account records, revokes devices, and stops newsletters to your account email. Shared comparison definitions remain available without your identity. Protected backups expire under the backup retention schedule rather than being rewritten individually. Contact us for correction or further privacy requests. Some suppression records may need to be retained to honor opt-outs and investigate abuse. Unsubscribing does not delete your account. Clearing browser storage removes preferences stored on that device, but does not delete saved account data.
We do not sell personal information or use Google account data for advertising. If these practices change, we will update this notice before the change takes effect.
Contact
Email brytaafrica@gmail.com for privacy and support requests.