Effective date: July 9, 2026 · Updated: September 29, 2026 · Contact: stasonvk@gmail.com
Lorecast is a GPS-triggered audio guide: as you drive or walk, it plays short narrated stories about the places around you. This policy explains what data the app uses, why, and what happens to it. The short version: we use your location to pick stories, we keep listening statistics to make the product better, and we don't sell or share your data with advertisers. Ever.
You sign in with Google or Apple. We receive and store your basic account identity: a user id, your email address, and (if provided) your display name. We use it to keep your listening history and settings attached to your account and to contact you about the pilot if you're a tester. Rarely — never more than once a month — we may also email you about a new way to listen; reply “no more” and that stops for good. We never see your password.
Lorecast's core feature needs your location: the app sends your current position, heading and speed to our server to select which stories are near you and coming up on your route. Location is processed per-request to build that story pool. We do not build or keep a continuous movement track of you, and we do not share location with third parties. You can also use the app without GPS in "Virtual drive" mode, which simulates a position on the route.
To understand what's working we record product events: which stories played and how much of them you listened to, skips, "Tell me more" taps, thumbs up/down, and app errors. These are tied to an anonymous session id and your user id. We use them only to improve story selection and quality.
Our servers run on Hetzner (EU) and Cloudflare. The app displays map tiles from CARTO/OpenStreetMap and place photos from Wikimedia — those services receive standard web requests (your IP address) when tiles or images load. Story audio may be cached on your device for offline playback; you can delete the cache in the app at any time.
When you visit lorecast.net, our own server records the page you opened, the page that referred you (if any), any campaign tags in the link, the country your connection comes from, your browser's language and time zone, and the kind of device and browser (for example "mobile, iOS, Safari"). Your IP address is used only to derive the country and is not stored. We do not use Google Analytics or any other third-party analytics.
If you accept the cookie banner, we set one cookie (lc_vid, a random identifier, kept for up to 400 days) so that we can tell a returning visitor from a new one. If you decline, no cookie is set and your visit is counted anonymously. You can change your mind by clearing the site's cookies and data in your browser; the banner will then ask again.
If you came to lorecast.net from an ad in ChatGPT, the link carries a click identifier that OpenAI adds to it (oppref). When you then tap the App Store or Google Play button, our server tells OpenAI that this ad click led to a store visit, sending only that identifier, the time and the page address, so that we can see whether the ad works. We do not place any OpenAI cookie or script on the site, and we do not store the identifier.
Account data and listening statistics are kept while your account is active. To delete your account and associated data, email stasonvk@gmail.com from the address you signed up with — we'll confirm deletion within 30 days.
Lorecast is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
If this policy changes materially we'll note it in the app. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Stories are generated from cited open sources (Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikivoyage, OpenStreetMap and public heritage registers) and carry per-story source citations in the app. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); article content CC BY-SA.