cRawl
Privacy Policy

Privacy

cRawl Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 5, 2026

This English text is a reference translation of the Japanese original. If the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.

SparkMates (“we”) sets out this Privacy Policy regarding the handling of user information in the iOS app “cRawl” (the “App”) as follows.

Contents
  1. Information we collect
  2. Features processed only on your device
  3. Purposes of use
  4. Provision to third parties and external services
  5. Visibility, and its limits
  6. Retention and deletion of data
  7. Transfers outside Japan
  8. Your rights
  9. Children’s privacy
  10. Changes to this policy and contact

1. Information we collect

(1) Account information

The App creates your account using Sign in with Apple. In doing so, we obtain an identifier used for authentication (a user ID) and, if you allow it to be shared, your name. We do not obtain your email address. Your name is stored as your display name in the App and can be changed at any time. In addition, we store the profile image, self-introduction and links to external social accounts that you choose to set.

We may grant a verification badge to certain accounts at our discretion. Only we can change whether a badge is present.

(2) Content you create and post (UGC)

The following information is stored on our servers.

(3) Photos

The photos you take are stored in the App’s own area on your device. In addition, while the setting is enabled, they are also saved to the iPhone Photos app (the cRawl album).

Of these, the only photos uploaded to our servers (Firebase Cloud Storage) are the photos of logs you have made public. Photos of private logs are never sent to our servers. If you switch a log to private, the photos already uploaded are also deleted from our servers. When photos are exported for publication, all metadata embedded in them, including location information, is removed.

(3-2) Saving photos to iCloud

So that your photos are not lost when you change devices or reinstall the App, the photos in your logs are also saved to your own iCloud (a service of Apple). They are stored in a private area within your iCloud account (the CloudKit private database), and we cannot view or retrieve these photos. They are not made visible to other users either.

(4) Location information

Location information is used to show where you are on the map, and on the map for the following two purposes.
(i) Grouping the photos you take into a single meal (based on the time and the position at which they were taken)
(ii) Suggesting candidate names of the place to attach to a log or an event
Location information is collected only while you are using the App. We do not collect location information while the App is not open (in the background).

We do not transmit or record a continuous stream of your device’s coordinates on our servers. What remains on the server is the record of which place you visited and when, which amounts to coarse location information.

The only locations stored with an event (section 1 (10)) are the location of the place you chose, the center of the area you chose on the map with “Decide together”, and the locations of suggested places. The center of the area is rounded to about 100 m or moved to the location of the area name you chose. Your device’s current location is never stored with an event.

(5) Device and usage information

The App displays no advertising, does not use the advertising identifier (IDFA), and does not track you across the apps or websites of other companies.

(6) Purchase information

We store the status of your Premium subscription (whether you are subscribed, and the source of that subscription). Payment information such as credit card numbers is handled by Apple and is never received by us.

(7) Entries to topics (BOARD)

If you submit an entry to a topic, the content of the entry (the name of the place, your comment, the photo and the area shown) and an ID identifying you are stored on our servers, and the entry is listed on the page for that topic and in the “JUST IN” section of BOARD. Your icon and display name are shown on the sticker of your entry. Your display name and icon are not copied into the entry data; they are read from your profile each time the entry is shown. The icon of a user with a private account is also shown. Users who have blocked each other, in either direction, are not shown each other’s icons on entries or in the JUST IN section. Entries submitted before the JUST IN section was introduced store no identifier of the user and show no icon or display name.

In addition, in order to prevent duplicate entries, to confirm eligibility to enter (that there is a record of your having visited that place during the period concerned) and to respond to reports, we separately keep a record linking each entry to the user who submitted it, in a form that users cannot access. Only we can view this record, and it is not disclosed to other users.

(8) Place attributes, and notes on saved places

When you save a place to a list or as “Want to go / Visited”, record it in a log, or add a comment, note or tag about a place, we extract attributes of the place (type of food, price range, occasion, atmosphere, facilities, drinks, mealtime and so on) from the place’s name, the category name given by the import source, your comments and notes (including comments on logs), the tags and meal types you have given, and similar content, and store them in your account. For places imported from Google Maps, Apple Maps and similar sources, we also store the category name given by the import source (for example, “Sichuan restaurant” or “Café”).

Attributes are extracted on your device (section 2). However, when you import a place from a social media post or an image, the parsing server described in section 4 also extracts the categories written in the post (type of food, price range, occasion, atmosphere, facilities, drinks and time of day, limited to those in the App’s own classification). When you import a place from a page such as its own website, the server described in section 4 reads the type of food and the price range written on the page. These are also recorded as attributes under this item (8). The names of dishes written in the post (those described as the place’s signature dish, its specialty or the poster’s recommendation) are also extracted and stored on your device and in a place on our server that only you can read (so that they are kept when you change devices), where they are used for search in the App and for the list that finds your saved places by dish. Dishes you remove from that list and dish names you add yourself are stored in the same place. Dish names written in your saving points or in your notes on saved places are read on your device to fill the list; the names read this way are not stored. Dish names are not shared with other users and are not used in the aggregation described in section 3. The attribute record stores only the results (attributes and category names) and an identifier of the place (including the place ID assigned by Apple); it does not include the text of comments, notes or post captions. Category names from import sources (including the type of food written on a page) are stored only in your account and are not shared with other users. These attributes are used for search and map filtering in the App and are not displayed as a list on screen.

In addition, the notes and links you add to saved places, and the comments you keep when importing a place (including key points extracted from the post), are stored in a place on our servers that only you can read and write, so that you can keep using them after changing devices or reinstalling the App. The text of these notes and comments itself is not shown to other users and is not used in the aggregation described in section 3 (only the attributes extracted as described above are used).

(9) Place register (store master)

Because the same place can be saved as separate records by different users, we keep an operator-side register in which each place that appears in users’ records in the App (lists, saved places, logs and so on) is entered once (the “place register”). The place register stores an ID identifying the place, the place’s name and location (copies of the name, coordinates and address found in users’ records), the place ID assigned by Apple, which records refer to the same place, which kinds of records the place appears in (lists, saves, logs, posts, entries to BOARD and so on), and the number of people who have recorded the place.

(10) Events

When you create an “event” to invite friends out to eat, we store on our servers the place (name, location, address and the place ID assigned by Apple), the date and time, the number of people (a maximum or a guide), the deadline and the friends you are inviting, and show the event to those friends. If you create it with “Decide together” instead of choosing a place, we store, in place of the place, the area you chose on the map (its center and radius), the name of that area and the type of cuisine, and show them to those friends. We also store the replies of invited friends (“Join”, “Interested”, “Can’t go” or “Join waitlist”). In events created with newer versions of the App, the number of people is only a guide: anyone invited can still join, and there is no waitlist. We also store the short note you can add when creating an event (optional) and show it to those friends. The note cannot be changed after the event is created. The name of the place is taken as is from the place you chose.

(11) Prices on your logs

When you create a log, you can choose a price range per person (such as ¥ to ¥¥¥¥) and enter an amount. We save these, together with the currency, what decided the currency (where the photo was taken, the place’s location, your device’s region, or your own choice) and the log’s identifier, in a location on our server that only you and we can read. While a log is still being created and has not been saved, its price stays on your device only and is sent to our server when you save the log. We never show this information to other users, including your friends, and it is not included in the timeline, in share images, or in the usage statistics (section 1 (5)). We use it to show it in the details of your own log and for analysis to improve the service (section 3).

To choose the currency, we may send the location where the photo was taken (or the place’s location if the photo has none) to Apple to look up the country of that location (section 4). We do not store the country or the location sent for this.

2. Features processed only on your device

On supported devices, the following features are processed only on your device, and, except as noted in each item, the content they process is never sent to our servers or to those of any third party.

On devices that do not support them, these features are either not shown or operate in the conventional way.

However, when you import a place from a social media post or an image, extracting candidate place names, points worth saving, hints about the area and genre, the categories of place attributes (section 1 (8)), and the names of dishes written in the post (signature dishes, specialties and recommendations) is done not on your device but on the parsing server described in section 4. For this, the text of the post and the text read from images on your device are sent (the images themselves are not).

3. Purposes of use

We use the information we collect to provide the functions of the App (account management; creating, sharing and saving lists; managing friendships; displaying logs and comments; listing entries to topics; creating events and notifying friends of them; notifications; statistics; and providing Premium features), to prevent misuse, to respond to reports, and to analyse defects and improve the service. We do not use it for any purpose other than these.

Of the place attributes (section 1 (8), including the categories extracted when parsing imports), the categories of the App’s own classification (type of food, price range, occasion, atmosphere, facilities and so on) are used, as an aggregation that contains no information identifying users (for each place, counts per category and the number of attribute records), to improve place information for all users (estimating the type and price range of places, and improving search accuracy). This aggregation is used for estimation and search on the devices of other signed-in users. It includes, with their counts, attributes given by only one user, but does not include who gave them. Category names from import sources, and the text of notes and comments on saved places, are not used in the aggregation and are not shared with other users.

The place register (section 1 (9)) is used to combine records of the same place for display and aggregation (map pins, match lists, trends, place details and so on). This combining takes place at the display and aggregation stage; we never rewrite the contents of the lists, places or logs you have saved.

We use prices on logs (section 1 (11)) to show them in the details of your own log and for analysis to improve the service (such as estimating how expensive places are and understanding how the App is used). Only our administrators carry out this analysis, and we do not provide prices to other users or to third parties. Where we use the results of this analysis in what the App shows (such as how expensive a place is), we use only aggregations that contain no information identifying users, without whose prices they are.

4. Provision to third parties and external services

Except where required by law, we do not sell or provide user information to third parties. The App uses the following external services.

5. Visibility, and its limits

There are only two visibility settings for a list.
・Private … only the owner and the co-editors the owner has invited can view it.
・Open … in addition to the above, the owner’s friends (users who have mutually approved each other) can view it.
There is no setting that publishes a list to the general public, and no visibility limited to followers.
A log (a record of a visit) has two visibility settings, public or private, and a log you make public reaches your friends only.
An event (section 1 (10)) reaches only the friends the host chose (or all of the host’s friends) and is never made public. If you press “Join”, your name is shown to the others going to the same event, including people who are not your friends. Comments and reactions you add to an event are shown with your name to its host and to every friend it reached, including people who are not your friends.
Invitation links, QR codes, profile links and place-sharing links can be opened by anyone who knows the link. However, if someone who is not a friend of the owner opens a list invitation link or QR code, they are taken to the friend-request screen rather than to viewing or joining the list.

Friend lists and name search
・Your friend list (your friends’ names, profile pictures, verification badges and whether each has a private account) is shown to signed-in users who open your profile, and they can send friend requests from it.
・If you use a private account, the contents of your profile, including your friend list, are shown only to you and your friends. People who are not your friends see only your name, profile picture and verification badge, and that your account is private.
・Whether or not your account is private, you may appear in other users’ friend lists and in name search results, and you may receive friend requests.
・Signed-in users can search for other users by the first characters (2 or more) of their display name. Search results show only the name, profile picture, verification badge and whether the account is private. For this search, we store on our servers a search form of your display name (with upper and lower case, full-width and half-width characters, and katakana and hiragana unified, and spaces removed). Users who have not set a name (who still have the default name) do not appear in search results.
・Between users in a blocking relationship (whoever blocked whom), we do not show each other’s friend lists, and we do not show them to each other in search results or friend lists.
・We suggest friends of your friends, ordered by how many friends you have in common (showing the name, profile picture, verification badge, whether the account is private, and the number and names of mutual friends). You can choose in Settings not to appear in other users’ suggestions, and users in a blocking relationship never appear in each other’s suggestions. For these suggestions, we store on our servers a record of the users you removed with × (yours only, up to 500; they are not suggested to you again) and a temporary copy of the friends-of-friends count (kept for 10 minutes).
・To prevent overuse of friend lists and search, we record how many times each user has used them (only counts and times; we do not store the words searched).
・Signed-in users see your ID (3–20 lowercase letters, numbers and _; an ID is assigned automatically at first and you can change it in Settings) together with your name, and can find you by entering your exact ID in search. When you change your ID, your previous ID is held for 14 days so that only you can take it back; after that, other users can use it.

Please note the following.

6. Retention and deletion of data

Account information and usage data are retained for as long as the account exists. You can delete your account at any time from “My Page > Settings” in the App.

When you delete your account, the profile on the server, the lists you created, the logs you had made public and their photos, comments, friendships and friend requests, and the search form of your name the record of your search counts, and your ID records (any ID you used is held for 14 days so that no one can use it, and then released) are deleted. The photos saved to iCloud under section 1 (3-2) are deleted as well. The logs, photos, notes and other data of your account stored on the device from which you delete the account are erased as well (data left on any other device is erased when you delete the App on that device). Copies saved in the Photos app (the cRawl album) remain, so please delete them from the Photos app if you wish.

In addition, the place attribute records and dish names described in section 1 (8) and your notes, links and import comments on saved places are deleted, and your share is subtracted from the aggregation described in section 3.

The prices on your logs described in section 1 (11) are also deleted when you delete your account. When you delete a single log, its price is deleted as well.

As for the events described in section 1 (10), the events you created are canceled and deleted (people who had replied are told of the cancellation without your name). Your replies, votes, comments and reactions on other people’s events, the records of the places you voted for and suggested, the events delivered to you and your list of blocked users are also deleted, and you are removed from other users’ lists of blocked users.

Because the place register (section 1 (9)) contains no user IDs, the entry for a place in the register remains even after you delete your account. However, for a place that does not meet the publication conditions (section 1 (9)) and is no longer referred to by any user’s record, we erase its name, location and address from the place register, keeping only its IDs (including the place ID assigned by Apple) and its correspondence to the same place.

Records of reports and records that we are required by law to retain may be kept after account deletion, limited to the extent and period necessary.

7. Transfers outside Japan

As a result of our use of the external services described in section 4, user information may be stored and processed on servers located outside Japan, including in the United States.

8. Your rights

You may request the disclosure, correction, suspension of use or deletion of the information we hold about you. Please send such requests to the contact details in section 10. We will respond in accordance with applicable law once we have been able to verify your identity.

9. Children’s privacy

The App is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect the personal information of children under 13.

10. Changes to this policy and contact

This policy may be changed as necessary. If there is a material change, we will give notice by reasonable means, such as a notice within the App. The latest version of this policy is published within the App and on this site (/en/privacy, Japanese original: /privacy).

Please direct any enquiries regarding this policy to the following.