Privacy policy
BrinaMaps by Sabrina Palmer · Effective October 26, 2026
BrinaMaps has no accounts, no ads and no tracking. It does not sell or share information about you. Your saved places, recent searches and settings stay on your device.
What leaves your device, and why
Some things need a server to answer. When you use them, only what that feature needs is sent:
| When you | What is sent | To |
|---|---|---|
| Search for a place or address | What you type and your approximate location, so nearby results come first | BrinaMaps' own place list first (built from Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap, kept on BrinaMaps' own rented server and reached through the app's server). When it has too little, the same goes to Geoapify, through the app's server at brinamaps.com. When the own list has few matches for a business name, the search text and a rough location (about 1 km) also go to TomTom, also through the app's server, so places missing from the open map data can still be found. When what you type looks like a US street address, it is also sent to the US Census Bureau's address lookup, without your location |
| Use "Add hours" on a place | The place's name and location, the hours and note you type. They become a public OpenStreetMap note. BrinaMaps' own server keeps a copy, with a one-way code made from your network address and the day, used only to stop floods of reports; it cannot be turned back into the address | The app's server and OpenStreetMap |
| Save an area for offline use | Which map area to download (the map squares on screen) | OpenFreeMap for the map, and the app's server for the places in it |
| Start directions | Which map squares lie along the route, so the map and places along it keep working without a signal. Saved on your device; the last two trips are kept | OpenFreeMap for the map, and the app's server for the places |
| Look for gas, food or other stops along a route | The rest of the route line and the kinds of places asked for | BrinaMaps' own place list, through the app's server |
| Open a place's card | The place's map id, to get its hours, phone number, website and details. For places with a Wikipedia or Wikidata entry, that entry's id or title. Nothing about you | Geoapify, through the app's server; Wikipedia and Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) directly |
| Cross the US–Mexico border on a route | Nothing about you: the app downloads the public wait-time list | US Customs and Border Protection, through the app's server |
| Get directions, or use "meet in the middle" | The start, stops and destination of the trip, and your route settings | BrinaMaps' own route server (a rented server run for BrinaMaps, covering California, Mexico, Texas and Illinois), through the app's server. Elsewhere, or when it is not answering, Geoapify, also through the app's server. Speed limits and road details come back with the route |
| Have a route with toll roads | Nothing about you: the app asks for toll booth locations in the rough area of the route (squares about 25 km across) | The app's server, which reads them from public OpenStreetMap data (Overpass) |
| Use Premium traffic | The start, stops and destination of the trip, and the map area on screen for traffic colours | TomTom, through the app's server |
| Have wildfire avoidance on | The rough area of your trip | The US National Interagency Fire Center's public fire data service (hosted by Esri ArcGIS) and NASA's fire satellite service (FIRMS), both through the app's server |
| Hit a problem in the app (a script error, or a search or route that fails) | A short description of the error, the app version and the iPhone or browser version. No location, search text or anything about you | The app's server log |
| Look at the map | Which map tiles to load (the area on screen) | OpenFreeMap |
| Pick a font other than System in settings | A request for that font file | Google Fonts |
The app's server passes these requests on and returns the answers. It does not store them, and it does not keep a record of who asked. Like any web server, the hosting provider (Vercel) may keep short-lived technical logs, such as IP addresses, for security and reliability. Any service the app talks to directly (OpenFreeMap, Google Fonts, Wikipedia, Wikidata and the US Census Bureau) can see your device's IP address, as with any website.
On the website version at brinamaps.com only, search and directions can also fall back to free community OpenStreetMap services (Photon, Nominatim and the FOSSGIS routing servers) when the main service is busy. The iPhone app does not use them.
The services above have their own privacy policies: Geoapify, TomTom, Vercel, OpenFreeMap, Google, US Census Bureau, Esri, Wikimedia.
Location
The app uses your location to show where you are, rank search results and give directions. While directions are running, it keeps using your location with the screen locked so it can keep guiding you; iOS shows a location indicator while this happens. Your location history is not stored or uploaded. You can turn location off in your iPhone's Settings at any time.
Purchases
Premium is bought through the App Store, and Apple handles payment. To switch traffic on, the app sends Apple's signed record of the subscription (which product, when it renews, and an anonymous purchase number Apple assigns) to the app's server, which checks it and replies with a pass kept on your device. The server does not store the record, and it never sees your name, Apple ID or payment details. Manage or cancel Premium in your iPhone's Settings under your name, then Subscriptions.
Your data and deleting it
There is no account, so there is nothing to delete on a server. Saved places, recent searches, settings and offline maps are stored only in the app on your iPhone. Deleting the app removes all of it. Recent searches can also be cleared in the app.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. Questions: sabrinampalmer@gmail.com.