Rootmap privacy policy
Last updated: 8 September 2026
Your photos, their GPS, and any face data never leave your computer. Rootmap has no cloud photo service and no account to sign in to. The app does contact LTC Labs for a version check, crash reports, and anonymous usage counts — not only when you file a support ticket.
What never leaves this PC
- Photo or video files
- GPS coordinates, EXIF, filenames, or folder paths
- Face crops, names you give people, or tags
- Your name, email, or Windows account — except in a support ticket you choose to send
What Rootmap stores on your computer
Original photos stay where they are. Rootmap never moves or rewrites them. Its own index lives locally:
| Data | Where it lives | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photo index, thumbnails, face crops | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rootmap | The library, map pins, and people list |
| Settings | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rootmap | Folders, map, and privacy preferences |
| Logs | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rootmap | Diagnosing scan and map problems |
| Telemetry queue | %APPDATA%\Rootmap\telemetry_queue.json | Offline buffer if a diagnostic POST could not be sent |
Deleting that folder is enough. Nothing is kept in an LTC Labs cloud copy of your library.
What Rootmap sends to LTC Labs
- A version check to
https://www.ltclabs.dev/api/app/update-check, at most once per 24 hours. Carries app name and version, OS version, and an anonymous machine identifier. - Launch and close (
app_launched,app_closed). Session length only. These stay on even if you turn optional usage data off — they are how we know the app is starting and shutting down cleanly. - Crash reports, only if the app hits an unhandled error: exception type, message, and stack trace. File paths are not included. Also always on.
- Named scan failures (
gps_extract_failed): an error code and a file extension such asheic. No path, no filename, no coordinates. - Optional usage counts, when Settings → Privacy → Send anonymous usage data is on (it is on by default): how many photos a scan found, how many had GPS, export count and format, whether the map was opened. Turn that setting off and these stop. Launch/close and crashes do not.
- Support tickets, only when you file one: what you typed, the email you give, and (if you leave logs ticked) recent log lines. Tickets do not attach photos.
Map tiles
The map needs the internet to load tiles from public servers (OpenStreetMap, CARTO, Esri by default). That traffic goes to those providers, not to LTC Labs. Scanning, the library, faces, tags, and export all work offline. If you paste a MapTiler key in Settings, place search and tiles use your MapTiler account instead.
The anonymous machine identifier
Rootmap hashes Windows' machine GUID with SHA-256. The original GUID never leaves the PC. It is not linked to your name or email unless you file a support ticket, in which case it is attached so we can match crash reports.
Your choices
- Turn off optional usage data in Settings → Privacy. Crash reports and launch/close still send.
- Don't file tickets — email [email protected] and you control exactly what you send.
- Ask us to delete your data — email support. Tickets we can find by email. Crash reports and usage counts need a previous ticket number so we can locate the matching machine identifier.
Contact
Questions about privacy: [email protected]