← Ippuku · Deutsch · Legal notice

Privacy Policy

For the website ippuku.app and the iOS and Android apps. Last updated: October 2026. The German version is authoritative.

Ippuku is a community-maintained map of vending machines, toilets, smoking areas, trash cans and stamps in Japan. You don’t need an account to browse. Ippuku shows no ads, uses no analytics or tracking services and sets no cookies.

1. Controller

Philipp Maximilian Friedrich
Karl-Kunger-Straße 37
12435 Berlin
Germany
Email: [email protected]

2. Hosting and servers

The website and server run on Cloudflare, Inc. (Cloudflare Pages, Workers, D1 and R2), with the database in the Asia-Pacific region. For every request, Cloudflare processes technically necessary data such as IP address, time, requested address and browser or app identifier to deliver the request, fend off attacks and find errors. To prevent abuse, we limit how many requests may come from one IP address or account within a short time; these counters last seconds to minutes. Cloudflare keeps operational logs for only a few days. We do not store IP addresses in our database.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure, working service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Cloudflare is based in the USA and certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; a data processing agreement is in place.

3. Account and sign-in

You only need an account to add entries or photos, vote or comment. Reporting works without an account; the report is then stored without reference to any person. You sign in with Apple or Google; both can be linked to the same account. We receive:

• a pseudonymous identifier that Apple or Google issues for Ippuku,
• on first sign-in, your name if you share it. Only admins can see it; it is never shown publicly.

We don’t store your email address. For Apple, we also store an encrypted token so we can disconnect Ippuku from your Apple ID when you delete your account. After signing in, a session key valid for 30 days is stored on your device.

On the website, scripts from Apple or Google are loaded when sign-in is offered. The privacy policies of Apple and Google also apply to sign-in. The legal basis is providing the service you want to use (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

4. Your contributions

We store what you contribute together with your account identifier and the time:

• entries with location, category, name and details, as well as suggested changes,
• photos. The apps resize them and remove embedded metadata (such as GPS position and camera data) before uploading; the server removes it again,
• votes (“still there” / “gone”) and reports with your optional note,
• comments on entries and replies to them,
• a username and profile picture, if you choose them.

Entries and approved photos are public. Every entry has a public history; if you chose a username, it appears there next to your contributions, and there is a public profile listing your entries. Without a username, your contributions appear anonymously. Admins may review new contributions and profile pictures before they are published and can see which account contributed something.

Comments are public and appear immediately. You need a username to comment; it is shown with each of your comments, and your profile lists them. Anyone who finds a comment inappropriate can report it, and admins can then remove it. Comments of a blocked account are no longer visible.

5. Location

If you allow it, the apps and the website use your location on your device to open the map there and show distances. It is not sent to us. We only receive the map area you are viewing (to load the entries in it, without reference to your account) and the position you choose for a new entry.

6. Map services

• iOS: The map comes from Apple (Apple Maps); Apple’s privacy policy applies.
• Android: The map comes from Google (Google Maps SDK). Google receives device data and the displayed map area and, if you allow location access, your location for the blue dot. Google’s privacy policy and the Google Maps terms apply.
• Website: We serve the map ourselves (OpenStreetMap data via Protomaps); no other service is involved.

7. Notifications

If you allow notifications, we store the device token issued by Apple (Apple Push Notification service) or Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) with your account, so we can tell you when your contribution has been approved, when someone thanks you for your entry and when someone comments on an entry you created or have commented on. A notification names at most the username of the person who thanked, commented or (for admins) submitted something; it never contains the text of a comment. The token is removed when you sign out and when you delete your account; you can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).

8. Storage on your device

So the map works offline, the apps and the website store recently loaded entries and photos on your device, along with settings such as filters and the session key (website: localStorage and IndexedDB). You can clear the offline storage under Info.

9. Deletion

You can delete your account at any time under Info in the app or on the website. We then delete your photos, comments, votes, profile and anything still awaiting review. If others have replied to one of your comments, a placeholder “Comment deleted” without text or name remains in its place so their replies stay readable. Entries that were already approved remain on the map as community data, but no longer linked to you. If an account was blocked for abuse, after deletion we only keep an irreversible hash of its sign-in identifier so the same person cannot immediately create a new account (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR); no other data remains.

10. Your rights

You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability, and the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can withdraw consent at any time. Write to the address above. You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

11. Data sources

Many entries come from OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0), from the City of Osaka’s list of smoking areas (CC BY 4.0) and, with permission, from Club JT’s smoking area map via smoke.nrdz.de. They contain no personal data.