Effective 8 September 2026
LookUp identifies architectural styles from photographs you take. This policy describes what the app collects and how it is used.
LookUp creates an anonymous account on first launch. We do not ask for your name, email address, or any other identity information.
You can optionally secure your collection with Sign in with Apple, so it can be restored after reinstalling the app or on a new device. If you do, we store only the anonymous identifier Apple provides for your Apple ID — LookUp requests neither your name nor your email address from Apple. On Android you can back up your collection with Google sign-in in the same way; we store only the identifier Google provides for your account.
When you capture a photo, it is uploaded to private storage and analysed by an AI model (Anthropic's Claude API) to produce the architectural reading. Your photos are visible only to you unless you choose to share a reading (see Shared readings) — they are never shared with other users otherwise, and they are not used to train AI models.
Location access is optional. If you grant it, your position and compass heading at the time of a capture are stored with that capture and used to show nearby landmarks, name the locality, and suggest the identity of well-known landmarks. If you deny location access, everything else still works.
Each capture's reading (the style description), the photo, and — if permitted — its location are stored so you can revisit them in your collection. Diagnostic logs are kept briefly to run the service.
LookUp is made by one person, and finding out which posts and links bring new readers is how it keeps going. The app uses Layers, an attribution service, to record app opens, purchases and a handful of in-app milestones against your anonymous identifier. On iOS the app asks once whether it may use your device's advertising identifier for this; if you say no, nothing about your device is used and everything still works. You can change the answer any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. None of this is used to show you advertising, and none of it is sold.
You can choose to share a single reading as a public web page. Sharing is opt-in, one reading at a time; nothing is shared unless you tap Share. A shared page shows that reading's photo, the reading text and the name of the area (for example "Glasgow") — never your name, your account, or the exact location of the photo. Anyone with the link can open it, and search engines may index it. "Stop sharing" in the app removes the page immediately; copies held by browsers, messaging apps or search engines may persist briefly. Deleting the reading or your account removes it too.
If a subscription is offered, payment is handled entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). We receive only your subscription status, never payment details.
The in-app map is rendered from © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) via OpenFreeMap. Landmark facts come from Wikidata. Landmark silhouettes are derived from open government LIDAR data: Scottish Remote Sensing Portal (OGL v3, Crown copyright Scottish Government and Fugro); Environment Agency (© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2022, OGL v3); Welsh Government / Natural Resources Wales (OGL v3, Crown copyright); Irish Public Sector Data — Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works (CC BY 4.0); Land & Property Services (OSNI) / DfI Rivers (OGL v3); USGS 3DEP (public domain).
You can delete your account and every photo and reading it holds at any time from Settings → User → Delete account & data inside the app — deletion is immediate and permanent. For any privacy question, contact smith.jamie.developer@gmail.com.