Privacy Policy
Effective Date: August 3, 2026 | Last Updated: August 3, 2026
TL;DR: We collect the data you provide and technical usage data to run location analyses and improve our platform. We do not sell your personal information. You can delete your data at any time through your account settings or by contacting us.
Our commitment: We do not sell your personal information — not to advertisers, data brokers, or anyone else. Your data powers your analyses; it is never a product itself.
MainStreetLens ("we," "our," or "us") is a location intelligence platform that analyzes potential business locations and provides actionable insights to help entrepreneurs, expanding business owners, and real estate professionals make informed decisions about where to open, expand, or invest in a business.
Introduction
This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal information when you use our website, mobile applications, and related services (collectively, the "Services"). Please read this policy carefully. By using our Services, you agree to the practices described herein. If you do not agree, please do not use our Services.
What Information We Collect
We collect information about you in three ways: information you provide, information we collect automatically, and information we receive from third-party sources. When you create an account, use our Services, or communicate with us, we collect your account credentials including your email address and, if you choose to sign up with email rather than Google, a password hash. We collect profile information such as your first name and last name. If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google-assigned email address, given name, and family name, but we do not access your Google contacts, photos, or other Google data. We collect the locations (zip codes or addresses), business types, and radius settings you enter into our analysis tools, as well as the queries and filter configurations you choose to save for later. We also collect the content of emails, support tickets, or other messages you send us, and any opinions, ratings, or suggestions you voluntarily provide through feedback or surveys.
When you visit or use our Services, we automatically collect certain technical and usage data, including device information such as device type, operating system version, unique device identifiers, browser type and version, and mobile carrier information. We collect log data including your IP address, access timestamps, pages or screens viewed, referral URLs, and the actions you take within the app or website. We track usage patterns such as which analysis features you use, how often you run searches, which business categories you explore, and how long you spend on each screen. We collect crash data and diagnostics including error reports, stack traces, and performance metrics when the app encounters a problem. If you grant permission, we may collect your approximate geographic location to suggest relevant local analyses and personalize your experience, and you can disable location access at any time through your device settings.
We may receive information about you from third-party sources. When you sign in via Google OAuth, we receive your email and name as provided by Google's identity service. Analytics providers such as Google Analytics collect anonymized usage statistics that help us understand how visitors use our site. If we implement identity verification for certain features in the future, we may receive limited verification data from trusted providers.
How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to run location analyses — processing your queries, fetching relevant data on competition, demographics, and market signals, computing the MainStreetLens Success Score, and delivering results. We use it to manage your account by creating and maintaining your account, authenticating you, and providing the features you've requested such as saved searches. We personalize your experience by tailoring search results, recommendations, and the interface to your preferences and past activity. We analyze usage to understand how users interact with our platform so we can improve features, fix bugs, and design better experiences, and we use this information for product development to inform our roadmap, test new features, and ensure our tools meet the needs of small business owners and location analysts. We use it for quality assurance by monitoring service performance, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring the accuracy of the data and analysis we deliver. We use it to protect against abuse and fraud by detecting and preventing unauthorized access, malicious activity, spam, and violations of our Terms of Service, and to comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or enforceable governmental requests. We use it for identity verification when necessary for account security or regulatory reasons. We use it for communication by sending you important service notifications including account updates, changes to features, maintenance notices, and responses to your support requests, which are considered transactional and not subject to opt-out. With your consent, we may send marketing and promotional emails including product updates, new feature announcements, educational content, and offers, and you may opt out at any time. We do not sell your personal information.
Data Security
We take the security of your data seriously and implement industry-standard measures to protect it. All data exchanged between your device and our servers is encrypted in transit using TLS (Transport Layer Security). Sensitive data stored in our databases is encrypted at rest using strong encryption algorithms. We restrict access to your personal information to employees and contractors who need it to perform their job functions, and all such individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt with a cost factor of at least 12, and we never store your Google account credentials. Two-factor authentication is not yet available, but we plan to support it in the future through an authenticator app or SMS verification step. We conduct regular security assessments and vulnerability testing of our systems and infrastructure, and we maintain a documented incident response plan to address any unauthorized access or data breach. No system is 100% secure, however. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you have reason to believe that your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our Services. For active accounts, we retain account data including profile information, saved searches, and activity history for as long as your account is active. Upon account deletion or deactivation, we remove or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are legally required to retain it. Certain information such as records related to payments, fraud prevention, or compliance with laws like AML and KYC regulations may be retained for longer periods as required by law, with typical retention periods ranging from 2 to 7 years depending on the applicable legal requirement. Anonymized analytics data may be retained for up to 26 months in aggregate form. You can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time by contacting us as described below.
Your Rights and Choices
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information. You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and we will provide this in a structured, machine-readable format within 30 days of receiving your request. If any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you may request that we correct it. You can update certain profile information directly in the app, and for other corrections, please contact us. You have the right to request that we delete your personal information, and when you delete your account, we will remove or anonymize your data within 30 days, subject to legal retention obligations described above. You may request a copy of your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format such as JSON or CSV so that you can transfer it to another service, and we will make this available upon request. You may unsubscribe from our marketing emails at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any promotional email, and even after unsubscribing, we will continue to send you service-related communications such as account updates, security notices, and legal changes as these are necessary to operate our platform. We do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals, but you can manage your preferences through the in-app settings or by contacting us directly. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us as described below, and we may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect, use, and share; the right to request deletion of your personal information; the right to correct inaccurate personal information; the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information — we do not sell or share your data; the right to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights. We will respond to your request within 45 days.
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides additional rights. We process your data based on contractual necessity for providing the Services, your consent for marketing communications, and our legitimate interests for analytics, security, and service improvement. You may request that we limit how we use your data, and where we rely on consent as our lawful basis, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing. You may file a complaint with your local data protection authority. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us as described below.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make a material change, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and notify you through the Services, via email, or through a prominent notice on our website. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information. Your continued use of the Services after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
How to Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or our data practices, you can reach us at privacy@mainstreetlens.com for privacy inquiries or support@mainstreetlens.com for general support. You can also use the "Help & Support" section within the MainStreetLens app. We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days. If you are a California resident and wish to file a complaint with the California Attorney General's Office regarding our data practices, you may do so at oag.ca.gov.
Thank you for trusting MainStreetLens. We are committed to being transparent about how we handle your data so you can focus on making confident decisions for your business.
