Hometown Crawls Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 6, 2026

Hometown Crawls ("Hometown Crawls," "we," "us") runs hometowncrawls.com, a digital stamp passport for local crawls, like a holiday coffee crawl around town. Miracle Studios Inc. operates the service. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what choices you have. We tried to keep it plain and short, but complete. If you have questions, email us at chris@beekings.com.

1. Who this policy covers

Guests: people who sign in, visit participating shops ("stops") and collect stamps.
Shops: businesses that sign up and pay to be listed as a stop.
Organizers: the people, businesses or chambers of commerce that run a crawl event.
Visitors: anyone who browses hometowncrawls.com.

2. Information we collect

Account information

You sign in with your email address. We use passwordless sign-in: we email you a one-time "magic link," and you don't create a password. We collect your email address. If you give us your name, we collect that too.

Check-in information

When you check in at a stop, by scanning the shop's QR code or entering its counter code, we record:

Which shop and which crawl you checked in to, and the time.
Your device's location (latitude and longitude) at the moment you check in. We use it to confirm you're actually at the shop (within about 50 meters), and we store it with your stamp. We only ask for your location when you check in. We don't track your location in the background.

Check-in selfies

Every check-in requires a selfie taken with your device's live camera. This helps keep check-ins honest. See Section 4 for how we handle selfies.

Prize drawing information

If you win a prize drawing, we collect what we need to deliver your prize: your name, contact details and mailing address. For prizes worth $600 or more, we also collect tax information (such as a W-9), as required by law. If you enter by mail, we use the details on your entry only to run the drawing.

Shop information

When a shop signs up, we collect the business name, contact name, email, phone, address, website, hours, photos and logo. Shop listings are public. The business name, address, website, hours, photos and logo appear on the site.

Payment information

Shops pay a one-time listing fee through Stripe. We never see or store card numbers. Stripe handles them, and Stripe's privacy policy applies to that information. From Stripe, we receive the payment status and amount, plus the business name, contact name, email and phone.

Technical information

Like most websites, our hosting keeps basic server logs, such as IP address, browser type, pages requested and timestamps. We use them for security and to fix problems. We use cookies or local storage only where needed to keep you signed in and make the site work. We don't use advertising trackers.

3. How we use information

We use your information to:

Sign you in and run your account.
Record stamps, confirm that check-ins are real, and show your progress on a crawl.
Run prize drawings: count entries, pick winners and deliver prizes.
List shops, take listing payments and send confirmations.
Send transactional emails (see Section 7).
Keep the service safe, prevent fraud and cheating, and fix problems.
Follow the law and enforce our terms and official rules.

Prize entries: You earn entries from check-ins, with one entry per stop plus a bonus entry for completing the crawl.

4. Check-in selfies: how they work

We know selfies are personal, so here's exactly what happens to them.

Private by default. Every selfie is stored privately. When you check in, you'll see an optional box, unchecked by default: "OK to show this photo on our site?" If you leave it unchecked:

Only Hometown Crawls staff can see your photo, and only to check that check-ins are real.
It is never shown publicly, and never shared with shops or organizers.

Your choice never affects your stamp. You get the same stamp and the same prize entries whether you tick the box or not.

If you choose to share your photo publicly:

You must confirm that you are 18 or older, or 21 or older for age-restricted events.
A separate, optional checkbox lets us also repost your photo on Hometown Crawls social media. If you don't tick it, we won't post your photo there.
Public copies are resized, have location and other hidden (EXIF) data removed, and show only your first name or initials.
Your photo can appear on that shop's page and on the event photo wall, but only after it is approved by an organizer of that event (not a chamber of commerce) or by Hometown Crawls staff. For some events, only staff can approve photos.

Who can see what:

Chamber of commerce organizers have no access to selfies at all.
Shops can hide a public photo of their shop, but they never see photos you didn't choose to share.
You can remove your public photo at any time with one tap. After you remove it, we stop showing it on our site. Copies already posted to social media will be taken down when you ask us.
Anyone can report a public photo. We review reports and remove photos that break our rules.

How long we keep selfies:

Photos you didn't share publicly are deleted after 90 days.
Photos you did share publicly stay until you remove them or ask us to delete them. When that happens, we delete the photo within 30 days.

No facial recognition. We do not use facial recognition on selfies. We do not create face templates, face geometry, or any other biometric identifiers from your photos. A person, not software, looks at a selfie when a check-in needs review.

Guest crawl photos

A guest can optionally upload a photo from a crawl. The permission sentence is: I give Hometown Crawls permission to show this photo on its website and social pages. The file stays in a private storage bucket and stays pending until an organizer or a contributor of that crawl approves it. Only approved photos appear on the crawl page. The guest can delete their own photo. Uploading a photo does not change the stamp.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising (targeted ads based on your activity on other sites). We share information only as follows:

Shops and organizers. Shop listings are public. Public selfies appear as described in Section 4. Shops and organizers don't get guest email addresses or check-in locations from us, except winner details as described next.
Prize sponsors. If you win, the organizer sponsoring that prize receives your name and contact details so they can deliver your prize.
Winners list. As allowed by the official rules for each drawing, we may publish a winners list with each winner's name and city.
Service providers that help us run Hometown Crawls, under contracts that limit how they can use your data:
- Supabase: database, sign-in and photo storage
- Vercel: website hosting
- Stripe: shop payments
- Resend: email delivery
Legal and safety. When the law requires it, or when needed to protect people, prevent fraud or enforce our terms.
Business changes. If Hometown Crawls is merged or sold, your information may transfer to the new owner. This policy, or one at least as protective, would still apply to it.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

We use only the cookies or local storage needed to sign you in and keep the site working. We don't use advertising cookies, cross-site tracking or ad networks. If your browser blocks these essential cookies, sign-in may not work.

7. Emails

We send transactional emails through Resend. These include sign-in links, signup and payment confirmations, event notices and prize notices. They're part of using the service.

We won't send you marketing emails unless you've agreed to get them, and every marketing email has an unsubscribe link. We don't sell or rent email lists.

8. How long we keep information

Selfies: see Section 4. We delete them after 90 days unless you chose public display.
Account and check-in data, including stamp location and time: kept while your account is active, or until you ask us to delete it, unless we need to keep it longer for legal reasons.
Prize and tax records: kept as long as the law requires.
Shop and payment records: kept as long as needed for the listing and for tax and accounting requirements.
Server logs: kept for a limited time for security and troubleshooting.

9. Your choices and rights

You can:

See the personal information we have about you.
Correct information that is wrong.
Delete your account and personal information. We may keep some records the law requires us to keep.
Stop public display of your photo at any time, with one tap or by asking us.
Unsubscribe from any marketing email.

To make a request, email chris@beekings.com from the email address on your account. We may need to confirm your identity before we act. We'll respond within the time the law requires, and we won't treat you differently for using your rights.

Additional rights for some US states

Depending on where you live, including California (CCPA/CPRA), Washington and other states with privacy laws, you may have more rights. These can include the right to know what we collect and why, to access, correct or delete your information, to get a copy you can take elsewhere, and to opt out of the sale or "sharing" of personal information or targeted advertising. We don't sell or share personal information for targeted advertising, so there's nothing to opt out of there. We use your precise location only to confirm check-ins. You can use an authorized agent to make a request for you. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision at chris@beekings.com.

10. Children

Hometown Crawls is not for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you think a child under 13 has given us information, contact chris@beekings.com and we'll delete it. Photos of anyone under 18 are never shown publicly. Public display requires confirming you're 18 or older.

11. Security

We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), private photo storage and access controls that limit who can see what. No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your data and will notify you if the law requires it.

12. Where your data is stored

Hometown Crawls is based in the United States, and we store and process information in the United States.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we do, we'll change the effective date at the top. If the changes are significant, we'll let you know on the site or by email before they take effect.

14. Contact us

Questions or requests? Get in touch:

Miracle Studios Inc.
204 Still Glen Drive, Terrell, Texas 75160
Email: chris@beekings.com