Privacy policy

In brief

• SiteVerity is made by MOORFORGE LTD, a company registered in Scotland. We use personal data to run SiteVerity and to help you with it. We don’t sell data, show adverts or track you.
• Your projects, photos and reports are stored in London. Signing in goes through Google’s Firebase Authentication, which may process sign-in details outside the UK, including in the United States.
• What you record about your clients, tenants and other people is yours. You decide what goes in, and we handle it only on your behalf.
• We don’t use analytics or advertising tools in the app. Our website counts visits without cookies, and you can turn that off.
• You can delete your account in the app, in Settings. To get a copy of your data, correct it or have it deleted any other way, email support@siteverity.com. We reply within two working days, and we normally deal with every request within one month.

Who we are

SiteVerity is made by MOORFORGE LTD, a company registered in Scotland (company number SC882267). Our registered office is 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN, United Kingdom.

For anything about this policy or your personal data, email support@siteverity.com. The same address handles support and privacy questions. We’re a small company, and the law doesn’t require us to appoint a data protection officer.

In this policy, “we” and “us” mean MOORFORGE LTD. “You” means anyone whose personal data we handle: people who use the app, visitors to our website and anyone who contacts us.

What this policy covers

This policy covers:

• the SiteVerity app for iPhone and iPad, and the online service behind it, which stores and syncs your work and serves share links;
• our website, siteverity.com;
• emails you send to our support address.

It doesn’t cover the App Store, TestFlight, Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google. Apple and Google run those under their own privacy policies.

Testing new versions. Some people test new versions of the app through Apple’s TestFlight. If you’re a tester, Apple shares with us the feedback you send, any screenshots you attach and crash logs from the test version, under Apple’s TestFlight terms. A screenshot shows whatever was on your screen, which may include project details. We use them only to find and fix problems in the app.

The SiteVerity app is available on the UK App Store only.

When we decide, and when we act for you

Data protection law gives different responsibilities depending on who decides how personal data is used.

• Data we decide about. We’re the “controller” for your account, your organisation’s details, subscriptions, support emails, security records and our website’s visitor statistics. This policy explains what we do with that data.
• Data you decide about. For the content of your projects and reports, including what you record about other people (your clients, tenants, landlords, people present at an inspection and anyone else), we’re your “processor”. You, or the business you work for, are the controller of that data and are responsible for using it lawfully. We store it, sync it and turn it into reports and share links only because you ask us to, under the data processing terms in our terms of use.

If you’re one of those other people, see If your details are in a SiteVerity report.

What we collect

Your account

When you create an account, we hold:

• your email address and name;
• the link to your profile photo, if your sign-in provider gives us one;
• which sign-in methods you use, and the identifier each one gives us for you;
• whether your email address has been verified;
• your role, the organisation you belong to and your app preferences;
• your organisation’s subscription status;
• which version of our terms of use you accepted when you signed in, and when;
• when your account was set up.

If you sign in with an email address and password, Google’s Firebase Authentication stores your password for us in a scrambled (hashed) form. We never see it. Firebase also sends the email that confirms your address, and password reset emails, for us. We set up your account when you sign up, but you can’t save any work until you’ve confirmed your address.

Signing in with Apple or Google

• Sign in with Apple asks you to share your name and email address with us. If you choose Hide My Email, Apple gives us a private relay address instead of your real one.
• Sign in with Google shares your name, email address, profile photo link and Google account identifier with us.

When you sign in with Google, Google’s sign-in software in the app also sends Google information that Google uses for its own purposes: details of your Google account, your IP address (from which Google may estimate your general location, to prevent fraud), and information about your device and how you used the sign-in. Google handles this under its own privacy policy.

Your organisation

Each account comes with an organisation. For it, we hold:

• its name, legal name, address, contact email (your account email unless you change it), phone number and website;
• its logo, brand colours and report wording;
• who owns it and who belongs to it;
• its subscription status;
• how many projects it has ever created, and which of them are in the free allowance.

If you draw your signature in the app, we store the image so it can appear on your reports.

Your projects and reports

We hold what you record, on your behalf. Depending on the template, this can include:

• property addresses, the client’s name, the surveyor’s name, the inspection date, the weather and whether the property was occupied;
• other people’s details, such as tenants’ names, the landlord’s name and contact details, people present or attending, adjoining owners, building owners, responsible persons and residents who reported an issue;
• records and notes, photos and your markup on them, floor plans and pins, and fire door records;
• the PDF reports you make. Each report record keeps a copy of your organisation’s address, email address and phone number as they were when the report was made.

The Damp & Mould Investigation template asks whether anyone in the household is at higher risk (yes, no or not known), and the Legionella Risk Assessment (Domestic) template asks whether anyone at higher risk lives in the home. That can be information about someone’s health, so record it only where you need it and have a lawful reason to.

Photos. When you add a photo, the app removes its location and camera details and keeps only the date it was taken. Floor plan images are saved again without their details. Floor plan PDFs are kept exactly as you add them, so any details inside the file, such as the author’s name, stay in it.

Your device and the app

• A random device ID. When you install the app, it creates a random ID for that installation. It’s saved with your records to show which device last changed them, which keeps sync working.
• App Check. To check that requests to our servers come from the genuine, unmodified SiteVerity app, the app uses Apple’s App Attest service, and Google checks the result for us. It doesn’t identify you.
• Crash reports. If the app crashes, or something important fails, such as making a report or uploading your work, the app sends a report to Google’s Firebase Crashlytics. It says what went wrong in the app’s code, with the app version, your device model, iOS version and its state at the time (such as free memory, orientation and whether it’s jailbroken), and an identifier for this installation of the app. While crash reports are on, the app may also send that identifier and those details when it opens, to fetch Crashlytics’ settings. Reports of failures that don’t crash the app contain only codes. Crash reports are designed to leave out your projects, photos and anything you’ve written, though rarely a crash’s own message could include part of what the app was working on. You can turn crash reports off in Settings → Data and privacy.
• Technical details sent by our providers’ software. RevenueCat’s software sends RevenueCat the app version, your device model and iOS version, your language settings, your App Store country and an identifier that Apple gives the app for your device. Google’s Firebase software sends Google basic details such as your device type, your iOS version and which versions of Google’s software the app uses. Google doesn’t link these details to you.

The only permission the app asks for is the camera. It never accesses your location. It doesn’t use your device’s advertising identifier, and it doesn’t send push notifications. Apart from crash reports, our own systems don’t record your device model or iOS version. When you sign in, the app tells our server which version of the app it is, so we know which versions are still in use; support emails started from the app include the version number too.

Subscriptions

You buy Professional in the app, through Apple. Apple takes the payment as a controller in its own right, and we never see your card details.

RevenueCat, a US company, keeps track of subscriptions for us. It knows your organisation by its SiteVerity ID and receives the purchase details from Apple. Apart from the technical details its software sends (see “Your device and the app”), we don’t send it your name, your email address or anything else about you.

We store a record of each subscription: the product, its status, the billing period and period dates, any cancellation, refund or grace period dates, the store it was bought in, and whether it was a test purchase. We look at overall figures in RevenueCat, such as how many organisations subscribe or cancel, to help us run the business.

Support emails and data requests

When you email us, we keep your email and our reply. Emails started from the app’s Settings include your user ID, your organisation ID and the app version, to help us find your account.

Logs

Our servers run on Google Cloud. They keep records (logs) so we can run SiteVerity and keep it secure:

• when an account is created, and when the app sets up your account after you sign in, the log includes your user ID, which version of the app it is and, if you’ve just accepted our terms, which version of the terms you accepted;
• when you delete your account, stop a share link, or a request is refused for security reasons, the log includes your user ID;
• when we remove deleted data after 30 days, the log includes the IDs of the organisation and project it belonged to;
• when we keep a record of a deletion (see How long we keep it), a copy of it goes to a separate log store in our backup project;
• each download through a share link is logged with the project, report and share link IDs, but not the downloader’s IP address. If a download fails, the log also includes where the report is stored, which ends in the report’s file name. The file name usually includes the project’s title or the first line of its address.

Our own code doesn’t log IP addresses, but Google’s platform may record IP addresses and other request details in its own logs. Firebase Authentication keeps the IP addresses it logs for a few weeks.

Our website

• Hosting. Cloudflare hosts siteverity.com. To deliver pages and protect the site from attacks, Cloudflare handles your IP address and browser details. We don’t keep our own logs of visits.
• Visitor statistics. We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It doesn’t use cookies or store anything on your device, and it doesn’t keep your IP address. Our cookie statement explains what it measures, and has a button to turn it off in your browser, which saves a small note there to remember your choice. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we don’t load it at all.

The website has no forms. If you email us, see “Support emails and data requests” above.

Why we use it, and our lawful bases

Data protection law only lets us use personal data when we have a lawful basis. Ours are:

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we’ve weighed our interests against your rights and freedoms, and you can object (see Your rights).

We don’t currently rely on your consent for anything. We don’t send marketing emails. If we ever want to, we’ll ask you first, or give you an easy way to opt out where the law allows that instead.

What we don’t do

• We don’t sell personal data, or share it for advertising.
• We don’t show adverts, and we don’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
• We don’t use analytics or advertising tools in the app. (Google’s sign-in software collects some information for Google’s own purposes, as explained in “Signing in with Apple or Google”.) The app doesn’t need Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt, because it doesn’t track you.
• We don’t make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

If we add analytics to the app later, we’ll update this policy first, and we’ll ask your permission before storing any analytics data on your device.

Who we share it with

Providers who work for us

These companies process personal data for us, on our instructions, under contracts that require them to protect it to at least the standard this policy describes:

Cloudflare only handles data about visitors to our website. It doesn’t handle data from the app, and share-link downloads don’t pass through it: they go straight to Google.

Companies that make their own decisions

• Apple handles App Store purchases, refunds and Sign in with Apple.
• Google handles Sign in with Google, as described above.

Each is responsible for its own use of your data, under its own privacy policy.

Anyone else

We share personal data with others only:

• when you choose to, for example by sending someone a report or a share link;
• with our professional advisers, such as lawyers and accountants, who must keep it confidential;
• when the law requires it, for example because of a court order, or where it’s needed to protect someone’s safety or our legal rights;
• with a buyer, if we ever sell all or part of our business. The buyer would have to use your data as this policy describes, and we’d tell you before your data was transferred.

Where it’s stored, and transfers abroad

Our database, file storage and server code are in Google Cloud’s London region (europe-west2), and so are our backups. Some data goes outside the UK:

• Firebase Authentication may process sign-in details outside the UK, including in the United States.
• Share links are delivered through Firebase Hosting, which uses Google’s global network.
• Crash reports go to Google’s Firebase Crashlytics, which may store them outside the UK.
• RevenueCat stores subscription data in the United States.
• Cloudflare serves our website from the data centre nearest to each visitor.
• Zoho stores our support mailbox in the European Union, in the Netherlands and Ireland, and may access it from outside the European Economic Area.
• Google and our other providers may access data from other countries to run and support their services, under their contracts with us.

When personal data leaves the UK, we make sure it stays protected:

• Google and Cloudflare are certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, often called the “UK-US data bridge”. The UK government has decided that it protects personal data adequately. Our contracts with Google and Cloudflare also include the UK’s standard data transfer clauses.
• RevenueCat isn’t certified under the data bridge, so we rely on the UK’s standard data transfer clauses (the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses) in its contract with us.
• Zoho keeps our support mailbox in the European Economic Area, which the UK recognises as protecting personal data adequately. Where Zoho accesses it from outside the European Economic Area, its contract with us relies on standard contractual clauses.

Email us if you’d like a copy of these safeguards.

How long we keep it

We back up our database every day and keep each backup for 35 days, including a copy held separately that no one can delete early. When we delete something from our servers, any copy of it in our backups is deleted within those 35 days, though Google’s automatic deletion can occasionally run late. Photos and other files we delete can be recovered for 30 days. Our providers may take a little longer to clear deleted data from their own systems: Google, for example, commits to doing so within 180 days.

Adding these together, something you delete can remain in our systems, including backups, for up to about ten weeks after you delete it. When you delete your account, it’s usually erased from our servers within a few minutes, and from our backups within a further 35 days. After that, we keep only the identifier records described above, for 60 days and 12 months.

Data on your device

The app keeps your work on your iPhone or iPad so you can use it without a signal. This data:

• is stored separately for each person who signs in on the device;
• is protected by iOS Data Protection until you first unlock the device after it restarts.

The app’s own database and files are left out of iCloud and computer backups. Google’s Firebase software, which syncs your work, also keeps a copy of synced data on the device, and that copy can be included in a backup of the device.

Signing out doesn’t remove it from the device. To remove it, delete the app. If you delete your account, the app erases it from the device you use, finishing the next time the app opens, and from your other devices once the app on them learns the account was deleted. To be sure a device’s copy is gone, delete the app from it. Anything that hasn’t synced yet is lost when you delete the app, so check that everything has synced first.

Share links

When you create a share link for a report, anyone who has the link can download the PDF, with no account and no password, until the link expires (after 1, 7 or 30 days; 7 by default) or reaches its download limit (10, 50 or unlimited; 50 by default).

Links are long and random, so they can’t be guessed, but anyone who has a link can use it, including anyone it’s forwarded to, so think about who you send one to. You can stop a link at any time in the app (Stop sharing). It stops when the request reaches our server, so if you’re offline, or the app needs updating first, the link may keep working until then.

If someone sent you a share link, the report belongs to them, so ask them any questions about it. We count each download, but we don’t log your IP address. Google’s platform may record it in its own logs for a short time.

If you delete a report, its share links stop working once the deletion has synced. If an organisation is deleted, its reports are deleted with it, so its share links stop working too. Copies already downloaded aren’t affected.

How we protect your data

• Data travels between the app and our servers over encrypted connections, and Google encrypts it where it’s stored.
• Security rules on our servers keep each organisation’s data to its own members.
• The app proves to our servers that it’s the genuine app, using App Check.
• Share links use long, random addresses and stop working after the time and number of downloads you choose, or when you stop them.
• Photos lose their location details when you add them.
• On your device, the app’s data is protected by iOS Data Protection.
• Only people at MOORFORGE who need access to our systems have it. We look at your content only to run SiteVerity, to fix a problem or to deal with a request you’ve made.

No system is completely secure. If a breach of security is likely to put you at high risk, we’ll tell you, and we’ll report breaches to the ICO when the law requires.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• get a copy of your personal data;
• have it corrected if it’s wrong or incomplete;
• have it deleted;
• have its use restricted;
• object to how we use it, where we rely on legitimate interests;
• get it in a format you can take to another service;
• complain to us or to the ICO (see Complaints).

Some rights have limits, for example where we need to keep data to deal with a legal claim. If one applies, we’ll explain.

How to use your rights

• To get a copy of your data, open Settings in the app and tap Get a copy of my data. It opens an email to us. You can also email support@siteverity.com yourself.
• To object to our website’s visitor statistics, use the button in our cookie statement.
• For anything else, email support@siteverity.com, ideally from the address on your account.

We normally reply to the email address on your account. That’s how we check that a request comes from you. If you can’t use that address, tell us and we’ll agree another way to confirm it’s you. We may also check the authority of anyone acting on your behalf before we give them any information. The account and organisation IDs in emails started from the app only help us find your account; they don’t prove who you are.

You’ll get a copy of your own personal data. If you own an organisation, you can also have a copy of the organisation’s data, including its projects.

We’ll respond within one month of confirming who you are. If a request is complicated, we may need up to two more months, and we’ll tell you within the first month if so. There’s no charge.

You can correct most of your details yourself in the app. If your request is about details a SiteVerity user recorded about you, see If your details are in a SiteVerity report.

Deleting your account

To delete your account, open Settings in the app and tap Delete account, under Data and privacy. You’ll be asked to confirm it’s you by signing in again. Your account is locked straight away, other devices signed in to it lose access, and we erase it from our servers, which usually takes a few minutes. Any copies in our backups are deleted within a further 35 days, though Google’s automatic deletion can occasionally run late. The device you use erases its copy of your data, finishing the next time the app opens. Other devices erase theirs once the app on them learns the account was deleted; to be sure a device’s copy is gone, delete the app from it.

If the app can’t confirm your sign-in, email support@siteverity.com from the address on your account. We’ll confirm the request, delete your account within 30 days and tell you when it’s done.

We keep a record that your account was deleted, and when, for 12 months, so that we can show the request was carried out. We also keep the IDs of your account and organisation, with none of your content, for 60 days, so that if we ever restore from a backup, your data isn’t brought back.

Before you go:

• Keep what you need. Save your reports as PDFs and your records as CSV files. We can’t get them back once they’re deleted.
• Cancel your subscription. Deleting your account doesn’t cancel an App Store subscription. Cancel it in your Apple subscription settings, or Apple will keep charging you.

If you’re the only member of your organisation, deleting your account also deletes the organisation and everything in it: its projects, photos, floor plans and reports. Its share links stop working, because the reports are deleted.

SiteVerity doesn’t yet let you invite other people into your organisation. When it does, if your organisation has other members, you’ll need to hand it over to one of them, or remove them, before you delete your account. Until the app lets you hand an organisation over, email us and we’ll do it for you.

If your details are in a SiteVerity report

SiteVerity is used by surveyors, inspectors, letting agents, landlords, housing officers and property managers. If one of them recorded your details, for example as a client, tenant, landlord or neighbour, they decide how your information is used, not us.

Please contact them first about your information, including to get a copy of it or to ask for it to be corrected or deleted. If you contact us instead, and you agree, we’ll pass your request to them and help them respond. We can’t usually change or hand over their records without their instructions.

Children

SiteVerity is for business use and isn’t for anyone under 16. We don’t knowingly hold personal data about users under 16. If you think a child has an account, email us and we’ll delete it.

Complaints

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your personal data, please tell us first: email support@siteverity.com with “Complaint” in the subject line. We’ll acknowledge your complaint, normally within two working days and always within 30 days. We’ll look into it promptly, keep you updated and tell you the outcome.

You can also complain to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commission, which is still known as the ICO:

• website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• helpline: 0303 123 1113

The ICO usually expects you to have raised the matter with us first.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we’ll update the version number and date at the top. If a change affects how we use your data, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Contact us

• Email: support@siteverity.com. We reply within two working days.
• Post: MOORFORGE LTD, 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN, United Kingdom.