Who we are
Locustep (“Locustep,” “we,” “us”) is a website at locustep.com that helps you find a U.S. state that fits you and plan a move there. This policy explains what information Locustep handles, why, and the choices you have.
Using Locustep without an account
You can take the quiz, compare states and use the planner without signing up. In that case, your answers, shortlist, Net-Impact inputs and planner are saved only in your browser’s local storage on your device. They are not sent to our servers.
Together mode is the exception. If you send someone their half of the quiz, or answer someone else’s invite, both people’s quiz answers pass through our servers so each of you sees the other’s answers, and any later changes, without sending anything by hand. They are kept in a protected form, available only to the two of you through the invite link, and they expire after 30 days.
To show the site, your browser also connects to a few outside services. Each one receives your IP address and standard browser information, such as your browser type, as part of any web request:
- Cloudflare, which hosts the site and delivers its pages, data files and code.
- Google Fonts (Google). The site’s typefaces load from Google’s servers, so Google receives a request each time a page loads.
- Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia, for state and place photos and short descriptions. These requests include the name of the state or place being looked up.
- YouTube (Google), for video thumbnails, video details and embedded videos you choose to play. Embedded videos use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode.
Their handling of that information is covered by their own privacy policies. Links that open Google Maps or other outside websites only send information to those sites when you click them.
Suggestions are another exception. If you use “Suggest an improvement,” with or without an account, we receive your message, the kind of suggestion, which part of the app you sent it from, a reply address only if you type one, the app version, and your account ID if you are signed in. We do not keep your IP address or device details with it.
Information we keep when you have an account
| Information | Why we keep it |
|---|---|
| Your email address, a securely hashed password, sign-in records, and the time you confirmed you are 13 or older | To create your account, sign you in and send account emails (confirmation, password reset, email change) |
| Your saved work: quiz answers, shortlist, your partner’s first name if you use Together mode, Net-Impact inputs (such as income, housing costs, household size, occupation and current city), planner tasks, notes, costs, trips, destination and preferences | To sync your work across your devices. We keep a limited number of earlier versions so you can recover from a mistake or a sync conflict. |
| Ranking update alerts, if you turn them on: that you asked for them, and which data update we last emailed you about | To email you when the data behind the rankings changes. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link, and you can turn alerts off in Settings. |
| Purchase records: Stripe customer and payment IDs, amount, currency, status and dates | To give you Premium, handle refunds and disputes, and keep required business records |
| Premium status and a history of changes to it | To unlock Premium and keep an accurate record of grants, refunds and disputes |
| Technical logs, including IP address and browser type | Security, preventing abuse and fixing problems |
Your Net-Impact figures are only readable by you when signed in. They are never sent to our error-reporting or analytics tools.
What we never collect
- Card details. Payments are handled by Stripe. Card numbers and billing addresses go to Stripe, not to us.
- Planner attachments. Files you attach in the planner, such as document scans, stay on the device where you added them and are not uploaded.
- We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.
How we use information
- To provide Locustep: your results, sync, Premium features and PDF exports.
- To send you account emails you request or need, such as confirmation and password-reset emails, and, only if you turn on ranking update alerts, an email when our data updates.
- To process payments, refunds and disputes.
- To keep Locustep secure, prevent abuse and fix errors.
- To understand, in aggregate, which parts of Locustep people use, so we can improve it.
- To comply with the law.
Who receives information
Companies that process information for us. We use these types of companies to run Locustep. They handle information on our behalf and only for the purposes described here:
- Account and database provider: accounts, saved work and server functions. It holds your email address, hashed password, saved work, Together mode answers, suggestions you send, and technical logs.
- Stripe: payments. When you buy Premium we send Stripe your email address and an internal account ID, and Stripe collects your card and billing details directly. Stripe’s own privacy policy applies to what you give Stripe at checkout.
- Email delivery provider: sending account emails and, if you ask for them, ranking update emails. It receives your email address and the content of each email, and keeps delivery logs for a limited time.
- Cloudflare: website hosting and delivery. It receives your IP address and browser information with each request.
- Bot-check provider: a short check when you use our account forms. It runs in your browser and receives your IP address and browser information.
- Error-monitoring provider: error reports, if enabled (see below). It receives the cleaned-up error report.
- Analytics provider: product analytics, if enabled (see below). It receives the short list of events, a random browser ID and the source codes described below. Your browser sends these straight to the provider, so its servers receive the request, but we have set it to discard IP addresses rather than store them.
We can tell you which companies these are. Ask us at support@locustep.com.
Sites your browser contacts directly. Google (Google Fonts and YouTube) and the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia) receive requests straight from your browser, as described above. We do not send them your answers, account details or payment information.
We do not sell your information. We may disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a sale or reorganization of Locustep. If that happens, this policy continues to apply to information we already hold.
Error reports and analytics
Error reports. If Locustep runs into an error, we may send a report to our error-monitoring provider. Reports include the type of error and technical details, with email addresses, sign-in tokens, payment IDs and long numbers removed. They do not include your account ID or email address. The report goes to that provider straight from your browser, so, like any web request, it arrives with your IP address.
Analytics. If analytics is enabled, we record a short list of events, such as “quiz completed” or “checkout started,” tied to a random ID for your browser, along with short codes for how that browser first reached Locustep: the kind of source (such as “search,” “partner” or “email”), the referring website’s name or the campaign named in the link, and which Locustep page you landed on. If you tap one of our optional one-tap feedback buttons (such as “To compare costs between states” on the Premium screen), we record which button you tapped, as a short code. These events do not include your quiz answers, the states you look at, money figures, your email address or your account ID, and our analytics provider does not keep your IP address. If your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, no analytics events are sent.
Cookies and on-device storage
Locustep does not use advertising cookies. It stores information in your browser’s local storage because the app needs it to work: your saved work, your sign-in session, sync status, a short-lived record of your Premium status for offline use, a note of how this browser first reached Locustep (the short codes described above, kept for 90 days), and, if analytics is on, your random analytics ID. You can clear this at any time in your browser settings. Signing out and choosing to remove your work from the browser clears it too.
How long we keep information
- Account information and saved work: until you delete it or delete your account.
- Earlier versions of your saved work: a limited number, until replaced or your account is deleted.
- Purchase records and the history of Premium changes: kept after account deletion, with the link to you removed, for up to seven years after the purchase, for tax, accounting and legal purposes, and then deleted.
- Proof that an account was deleted: when you delete your account we keep a one-way fingerprint (a hash) of your account ID and the dates, so we can show your request was carried out. It does not contain your email address or any of your saved work. We keep it for the same period as purchase records.
- Counters used to prevent abuse: deleted automatically within a few days.
- Logs kept by our service providers: for their standard retention periods.
Your choices and rights
- Access and export: in your account, choose Your data → Export my account data to download a copy.
- Correction: edit your work directly in the app, and change your email address in your account settings.
- Deletion: in your account, choose Delete account. This permanently deletes your account, profile, saved work and its previous versions. Purchase records and the proof of deletion remain as described above, without a link to you.
- No account: you can use Locustep’s free features without giving us any personal information.
Depending on where you live, including California, the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, you may have additional rights, such as the right to know what we hold about you, to object to or restrict some processing, and to complain to a data protection authority. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights. To make a request, contact us at support@locustep.com. We may need to confirm your identity first.
Our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries.
Security
Information is encrypted in transit, and the database is encrypted at rest. Access to each account’s data is restricted to that account. Payments are handled entirely by Stripe. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will notify you if a breach affects you, as required by law.
Use of AI
Locustep does not send your answers, saved work or account information to any AI service, and it does not use AI to make decisions about you. Your results come from fixed scoring rules applied to the preferences you enter.
Age requirement
You must be at least 13 to create an account and at least 18 to make a purchase. When you create an account we ask you to confirm you are 13 or older, and we keep the time you confirmed it with your account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the effective date above. If a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions or requests about privacy: support@locustep.com.