Privacy Policy
Introduction
Speareat ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application (the "App"). Please read this privacy policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this privacy policy, please do not access the App.
Information We Collect
Location Information
Speareat is a location-based audio tour application. To provide our core functionality, we collect and process your location data:
- When-in-use location only: We collect your precise location only while you are actively using the App. This allows us to show your current position on the map and help you navigate to tour locations.
- No background tracking: We do NOT collect your location when the app is closed or in the background.
You have full control over location permissions and can disable them at any time through your device settings. The app will still function without location access, but the "locate me" feature on the map will be unavailable.
Usage and Analytics Data
Analytics data is only collected if you give explicit consent. On first launch, the app presents a consent prompt. If you decline, no analytics data is collected or sent to third parties.
We use third-party analytics services to understand how users interact with Speareat:
- Device information: Device type, operating system version, app-generated anonymous identifier
- App usage data: Features used, screens viewed, button taps, time spent in the app
- Tour interactions: Which tours you view, listen to, and complete
- Audio playback data: Play/pause events, listening progress, story completion
- Tour feedback: Your voluntary ratings and optional text comments on food and audio experience (submitted after completing a tour)
- Error and crash reports: Technical diagnostics when the app encounters errors
- Language preferences: Your chosen app language
We do NOT collect: your name or email address (unless you voluntarily provide it for the waitlist), photos, contacts, microphone or camera access, or payment information.
Tour Feedback (Voluntary)
After completing a tour, the app may ask you to rate your experience. This feedback is entirely voluntary — you can dismiss the prompt at any time. If you give a negative rating, you may optionally leave a short text comment explaining what could be improved. If you choose to submit feedback:
- Your ratings and any text comments are sent to Mixpanel as an analytics event. Please do not include personal information in text comments.
- Your ratings are stored locally on your device to avoid re-prompting
- The app may ask you to leave an App Store or Google Play review — this uses the native review dialogue provided by Apple or Google, and we have no access to or control over the review you leave
Waitlist Information (Optional)
If you choose to join our waitlist for new features or tours, we collect your email address and the submission timestamp. This is entirely optional and used only to notify you about new tours or features.
How We Use Your Information
- Core functionality — delivering location-based audio tour content, showing your position on the map, opening external navigation apps
- App improvement — understanding which features are most used, identifying and fixing bugs, optimising performance
- Communication — notifying waitlist members about new tours or features
- Analytics and research — understanding user behaviour, measuring engagement, A/B testing
Third-Party Services
Mixpanel (Analytics)
In the app: Tracks app usage and user behaviour. Only activates if you accept the in-app consent prompt. To withdraw consent, uninstall and reinstall the app, or email [email protected].
On the website: We collect page visit data such as page path, referrer hostname, and any campaign parameters (utm_*) present in the URL. On audio stop pages, we also collect playback progress events. We do not intentionally collect personal information through website analytics. IP addresses are not recorded. No cookies or data are stored on your device — analytics are processed in memory only and discarded when you leave the page. Mixpanel privacy policy.
Sentry (Error Monitoring)
Monitors app stability and detects crashes. Collects error logs, stack traces, device information. PII scrubbing enabled. Privacy policy.
Supabase (Backend Services)
Waitlist management only. Collects email addresses if you join the waitlist. Privacy policy.
OpenFreeMap (Maps)
Provides map tiles. Collects standard HTTP request data (IP address, tile coordinates). Open-source project using OpenStreetMap data. No user accounts or tracking.
Stripe (Donations — Optional)
When you choose to donate, you are redirected to Stripe's website in your browser. We never see, collect, or store your payment information. Privacy policy.
Data Security
All data transmitted between the app and our servers is encrypted via HTTPS. We collect only what is necessary for app functionality, and we do not require user accounts or passwords.
Data Retention
- Location data: Processed in real-time on your device only; never stored on our servers
- Analytics data: Retained by Mixpanel according to their retention policies (typically 5 years)
- Error reports: Retained by Sentry for up to 90 days
- Waitlist emails: Retained in Supabase until you request removal or unsubscribe
- Tour feedback: Ratings stored locally on your device (deleted when you uninstall); anonymous analytics retained by Mixpanel
- App preferences: Stored locally on your device only; automatically deleted when you uninstall the app
Your Rights and Choices
Location Permissions
iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Speareat.
Android: Settings → Apps → Speareat → Permissions → Location.
We only request "While Using the App" permission. We never request background location tracking.
Analytics Consent
Decline on first launch, or withdraw consent by reinstalling the app. You can also email [email protected] to request deletion of previously collected data.
Data Deletion
Uninstall the app (removes all local data) and email [email protected] — we will delete your waitlist information and request deletion from our analytics providers.
European Users (GDPR)
If you are in the EEA, you have rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, data portability, and object to processing. Legal bases: consent (analytics, location, waitlist, tour feedback), legitimate interests (error monitoring), contractual necessity (core tour service). Contact [email protected].
California Users (CCPA)
You have the right to know, delete, and opt-out of sale of personal information. Note: we do not sell your data. Contact [email protected].
Children's Privacy
Speareat is not directed to children under 13 (or 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect information from children. Contact us immediately if you believe your child has provided personal information.
International Data Transfers
Speareat is operated from the United Kingdom. Data may be processed in the UK, United States (Mixpanel, Sentry, Supabase), and EU (Supabase servers). By using the app, you consent to these transfers.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will update the "Last Updated" date and notify waitlist subscribers of material changes. Continued use constitutes acceptance.
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
App: Speareat
Developer: Metamaps LTD
Location: United Kingdom
For GDPR or CCPA requests, include "GDPR Request" or "CCPA Request" in your subject line. We respond within 30 days.
Summary (TL;DR)
What we collect:
- Location data (only while app is open, to show your position on the map)
- App usage analytics (anonymous interaction data to improve the app)
- Error and crash reports (to fix bugs)
- Voluntary tour feedback ratings and optional text comments
- Email address (only if you voluntarily join the waitlist for new tours)
What we don't collect:
- Your name, identity, or personal profile
- Background location
- Photos, contacts, or messages
- Payment information
- Microphone or camera data
This privacy policy is designed to comply with GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and UK data protection laws.
Contact
Found a stall we need to know about? Got a question about a walk? Want to work with us? We read every message.
Pierce
the surface.
Taste the spirit.
Cinematic audio food walks through London's global food scene.
Story before every dish.
Context is flavour
“The pleasures of food
lie mostly in the mind,
not in the mouth.”
— Charles Spence, Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating
We built Speareat on twenty years of Oxford research showing that the story you hear before a meal measurably changes the way it tastes. When you know what you're eating and why, the texture sharpens, the seasoning makes sense, and you taste what the maker intended.
How it works
Pick a hunting ground
Each walk is a curated trail of independent vendors. What to order, tasting notes, and the cinematic story behind every bite. Free to download.
Press play
Every stop tells you the history, technique, and culture behind what you're about to eat. Download for offline listening: at home before you go, on the walk, or on the train home.
*Tip: share an earbud each. Two pairs, four people, one Speareat.
Take the first bite
Share a plate, split the bill, argue about something delicious. Food tastes different when you know the story — and better when you've got someone to share it with.
Press play. Take a bite.
The chippy at the birthplace of British rock 'n' roll
Find your
next hunt
Audio food walks
London
Featuring: native oysters
Borough Market
The Stalls That Survived
Borough Market has been feeding London for over a thousand years. What keeps it alive are the people you're about to meet. A food science graduate who rescued British farmhouse cheese from extinction. An eighth-generation oyster family working the same Essex creek. A butcher who started with three pigs and a book. Every stall has a story that sounds made up but isn't. Hear them all while you eat the evidence.
Heritage & Craft
Featuring: custard buns
Chinatown
Behind the Steam
London's original Chinatown was in the East End, built around Chinese sailors and dockworkers. That was Limehouse. This is Soho. The food tells the rest. A candy wrapped in edible rice paper that went from a Shanghai factory to Richard Nixon's desk. A dumpling engineered to hold hot soup inside a sealed skin. A Japanese fish-shaped cake in a Chinese bakery. Nothing here is what it looks like from the outside. This walk gets you inside.
Culture & History
Featuring: Irish coffee
Soho
The Last Orders
There's a pub on Dean Street that won't serve you a pint. It was opened by a German, run by a Belgian, and used by De Gaulle to rally the French Resistance. A jazz club where Hendrix played his last gig, started by two saxophonists who took jobs on a cruise ship just to hear bebop in New York. One of the defining modern cocktails, invented here when a model asked the bartender for something that would wake her up and mess her up. That's neat Soho. And this walk pours you into the middle of it.
Cocktails & Character
Featuring: salt beef beigel
Brick Lane
The Tasting Mile
Brick Lane is just one mile long. You could walk it in fifteen minutes. You won't. Every wave of arrivals to London landed here first, and every one left a kitchen behind. A beigel shop on the night shift since 1974. Ghanaian cacao ground into bean-to-bar chocolate a few doors down. The origin story of Fish and Chips, traced to a chip shop around the corner. The temptation is real. So is the queue.
Migration & Street FoodI thought it was a podcast with a map. It's not. It's more like walking with someone who knows every maker by name and every dish by heart.
Pablo J., London
There's more to taste
Five-star ratings
won't save you
from ordinary food.
Speareat might.
Up to half of online reviews are fake.
UK Competition and Markets Authority, 2026
Two founders, years of eating London. The defining meals we still talk about, the terrible ones we don't, the ones we're still chasing. No vendor has ever paid to be on a Speareat walk. No one ever will.
Why Speareat
The ear leads the palate
Cinematic, story-led narration with music, atmosphere and sound effects. Less screen time by design. Listen to the audio, follow the aromas, look at the makers. Soak in the moment.
Stay true to your instincts
Start, pause, detour, replay. Follow the recommended route or don't. Works as a podcast anywhere or a flexible walk once you're there.
Curation without compromises
No banner ads or sponsored placements. Independent vendors and local favourites, selected for craft, heritage and technique. Specific food recommendations and sensory tasting notes at every stop.
Earned discovery
Speareat is for the wanderer. Slows you down, takes you off the main streets, makes you notice the unexpected. Built for presence.
Pull a story from your pocket.
Eat it.
Walk one, taste differently. Every market, every menu, every meal after this one.
A meal you understand is a meal you remember.
Self-funded. No subscription. Works offline.