What Usual knows. What other people see.
Those should never be the same thing.
How location becomes a private place signal
Location signals are collected with permission
Usual only receives location information after the user grants permission through their device.
Repeated patterns create possible places
Location events can be grouped to identify places that may be part of a recurring routine.
Private and sensitive places are filtered
Home, work, schools, medical facilities, places of worship, shelters, treatment facilities, and other sensitive categories are excluded.
The user reviews each place
A place is not used for matching until the user approves it.
Matching uses approved place identifiers
Other users do not receive your raw coordinates or location history.
Shared context is shown carefully
Before a mutual match, Usual shows only a general category or shared context.
Exact venue names can be revealed after a match only when both people allow it.
Other users never see
- Your live location
- Your location history
- Exact coordinates
- Visit dates
- Visit times
- How often you visit
- The days you usually go
- Your home
- Your workplace
- Sensitive destinations
- A map of your routine
Your controls
You can:
- Disable location permission
- Pause place-based matching
- Remove a place
- Hide a place permanently
- Use a place category without revealing the venue
- Prevent venue names from being revealed after matching
- Download your data
- Delete your account and associated data
Location-data retention
Raw location events are encrypted and retained only long enough to identify recurring place candidates, for no more than 30 days.
Approved place records can remain until you remove them or delete your account.
Usual does not sell precise location data.
Permissions can be changed at any time.
Location permission is optional.
Disabling it stops new location signals from being collected. Existing approved places can be removed individually or deleted with the account.
Manage location permissions