Terms and Conditions

Last updated 27 October 2026 · version 2026-10-27d

The short version

• GeoSnoop estimates where a photo was taken. Its answers are estimates and can be wrong. Never use them alone for decisions about people, in emergencies or for navigation.
• Never use GeoSnoop to find, stalk, harass, track or surveil anyone. You confirm this before every upload. We close accounts that break this rule, and we may report them.
• Your photos stay yours. We use them to give you results, and keep a copy only to check and improve our accuracy, never to train models.
• Plans renew automatically until you cancel, which you can do at any time on your account page. Credits don't roll over. Payments are not refunded, except where the law requires it.
• You must be 18 or older. US users: disputes go to individual arbitration, not class actions, unless you opt out (section 21).

These Terms are an agreement between you and Polling Inc., doing business as GeoSnoop, 22604 La Alameda STE 260, Mission Viejo, CA, United States (“we”, “us”) for the use of GeoSnoop: the website at geosnoop.com, its API and related services (the “Service”). Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. Please read both.

1. Agreeing to these Terms

You agree to these Terms by using the Service. Before every upload, when you create an account and when you create an API key, GeoSnoop also asks you to tick boxes. You agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy, confirm that you are 18 or older, confirm the lawful-use statement (“I am not uploading this image to stalk, harass, track or surveil anyone, or for any other unlawful or harmful purpose.”) and allow our necessary cookies. We record each agreement. Uploads without a current agreement are refused. Uploads through an API key are covered by the agreement given when that key was created, or given again on your account page. If you use the Service for an organisation, you agree for it and confirm you have the authority to do so. Then “you” also means that organisation.

2. Who may use GeoSnoop

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract, and you confirm your age when you sign up and before uploading. You may not use the Service if the law forbids it, if you are on a US or other applicable sanctions list, or if we have closed your account before.

Police, intelligence, military and other government bodies may use GeoSnoop only for official purposes within their legal authority and these Terms, and for more than occasional use only under a separate written agreement with us.

3. What GeoSnoop does, and its limits

GeoSnoop compares what is in a picture with photos of known places and estimates where the picture was taken. It shows likely countries and cities with their chances, and a map area. It works from the pixels alone and never uses the location data stored in a file.

Results are estimates, not facts. They can be wrong or incomplete, and GeoSnoop never claims certainty. Some pictures can't be placed at all. Do not rely on a result:

• as the only basis for any decision about a person, such as an accusation or a legal matter (and never for eligibility decisions: section 5);
• in an emergency, for navigation, or where someone's safety depends on it;
• as evidence, unless you have checked it independently.

Country and place names, and borders on our maps, come from map data (OpenStreetMap and Protomaps) and from standard country lists. They are not our view on any territory's legal status.

Features we label beta or preview are experiments: they may change or end at any time, may be less reliable, and come with no commitment that they will continue. The rest of these Terms still apply to them.

We may change, add or remove features, and the Service may sometimes be unavailable, for example for maintenance. If we make a change that substantially reduces what a paid plan includes, we will tell you in advance, and you may cancel.

4. Your account

Keep your password and API keys secret, give us a real email address and keep it up to date. You are responsible for everything done with your account and keys. Tell us at once at security@geosnoop.com if you think someone else has used them. One person may not create several accounts to get more free credits or free searches.

5. Acceptable use

You must use GeoSnoop lawfully and responsibly. In particular, you must not use the Service, or any result, to:

• find, locate, follow, stalk, harass, threaten, intimidate, track or surveil any person, or help anyone else do so;
• find out where a particular person is, was, or lives, unless that person has agreed; or reveal where someone lives, works or is (doxxing), in particular a partner, ex-partner, family member, child or anyone fleeing abuse;
• combine GeoSnoop results with face recognition, people-search, reverse image search of a person or similar tools to work out where someone is;
• identify, track or target journalists, their sources, activists, protesters, political opponents or human rights defenders, or support persecution or mass surveillance;
• harm, exploit or endanger children, or upload child sexual abuse material (we report it to the authorities);
• upload intimate or sexual images of anyone without their consent, or other content that is unlawful, or that you have no right to use;
• discriminate unlawfully, or profile people on the basis of sensitive characteristics;
• use results as a factor in deciding whether a person is eligible for credit, insurance, employment, housing or any similar benefit. GeoSnoop is not a consumer reporting agency, and its results are not consumer reports;
• break any law, including privacy, data protection, surveillance, harassment and export control laws, or infringe anyone's rights;
• get around our limits, credits, captcha, free-test rules or security, probe or attack our systems, or upload malware;
• access the Service by automated means other than the API, scrape it, overload it, or copy, reverse engineer or extract our models, reference data or results in bulk to build a competing product or dataset, or use results to train a model that estimates locations;
• resell, sublicense or offer the Service or its results as a service to others without a Reseller / Scale agreement with us.

We may refuse uploads, rate-limit requests, and investigate suspected misuse. We may ask you to tell us how you use GeoSnoop, or to confirm who you are or which organisation you act for, before or while you use it, especially for the API or high volumes. If you don't answer, we may limit or suspend your access while we wait.

Report misuse at abuse@geosnoop.com. Tell us what happened, when, and any result link or account you know of. We keep the identity of people who report misuse confidential, and never tell the reported user who reported them unless the law requires it. We reply within 5 working days, and faster where someone may be in danger. See also Responsible use.

6. Your content

You keep all rights to the pictures you upload. To run the Service, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, transmit, scan and analyse your pictures and their metadata, to make smaller viewing copies, and to show you results, for as long as our Privacy Policy says we keep them. This website deletes uploads after 30 days. The licence also lets us keep a copy of your pictures and their results as a test set, only to check, measure and improve GeoSnoop's accuracy (for example, to compare versions of the engine). We will not use your pictures to train machine-learning models, will not add them to the reference photos GeoSnoop compares pictures with, and will not publish them or show them to anyone else, except as the law requires. The licence ends when the copies are deleted: when you delete your account, and in any case 24 months after upload.

You promise that you have every right and permission needed to upload each picture and let us use it this way, including any consent the law requires from people shown in it. You also promise that uploading it and using the results doesn't break the law or these Terms. Uploads are scanned automatically for malware and known child sexual abuse material.

7. Results and our rights

You may use your results for any lawful purpose that these Terms allow. If you publish a result's map, keep its attribution (“© OpenStreetMap contributors” and Protomaps). The Service, its software, models, reference data, design and brand belong to us or our licensors. These Terms give you no rights in them except to use the Service as described. If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them freely, without paying you.

8. Free use

Without an account you can try GeoSnoop once (“one free test”: one single photo, country-level result), counted per browser and network for 7 days. A free account gets 10 credits once, at sign-up, for full results, then up to 5 country-level single-photo searches a day. Free searches need a quick automatic check (proof of work) and are subject to daily limits. They wait behind paid searches in the queue. We may change or end free use at any time.

9. Credits

• A full search costs credits: a single photo 1, a set of photos or a video 3. Credits are taken only when a result names at least a country. A result of “Unknown Location” or a region only costs nothing. Unlocking the full view of an earlier free result costs credits as shown before you unlock it. Current prices are on the Pricing page.
• Subscription credits are given at the start of each monthly credit period (yearly plans also get their credits month by month). Unused credits do not roll over: they expire at the end of each credit period, and when your subscription ends.
• Credits have no cash value, can't be transferred or sold, and are not property. We may remove credits that were obtained by mistake, fraud, abuse, or a payment that was reversed or disputed.

10. Subscriptions, automatic renewal and cancellation

• Automatic renewal: paid plans are subscriptions. A monthly plan renews and is charged every month, and a yearly plan every year, at the price shown when you subscribed, until you cancel. Prices are in US dollars. Before you are sent to payment, you tick a box to agree that the plan renews automatically, and we record that agreement. You authorise us (through Stripe) to charge your payment method at each renewal.
• How to cancel: at any time, online: Account → Manage subscription → Cancel. You can also email support@geosnoop.com. Cancellation stops the next renewal. Your plan and its current credits last until the end of the period you have paid for.
• Changing plans: an upgrade takes effect at once and is charged straight away (adjusted for the time left). A downgrade, or a switch from yearly to monthly, takes effect at the end of the current period.
• Failed payments: if a renewal payment fails, no new credits are given until it is paid, and the subscription may end.
• Price changes: we will tell you at least 30 days before a new price applies to your subscription. It applies from your next renewal after that, and you can cancel before it does.
• Emails about your plan: we email you a confirmation of your plan's terms when you subscribe, a reminder about 30 days before each renewal of a yearly plan, and, for monthly plans, a reminder of the terms once a year.
• Deleting your account cancels any subscription at once. Any credits you have left are lost.

11. No refunds

Payments are non-refundable, and we give no refunds or credits for partly used periods, unused credits, cancellation or account deletion, except where the law requires otherwise or we decide otherwise in a particular case. Consumers in the EU, the UK and some other countries have a legal right to withdraw from an online purchase within 14 days. When you buy a plan, you ask us to start the service at once. You acknowledge that, once the service has started, you lose your right of withdrawal where the law allows that, or otherwise receive back only the part of the price that the law requires. Nothing in these Terms limits your rights under consumer law.

Chargebacks. If you think a charge is wrong, please email support@geosnoop.com first: we fix billing mistakes quickly. While a payment dispute is open, we may pause the account and its credits.

12. Taxes

Prices do not include taxes unless the price says so. Where the law requires us to collect sales tax, VAT or similar taxes, we add them at checkout. Otherwise you are responsible for any taxes that apply to your purchase.

13. The API

• API keys belong to your account, and you are responsible for every request made with them. Keep them secret and revoke any key that may have leaked. Don't share, sell or publish keys, or put them in code that others can see, such as a web page or app.
• Each API upload is covered by the agreement recorded when its key was created. If these Terms change, you must agree again on your account page before the key works again.
• We set rate limits and may change them. Don't try to get around them. Version 1 of the API keeps its documented fields. We may add fields, and will announce any breaking change in advance.
• You may build the API into your own products for your own use and your users' use, if you make sure they follow section 5. You may not resell the Service or offer it to others as a service unless you have a Reseller / Scale agreement with us. That agreement's terms come first where they differ from these.
• If other people upload pictures through your product, you must show them rules at least as strict as section 5, tell them their pictures are sent to GeoSnoop, get any notice or consent the law requires from them, and stop anyone who breaks the rules. You are responsible for their use.

14. Third-party services

Payments are made on Stripe's pages, under Stripe's terms. Links to other sites, such as map services, are for your convenience. We are not responsible for other companies' services.

15. Suspension and termination

You may stop using GeoSnoop, and delete your account, at any time. We may suspend or close your account or API keys, refuse service, or remove content, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have broken these Terms or the law, if your use puts others or the Service at risk, if a payment is reversed, or if the law requires it. Where it's appropriate and the law allows, we'll tell you why, and you can reply to support@geosnoop.com if you think we got it wrong. If we close an account for misuse, no refund is due. If we end the Service for everyone, we'll give reasonable notice and refund prepaid fees for any period of service you didn't receive. Sections 6 (the licence, as long as copies are kept), 7, 11 and 16 to 24 survive termination.

16. Legal requests and reporting

We respond to valid legal process and cooperate with lawful requests from authorities. We may report suspected illegal use, and we report child sexual abuse material as the law requires. See section 14 of the Privacy Policy.

17. Copyright complaints

If you believe something on GeoSnoop infringes your copyright, send a notice to our copyright agent at legal@geosnoop.com (subject “Copyright notice”). It must include: your signature; the work you say is infringed; the material and where it is (for example, a result link); your contact details; a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised; and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for the owner. We may remove the material, and we close the accounts of repeat infringers where appropriate. If your material was removed by mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same address.

18. Disclaimers

The Service and all results are provided “as is” and “as available”. As far as the law allows, we make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We do not warrant that results will be correct, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free. Some places do not allow these exclusions, so some may not apply to you.

19. Limitation of liability

As far as the law allows: (a) we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from the Service or these Terms; (b) we are not liable for what you or others do based on a result; and (c) our total liability for all claims about the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event that gave rise to the claim, and US$100. These limits apply whatever the legal theory, even if we were told the damage was possible. They do not limit liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or, for consumers in the EU and UK, for gross negligence or intent, or your statutory rights.

20. Indemnity

As far as the law allows, you will defend and compensate us, our officers, employees and contractors against any claim, loss or cost (including reasonable legal fees) that arises from your content, from your use of the Service or its results, or from your breach of these Terms or the law. This section does not apply to consumers where the law does not allow it.

21. Disputes, arbitration and class action waiver

Please read this section carefully: it affects your legal rights.

• Talk to us first. Before starting a claim, email legal@geosnoop.com with a description of the problem and what you want. We will try to resolve it within 60 days.
• Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware and the United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.
• Arbitration (if you live in the United States). Any dispute between you and us that arises from these Terms or the Service will be settled by binding arbitration of your individual claim, not in court. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will run it under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or its Commercial Rules if you are a business). It can take place online, by phone, or in the US county where you live. Either side may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either side may go to court to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property. We will pay the AAA fees that its consumer rules assign to businesses.
• No class actions. You and we may bring claims only individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective or representative proceeding. The arbitrator can't combine claims of more than one person. If this class waiver is found unenforceable for a claim, that claim goes to court, not to arbitration.
• Opting out. You can opt out of arbitration and the class waiver within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms. Email legal@geosnoop.com with the subject “Arbitration opt-out”, your name and your account's email address.
• Courts. Disputes that are not arbitrated go to the state or federal courts in Delaware, and both sides accept their jurisdiction.
• Consumers outside the United States. The arbitration and class-waiver parts of this section don't apply to you. You also keep the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of your country, and may bring proceedings in the courts where you live.
• Time limit. As far as the law allows, a claim must be brought within one year after it arises.

22. Export controls and sanctions

You may not use the Service, or export results, in breach of US or other applicable export control or sanctions laws. This includes use in, or for anyone located in, a country or region under comprehensive US sanctions, and use by anyone on a US government restricted-party list.

23. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will post the new version here with a new date and version. If a change is material, we tell account holders by email or on the site before it takes effect. Before your next upload, GeoSnoop asks you to agree to the new version. Changes don't apply to disputes that arose before them. A change to price or plan contents applies to a subscription only from its next renewal after notice (section 10). If you don't agree, stop using the Service and cancel your subscription.

24. General

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, any plan or order terms shown at checkout and any separate written agreement with us make up the whole agreement between you and us about the Service. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. If we don't enforce a right at once, we haven't waived it. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent. We may transfer them to a successor of our business. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control. We may send you notices by email or on the Service, and you agree to receive them electronically. These Terms are written in English, and the English version controls.

25. Contact

Polling Inc. (DBA GeoSnoop) · 22604 La Alameda STE 260, Mission Viejo, CA, United States · help: support@geosnoop.com · legal notices: legal@geosnoop.com · misuse: abuse@geosnoop.com · privacy: privacy@geosnoop.com · sales and Reseller / Scale plans: sales@geosnoop.com