• Photos that you share are linked to your Apple Account to maintain the integrity of the service. Ratings are associated with an identifier that regularly rotates and is not linked to your Apple Account.
• Your other activities within Maps outside of Ratings & Photos and Report an Issue are not linked to your Apple Account and remain associated with random identifiers that reset themselves as you use the app.
• Images without personal data may be used to improve the product and service, and sample images that do not meet our Terms may be used to improve our ability to filter out such content in the future.

Ratings & Photos and all Apple services are designed from the ground up to protect your privacy. We work hard to collect only the data we need to make your experience better. When we collect data, we believe it’s important for you to know what we’re collecting and why we need it, so you can make informed choices.

Providing Ratings & Photos

To upload a Photo for a POI of your choice, you must have an Apple Account. Your approximate location and location information associated with your image will also be sent to Apple and used to confirm authenticity of the Submission. Your Photo submissions will be linked to your Apple Account. Ratings you submit are associated with an identifier that regularly rotates and is not linked to your Apple Account. We also collect certain non-personal data, such as usage analytics about your Submissions, that is not associated with your Apple Account.

You can receive public credit for all of your photos that appear in Maps by using a nickname of your choice. If you choose to receive credit, your nickname will be visible to other Maps users on all of your photos submitted to Maps. You can stop receiving credit or change your nickname by going to Maps > [your picture or initials] > Preferences > Photo Credit and tapping to turn off Show Credit or editing your Nickname on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device, or by going to Maps > Settings > Ratings & Photos on Mac. Changes may take a few days to apply.

You also can allow companies that provide photos to Maps to use the photos that you add to Maps in their own products and services. If you choose to allow those companies to use your photos, Apple will share the photos and their locations, but will not share information that identifies you. If you go to Settings > Apps > Maps > Photo Use and tap to turn off Allow Photo Providers to Use Your Photos on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device, or go to Maps > Settings > Ratings & Photos, and deselect Allow Photo Providers to Use Your Photos on Mac, those companies may no longer use your photos. Changes may take a few days to apply.

When you use Ratings & Photos, images that depict your personal data or personal data about others (for example, images that identify a person) may not be accepted.

Maps may suggest that you submit a rating or photo if you have recently visited or taken a photo of a POI. These suggestions are done using on-device processing and cannot be read by Apple. You can choose not to receive these suggestions on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device by going to Settings > Apps > Maps and tapping to disable Show Ratings and Photos Suggestions, and on your Mac by going to Maps > Settings > Ratings & Photos and deselecting Show Ratings and Photos Suggestions.

Improving Ratings & Photos

In Ratings & Photos, we aim to display and rank the most relevant and diverse images on the POI placecard. Your Submissions may be used to improve the product and service. Before we use any image for such purpose, we remove any personal data and disassociate the Submission from your Apple Account.

We also aim to filter out Submissions that violate our Terms (www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/maps/ratings-photos). If you submit such content, our intention is that it either will not be posted or will be blurred, your account may be blocked, and in certain cases we may contact you using the email address associated with your Apple Account. To maintain the integrity of the service, a sample of images that do not meet our Terms may be used to improve our ability to filter out such content in the future.

Sharing with Third Parties

Data that is sent to Apple may be processed and stored by trusted service providers.

Applicable Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

We process your personal data for Ratings & Photos generally as necessary for providing the service and to comply with our legal obligations. Where consent is the appropriate legal basis, we seek it in accordance with applicable local law.

Where applicable local law provides, we process the following categories of personal data as necessary for purposes of our legitimate interests or those of a third party in order to:

• Confirm the authenticity of the Submission
• Maintain the integrity of the service

The data used includes:

• Your approximate location and location information associated with your image
• A sample of images that do not meet our Terms

Retention

We retain the photos you submit in Ratings & Photos and store them with your Apple Account unless you delete or remove such content or submit an account deletion request via Apple’s Privacy Portal at privacy.apple.com, or as required by law. You can delete your photo submissions and remove or change your ratings using the Maps app. If you have questions or concerns about how your personal data is used as it relates to Ratings & Photos, or you would like to reach our Data Protection Officer, you can contact us at www.apple.com/legal/privacy/contact.

At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy

Published Date: November 6, 2024