We keep as little as the app needs to work.

Who we are

Outwork is run from the United Kingdom, and we decide what happens to the data described here (we’re the “controller”). Write to hello@outwork.tech about anything on this page. The UK GDPR applies to us, and the EU GDPR does for people in the EU and EEA. Our EU representative is to be appointed before we launch live areas in the EU; until then, write to the address above.

If you use the app

Readings. When you tap I’m here, the app sends what you chose (seats, noise) and the wifi speed it measured, with the time. That’s the point of the app: other people see it.

An anonymous device key. Each reading is signed with a key made on your phone by Apple’s App Attest. It proves the reading came from a genuine copy of the app, so we can limit how often one phone can post and give less weight to readings that turn out wrong. The key isn’t linked to you, your Apple ID or your phone number.

Location. If you allow it, the app uses your location to find the areas near you, and to check a reading was sent from near the café. For that check we store only the distance between you and the café, never the coordinate. If you type a postcode instead, it stays on your phone.

Lock-screen updates. If you start a Live Activity for a laptop window, your phone gives us a push token so we can update that card fifteen minutes before the window closes and end it when it does. It’s used for nothing else, and we delete it once the activity has ended.

If you find a seat on the website

Location. If you tap Use my location, your browser asks once. We round the location to about 100 metres and put it in the page address, and our server uses it for that one page to find the nearest areas. Our code doesn’t store it or log it. Railway, which hosts the site, keeps routine request logs for a limited time, and those can include page addresses. The address also stays in your browser’s history, like any other page.

Postcodes and places. If you type a postcode or a place instead, it goes in the page address the same way. We ask postcodes.io where a UK postcode is, and Photon (run by komoot, on OpenStreetMap data) where anything else is. We don’t keep it. No cookies, no device key.

“Are laptops fine here?” and “Bring Live here”

Laptop votes. Your answer is stored with the place, the time and your app’s anonymous device key, so each phone counts once per place and can change its mind. From a table card on the web, a scrambled hash of the card’s code stands in for the key. If your phone sends a location with the vote, we use it only to check you’re near the place, and don’t store it.

City votes. When you ask for Outwork in your city, we round your location to about a kilometre, ask Photon which town that is, and keep the town, the rounded point and your device key. From the website, a scrambled hash of your connection’s address stands in for the key, so each person counts once per city.

Counting interest in a place

When a place is shown in a list, opened, or someone taps Walk there, we add one to that place’s count for the day. That’s all: a number per place per day, with nothing about who. We use the totals to tell café owners that people are looking for them.

Where places come from

Most places start as public listings from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors): the business’s name, address, opening hours, website and tags like “wifi”. We use them to guess whether laptops are welcome, and say so in the app. These are listings of businesses, not people.

Run one of them? Open it in the app or on the website and tap Run this café?, or go to outwork.tech/venue/claim/ followed by the place’s code. You can claim it and set your own laptop hours, or remove it from Outwork straight away. For removals we keep your email, your reason if you give one, and when you asked, so it stays off. You can also just email hello@outwork.tech.

If you scan a table card without the app

The web page sends only the seats answer you tap and the code printed on the card. No location, no device key, no cookies.

If you suggest a café

We keep the café’s name, the area and your note, so we can go and ask them. Your email only if you give it, and only to tell you when that café is on Outwork. To stop spam we also keep a scrambled hash of your connection’s address, never the address itself.

If you run a café

You give us an email address so we can send you sign-in links, and the details you choose to publish: the café’s name, address, laptop hours and house rule. Those details are public in the app. Signing in sets one cookie that keeps you signed in on that browser. If you add a café we don’t have, we look up its address with postcodes.io (UK postcodes) or Photon, falling back to Geoapify if Photon can’t answer.

We don’t send cafés marketing emails. If we think you’d like Outwork, one of us comes in, or leaves a flyer.

Stopping abuse

Sign-in links, setup, removals, votes, suggestions and the interest counts are rate-limited. For that we note your connection’s address against the request for up to a day, then delete it.

Why we’re allowed to

• Readings, device keys, votes, interest counts, rate limits and public listings: our legitimate interest in running a useful, honest map of where to work, weighed against yours. None of it identifies you.
• Café owner emails and listings: to provide the service you signed up for (a contract).
• Location and lock-screen updates: only when you turn them on in your phone or browser.

How long we keep things

• Readings: kept, because they make the “usually frees up around 14:00” patterns. Each one holds the café, what you said, the time, the distance and an anonymous key. Nothing in them points to you.
• Device keys: kept while they’re in use. A key is made by your phone for this app and means nothing outside it.
• Push tokens: deleted when the Live Activity ends.
• Café owner emails: for as long as the listing is yours. Ask and we’ll delete it.
• Laptop votes and city votes: kept while they’re useful; they hold a key or a hash, never a name.
• Interest counts: kept. They’re numbers per place per day.
• Removal requests: kept, so a removed listing stays removed.

Who else handles it

• Railway, which hosts the servers and database in its EU region.
• Resend, which sends sign-in, print-kit and removal emails to café owners.
• postcodes.io, which turns a UK postcode into a place on the map.
• Photon, run by komoot on OpenStreetMap data, which turns other places and addresses into points on the map, and points into town names. Geoapify, only when Photon can’t answer.
• Apple, for App Attest and push notifications.

Resend and Apple are based in the United States, so what they handle for us leaves the UK and EU under their data processing terms.

We don’t sell data, show ads, or use advertising or analytics trackers on the website or in the app.

Your rights

You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. For app users that usually means deleting the app: the key goes with it, and nothing we keep can be traced back to you. You can also object to what we do on legitimate interests, and ask us to restrict it. If you’re not happy with how we handle something, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, or, in the EU and EEA, to the data protection authority where you live.