Privacy Policy

KORE Privacy Policy

KORE ("the app") is an all-in-one restroom app — finding restrooms, directions, reviews, submissions and a toilet character to raise (KORE) in one place. It covers Korea and, from version 2.2.0, restrooms in more than 230 countries and territories worldwide. This policy explains what information the app collects, what it is used for, and how you can delete it.

1. Information we collect

a. Information you give us

• Account details — only if you choose to sign up: your email address and password. Passwords are handled by an authentication service and are never visible to us. Signing up links your email to the anonymous identifier described below.
• Profile — a nickname and country chosen when you sign up (required) and an optional profile photo, shown publicly on rankings, reviews and profile cards. Without an account you appear as "Anonymous". If you haven't chosen a country yourself, one inferred from the app's language (e.g. Korean → South Korea, Japanese → Japan) may be stored on your profile and shown as a flag.
• Submissions, edit suggestions and removal requests — a restroom's location (coordinates), name, address, description, opening hours and photos, and for a removal request the reason you picked and any note you wrote (up to 500 characters). If you're signed in, your account email is stored with them. You can send these for restrooms outside Korea too.
• Reviews and ratings — star ratings, review text (up to 1,000 characters), the language it was written in, and answers such as "Is it open?" and "Is it clean?".
• Review replies and likes — replies you post under someone's review (up to 300 characters, with the language and the nickname you had when writing), and the reviews you liked.
• Favorites and history — restrooms you starred and the ones you opened (the restroom's name, address, coordinates and the time).
• Feedback — what you write to us, any contact details you choose to leave for a reply, the app language and, if you're signed in, your account email.
• KORE (character) records — your coin and crystal balances and every change to them, items you bought and have equipped, the toilets and levels in Grow, check-in and mission progress, rewards received (including the restrooms you were rewarded for reviewing, rating or answering), your "poop is full" notification setting and when it is due, and the date your account was created (for the one-year reward).
• Earlier game records — minigame scores, when they were set, play counts, country and province from versions before 2.1.0. Version 2.1.0 no longer collects them; records already stored are used once, to convert them into KORE coins the first time you open KORE.

b. Information processed automatically

• Anonymous identifier — even without signing in, each device gets an anonymous account (UID). It links what you send (submissions, feedback, reviews, KORE records) to you so replies can reach you. While you are not signed in it is not tied to your name, email or any other identity; signing up links your email to it.
• Location — if you grant permission, your device's current location while you are using the app. It is never collected in the background, and it is not stored on a server or kept as a history. On the device it is also used to notice when you've reached (within about 70 m) a restroom you set off for, so the app can ask for a rating.
• Map data for restrooms abroad — from version 2.2.0, when you look at the map outside Korea or are outside Korea, the app downloads that area's restroom list files from our web server. These requests carry your IP address and the requested file name, which identifies a rough area (larger than a city); your precise coordinates are not sent. We do not keep our own record of these requests; any server logs needed to run the service follow the hosting provider's policies. Viewing the Korean map from inside Korea makes no such request.
• Translation of restroom information abroad — from version 2.2.0, to show restrooms abroad in your language, their names, addresses and descriptions are sent through our server to a translation service. Only text about the restroom is sent; to prevent abuse, the number of characters translated per anonymous identifier (UID) per day is counted. Translations are stored in a shared cache, with no user information, so the same text is not translated twice.
• Notification token — if you allow notifications, your device's push token plus device platform, app language and app version. It is used for submission decisions, feedback replies, replies to your reviews, app updates, and KORE notifications when your poop is full or you haven't visited for a while (KORE notifications can be turned off under All).
• Advertising data — to show ads in the app, our advertising service may process device information and the advertising identifier (IDFA/AAID). On iOS the identifier is used only if you allow it in the App Tracking Transparency prompt; in the EEA and UK it is processed according to your consent choice.
• Purchase records — if you buy coin or crystal packs, the store transaction number (for Google Play, a value derived from the purchase token), product, platform, quantity, purchase time and refund status, so the purchase can be verified and delivered. To confirm a purchase belongs to your account, a non-reversible value derived from your account identifier is attached to the store purchase. A purchase made without signing in (as a guest) is linked to that device's anonymous account; signing up keeps it on the same account, and logging in to an existing account moves it there. If the app is deleted without signing up, the anonymous account cannot be recovered and the remaining coins and crystals cannot be carried over.
• Subscription status — if you subscribe to KORE Premium or the ad-free subscription, the purchase information needed to confirm it (product and subscription period). A KORE Premium subscriber marker (with how long it is valid) is stored on your profile. Payment is handled by the App Store / Google Play; the app never receives card numbers or other payment details. If you received the promotional free traveller period, the nationality you declared, your country and the period are kept with it.
• Crash reports — on Android, if the app crashes, a crash log and diagnostic information used to find the cause. Not linked to your identity.
• Usage analytics — to improve the service, an analytics tool collects app usage information (screens viewed, features used, search terms, purchase attempt outcomes and similar), a device identifier, and approximate region, device and app version. Your email, nickname and precise location are never sent, and this is not used to identify you.
• Device integrity — app attestation through the device's built-in checks, used to block requests from tampered apps. It does not identify you.
• Update checks — when the app starts it checks our update provider's servers for a new update and downloads it. This passes your IP address, device platform and app version.

c. What we do not collect

Contacts and address books, camera or microphone, step counts or other physical-activity data, and background location. Only the photos you pick yourself are uploaded.

2. How we use it

3. What becomes public

• Approved restroom information and photos appear on every user's map.
• Reviews and review replies store the nickname you had when writing (or "Anonymous") and are public with it, your profile photo and flag, and are automatically translated into all 5 languages. Reviews with many likes appear under Popular reviews. Only like counts are public — never who liked.
• The contributor and KORE rankings show nicknames, profile photos, flags and records (approved submissions; the toilet and level you reached in KORE), and the KORE ranking can also be viewed by country (the country on your profile). A KORE Premium subscriber's profile ring and name colour show that they subscribe. Your email address is never shown anywhere.
• KORE Rankings show ratings, favourites and views only as per-restroom totals, and the app never shows who left them. Star ratings and "Is it open?" answers are, however, stored with the author's anonymous identifier (UID), and those records and each UID's public profile (nickname, photo, country) can technically be read outside the app because of how the service is built.
• The account email stored with submissions, suggestions and feedback is visible only to the operator.
• KORE records (coins, crystals, items, reward history) and purchase records are not visible to other users; the operator looks at them only when needed to verify a payment, handle a refund or fix an error.
• "Only me" markers, favorites and history are not visible to other users. The operator can access "only me" markers for running the service and responding to reports of unlawful content; favorites and history are not opened individually even by the operator and are only counted into per-restroom totals on the server.

4. Third-party services

The app uses the services below, each governed by its own privacy policy.

• Cloud services — storing and processing accounts, submissions, reviews, feedback, photos, KORE records and purchase records; sending notifications; crash reports; usage analytics; serving map data for restrooms abroad.
• Advertising service — showing ads and managing ad consent.
• Apple App Store · Google Play — payment and refunds for the KORE Premium subscription and for coin and crystal packs. Our server checks purchases with Google Play and receives refund notifications from the App Store.
• Map service — map display, and turning coordinates into an address when you add a restroom.
• Translation service — automatic translation of submissions, reviews and restroom information abroad.
• Route service — walking-route calculation. Only when you request a route, the start and destination coordinates and names ("Current location" and the restroom's name) are sent; no account information is sent.
• The TMAP, KakaoMap and Naver Map apps — tapping a directions button passes the destination's coordinates and name to that app, and KakaoMap and Naver Map also receive your current location as the start point. That app's own policy then applies.
• The Google Maps and Apple Maps apps — tapping a directions button on a restroom abroad passes the destination's coordinates and name to that app. That app's own policy then applies.
• Update delivery service — checking for and delivering app updates.

Data is stored and processed primarily in data centres in South Korea; by the nature of these services some processing may take place outside Korea. We do not sell your personal information.

4-1. Transfers outside Korea

To provide the service, personal information is processed outside Korea as below. These transfers happen when you install and use the app; you can stop them by deleting your account or the app (they are needed for the service, so they cannot be refused one by one).

Questions about these transfers go to the privacy officer in section 10.

5. How long we keep it

• Deleting your account immediately deletes your account details, profile (nickname, photo, country), submissions and edit suggestions, "only me" markers and their photos, feedback, favorites, history and notification tokens; once the account is gone, your KORE records (coins, crystals, items, Grow, reward history), KORE ranking entry, review likes and earlier KORE Points records are deleted automatically as well.
• Purchase records are kept for 5 years from the payment date as records of payment and supply under Korea's Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, and are not deleted with the account during that period. They are used only for the purposes that law allows (confirming payments, refunds and withdrawals, resolving disputes) and are deleted without delay once the period ends.
• Reviews, review replies, star ratings, "Is it open?" answers and earlier game records are not deleted by deleting the account; they remain with the anonymous identifier (reviews and replies keep the nickname they were written under). Ask for them to be deleted as described in section 6.
• Feedback and replies are kept after we answer, so we can follow up on the same issue; they are deleted when you delete your account or ask us to.
• Rejected submissions are deleted immediately, although the operator may instead turn a suggestion, photos included, into an "only me" marker visible to its author alone. Restroom information published to the map remains after account deletion, because it has become part of the map others use (no longer linked to you).
• You can delete your reviews, review replies, favorites and history in the app at any time, and change your star ratings and open-status answers (email us to have those deleted).
• Records of the free traveller period are kept to confirm its dates and are deleted on request.
• Notification tokens stop being used when you sign out or turn notifications off, and are deleted with your account.
• Crash reports are deleted automatically after the retention period of the crash-reporting service.
• Usage analytics are deleted automatically after at most 14 months, per the analytics tool's data-retention setting.
• How we destroy data — information whose retention period has ended, or whose deletion you asked for, is erased from the server so it cannot be recovered (deleting the database documents and stored files). Information kept by law, such as purchase records, is kept separately from other information and erased the same way when its period ends.

6. Your rights and how to delete

While signed in, go to All → Account card → Delete Account and the information listed in section 5 is deleted, along with your nickname on the contributor and KORE rankings. To also remove the reviews, replies, ratings, answers and earlier game records that stay, email us before deleting the account, from the address you signed up with. To access, correct, delete or restrict processing of your information — including anything you sent without an account — email us at the address below and we will act on it without delay.

You can turn off personalised ads or reset your advertising ID at any time: on iOS in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, on Android in Settings → Google → Ads. In the EEA and UK you can change your consent under All → Ad privacy settings in the app. Subscriptions can be cancelled from your App Store / Google Play subscriptions, and KORE's "poop is full" notifications can be turned off under All → KORE notifications.

Remedies — for reports or advice about an infringement of your personal information, you can also contact these Korean bodies:

• Personal Information Infringement Report Center (KISA) — privacy.kisa.or.kr, 118
• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee — www.kopico.go.kr, 1833-6972
• Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Cyber Investigation — www.spo.go.kr, 1301
• Korean National Police Agency, Cyber Bureau — ecrm.police.go.kr, 182

7. Security

All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, and passwords are stored hashed by the authentication service. The database is protected by per-document access rules, so only you can edit or delete what you wrote. Requests to our servers are verified with app attestation.

8. Children

The app is not directed at children under 14, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If we learn that a child's information has been collected, we delete it immediately.

9. Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, the new version is posted on this page with a new effective date. Significant changes are announced in the app or in its update notes.

Previous effective date: October 12, 2026. This revision covers version 2.2.0's map of restrooms abroad (map data requests and translation), removal requests, the KORE ranking by country, transfers outside Korea, the privacy officer, remedies and how data is destroyed.

Effective date before that: October 11, 2026. The 2.1.1 revision covered coin and crystal purchases made without signing in and how their purchase records are linked.

Earlier: September 25, 2026. The 2.1.0 revision added KORE (the character), purchase records, and review replies and likes, and updated the game records no longer collected and what is deleted with an account.

10. Privacy officer and contact

Privacy officer: the operator · iguana.kor@gmail.com

For anything about how your information is handled, including requests to access, correct or delete it, email iguana.kor@gmail.com. Feedback sent from the app's All → My markers · Feedback → Send Feedback reaches the same place.

Other languages

The full text is available in English and in 한국어. Below are summaries for readers of the app's other languages; where they differ, the Korean text governs.

Paid coins, crystals and subscriptions — purchase, withdrawal and refunds — are governed by the Paid Services Terms.

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