Privacy & Cookie Policy

This policy explains what ScanTraceQR (“we”, “us”) collects when you use scantraceqr.com, how we use it, the cookies we set, and the choices you have — including consent for advertising in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland.

1. Who we are

ScanTraceQR is a free QR-code generator and link/visit analytics service. For any privacy request, contact privacy@scantraceqr.com.

2. What we collect

• Account data — the name, email and password (stored hashed) you provide when you register.
• Link/visit analytics — when someone opens a tracking link or scans a QR code you created, we record their IP address, approximate IP-based location (country, region, city), device, operating system, browser, referrer and timestamp.
• Precise location (optional) — only if a visitor is asked and explicitly grants their browser’s location permission on a GPS-enabled link.

3. Cookies we use

• Essential — a session cookie and a CSRF-protection token. These are required for the site to function and to keep you logged in. They do not require consent.
• Consent — Google’s Consent Management Platform stores your advertising-consent choice (for visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland).
• Advertising (Google AdSense) — when enabled, Google and its partners set cookies to serve and measure ads. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland these are governed by your choice in Google’s consent message, shown before personalized ads are served.

4. Advertising & Google

We use Google AdSense to display ads on some pages. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. You can control personalized advertising and opt out at:

• Google Ad Center
• optout.aboutads.info (DAA)
• youronlinechoices.eu (EU)

See also Google’s How Google uses information from sites that use its services.

5. Your choices & rights

If you are in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, Google’s consent message asks for your choice before personalized advertising cookies are used, and you can change that choice any time from the consent options it presents. You may also request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data, and withdraw consent, by emailing privacy@scantraceqr.com.

Immediate self-serve deletion. If you opened one of our tracking links and want the record of that visit removed, you don’t need to email anyone — paste the link into remove my data and the visit records from your IP address are deleted straight away. If the link was used to harass or deceive you, please also report it.

6. Data retention

Account and visit data are retained while your account is active. Deleting a link removes its visit records; closing your account removes your personal data, subject to any legal retention obligations.

7. Third parties we rely on

• Google AdSense — advertising (when enabled).
• OpenStreetMap — map tiles on analytics pages.
• MaxMind GeoLite2 — IP-to-location lookup, performed locally on our server.

8. Roles & responsibilities

When one of our users creates a tracking link and shares it, that user decides who receives it and why — which generally makes them the data controller for the resulting visit data, with ScanTraceQR acting as processor. Their obligations are set out in our Terms of Service. If you opened a ScanTraceQR link and want the record removed, contact us at privacy@scantraceqr.com and we will act on it — see our contact page for all our addresses.

9. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time; the “last updated” date above reflects the latest version.