Pinmap
Terms of Service
This is the same text shown inside the Pinmap app. It is generated from the application itself, so the two cannot disagree.
Last updated 25 September 2026. Version 5.
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Pinmap mobile application and any related services (together, the "Service"). The Service is operated by Pinmap ("Pinmap", "we", "us" or "our").
Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, or by otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.
Section 1Definitions
1.1Terms used in this agreement
"Account" means the account you create in order to use the Service.
"Content" means any material you submit, upload, post or otherwise make available through the Service, including pins, reviews, ratings, photographs, videos, trips, folders, lists, comments and profile information.
"Member" means any person with an Account.
"Network" means the Members you follow and who have accepted, and any Members you have designated as close friends.
"Audience" means the group of Members you have chosen to receive a particular item of Content.
Section 2Eligibility and your Account
2.1Minimum age
You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. Where the law of the country in which you reside sets a higher minimum age for consenting to the processing of personal information or to the use of services of this kind, that higher age applies to you instead.
2.2Registering
You agree to provide accurate information when you register and to keep it current. You may hold one Account unless we agree otherwise in writing.
2.3Account security
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your Account. You must notify us promptly at hello@pinmap.co.za if you become aware of any unauthorised use.
2.4Accuracy of your identity
You must not impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
Section 3Your Content
3.1You retain ownership
You retain all ownership rights in your Content. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your Content to us.
3.2Licence you grant to Pinmap
By submitting Content to the Service, you grant Pinmap a non exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, transferable and sublicensable licence to host, store, reproduce, resize, convert, adapt, publish, publicly display and distribute that Content, for the purposes set out in section 3.3.
3.3Permitted purposes
The licence in section 3.2 is granted for the following purposes only:
- operating the Service, including delivering your Content to the Audience you have chosen;
- storing, backing up and migrating your Content between the infrastructure providers we use to run the Service;
- adapting your Content technically, including resizing and converting images and video so that they load efficiently on a mobile device;
- featuring a photograph you have taken of a place within editorial content produced by Pinmap, such as a curated Gem or a What's Hot entry, in accordance with section 3.4;
- developing, testing and improving the Service and our other products and offerings; and
- promoting the Service, subject to section 3.5.
3.4Editorial use of photographs of places
Where a photograph you have submitted depicts a place rather than a person, we may feature it within Pinmap's own editorial content. Where we do so:
- the photograph is displayed without your name, your review, or any link to your pin, unless you have agreed otherwise;
- your Audience settings continue to govern your pin, your review and your identity, none of which are disclosed by this use; and
- you may ask us at any time to stop featuring a particular photograph, and we will do so within a reasonable period.
3.5Limits on the licence
For the avoidance of doubt, the licence granted in section 3.2 does not permit us to:
- sell, license or syndicate your Content to a third party as a standalone product;
- use your name, image, voice or likeness to endorse any product or service without first obtaining your separate consent; or
- continue to use your Content after you have deleted it, except as described in section 3.6.
3.6Effect of deletion
If you delete an item of Content, or delete your Account, the licence granted in section 3.2 terminates in respect of that Content. We will cease further use of it. You acknowledge that:
- copies may persist in routine encrypted backups for a limited period before being overwritten in the ordinary course; and
- where another Member has lawfully saved or been tagged in a copy of your Content and has accepted it into their own collection, that copy belongs to them and is not removed by your deletion.
3.7Your warranties
You represent and warrant that, for all Content you submit:
- you own it or otherwise hold all rights necessary to grant the licence in section 3.2;
- its submission and use in accordance with these Terms does not and will not infringe the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy and personality rights; and
- where it depicts an identifiable person, you have that person's permission to submit it.
3.8No obligation to publish or retain
We are under no obligation to host, display or retain any Content, and may remove Content that we reasonably consider to breach these Terms or applicable law.
3.9Keep your own copies
Pinmap is not a backup service, and the app has no export or download button. You can ask us for a copy of your information (Privacy Policy section 10.2), but you should keep your own copies of any photograph or video that matters to you. Deleting an item, or deleting your Account, removes it from the Service permanently and we cannot return it to you afterwards.
Section 4Acceptable use
4.1Prohibited content and conduct
You must not use the Service to:
- post sexual content involving a minor, or any content that sexualises a person under 18, in any circumstances and for any claimed purpose;
- post pornography, nudity, or sexually explicit content;
- post or transmit anything unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, threatening or hateful, or that incites or glorifies violence;
- attack or demean a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other protected characteristic;
- post graphic violence, cruelty, or content depicting or encouraging self-harm, suicide or eating disorders;
- offer, solicit or depict unlawful goods or services, including drugs, weapons, stolen property, trafficking of any kind, or fraud;
- post another person's private or identifying information without their consent, or photograph a person in a place where they are entitled to privacy;
- impersonate another person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation;
- post content you know to be false with the intention of misleading others, including deliberately inaccurate information about a venue or business;
- infringe the intellectual property rights of any person;
- upload malicious code, or attempt to interfere with, disrupt or place unreasonable load upon the Service;
- scrape, harvest or systematically extract data from the Service by automated means without our prior written consent;
- attempt to gain unauthorised access to any Account, system or data;
- use the Service for commercial solicitation not expressly permitted by us; or
- misuse the reporting tools, as described in section 4.6.
4.2Zero tolerance
We have zero tolerance for sexual content involving minors, for non-consensual sexual imagery, and for credible threats of violence. Content of this kind results in immediate removal and permanent termination of the Account, without warning and without refund of any amount paid, and is reported to the appropriate authorities.
4.3How we enforce these Terms
Where we consider that Content or conduct breaches these Terms, we may:
- hide Content so that other Members cannot see it, while you can;
- remove Content permanently;
- issue a warning to the Member responsible;
- suspend an Account for a period; or
- terminate an Account permanently.
We choose the measure we consider appropriate, and we may act without prior notice where we consider that safety requires it. Nothing in this section obliges us to take any particular action, or to take action within any particular time.
4.4Content hidden pending review
Content reported as a danger to someone, or as sexual or nude content, is hidden automatically as soon as it is reported and before any person at Pinmap has considered it. This is a precaution, not a finding: it does not mean we have decided that the Content breaches these Terms.
Where your Content is hidden this way we will tell you, through the Service, that it is under review. If we decide that it does not breach these Terms we restore it and tell you. Content in every other reporting category stays visible until a person at Pinmap has reviewed it.
4.5Reporting Content
You can report Content and Members from within the Service, using the report option shown with a pin, a Crumb, a photograph or a profile. You can also write to complaints@pinmap.co.za.
We review reports and we aim to review reports of a danger to a person within 24 hours. We do not tell the Member you report who reported them. We are not obliged to tell you the outcome of a report you make about someone else's Content, and we may be unable to, because the outcome is that other person's personal information.
4.6Misuse of reporting
Reporting exists to protect Members. You must not:
- report Content you do not genuinely believe breaches these Terms;
- report a Member repeatedly, or coordinate with others to report a Member, in order to have their Content hidden, to harass them or to disrupt the Service; or
- use the reporting tools to place unreasonable load on us.
We record who makes each report and what we decided about it. Where a Member repeatedly submits reports we do not uphold, or appears to be acting to harass another Member or to overload our review, we may limit or withdraw their access to the reporting tools, and may suspend or terminate the Account under section 4.3. Deliberate false reporting is itself a breach of these Terms.
4.7Blocking other Members
You can block another Member at any time. Blocking hides each of you from the other within the Service. It is your own decision about your own experience, takes effect immediately, requires no reason, and is not reviewed by us. The Member you block is not told that you have blocked them. You can unblock from Settings.
4.8Records we keep, and reporting to authorities
When Content is reported we keep a record of the report. The record includes a copy of the reported Content as it was at the time of the report, the identity of the Account that posted it, the identity of the Account that reported it, the category of the report, and what we decided and when.
We keep these records even where the Content is later deleted, by you or by us, and even where the Account is deleted. We do this because a record that is destroyed with the Content is no record at all: we rely on these records to enforce these Terms consistently, to respond to complaints and legal process, and to prevent a Member who has been removed from simply registering again.
Where we consider Content or conduct to be unlawful we may report it, together with those records, to the police or another competent authority, and we may preserve the records for as long as any investigation or proceedings require. Retention periods are set out in the Privacy Policy.
4.9Appeals
If we hide or remove your Content, or suspend or terminate your Account, you may ask us to look again by writing to complaints@pinmap.co.za within 30 days, explaining why you consider our decision wrong. A different person reviews the decision where one is available. We will tell you the outcome. This does not affect any right you have to approach the Information Regulator or a court.
Section 5Other Members' Content
5.1We do not endorse Member Content
Content submitted by Members is the responsibility of the Member who submitted it. We do not review Content in advance, and we make no representation as to its accuracy, reliability or suitability.
5.2Your obligations regarding Content you receive
Content shared with you by another Member remains that Member's property. You must not copy, redistribute or publish it outside the Service without their permission.
5.3Recommendations are not advice
Reviews, ratings, curated entries and other recommendations available through the Service are opinions. They are not professional advice, and you rely on them at your own discretion.
Section 6Pinmap's intellectual property
6.1Our rights
The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics, editorial content and the Pinmap name and logo, is owned by Pinmap or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws.
6.2Limited licence to you
We grant you a personal, non exclusive, non transferable, revocable licence to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse engineer or create derivative works from any part of the Service except to the extent that applicable law expressly permits it.
6.3Feedback
If you send us suggestions or feedback about the Service, we may use them without restriction and without obligation to you.
Section 7Third party services and content
7.1Services we rely on
The Service incorporates and depends upon services provided by third parties, including mapping and place data, hosting, authentication, application distribution, push notification delivery, error reporting and analytics. Your use of the Service may be subject to those parties' own terms.
7.2Third party content
Place information, including names, addresses, ratings and photographs supplied by mapping providers, is provided by those providers and not by us. We do not warrant its accuracy or completeness.
7.3No responsibility for third parties
We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of third party providers, or for any venue, business or event referred to in the Service.
Section 8Paid features
8.1Availability
Parts of the Service may be offered on a paid basis, whether as a one off purchase or a recurring subscription. Where they are, the price and what is included will be presented to you before you are charged.
8.2Billing
Payments are processed by the operator of the application store through which you obtained the Service, under that operator's terms. We do not receive or store your payment card details.
8.3Renewal and cancellation
Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled. You may cancel at any time through your application store account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
8.4Refunds
Refunds are handled by the application store operator in accordance with its policies, and by any right of refund you have under the law of your country, which these Terms do not affect.
8.5Changes to paid features
We may change the features included in a paid tier. Where a change is materially adverse to you, we will give you reasonable notice and you may cancel.
Section 9Notifications and communications
9.1Service communications
We may send you communications necessary to operate the Service, including security notices, changes to these Terms and responses to your requests. You cannot opt out of these while you hold an Account.
9.2Push notifications
You may turn push notifications on or off, individually by category, in Settings, and in your device's own settings.
9.3Location
Certain features depend on access to your device's location. You may refuse or withdraw this permission at any time, and the Service will continue to operate with reduced functionality.
Section 10Suspension and termination
10.1Termination by you
You may stop using the Service at any time, and may delete your Account from within Settings. Deletion is permanent and is described in our Privacy Policy.
10.2Termination or suspension by us
We may suspend or terminate your Account, with notice where reasonably practicable, if you materially breach these Terms, if required by law, or if your continued use presents a risk to other Members or to the Service.
10.3Effect of termination
On termination, your right to use the Service ends. Sections 3.6, 5.2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17 survive termination.
Section 11Availability of the Service
11.1No guarantee of uninterrupted service
We aim to keep the Service available, but we do not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free.
11.2Changes to the Service
We may add, change, suspend or withdraw features. Where a change materially reduces functionality you rely upon, we will give reasonable notice where it is practicable to do so.
11.3Beta and preview features
Features identified as beta, preview or experimental are provided for evaluation and may be changed or withdrawn without notice.
Section 12Disclaimers
12.1Service provided as is
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and subject to section 12.2, the Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non infringement.
12.2Consumer rights preserved
Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, warranty, right or remedy that you have under applicable consumer protection law and that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. Where such a right applies, these Terms are read subject to it.
Section 13Limitation of liability
13.1Excluded loss
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and subject to section 12.2, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data or anticipated savings, arising out of or in connection with the Service.
13.2Cap on liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and subject to section 12.2, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Service in any twelve month period is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the Service in that period, or ZAR 1,000.
13.3Your responsibility for your decisions
You are responsible for decisions you make on the basis of information in the Service, including decisions to travel to or visit any place.
Section 14Indemnity
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pinmap and its officers, employees and agents against any claim, liability, loss or expense, including reasonable legal costs, arising from Content you submit, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms. This section does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own negligence or wilful misconduct.
Section 15Changes to these Terms
15.1How we change them
We may amend these Terms from time to time. The current version is always available within the Service.
15.2Material changes
Where a change is material, we will notify you within the Service and ask you to accept the amended Terms before you continue to use it. Each version is numbered and the version you accepted is recorded.
15.3If you do not accept
If you do not accept an amended version, you may stop using the Service and delete your Account.
Section 16Governing law and disputes
16.1Governing law
These Terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, where Pinmap is operated.
16.2Your local rights are not affected
Section 16.1 does not deprive you of the protection of any mandatory provision of the law of the country in which you reside. Where a mandatory provision of your local law conflicts with these Terms, that provision prevails to the extent of the conflict.
16.3Forum
Subject to section 16.2, the courts of the Republic of South Africa have jurisdiction. Where the law of your country of residence gives you the right to bring proceedings in your local courts, these Terms do not remove that right.
16.4Informal resolution first
Before commencing proceedings, please contact us at hello@pinmap.co.za so that we may attempt to resolve the matter directly.
Section 17General
17.1Entire agreement
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Service, and supersede any prior understanding on that subject.
17.2Severability
If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions continue in force.
17.3No waiver
A failure or delay by us in exercising any right under these Terms is not a waiver of that right.
17.4Assignment
You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms. We may assign ours to an affiliate, or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, provided your rights under these Terms are not reduced.
17.5Force majeure
We are not liable for any failure to perform caused by an event beyond our reasonable control.
17.6Language
These Terms are drafted in English. Any translation is provided for convenience, and the English version prevails in the event of a conflict.
Section 18Contact
Questions about these Terms, requests relating to your Content, and reports of prohibited conduct may be sent to: