Scoria's First Release

Jul 12, 2023

We're delighted to share that Scoria: Private Location Log is now available for iPhone on the App Store. (Android users, sit tight!) If you're excited by the idea of creating beautiful and detailed maps of your location history, all with your data staying on your device, then consider giving Scoria a try.

While location capabilities have been around since the first smartphones, their power efficiency has improved tremendously in the past few years. This makes it easier than ever to use location services continuously, opening the door for new ways to explore your own activity, travel, and the places you visit. That said, depending on your phone model and movement, Scoria can still use considerable power. But with a range of low power modes available, you can easily tune the balance between data accuracy and battery life to fit your needs.

If you're trying Scoria for the first time, we recommend taking it to explore your neighborhood. Try going down new streets, since this will make the path Scoria logs more interesting to compare with your memory. And as you collect more data, Scoria shows you what places are still new and unexplored.

Motivated by Privacy

Location services are integral to many modern apps. We are frequently asked to make decisions about whether we want to share location information about ourselves, and with who. This can be challenging, especially since we usually don't have a clear picture of what our location data actually looks like. We might remember where we went in the past week, but activity from months ago can be harder to recall. How much does your location data reveal about you anyways?

We believe that understanding your own personal data is a valuable ingredient in making informed decisions about your privacy. With Scoria, we hope to make this discovery easy, accessible, and enjoyable.

We have many more features planned for Scoria. However, we won't spoil them just yet. Some of these features will be paid, and will comprise our business model. Though Scoria is early in development, we want to emphasize that all features released for free are intended to remain free and private without compromise. We strive for a high standard of privacy, based on informed and explicit consent if any data is ever shared with anyone, including us. Privacy is a big part of Scoria's mission.

We hope this makes Scoria a compelling choice for you, and we look forward to hearing about your experiences with it!