Blog

How LoyCart POS Keeps Your Data Secure

At LoyCart POS, we know your business data—your products, sales, and customer information—is your most valuable asset. That’s why we’ve built our Google Drive backup feature not just for convenience, but with a multi-layered security system designed to give you complete control and peace of mind.

So, how do we keep it so secure? Think of it like protecting a valuable item. You wouldn’t just use one lock; you’d use several. That’s exactly what we do with your data.

Layer 1: The Personal Key (Your Password) 🔑

Before your data ever leaves your computer, LoyCart POS locks it in a digital safe. The only key to this safe is the encryption password that you create.

This is the most important layer of security because it’s controlled entirely by you.

• Unique Encryption for Every Backup: Each time you back up, the app uses your password and a unique, randomly generated “salt” to create a brand-new lock for that specific backup. This means that even if you use the same password, every backup file is encrypted differently, making it incredibly secure.
• Zero-Knowledge Design: We, the developers of LoyCart POS, never see or store your password. The app uses it on your computer to lock the file and then immediately forgets it. Without your specific key, the backup file is just unreadable, scrambled text.

This first step is like sealing your valuables in your own personal, unmarked safe before it even begins its journey to your Google drive.

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Layer 2: The Armored Truck (HTTPS Encryption) 🚚

Once your data is locked in its own safe, it needs to travel to Google’s servers. This journey happens over the internet, so it needs protection.

This is where HTTPS comes in. Every modern, secure website uses it, from your online banking to your email.

• Secure Tunnel: When you back up, your already-encrypted file is sent to Google Drive through a secure, encrypted tunnel.
• Protection in Transit: This process acts like putting your personal safe inside an armored truck for the trip. Even if someone could intercept the data on its way, they would just find the armored truck, not what’s inside. The contents are still protected.

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Layer 3: The Digital Vault (Google’s Encryption) 🏛️

When your armored truck arrives at its destination, Google doesn’t just leave it on the loading dock. They take your personal safe and place it inside their own massive, highly-secure vault.

• Encryption at Rest: As soon as your backup file is stored on Google’s servers, they automatically encrypt it again using their own advanced, industry-standard encryption systems.
• World-Class Security: This means your data is protected by the same security infrastructure that Google uses to protect its own data, offering yet another powerful layer of defense.

Your Security, Layered and Simple

So, to recap, your data is never left exposed. It’s protected by:

1. Your Lock: Your personal password that only you know.
2. The Armored Truck: The secure HTTPS connection during transit.
3. The Google Vault: Google’s own encryption on their servers.

This multi-layered approach means you can enjoy the convenience of automated and manual cloud backups with the confidence that your business data remains private, secure, and accessible only to you.

Date: July 5, 2025

Dear LoyCart POS Users,

We’re writing to provide an important update regarding the address autocomplete feature in your LoyCart POS system, which relies on Google Maps services. Our goal is always to provide you with the most reliable and efficient tools for your business.

What’s Happening?

Google is continuously evolving its Maps Platform APIs, introducing new versions with improved features and performance. Recently, they launched “Autocomplete (New)” and “Place Details (New)” APIs, which offer more modern ways to access address data.

We have invested significant effort into migrating LoyCart POS to these latest Google Maps APIs to ensure we’re always using the most up-to-date technology. However, integrating these very new APIs within the secure, sandboxed environment of a Chrome Extension has presented unexpected and complex technical challenges.

Despite our robust attempts to adopt the new APIs, we’ve encountered persistent initialization and timing issues that impact the reliability of the autocomplete feature within the extension’s isolated browser environment. These issues are subtle and hard to resolve without compromising the stability of other parts of your POS system.

Our Solution for You: Prioritizing Stability

To ensure your LoyCart POS remains fully functional and reliable for address autocomplete, we have made the decision to continue using the previous, stable versions of Google Maps APIs (AutocompleteService and PlacesService) for this feature.

This means:

• Your address autocomplete will continue to work normally. You should experience no disruption to this feature.
• The system will function reliably, just as it has.

You might see some “deprecation warnings” related to Google Maps in your browser’s developer console (if you open it). Please be aware that these are warnings, not errors that break functionality. Google has communicated that these older services are not scheduled for immediate discontinuation and that they will provide at least 12 months’ notice before any support is stopped.

What Do You Need To Do?

For now, absolutely nothing! Continue using LoyCart POS as usual.

For new users, or if you ever need to re-enter your Google Maps API Key: Remember that for the autocomplete feature to work, you still need to:

1. Obtain a Google Maps API key from the Google Cloud Console.
2. Crucially, restrict that API key to only work with your LoyCart POS Chrome Extension. Our in-app instructions (in Settings > Services & APIs) guide you through this process. Remember to use the Websites (HTTP referrers) restriction type and add chrome-extension://YOUR_EXTENSION_ID/* (using your unique Extension ID) to the allowed referrers.

We will continue to monitor Google’s API developments closely. If future changes require a new approach, we will proactively work to integrate them and keep you informed.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Sincerely,

Dave Herbert

The LoyCart POS Development Team