TRACEPrivacy Policy
The short version
- TRACE uses your location only while you are recording a walk, and to show where you are on the map while the app is open.
- Your walks are stored on your iPhone. If you sign in, they are also backed up to our server so you can restore them.
- Other people can see your profile and the numbers of your walks. They can never see your routes.
- No ads, no tracking across apps or websites, and we never sell your data.
- You can delete your account and all your data from inside the app.
Who we are
TRACE (“TRACE”, “we”, “us”) is developed by Tomasz Migacz, based in Poland, who is the controller of your personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can reach us at support@tracewalks.com.
What we collect and why
| Data | What it is | Why we use it | Where it’s kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Your GPS position while a walk is recording (also with the screen locked), and while the app is open to show you on the map. | To record your route, work out which streets you walked, and show where you are. | Your route is saved on your iPhone, and on our server if you’re signed in. |
| Walks | Route, start and end time, distance, duration, steps, the city, and which streets were new or completed. | Your map, statistics, streaks and badges. | Your iPhone; our server if you’re signed in. |
| Steps | Your step count during a walk, from the iPhone’s motion sensor (only if you allow Motion & Fitness). | To show steps for each walk. Without permission, TRACE estimates steps from distance. | With the walk. |
| Account | A user ID and email address from Sign in with Apple. If you choose “Hide My Email”, we only see Apple’s relay address. | To sign you in and back up your walks. | Our server. |
| Profile | Username, optional display name, optional profile photo, the date you joined, and totals such as distance walked, streets, cities, countries, streaks and badges. | To show your profile to other users, and for leaderboards. | Our server. |
| Social | Who you follow, who follows you, and high fives you give or receive. | Following, your Activity feed and high fives. | Our server. |
| Photos | Only the single photo you pick as your profile picture. TRACE resizes it to 400 × 400 pixels before uploading. | Your profile picture. | Our server (publicly viewable, like any profile picture). |
| Camera | Used only to scan a friend’s TRACE QR code. No images are saved or uploaded. | Adding friends. | Nowhere. |
| Settings | Your choices such as units and privacy switches. | Making the app work the way you chose. | Your iPhone; privacy choices are also saved with your profile. |
| Subscription status | Whether you have TRACE+, when it renews, and the App Store transaction ID. We never see your payment card or billing details. Apple handles payment. | To unlock TRACE+ features. | Apple and RevenueCat (our subscription provider). |
| Notifications | A push token for your iPhone, if you allow notifications, and a list of who followed you or high-fived your walks. | To tell you about new followers and high fives, and to remind you about your streak. | Our server (the token is deleted when you sign out or delete your account). |
| Blocks and reports | Who you blocked, and any report you send: who or which walk, the reason and the time. | To keep blocked people apart and to keep TRACE safe. | Our server. Reports are only seen by us. |
TRACE does not use advertising, analytics or crash-reporting SDKs, and does not track you across other companies’ apps or websites. You can use TRACE without signing in. Your walks then stay only on your iPhone.
What other people can see
- Everyone signed in to TRACE can find you by username and see your profile: username, display name, photo, join date, totals and badges.
- Leaderboards show your rank and totals, and the city and country where you walk most. You can switch this off in Settings → Privacy → Show me on leaderboards.
- People who follow you see your walks in their Activity feed: date, distance, time, steps, city, new and completed streets, badges earned, and high fives. You can mark any walk private, or switch off Settings → Privacy → Share my walks with followers.
- Nobody can see your routes, your current location or where you live. Routes are only ever shown to you.
- When you share a walk image or a GPX file, you decide where it goes. A GPX file does contain your route.
Services we use
To run TRACE we rely on a few other services. They only receive what they need to do their job:
- Supabase (Supabase, Inc.) stores accounts, profiles, backed-up walks, follows, high fives and profile photos.
- Apple provides Sign in with Apple, the App Store and TestFlight, and payments for TRACE+. It also turns map coordinates into place names when you look around the map.
- OpenFreeMap provides the map images and street lines. Like any website, it sees your IP address and which map area is being loaded.
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim (OpenStreetMap Foundation) finds which city you are in and its boundary. It receives the coordinates of the place being looked up, for example the start of a walk.
- Expo (650 Industries, Inc.) delivers app updates and push notifications. It sees your IP address and app version when the app checks for an update, and the text of notifications sent to you.
- RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc.) manages TRACE+ subscriptions. It receives your App Store purchase details and an anonymous app user ID, not your name or payment card.
Some of these providers are based in the United States. Where your data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we rely on the safeguards the GDPR provides for such transfers, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
Legal bases (GDPR)
- Providing the app you asked for (Art. 6(1)(b)): recording walks, backup, your profile, following and the Activity feed.
- Your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): access to location, motion & fitness, photos and camera. iOS asks you first, and you can change this at any time in the iPhone’s Settings.
- Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): keeping TRACE secure, preventing abuse and answering support requests.
- Legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c)): for example keeping purchase records where the law requires it.
How long we keep data
We keep your account data for as long as you have an account. When you delete a walk, it is removed from our server the next time your app syncs. When you delete your account, your profile, photo, follows, high fives and all backed-up walks are deleted from our server straight away. Any copies in our hosting provider’s disaster-recovery backups are removed on its normal backup schedule. Data stored only on your iPhone is deleted when you delete the app.
Your rights
You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and the right to data portability. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Many of these you can do yourself in the app: edit your profile, delete walks, export a walk as GPX, or delete your account. For anything else, email support@tracewalks.com and we will reply within one month.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In Poland this is the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO, uodo.gov.pl). You can also contact the authority in the EU country where you live.
Deleting your data
- One walk: open it in Activity and tap Delete walk.
- Your whole account: Profile → Settings (gear) → Delete account. This permanently deletes your account, profile, photo, followers, high fives and every backed-up walk.
- Everything on your iPhone: delete the TRACE app.
Deleting your account doesn’t cancel a TRACE+ subscription. Apple manages that: iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions.
Children
TRACE is not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also tell you in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions about privacy or this policy: support@tracewalks.com.