Privacy, in plain words
Your trip stays on your phone
No server, no account, no analytics. Here is exactly what happens.
- No server.
- No account.
- No analytics, no ads.
- Your position is never stored or sent by us.
- One question to Google when you are near a place, only with your OK.
What stays on your phone
Everything the app needs lives in the app, and in your own iPhone and iCloud backups.
- Your trips: name, dates, destination
- Your places: the pin you confirmed, your name for it, a note, the reminder distance, the place's Google id
- Visited, snoozed and muted
- A reminder log: place name, time, outcome and distance. Never your coordinates, never Google's answer.
- Your opening-hours choice and when you made it
What we never keep
Not on your phone, not anywhere else.
- Your coordinates
- Google's opening hours or answers
- Who you are: no name, no e-mail, no account
- Usage statistics or crash data, unless you turned sharing on in iOS
- A GeoStroll server: there is none. We receive only what you send us (crash reports if you opted in, e-mails) and our website host's log of the key-file check.
The part we want you to understand
The opening hours come from Google, live, at the moment you arrive. That check is the one thing the app does on its own, without you tapping anything, that tells anyone where you are.
You enter a circle
iOS wakes the app and names the place. Your position stays with the phone.
Your phone asks Google Maps
It sends the place's Google id and the app's name. Like every internet request, it also carries your IP address.
So Google learns this
That a phone with this IP address is at that place, now. Google handles that under its own privacy policy, possibly outside the EU.
The answer is used once
Open, closing soon or closed decides the reminder. Then the answer is dropped. Nothing from Google is stored except the place's id.
Who receives what, and when
GeoStroll uses Google Maps and Apple Maps features. This is every moment something leaves your phone.
| Who | When | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| You search for a place or a destination | What you type, a session token, a point to centre the results on (the middle of your trip's places or your destination, never your position), and the device ID Google's software adds. Then the id of the place you pick, and your destination's Google id. | |
| You open Google's place card or confirm a place | The place's Google id, or the name and pin of your place, plus the device ID Google's software adds. When you open the card from "Nearby now", which lists only places you are standing near, this also tells Google you are near that place. | |
| You enter a place's circle, only with opening hours on and the place confirmed | The place's Google id and the app's name. This tells Google this device is at that place now. The request stops after 4 seconds. GeoStroll keeps nothing from the answer except the place's id. | |
| You paste a short Google Maps link | The link, to unfold it. No cookies. | |
| Apple | You look at the map | The map area you look at; when the map shows your position, that is roughly where you are. |
| Apple | You confirm a pin, or open a place in Apple Maps | The pin's position (to find the place's time zone), or the place's position. |
| Apple, then us | The app crashes, only if you allowed "Share with App Developers" in iOS | A crash report without location data, place names, notes or links. |
| Our website host | The app checks for a new Google key file | Your IP address, the app version and the time. |
Every request also carries your phone's IP address. Requests go straight from your phone to Google or Apple, never through us, except the key-file check.
Your rights, in short
Withdraw
Switch opening hours off in Settings. Reminders keep working without them.
Delete
Delete the app and your trips and choices are gone. Copies can remain in your iPhone or iCloud backups until you delete those.
Ask or complain
Your data is on your phone, where you can see, change and delete it yourself. For anything we hold, write to us; you can also complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority or the authority where you live.