Privacy Policy
Plain-language draft. We wrote this to be true, not to be clever. It has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer; a reviewed version will replace it, and the app will tell you if anything that matters changes.
The short version. There is no account. There are no ads, no trackers and no analytics code in the app. We do not sell data and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. The app works fully without sending us anything. The only things that ever leave your phone are listed below, and two of them are optional.
- Who we are and which law applies
- What the app collects
- What we do not collect
- What stays on your phone
- How we use what we collect
- Who we share it with
- Where it is kept and how it is protected
- How long we keep it
- Your choices and your rights
- Children
- Changes to this policy
- Contact
1. Who we are and which law applies
GF Compass (“the app”, “we”, “us”) is operated by an individual in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The person accountable for this policy can be reached at [email protected]. Canada's federal privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), applies to what we do. Everything we collect is stored and processed in Canada; if you use the app from outside Canada, your information is handled here under Canadian law.
2. What the app collects
| What | When | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your location | Only while the map is open, and only if you allow it | To show where you are on the map | Stays on your phone. It is never sent to us and never stored. |
| A random install id | Created the first time you send a report, confirmation or crash report | To limit abuse (a few reports per install per day) and to group reports that came from the same install | Sent with each report. It is a random number that is not linked to you, your phone's identifiers or an account. It is reset if you uninstall. |
| Reports and confirmations you write | When you tap send | To improve the map after a person has reviewed them | Sent to our server; the published version carries no name and no install id. |
| Crash and error reports | Only if you turn on “Send crash reports” in Settings; off by default | To find and fix bugs | Technical details only: app version, phone model, operating system version, the error, where in the app it happened, and the last few screens and buttons by name. No location, no notes, no report text, no free text of any kind. |
| Your email address and a place name | Only if you fill in the “tell me when you cover my area” form | To tell you when your area is covered | Sent to our server. |
| Whatever you write to us | Only if you email [email protected] | To reply to you | Handled as ordinary email (see section 6). |
| Technical request logs | Whenever the app talks to our server (refreshing the map, sending a report, checking for a new version) | Security and debugging | Time, request path, app version and the IP address passed on by our network provider. Kept briefly, not used to identify people. |
3. What we do not collect
We do not collect your name, contacts, photos, advertising identifier, phone number, precise location history or browsing history. There is no account and no login. The app contains no third-party analytics, advertising or tracking code.
4. What stays on your phone
The places you have tried, your visit notes, your sensitivity setting, filters, appearance and other settings, and your copy of the map data all stay on your phone and are not sent to us. If your phone backs up app data (for example to Google or Apple), those backups are governed by that provider's policy, not ours.
5. How we use what we collect
- To run the map and keep your copy of it up to date.
- To review reports, publish the ones a person has checked, and answer questions about them.
- To limit abuse of the reporting feature.
- To find and fix bugs, if you have turned crash reporting on.
- To reply when you write to us, and to tell you when your area is covered if you asked.
We do not use anything we collect for advertising, profiling, or sale, and we do not combine it with data from other companies.
6. Who we share it with
We share information only with the service providers we need to run the app, and only what each one needs:
- Cloudflare carries traffic between the app and our server, provides DNS, and forwards email sent to [email protected] to our mailbox. It sees your IP address and the requests you make, under Cloudflare's privacy policy.
- MapTiler serves the map tiles. It sees the same kind of request any map app makes (which tiles you view) and your IP address, under MapTiler's privacy policy.
- Google Play and the Apple App Store, if you installed the app through them, collect their own install and crash statistics under their policies. We cannot turn that off, and we do not receive personal information from it.
- Our support mailbox is a Google mail account, so email you send us is processed by Google under its policy.
Opening a website, a phone number or directions from the app hands you to that app or site, which has its own policy. We would disclose information if the law required it, or to prevent serious harm to someone, and we will tell you when we are allowed to. We do not sell personal information and never have.
7. Where it is kept and how it is protected
Everything the app sends goes to a server we run ourselves in Winnipeg, Canada. Connections use encryption in transit (TLS). The interface the app uses can add reports and read only the ones a person has already published, and those never include install ids; nobody can use the app to read what is waiting for review, or crash reports. Access to the server is limited to the operator. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise that; we keep the amount of information small so that there is little to lose.
8. How long we keep it
| What | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Location | Never sent to us; never stored. |
| Reports and confirmations | For as long as they are part of the map, as the record behind what is published. Ask and we will delete one you sent. |
| Install id | With each report it was sent with; deleted with the report. |
| Crash and error reports | 90 days, then deleted automatically. |
| Email from the “cover my area” form | Until your area is covered and we have told you, or until you ask us to delete it. |
| Email you send us | As long as needed to deal with it. |
| Technical request logs | A limited time, then discarded. |
9. Your choices and your rights
- Location: deny the permission and the map still works, without the “you are here” dot.
- Crash reporting: it is off unless you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time in Settings. Turning it off also discards any reports waiting to be sent.
- Access, correction and deletion: write to [email protected] and we will tell you what we hold that came from your install, correct it, or delete it. Include the install id shown on the About screen in the app; it is the only way we can find what came from your install. We answer within 30 days.
- Withdrawing consent: uninstalling the app stops everything. Anything already sent stays until you ask us to delete it.
- Complaints: if you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
10. Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has sent us something, write to us and we will delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
The current version, with its date, is always at gfcompass.ca/privacy. If this policy changes in a way that matters, the app will tell you the next time you open it.
12. Contact
[email protected] · GF Compass, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.