getamap is a travel app for exploring Japan on foot. This policy explains exactly what the app collects, why, and how to get rid of it. It is written to be specific rather than broad — if something is not listed here, the app does not collect it.
Who runs getamap
getamap is operated by Altan Uliumdzhiev, Berlin, Germany, who is the controller for the data described here within the meaning of Art. 4(7) GDPR. Full provider details are in the Impressum. Questions and requests: getamap.travel@gmail.com.
What we collect
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address | Identifies your account. Provided by you or by Google Sign-In. |
| Profile details — username, photo, bio, home city, age, gender, social handles | Shown to friends and on leaderboards. All optional except username. |
| Saved places, routes and areas | So your saved items are there next time you open the app. |
| Stamps, medals and achievements | Records what you have visited and earned. |
| Daily step count and walking distance | Read from Apple Health, with your permission, to show walking progress and leaderboard standings. |
| Whether you were in Japan on a given day | A single yes/no per day, used for travel achievements. |
| Friends and friend requests | Runs the social features. |
| Reports and blocks — who reported or blocked whom, the reason and optional note of a report, and the date | Keeps the community safe: we review reports, and a block hides the two of you from each other. |
| App activity and error reports | Diagnosing crashes and problems. Deleted automatically after 90 days. |
| Usage data — how long each visit to the app lasts | Understanding which parts of the app are used. Only if you turn it on. Off unless you choose otherwise. |
Your location
The app asks for location access to show nearby places and to draw your position on the map. That happens on your device.
We do not store your coordinates. The only thing recorded on our servers is one yes/no value per day — whether you were in Japan — used for travel-related achievements. There is no history of where you have been.
Health data
If you grant permission, the app reads your step count and walking distance from Apple Health to show your progress and leaderboard position. Nothing else is read, and getamap never writes to Apple Health.
Other users can see your step totals. Your daily and total steps appear on the Steps leaderboards and on your profile for friends. To hide your name and photo there, turn on Settings → Leaderboards → Anonymous mode; to leave the Steps and Days in Japan rankings, turn on Resident opt-out. Only totals are shared, never your raw Apple Health records.
Health data is used only for these features. It is never sold, never used for advertising, and never shared with third parties for their own purposes. You can revoke access at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Health.
Usage data
Usage data is optional and off by default. You can turn it on or off under Settings → Permissions. It is not requested during setup. Refusing it does not change the app features available to you.
If you agree, measurement starts after consent is saved. We record the start time and duration of each foreground visit, a random session ID, and your internal account ID. These records stay on our own server in the European Union and help us improve getamap. We do not record screens, searches, location, contacts, or text you enter in these session records.
Account IDs and individual session records are never shared with other businesses or sold. We do not use these records to follow you across other companies' apps or websites, or for targeted advertising.
When you turn usage data off, this device stops sending sessions and discards queued sessions immediately. The server stops accepting new events after it saves your withdrawal and queues your internal session records for deletion, usually within a day. If saving fails, the app keeps your local withdrawal and shows a retry option. You can also delete your account.
Anonymous group reports
This is a separate, optional choice, off by default. Under Settings → Permissions, you can allow future visits to contribute to anonymous monthly group reports. You can agree to internal analytics without agreeing to report use. Existing analytics consent does not grant report consent. The report notice is version 1; we record its version and the time you agree.
We may share or sell these group reports to other businesses. They contain only group counts of active accounts and sessions, and average session duration for a completed UTC month. Counts are rounded down to multiples of 10; averages are rounded to 30 seconds, with individual durations capped at six hours before averaging. A group needs at least 20 distinct accounts; smaller groups release no statistics.
Reports contain no account IDs, session IDs, individual timestamps or individual session records. They contain no Health data, location data or profile details. Other businesses do not receive access to our internal analytics database or dashboard.
Turning report permission off excludes your records from new reports after the server saves your choice. Turning internal analytics off also withdraws report permission. Each month has one fixed report. Reports already released contain anonymous group statistics and cannot be changed to remove one person's contribution.
Legal bases
For people in the EU and UK, we rely on the following bases under Art. 6 GDPR:
| What | Basis |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, saved items, stamps, friends, leaderboards | Performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b). These are the service you asked for. |
| Reports and blocks | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f): a safe community, and performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b): reporting and blocking are part of the service our terms promise. |
| Crash and error reports | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f): keeping the app working. |
| Apple Health step data | Explicit consent — Art. 9(2)(a). Health data, so consent is the only basis available, and it is off by default. |
| Usage data | Consent — Art. 6(1)(a), and § 25 TDDDG. Off by default. |
| Whether you were in Japan on a given day | Performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b): it drives travel achievements you opted into by using the feature. |
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and doing so is no harder than giving it. Withdrawal does not affect anything done before.
Who we share it with
getamap does not sell account IDs or individual session records and shows no advertising. Anonymous group reports may be shared or sold only under the separate report choice explained above. Personal data is handled by these providers purely to run the service:
- Supabase — database and sign-in. Stores your account and app data.
- Cloudflare — stores and delivers images, including profile photos.
- Google — Sign-In, plus Maps, Places and Routes for place information and walking directions. Route lookups send the coordinates involved, but not your identity.
- Google Firebase Crashlytics — crash reporting. When the app crashes, a report is sent to Google containing the error, the device model, the operating system and the app version. Processed in the United States under Google's own safeguards, and kept under Google's retention rules rather than ours.
- Our own server in the European Union — stores usage data, if you have turned it on. Individual session records stay internal; only anonymous group reports may be shared or sold with separate permission.
We may also disclose data where the law requires it.
What other people can see
Your username, profile photo, bio, and your stamps, medals and step totals are visible to friends and can appear on leaderboards. Your email address is never shown to other users. You can hide your name and photo on leaderboards (Settings → Leaderboards → Anonymous mode) or leave the Steps and Days in Japan rankings (Resident opt-out).
Deleting your account
Delete your account from within the app, under Profile. This removes your account, profile, saved items, stamps, step records and profile photo. It is permanent and cannot be undone.
Usage data is stored separately, so it is queued for deletion at the same moment and removed within a day.
Cached copies may persist on content delivery networks for up to 24 hours after deletion, and backups are retained for a limited period before being overwritten.
Keeping data
Your account data is kept while your account exists. Activity logs and the error reports stored on our own servers are deleted automatically after 90 days. A report is kept until we have resolved it, then for 90 days. A block is kept until either account is deleted. Deleting your account removes the rest.
Crash reports sent to Google Firebase Crashlytics are an exception: they sit on Google's infrastructure and are kept for as long as Google's own retention rules provide, which we do not control.
Usage data, if you turned it on, is kept for as long as it is useful to us and is not deleted on a fixed schedule. It goes when you switch usage data off, or when you delete your account.
Children
getamap is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.
International transfers
getamap is operated for travellers in Japan. Your account data is processed on servers in Japan, which the European Commission has recognised as providing an adequate level of protection. Usage data is processed on our own server inside the European Union. The providers listed above may process data in other countries, including the United States, under their own safeguards.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your data, to object to certain processing, and to withdraw any consent you have given. Most of this is available directly in the app; for anything else, contact us.
If you are in the EU or UK you also have the right to complain to a data protection authority in the country where you live or work.
Changes
If this policy changes materially, we will update the date above and notify you in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: getamap.travel@gmail.com