Privacy Policy

The short version

• No account, no cloud of ours. Your walks, routes, photos, notes and settings are stored on your phone. We never receive them.
• Your location stays with you. forWalking uses your precise location on your phone to draw your route while you record a walk. Your coordinates are never sent to us.
• Usage data is your choice. While "Share anonymous usage data" is on (it is on until you turn it off), the app sends usage counts and crash reports through Google Firebase. They never include your name, routes, places, photos or notes. You can turn it off at any time in You > Data.
• No ads, no tracking. There is no advertising identifier in the app, and we do not sell your data or share it for advertising.
• Maps work like any map. To draw a map, your phone asks a map provider for the area on screen.
• You decide what you share. A walk, photo or file leaves the app only when you share it, and it goes where you choose.

Effective date: 10 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Zenbyte ("we", "us") handles information in the forWalking: Tours Map Photos app ("forWalking", "the app") for iPhone and Android, and on its website, forwalking.app. Zenbyte is responsible for (the controller of) the personal data processed in connection with forWalking. We built forWalking so that your walks belong to you: almost everything the app knows stays on your phone. Where something does leave it, this policy tells you what, why, and how to stop it. You can reach us about anything here at [email protected].

1. What stays on your device

forWalking has no account, no sign-in and no server of ours that stores your walks. The app records, stores and draws your walks on your phone. We cannot see your walks, routes, photos or notes, so we could not hand them to anyone even if we were asked.

The app keeps the following in its own private storage on your phone:

• Walks and routes: start and end times, the route as a series of location points, distance, duration, steps, estimated calories, laps, the ways you travelled (on foot, by car, by ferry and so on) and the titles you give your walks.
• Photos: copies of the photos you take or pick for a walk, kept in the app's own folder, with the time they were taken, their captions and where they belong on the map.
• Notes: your journal notes.
• Settings: your choices in the app, such as units, language, theme and alerts, your daily step goal and the body weight you enter for calorie estimates.
• Premium status: a copy of your purchase status and a random app user ID, kept by RevenueCat's software (section 3), so that Premium works without a connection.
• Map pictures: the map pictures of your walks and recently loaded map images, so that maps appear faster.

We do not receive any of this. Steps, calories and body weight can say something about your health, which is one more reason they never leave your phone through us. forWalking does not read from or write to Apple Health or Health Connect.

Permissions and what they are for

forWalking asks for each permission when a feature first needs it and tells you why. You can change any of them later in your phone's settings. Without a permission, the feature that needs it will not work, but the rest of the app will.

Location. forWalking uses your precise location to draw the route you walk and to measure its distance. It does this while you record a walk, including when the screen is off or you are in another app, so that a walk is not cut short. On iPhone this uses background location, and iOS shows a blue indicator while it is in use. On Android a walk is recorded by a foreground service with a notification you can always see, and the app does not ask for "Allow all the time". The app also uses your location when you ask for it, for example to centre a map on you or to work out sunrise, sunset and golden hour where you are. Your location is processed on your phone, and your coordinates are never sent to us. Your phone's own location services work out where you are; on Android this can involve Google Play services, according to your phone's location settings.

Motion and fitness. forWalking reads your phone's step counter (Motion & Fitness on iPhone, the step sensor on Android) to count your steps today and during each walk. It also uses your phone's activity recognition, which tells walking and running apart from riding in a vehicle, so that a stretch by car, bus or ferry is not counted as walking. On Android, activity recognition is provided by Google Play services. The app may also read the compass to turn the map the way you are facing. These readings are used on your phone and stored with your walks. They are not sent to us.

Camera and photos. The camera is used only when you take a photo for a walk, and only for still photos: forWalking never records sound or video with it. When you add photos from your library, you choose them in the system's photo picker, and the app receives only the photos you pick. Each photo you take or pick is copied into the app's own folder on your phone. To place a photo on your route, the app reads the time and, if present, the location stored in the photo file (its EXIF data). Photo library access for saving is used only when you save a photo or a video of a walk to your library.

Notifications. On Android, notifications let you see and control a walk while it is being recorded. All of forWalking's notifications, and the Live Activity on iPhone, are created on your phone. There is no push notification server, and we cannot send you messages through the app.

Device backups

Because this data lives in the app's storage, your phone's own backup can include it:

• iPhone: if iCloud Backup or a backup to your computer is on, your saved walks, photos, notes and settings are part of it and come back when you restore that backup. Only the temporary file of a walk that is still being recorded is left out. Apple handles iCloud backups under its own terms and privacy policy.
• Android: forWalking allows Android's automatic app backup, so, depending on your phone and its settings, the app's data can be backed up to your Google account or copied to a new phone. Android limits the size of each app's cloud backup, so if you keep many photos, the app's data may not be backed up to the cloud. Google handles these backups under its own terms and privacy policy.

These backups are between you and Apple or Google. We cannot access them, and we have no copy of our own to restore for you.

Widgets and the Live Activity

If you add forWalking widgets to your home screen or lock screen, or record a walk on iPhone with Live Activities on, the app writes a small summary for them on your phone: for example today's steps, your latest walk, a map picture or a few photo thumbnails. This summary stays on the device, in a space shared only by the app and its own widgets. Anyone who can see your screen can see what your widgets show, so choose them with that in mind.

2. Information we collect

Only three kinds of information can reach us: usage data and crash reports, while you allow them; purchase information, through RevenueCat, which checks Premium for us (section 3); and the emails you choose to send us.

Usage data and crash reports

To understand how forWalking is used and to fix crashes, the app uses Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics, both provided by Google. One switch controls both: You > Data > "Share anonymous usage data". It is on until you turn it off, and turning it off stops both at once. Only the versions of the app published on the App Store and Google Play send this data. While the switch is on, this is sent:

• App events: that the app was opened; the introduction was finished; a walk was started, finished or discarded; a photo was added; a replay was opened; something was shared or exported (only its kind and format, such as "video" or "GPX"); a video was made (its style, shape, length and whether it has music); the Premium screen was shown; a purchase was started, completed or restored; a free limit was reached; the rating dialog was requested; or a widget opened the app.
• The size of a finished walk, in broad ranges: distance, duration and steps as ranges (such as "3 to 5 km" or "30 to 60 minutes"), the number of photos, the main way of travelling and whether a ride was part of it. Never the route or where it was.
• Screens viewed: the names of the app's screens you open, such as "Today" or "Journal".
• Subscription events: if you subscribe, RevenueCat reports events such as a trial starting, a renewal or a cancellation to our Firebase Analytics, with the app instance identifier (section 3).
• A few settings: choices from fixed lists: theme, units, clock format, camera mode, preferred maps app, app language, and whether you have Premium.
• What Firebase records by itself: a random app instance identifier, the time of each event, first opens, sessions and time in the app, app updates, basic device information (such as device model, operating system and version, app version and language) and an approximate location (country, region or city) that Google derives from your IP address. Google Analytics does not store the IP address itself. Firebase also records store purchases (the product, its price and currency), without anything that identifies you.
• Crash reports: when the app crashes or meets a serious error, a report with the error and its technical trace, the app version, the platform, the screen that was open and whether a walk was being recorded. Crashlytics adds technical details about the phone at that moment (such as its model, operating system version and free memory) and a random installation identifier.

What is never sent

No name, email address or account. No walk title, note, caption, photo or file name. No route, place or coordinate. Error messages are trimmed so that they cannot carry anything you typed. There is no advertising identifier in the app at all (no advertising identifier on iPhone, no advertising ID on Android). On iPhone, RevenueCat's software sends the vendor identifier with its requests, which is not an advertising identifier (section 3). Advertising storage and ad personalisation are switched off; and nothing tracks you across other companies' apps or websites. That is why forWalking never shows an App Tracking Transparency request.

Is it really anonymous?

This data never tells us who you are, and it is not linked to your name, email address or any account. Firebase does, however, use a random identifier for each installation, so data protection laws may still treat this data as personal data. We treat it that way, keep it to a minimum and protect it accordingly.

Emails and feedback

"Write to us" opens your email app with a message to [email protected]. Under the space for your message, it lists the app version, the platform (iOS or Android), the operating system version, your device model and the app's language. You can read, change or delete any of it before sending. If you write to us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach.

3. Third party services

A few things involve other services, each with its own terms and privacy policy.

Maps

To show a map, your phone has to ask a map provider for the map of the area in view. Like any map app, that request reveals the map area being loaded, along with your IP address and basic technical details such as the app making the request. We do not send map providers your routes, your walks or anything that identifies you.

• iPhone: maps, route pictures, videos and widget maps are drawn with Apple Maps (MapKit). Apple handles these requests under its privacy policy.
• Android: maps are drawn from map tiles from our tile provider, currently CARTO, whose maps are built on OpenStreetMap data.
• Ferry check, on both platforms: when a walk seems to include a ride, the app checks whether that part crossed water by reading map tiles of those areas from the same tile provider. On iPhone this uses the tile provider rather than Apple Maps, because Apple's terms do not allow its maps to be read as data. The check runs on your phone; the provider only sees requests for those map tiles.

Google Firebase

Google receives the usage data and crash reports described in section 2, acting as our service provider (processor), and only while the switch is on. Google processes Firebase data in the United States and in other countries where it or its subprocessors operate. Google provides these services under its standard contractual safeguards: the Standard Contractual Clauses in its data processing terms (with their UK and Swiss equivalents). Google LLC is also certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Map providers may also handle map requests outside your country.

App Store and Google Play

Premium is sold through the App Store and Google Play. Apple or Google handle the payment, your payment details and the purchase records under their own terms and privacy policies. We never receive your card details, your name or your billing address. To know whether you own Premium, the app asks RevenueCat (below), which checks your purchases with Apple or Google; a copy of the answer is kept on your phone so that Premium works without a connection. "Restore purchases" asks the store, through RevenueCat, for the earlier purchases made with your store account.

Now and then, after a good moment such as a finished walk, the app asks your phone to show the App Store or Google Play rating dialog. Apple and Google decide whether it actually appears, and any rating or review you leave is handled by them. Apple and Google also provide the device backups described in section 1.

RevenueCat

The app checks and restores Premium through RevenueCat, a service of RevenueCat, Inc. in the United States, which acts as our service provider (processor). To confirm what you own, RevenueCat receives from the app, and from Apple or Google:

• A random app user ID that RevenueCat creates for your installation. forWalking has no accounts, so it is not linked to your name, your email address or any account.
• Purchase history and transaction data: the product you bought or subscribed to, its price and currency, the purchase, renewal and expiry dates, the store's transaction identifiers and receipts, refunds and the store country.
• Technical details sent with each request: such as the platform, operating system version, device model, language, app version and, as with any internet request, your IP address. On iPhone, RevenueCat's software also sends the vendor identifier, a random identifier that Apple gives one developer's apps on one device. It is not the advertising identifier.
• Only while "Share anonymous usage data" is on: the Firebase app instance identifier described in section 2, so that RevenueCat can send subscription events, such as a trial starting, a renewal, a cancellation or a refund, to our Firebase Analytics. Turning the switch off clears it at RevenueCat.

RevenueCat never receives your card details, name, email address, billing address, walks, routes or photos, and the app does not let it collect advertising or other device identifiers for attribution. RevenueCat stores this data in the United States. For transfers from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, RevenueCat makes the Standard Contractual Clauses available in its data processing addendum, with the UK addendum and the Swiss amendments. RevenueCat describes its own practices in its privacy policy.

Sharing and exports

Something leaves the app as a share or an export only when you choose to share it, and it goes only where you send it, through your phone's share sheet or the app you pick. This includes trail cards and map prints, videos of a walk, GPX and KML route files, photos, and lists of photo points with map links. Once shared, it is handled by the app or service that receives it, under its own terms.

• Location in what you share: route files, map prints, videos and photo points show where you walked. An original photo you share keeps the details stored in the file, which can include where and when it was taken. Think about this before you share a walk that starts or ends at your home.
• Map links: if you open a place in Google Maps or Apple Maps, or share a link to it, the place's coordinates are part of that link and go to that maps service when the link is opened.
• Music for videos: if you pick music from your phone or your cloud files for a video, the app reads that file to mix it into the video on your phone. It is not uploaded anywhere.
• Saving to your library: a photo or video you save to your phone's photo library is then also handled by your library and any photo backup you use.

Who else receives information

• Our service providers Google and RevenueCat, as described above.
• Our email service provider, if you write to us.
• Authorities, only where the law requires it. As we do not hold your walks, routes or photos, there is very little we could disclose.
• A successor, if Zenbyte's business or forWalking is ever transferred. This policy would continue to protect the data.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.

4. How we use information

• To give you the app: recording, storing and showing your walks happens on your phone, at your request.
• To improve forWalking and fix crashes: usage data and crash reports, in summary form, while the switch is on.
• To provide Premium: the purchase status that Apple or Google confirm through RevenueCat.
• To answer you: your emails, used only to reply and to fix what you tell us about.

Legal bases (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, these are the legal bases for the processing we are responsible for:

• The app itself: recording, storing and showing your walks happens on your phone, at your request, so that you get the app you chose (performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) GDPR). We do not receive this data. Device permissions such as location, motion and camera are your choice, and you can withdraw them at any time in your phone's settings.
• Usage data and crash reports: our legitimate interest in understanding, in summary form, how forWalking is used, and in finding and fixing crashes (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). We keep this data minimal and not linked to you, and you can object at any time with the switch, which stops it immediately.
• Purchases: to provide the Premium you bought (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR), with RevenueCat as our processor. Apple and Google process the payment as independent controllers.
• Emails: our legitimate interest in answering you and improving the app (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), or steps you ask for in connection with a contract (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR).
• Legal obligations: where the law requires us to keep or disclose information (Article 6(1)(c) GDPR).

Users in Turkey (KVKK)

For users in Turkey, Zenbyte is the data controller (veri sorumlusu) under the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 (KVKK). Usage data and crash reports are collected automatically through the Firebase software in the app, purchase information through RevenueCat, and emails reach us when you write to us. We rely on the legal grounds in Article 5(2) of the KVKK: our legitimate interests for usage data, crash reports and emails (Article 5(2)(f)), the establishment or performance of a contract for purchases and support (Article 5(2)(c)), and our legal obligations where they apply (Article 5(2)(ç)). For transfers abroad (Article 9 of the KVKK), Google and RevenueCat provide their services under their standard contractual safeguards. You have the rights listed in Article 11 of the KVKK, and you can use them by email to [email protected]. The Turkish version of this policy is our full information notice (aydınlatma metni).

California residents (CCPA/CPRA)

Where the California Consumer Privacy Act applies, here is the summary. In the last 12 months, and only while the switch was on, the app collected through Firebase: identifiers (a random app instance identifier), internet or other electronic network activity (app events and screens viewed), approximate location derived from the IP address, commercial information (purchase events) and diagnostic information (crash reports). The purpose is analytics and fixing crashes, and we disclose this data only to Google as our service provider. To provide Premium, the app also sends RevenueCat, our service provider, identifiers (a random app user ID and, on iPhone, the vendor identifier), commercial information (purchase history) and internet activity (requests to check purchases). Your precise location, photos and other walk data are used only on your phone and are not collected by us. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer anything about you. You have the right to know about, delete and correct your personal information, and not to be treated differently for using these rights. Write to [email protected].

5. Data retention and deletion

• On your phone: until you delete it, reset the app or uninstall it, and in your device backups until those backups are deleted.
• Analytics: event-level data is kept for 2 months and then deleted. Totals and trends that no longer relate to any installation may be kept longer.
• Crash reports: kept by Google for the period Firebase Crashlytics sets (currently 90 days) and then deleted.
• Purchase records at RevenueCat: for as long as they are needed to provide the Premium you bought and to meet our legal and tax obligations.
• Emails: for as long as we need them to answer you and follow up, and then deleted.

Deleting your data

• You can delete a walk or a photo in the app at any time.
• You > Data > "Reset statistics" permanently deletes all walks, routes, photos and journal notes.
• Uninstalling forWalking deletes everything the app stored on that phone. Copies in your device backups remain until those backups are deleted or replaced.
• Turning off You > Data > "Share anonymous usage data" stops collection at once, deletes crash reports still waiting on the phone, resets the analytics identifier on your phone and clears it at RevenueCat, so data from before and after can never be joined up. If you turn the switch back on later, a new identifier starts.
• To have your purchase records at RevenueCat deleted, write to us and we will delete the anonymous customer record there. To help us find it, send the order number from Apple's or Google's receipt email. Deleting the record does not cancel a subscription, so cancel it in your store account first. Apple and Google keep their own records of your purchases under their policies.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict its processing, to receive it in a portable format, to object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to withdraw any consent you have given. You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority, for example in the country where you live or work.

In practice, the data on your phone is entirely in your hands: you can view, share, export or delete it in the app. For usage data and crash reports, the quickest way to object is the switch. Because that data is not linked to your name or email address, we usually cannot pick out a particular person's data in it; if you contact us, we will help as far as we can and may ask for details that help us find it. Write to [email protected]. We answer within one month.

Security

Your walks and photos are protected by your phone's own security: the app's storage is private to the app, and current iPhones and Android phones encrypt it. Data sent to Firebase and RevenueCat is encrypted in transit. Because we keep no central collection of walks, there is none that could leak. Please use a screen lock and keep your phone up to date, since anyone who can unlock your phone can open the app.

6. Cookies and website storage

The app sets no cookies: it is an app, and the information it keeps is described in section 1.

The forwalking.app website has no accounts and sets no cookies. It runs no analytics, advertising or tracking scripts, and it loads no fonts or scripts from other companies. If you dismiss the language suggestion on the website, your browser remembers that choice in its local storage on your device; it is never sent to us. Our host, Firebase Hosting (run by Google), keeps standard server logs for security and to keep the site running: your IP address, your browser's user agent, the page requested and the time. These logs are kept for a limited period and are not used to identify you.

7. Children

forWalking is not directed at children under 13, or under the age of digital consent in your country if that is higher (in the European Union it can be up to 16). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, for example by email, please contact us and we will delete it.

8. Changes to this policy

If we change how forWalking handles information, we will update this policy and its effective date. If a change matters, for example if the app were to send a new kind of data, we will tell you in the app or on our website before it takes effect.

9. Contact

Zenbyte

Email: [email protected]

Website: zenbyte.app

forWalking: forwalking.app

Questions about this page? Write to [email protected]