WanderBuddy ("the app", "we", "us") helps groups plan trips together. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We do not sell your personal data, and we show no ads.
Information we collect
Account information. Your email address and the profile details you choose to provide — display name, username, bio, optional demographic fields, interests, and an optional profile photo.
Trip content. Trips you create or join: names, destinations, dates, itinerary items, notes, expenses, tags, and member lists.
Messages. Group and direct messages you send in a trip's chat.
Photos. Images you choose to upload (profile photo, trip photos). If you allow location access, an uploaded trip photo may include its location — from the photo's own GPS data, or your device's current location at the time of upload — so you can organise and map photos by place. This is optional and best-effort; a photo without a location still uploads normally, and we convert the coordinate to a place name (e.g. "Gion, Kyoto") using our maps provider.
Precise location. Collected in two situations, both under your control: (1) when you actively turn on live location sharing for a trip — shared only with the trip members you approve, for a duration you choose; and (2) when you upload a geotagged photo as described above. We do not collect your location in the background, and never when neither of these is active.
Translation & AI text. When you use chat translation or the "Talk to a Local" live translator, the text to be translated is sent to our translation provider. When you use the AI travel assistant, the text of your request is sent to our AI provider to generate a reply. Live-conversation speech is transcribed on your device; only the resulting text is sent for translation. Avoid including sensitive personal information in these messages.
Moderation data. When you report content or a user, or block a user, we store that action — who reported, the user or item reported, the reason you selected, relevant context (such as the reported message text or item type), your block list, and timestamps — so our moderators can review it and act. Reports are readable only by you (your own) and our moderators.
Purchase information. If you buy a digital add-on or subscription, the app store (Apple App Store on iOS, Google Play on Android) processes the payment and returns a purchase receipt, which we use to unlock and restore your entitlement. For real-world travel bookings, our payment processor (Razorpay) handles the transaction. We never receive your card details.
Diagnostics. In production builds, we collect crash reports (via Firebase Crashlytics) to find and fix stability problems. Crash data is not linked to your identity and is not used for tracking. We do not use any analytics or advertising SDK.
Device data. A push-notification token, used only to deliver the notifications you've enabled. On Android, an install-referral code may be read once to complete a trip invite you followed.
How we use your information
- To provide core features: trips, itineraries, group and direct chat, optional live location sharing, photo sharing and photo-by-location, translation, and the AI travel assistant.
- To authenticate you and keep you signed in.
- To deliver notifications you've enabled.
- To process and restore purchases, and to process real-world bookings.
- To keep the community safe — to review reports and blocks and act on objectionable content and abusive users, and to run an on-device filter that blocks objectionable text before it's posted.
- To diagnose crashes and improve reliability.
Third-party services
We use the following processors, each with its own privacy policy. Data is shared only as needed to provide the feature:
| Service | Purpose | Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Account, database, storage, realtime, account deletion | link |
| Firebase Cloud Messaging | Push notifications | link |
| Firebase Crashlytics | Crash diagnostics (production only) | link |
| Stream | Group & direct chat, and chat moderation | link |
| Mapbox | Maps, member pins, and converting photo coordinates to place names | link |
| Groq | AI travel-assistant responses | link |
| Google Cloud Translation | Chat & live-conversation translation | link |
| Apple App Store / Google Play | In-app purchases (digital) | Apple · Google |
| Razorpay | Payments for real-world travel bookings | link |
On-device storage
Your sign-in session and purchase entitlement are stored in your device's encrypted storage (Android Keystore / iOS Keychain). Trip and account data is stored on our backend (Supabase) so it syncs across devices and trip members.
Data sharing
We do not sell your personal data and we do not use it for advertising — the app shows no ads and contains no third-party trackers. Trip content is visible to the other members of that trip, which is the point of the app. We may disclose information if required by law, or to enforce our Terms and Community Standards.
Your rights & choices
- Access / export: view your profile and trip data in the app; contact us for an export.
- Delete: permanently delete your account and data from
Profile → Delete account. This removes your profile and the data linked to it. Trips and itinerary items you created in a shared trip are kept for the other members, with your authorship removed. This cannot be undone. - Location: live sharing is off by default; photo location is optional and controlled by your device's location permission, which you can revoke any time.
- Notifications: manage in your device settings.
- Safety: report or block any user from within the app.
Children
WanderBuddy is not directed to children under 13 (or your country's minimum age of digital consent), and we do not knowingly collect their data.
Data retention
We keep your data while your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete the data linked to it as described above; residual copies in encrypted backups and operational logs are purged on a rolling basis. Chat messages are also processed by our chat provider (Stream) and removed according to account deletion. Moderation records may be retained as needed to enforce our Terms and to keep abusive users off the platform.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy; we'll revise the effective date and, for material changes, notify you in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: [email protected]
See also our Terms of Service.