Walkies
Walkies' privacy policy
Walkies is an app I (Mike Cann) made for exploring your suburb on foot. This page says what it keeps about you, where that goes, who can see it and how to get rid of it. The short version is it keeps what it needs to clear your clouds and back them up to your account, and I don't sell any of it to anyone.
What Walkies keeps
- Your name and email address from Sign in with Apple or Google, and your profile photo if you use Google. If you use Apple's Hide My Email, I only ever see the relay address. Your email is there so I can get in touch about your account if I ever need to.
- The places you add, with their outlines and streets from OpenStreetMap, which tiles you've cleared and when you last walked through each one.
- Your walks: the GPS points along each one (where you were and when, how accurate the fix was and how fast you were going), when it started and ended, how far you went, how many tiles it cleared and your step count. Each point also notes whether the phone's motion chip thought you were standing still or on wheels, which is how bikes and cars get left out.
- The secrets you've found and when, what you've bought in the Shop, the level rewards you've picked and which looks you're using.
- If you start or join a team, the team's name and invite code, and the name and colour you picked for yourself in it.
- If you use Suggest a feature, what you write, plus any screenshots and voice notes you attach and the words of the voice note.
It's all saved on your phone first, so the app works without signal, then backed up to your Walkies account so it comes back when you sign in on a new phone.
Location and motion
Walkies uses your location to clear the tiles you walk through and to show where you are on the map, and a walk keeps recording with the phone locked in your pocket. A walk you start yourself with Start walk keeps every point until you press End walk, but only the walking ones clear tiles.
With "Always" location access, Always on notices when you head out on foot and records the walk by itself, even if the app's closed. Those walks only keep the points where you were on foot, not ones from a bike, car or bus, and GPS pauses while you're sitting still. You can switch it off in Settings, or change the permission in the iPhone's Settings app, whenever you like.
Motion & Fitness access lets Walkies tell walking from cycling or driving, and count your steps, which get saved with each walk. Walkies doesn't read or write Apple Health, and you can turn step counting off in Settings.
Who can see it
Just you, apart from two things. People in a team with you see the name and colour you picked for it, and your Google profile photo if you signed in with Google. They don't see your walks, your places or your clouds.
And once I've taken on a feature request, it can show up in the list other people see in Suggest a feature so they can vote on it. It shows what you sent but not who sent it, so it's best not to put anything private in one.
Where it's stored
Walkies' server, database and file storage run on Convex, in Sydney, Australia (Amazon's aws-ap-southeast-2 region). Everything in the list above is kept there, as well as on your phone.
Other services the app talks to
- Apple and Google handle signing in. They tell Walkies your name and email, and Google sends your profile photo too.
- Apple Maps draws the satellite map and suggests suburbs as you type one in, so Apple sees which bits of the map you look at and what you type in that box, the same as any app that uses Apple's maps.
- OpenStreetMap's Nominatim and Overpass services provide the suburb outlines and streets. When you add a place it's looked up there, from your phone or from Walkies' server, and to find the suburbs next door the app asks about the area around your places. If Overpass is busy the same question goes to a copy of it at maps.mail.ru. When your phone asks them directly they see its internet address, like any website would, but they never get your walks or your account.
- Apple's speech recognition writes out a voice note as you record it in Suggest a feature, on the phone itself where it can.
There's no analytics, crash reporting or advertising code in Walkies, so nothing else gets anything. If you've told your iPhone to share analytics with app developers, Apple sends me its usual anonymous crash reports, the same as it does for any app. The pictures in the secrets come with the app, so looking at them doesn't fetch anything either.
Ads and selling your data
Walkies has no ads and doesn't follow you around other apps or websites. Your data's only used to run Walkies for you, and I don't sell or rent it to anyone (and never will).
Deleting your account
In the app, go to Settings and tap Delete account. It deletes your account and everything in it from Walkies' server, then clears Walkies off your phone and signs you out. You can't undo it.
If you can't get into the app, email me at [email protected] from the address you signed in with and I'll delete it for you.
Kids
Walkies isn't made for children under 13, and doesn't knowingly collect anything from them.
Changes
If this policy changes I'll update it here and change the date at the top.
Questions
Email me at [email protected] and I'll get back to you.