Privacy and data

The full policy

This policy explains what information Kashmir Explorer (“we”) collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to this website and the Kashmir Explorer mobile app.

Information we collect

• Account information. You can sign in with a code sent to your email address, or with Google or Apple. We store your name, your email address and a provider identifier, and with Google or Apple we receive that basic profile from them to create your account. Browsing the catalogue does not require an account, in the app or on this website.
• Your saved places and treks. Items you save are stored on your device and, when signed in, synced to your account.
• Trek activity. When you record a trek in the app, GPS location and derived statistics (distance, ascent, duration) are stored on your device and, when signed in, mirrored to your account so you can see your completed treks.
• Reviews and content. Ratings, text and photos you submit are associated with your account and shown publicly.
• Error reports. When something breaks, the app, this website and our staff console send a report to our own servers; no outside error-monitoring service is involved. A report holds the error message and the places in our code where it happened (file names and line numbers, and for a page our server failed to build, the reference code the error was logged under), whether the app closed because of it, the screen or page it happened on (with any record id or link token removed), the app or site version, the operating system and the browser or app engine, the time, and a random identifier — kept for the app install, or on this website for the browser tab until it closes — used only to limit how often one device can report and to count how many devices are affected. Before a report is stored, email addresses, phone numbers, sign-in tokens, record ids and any map position more precise than about a kilometre are removed from it, and the identifier is kept only as a shortened one-way hash. A report is never linked to your account, your IP address is not stored with it, and reports are deleted after 90 days. In the app, error reports are part of anonymous usage data: they are sent only if you turn that on.
• Website analytics. Opening a page on this website sends one “visit” event per browser session to our own servers, recording the page path and a random identifier that is created in your browser and kept in its local storage so that repeat visits count as one visitor. Your IP address arrives with that request and is stored only as a one-way hash, for de-duplication; the address itself is not kept. None of this is linked to your account. Clearing this site’s data in your browser removes the identifier.
• Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights. This website is hosted by Vercel, and two of its measurement scripts run on every page: one counts page views, the other times how quickly pages paint in your browser. They are cookieless and set no identifier that follows you between sites — what they report is the page, the referrer, and coarse device, browser and country information, processed by Vercel on our behalf. Neither is linked to your account, and neither runs in the app.
• Sign-in cookies on this website. Signing in here sets three cookies on your browser: two holding your session, which page scripts cannot read, and one holding only the value “1” so a cached page knows to show “Account” rather than “Sign in”. They are used for nothing else — no advertising and no tracking between sites — and signing out, or clearing this site’s data, removes them.
• iPhone waitlist. The iPhone app has launched, so the waitlist form is no longer shown. An address left on it earlier was stored only to send the one launch email, was never used for anything else or shared, and is deleted once that mail has gone out.

How we use information

To provide and improve the service: authenticate you, sync your saved places and trek history, display community reviews, render maps, and keep the product reliable and secure. We do not sell your personal information.

Service providers

We share limited data with providers that operate the service on our behalf, including authentication (Google, Apple), database and file storage, and website hosting and its built-in analytics (Vercel). Each processes data only to provide its service. Error reports go to our own servers, not to a monitoring provider.

The interactive maps load directly from OpenFreeMap (map tiles and fonts), Amazon Web Services (terrain data) and Esri (satellite imagery), so opening a map sends your IP address and the tiles you look at to those hosts. Pages without a map contact none of them.

Data retention

We keep account and activity data while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Settings → Delete account) or, when signed in, on this website (Delete your account); this permanently erases your account and associated personal data (saved places, recorded walks and completed treks, reviews and photos, and your Community posts, photos, comments, likes, reports and follows), except where limited retention is required by law (e.g. security audit logs, which are unlinked from you). We also keep a count of deleted accounts: one record per deletion holding only the date, whether you or an administrator deleted it, and the month the account was created, with nothing that says whose account it was.

An iPhone waitlist email is deleted after the launch email is sent, or sooner if you ask us to remove it.

Error reports are deleted 90 days after the day they were made.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, and to object to certain processing. To exercise them, contact us at kashmirexplorerhq@gmail.com.

Children

The service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

Changes

We may update this policy; material changes will be reflected by the “last updated” date above.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email kashmirexplorerhq@gmail.com.