Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information when you use goTrails:

• Personal Information: Email address, age, gender, height, weight.
• Location Data: GPS coordinates or approximate location.
• Activity Data: Distance biked, speed, ride history, goal progress.
• Community Data: Friends, comments, ratings, profile photos, and submitted trails.
• Analytics: Time on page, scroll depth, ad impressions, page visits, and clicks.
• Device Information: Browser and system information collected via analytics tools.
• Newsletter Data: Email (only if you opt in).

Legal Bases (GDPR, where applicable)

• Consent: newsletters, non-essential cookies/analytics.
• Contract: to provide core features like ride tracking and accounts.
• Legitimate Interests: to improve performance, safety, and prevent abuse (balanced against your rights).
• Legal Obligations: to comply with applicable laws and requests from authorities.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Provide and personalize ride tracking, suggestions, and in-app features.
• Improve routing accuracy, performance, and user experience.
• Display community rankings, trail popularity, and public stats (see Section 6).
• Send newsletters and updates if you opt in (you can unsubscribe anytime).
• Monitor performance, engagement, and troubleshoot via analytics.
• Ensure platform integrity and safety (see Section 3).

3. Anti-Cheat, Security & Abuse Review

To maintain a fair and safe community, we reserve the right to review profiles and related information if we reasonably suspect cheating, hacking, spam, or other violations of our terms or community guidelines.

• What we may do: analyze ride patterns, verify anomalous metrics, review public content, limit features, or take enforcement actions (e.g., removal from leaderboards, temporary or permanent restrictions).
• How decisions are made: initial automated checks may flag activity; human review is applied before material enforcement wherever feasible.
• Your options: you can contact us to appeal or provide additional context. We will re-review reasonable appeals.

4. Cookies & Analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve the Service. You can control cookies via your browser settings; disabling certain cookies may affect functionality.

• Essential: required for login, security, and core functionality.
• Preferences: remember settings like theme and units.
• Analytics: understand usage (e.g., device type, session length, scroll depth, page behavior). We currently use Google Analytics.

We do not use cookies to collect sensitive personal information and we do not sell your data.

5. Data Sharing, Hosting & Storage

• No selling: we do not sell or trade your personal data.
• Service providers: we use trusted third parties (e.g., analytics, hosting, email). They process data on our behalf under contractual safeguards.
• International transfers: if data is processed outside your region, we use appropriate safeguards as required by law.

6. Public & Aggregated Statistics

We may display aggregated and/or de-identified information (e.g., leaderboard ranks, popular trails, total distance biked). Content you choose to make public (like submitted trails or profile images) may be visible to others.

7. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate information.
• Delete your account or data (subject to legal/operational needs).
• Portability (receive a copy in a usable format).
• Restrict/oppose certain processing (e.g., analytics) and withdraw consent at any time.
• Opt out of marketing emails via the unsubscribe link.

You can exercise many of these rights in your account settings or by contacting us (see Section 13). We respond to verified requests in a reasonable time.

8. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as necessary to provide the Service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you delete your account, we will delete or de-identify personal information within a reasonable period, subject to lawful retention needs (e.g., security logs, fraud prevention, legal requirements).

9. Security

• Passwords are hashed using bcrypt; authentication tokens use JWT.
• Encryption in transit (HTTPS) and appropriate protections for sensitive data at rest.
• Access controls, monitoring, and safeguards against unauthorized access.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; we continuously improve our safeguards.

10. Children’s Privacy

goTrails is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified in-app or by email. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of Quebec, Canada.

13. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact:

Manage Your Data

You can access, update, or delete your information in your account settings. To request data export or deletion, contact us at the email above.