Privacy Policy

01The short version

You can use Hansel & Gretel without sharing a single route publicly. Location is only recorded while you are actively tracking. Every route you save starts private by default, and a route becomes visible to others only when you choose to publish it. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not show ads. We do use a small amount of analytics to understand how the app is used — see section 05.

02Who we are

Hansel & Gretel ("Hansel & Gretel", "we", "us") provides a mobile application for recording, navigating and sharing outdoor and urban routes, available at hanselandgretel.net. This policy applies to the Hansel & Gretel app and website. If you have questions, contact us at hello@hanselandgretel.net.

03Information we collect

We collect only what we need to make Hansel & Gretel work:

• Account details — your name or username, email address, and an optional profile photo and bio.
• Location & route data — the GPS coordinates, distance, duration, pace and elevation recorded while you track an activity. This is the heart of the app's tracking and way-back features.
• Content you create — route titles, captions, comments, likes, follows and saved bookmarks.
• Health & fitness data — with your explicit permission, data we read from Apple Health (HealthKit) on iOS or Health Connect on Android: steps, active and total energy burned, heart rate, walking/running and cycling distance, workouts recorded by your watch or another fitness app (including their GPS route), and your weight, date of birth and biological sex. See section 07 for full detail.
• Device & usage data — app version, device type, operating system, crash reports and basic interaction logs, used to keep the app stable.

04How we use your information

We use the information above to record and display your routes, calculate your statistics, power offline way-back navigation, operate the social feed and Explore for routes you choose to publish, keep your account secure, and improve the app. We process this data to provide the service you requested and on the basis of our legitimate interest in running a safe, reliable product — and, where required, with your consent.

05Analytics & the advertising identifier

We do not show ads in Hansel & Gretel, and we do not sell your data to advertisers. We do use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used — for example how many people start a recording or open Explore — so we can fix problems and decide what to build next.

• What analytics collects — the name of the action taken (such as "tracking started"), your account identifier, and standard device and app information such as app version, device model, operating system, language and approximate region. It does not receive your route coordinates, and it never receives health or fitness data.
• Advertising identifier — on Android the app declares the AD_ID permission, which allows Google Analytics for Firebase to access your device's resettable advertising ID. We use it only to measure app usage and to avoid counting the same device twice. We do not use it to show you ads, to build an advertising profile, or to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
• Your control — on Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings → Privacy → Ads; on iOS you can decline tracking when asked, or turn it off in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. The app works exactly the same either way.

06Location data, specifically

Location is the most sensitive thing we handle, so we treat it carefully:

• Hansel & Gretel requests location access only when you start tracking, and uses it only for the duration of that activity.
• Your recorded points are stored on your device so that way-back navigation can guide you home even with no signal.
• A saved route syncs to your account so you can access it across devices — but its visibility stays private unless you publish it.
• You can revoke location permission at any time in your device settings; tracking will stop working until you grant it again.

07Health & fitness data, specifically

Hansel & Gretel can connect to Apple Health (HealthKit) on iOS and Health Connect on Android. This connection is entirely optional — the app's recording, way-back navigation and sharing features all work without it.

How we access it. We never read health data silently. The app requests access through the operating system's own health permission screen, where you choose exactly which categories to allow, and we only read a category after you have granted it. If you decline, the rest of the app continues to work.

What we read, and why:

• Steps, energy burned and heart rate — read only for the time window of a route you recorded, to enrich that route's summary with step count, calories and heart-rate figures.
• Weight, date of birth and biological sex — read to estimate calorie burn more accurately and to pre-fill your profile. These are characteristics you can also enter manually instead.
• Workouts and their GPS routes — read so that activities recorded outside Hansel & Gretel can be imported as routes. On iOS this covers workouts from your Apple Watch or any app that writes to Apple Health; on Android, any watch or app that writes to Health Connect. Nothing is imported without your action or consent.

What we write. With your permission, we save routes you record as workouts back to Apple Health / Health Connect — including workout type, distance, duration, steps and active energy — so your activity stays in sync with your rings and other fitness apps. We write only routes you recorded in Hansel & Gretel.

Where it goes. Health data read for a route (steps, calories, heart rate) is stored with that route in your account so it appears in your route summary across your devices; if you publish the route, these figures are part of it. The body characteristics you sync (weight, date of birth, biological sex) are stored in your account to calculate your statistics — they are not shown on your public profile.

What we never do. We do not use health or fitness data for advertising or marketing, we do not sell it, we do not share it with data brokers, and we do not disclose it to third parties for their own purposes. Health and fitness data is never included in our analytics or crash reporting, and it is never transferred to advertising networks or used to build advertising profiles. We do not use it to make decisions about you beyond the features described here.

Health Connect on Android. Our use of data received from Health Connect follows the Health Connect Permissions policy, including its limited-use requirements. Health Connect does not expose date of birth or biological sex as readable records, so on Android we read only weight; you can enter the other details manually if you want them included in calorie estimates.

Your control. You can revoke or change any health permission at any time — on iOS in Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Hansel & Gretel, and on Android in the Health Connect app. Revoking access stops further reading and writing immediately. Deleting a route removes the health figures stored with it, and deleting your account removes them along with the rest of your data. Data we previously wrote to Apple Health or Health Connect stays in your device's health store under your control — you can delete it there.

08Signing in with Apple or Google

You can create an account or sign in using Sign in with Apple or Google Sign-In, as an alternative to an email and password.

• What we receive — a unique identifier for your account with that provider, your email address, and (where you allow it) your name and profile photo. We use these to create and secure your Hansel & Gretel account and to recognise you when you return.
• What we do not receive — we never receive your Apple or Google password, and we get no access to your other data with those providers, such as your contacts, mail, files or photos.
• Private email relay — Sign in with Apple lets you hide your real email address. If you choose that, we only ever see Apple's private relay address, and we use it solely to send you service-related email.
• What they receive — Apple and Google learn that you signed in to Hansel & Gretel. Their handling of that is governed by their own privacy policies. We do not send them your routes, your location or your health data.
• Your control — you can disconnect the provider by deleting your Hansel & Gretel account, and you can revoke the app's access from your Apple ID or Google Account settings at any time.

09Sharing & visibility

Routes are private by default. When you publish a route, it appears in your profile, in the feeds of people who follow you, and may surface in Explore to people nearby. You can change a route back to private or delete it at any time. To protect your home and regular locations, you can trim the start and end of a route before sharing.

10How we share information

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with:

• Service providers — trusted vendors who host our infrastructure, provide map tiles, deliver email, and help us monitor crashes, all under contract and only as needed to run Hansel & Gretel.
• Other users — limited to the content and profile details you choose to make public.
• Legal reasons — when required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of our users and the public.

11Data retention

We keep your account and route data for as long as your account is active. When you delete a route, it is removed from your account and from others' feeds. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we are required to retain certain records by law.

12Your rights & choices

Depending on where you live (including under the EU GDPR and Türkiye's KVKK), you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can manage most of this directly in the app — edit your profile, change a route's visibility, export your routes, or delete your account. For anything else, email hello@hanselandgretel.net and we will respond.

13Security

We protect your data with encryption in transit, access controls, and regular review of our systems. No service can promise perfect security, but we work to keep your routes safe and will notify you and the relevant authorities if a breach ever affects your personal data.

14Children

Hansel & Gretel is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will remove it.

15International transfers

Hansel & Gretel may process and store data in countries other than your own. Where we transfer personal data internationally, we use appropriate safeguards to ensure it remains protected to the standard described in this policy.

16Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Hansel & Gretel evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continuing to use Hansel & Gretel after a change means you accept the revised policy.

17Contact us

Questions about your privacy? Reach us any time at hello@hanselandgretel.net. You can also read our Terms of Use.