Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

Derek Boyer, established in the United States, is responsible for WanderWay's processing described in this policy. Contact [email protected] with privacy questions or requests.

Information WanderWay uses

Location and route information

With your permission, WanderWay uses precise location to show your position, find tourist sites, calculate routes, provide navigation, and reroute when needed. During active navigation, location may be used in the background so guidance can continue while the app is not visible or the device is locked.

Route requests and map functions are provided through Apple Maps. Searches for tourist sites may send geographic search areas to the WanderWay service and OpenStreetMap Overpass services. Wikipedia or Wikidata identifiers and place names may be used to retrieve available descriptions. Geographic matching can also send the location of a place being researched to Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons receives image identifiers when the app checks photo credits and licensing, and image requests when photos are displayed.

Voice destination search

When you choose voice search in CarPlay and grant microphone and speech-recognition permission, WanderWay temporarily records speech to recognize a destination. Recognition runs on your device when supported; otherwise Apple's speech-recognition service may process the audio. The recognized place name is used for an Apple Maps search. WanderWay does not save voice recordings or send them to its own service. You can revoke microphone and speech-recognition permissions in iPhone Settings.

Content you save

Saved trips, favorites, settings, prepared tourist content, and cached descriptions are stored on your device. You can remove saved content in the app or by deleting WanderWay.

Drive summaries and speed

During navigation, WanderWay uses location readings to calculate current speed, distance traveled, and drive duration. A post-drive summary can include narrated places. These calculations happen on your device. If you choose to share a drive souvenir, its text summary is sent through the app or service you select.

Diagnostics

WanderWay can store navigation diagnostic events on your device, including precise route locations, to help troubleshoot guidance and performance. These diagnostics leave your device only when you explicitly choose to share them. iOS may also provide crash, hang, launch, CPU, and memory diagnostics, which WanderWay stores locally for review and optional sharing. Diagnostic data can be deleted in Settings.

Place correction reports

If you submit a correction, WanderWay sends the place’s OpenStreetMap identifier, name, category, coordinates, report reason, relevant Wikipedia or Wikidata identifiers, and any details you enter. The service also processes a one-way hash derived from the network address for short-term abuse prevention. Correction reports are retained for up to 180 days after submission or their most recent review, unless deleted earlier. Avoid including personal information in the details field. The hashed network-address counter expires one hour after its latest accepted submission; hashing does not make network information anonymous.

How information is used

Information is used only to provide and improve app functions, including mapping, routing, navigation, tourist-site discovery, offline content, troubleshooting, abuse prevention, and correction review. The WanderWay app does not require an account, show third-party advertising, sell personal information, or track you across other companies' apps and websites. The website's analytics and advertising tools are described below.

Processing grounds for people in the EEA

We process information necessary to deliver the mapping, navigation, discovery, and support functions you request to perform our contract with you. Location, microphone, and speech access also require the device permissions described above; declining access limits the features that need it.

For abuse prevention and review of voluntarily submitted place corrections, we rely on our legitimate interests in keeping the service secure and its information accurate. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests. Optional sharing of diagnostic files is based on your consent, which you can withdraw by contacting us; withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal. We process privacy requests where necessary to meet legal obligations.

Answering a message you send through the website contact form or by email is based on our legitimate interest in replying to you, or on our contract with you when you ask for help with the app. The Turnstile check and the per-address message limits are based on our legitimate interest in keeping the form free of spam and abuse.

Website analytics and advertising

The wanderwayapp.com website — not the WanderWay app — uses three third-party tools. HeyCatch measures page views, clicks, and which links bring visitors to the site, and stores a random identifier in your browser. The Meta Pixel tells Meta (Facebook) which pages you visit so we can measure and show WanderWay ads on Meta's platforms; Meta may connect this to your Meta account and uses it under its own privacy policy. Google's tag (Google Analytics) measures page views and site usage. All three receive your IP address and browser details. The WanderWay app does not include any of these tools.

If you're visiting from the EU, the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, none of these three tools load until you choose "Accept" in the cookie banner shown on your first visit. Choosing "Reject" (or closing the banner without choosing) keeps them off; the site works the same either way. You can change your choice any time with the "Cookie settings" link in the footer of every page. Visitors elsewhere are not shown this banner, consistent with the law that applies where they are.

Website contact form

The contact form on wanderwayapp.com asks for your name, your email address, a topic, and your message. Sending it also passes the WanderWay service the address of the page you sent it from, your browser’s user-agent string, and your network address.

Before a message is sent, Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person is using the form. It runs in your browser, and the WanderWay service sends Cloudflare the check’s result token and your network address to confirm it. Cloudflare processes this under its own privacy policy.

The WanderWay service does not store your message. It emails it, through Cloudflare, to the support inbox at [email protected], which Google hosts, with your email address set as the reply address. The email contains your name, email address, topic, message, the page, your browser’s user-agent string, and the time it was received. Cloudflare may keep a record of the delivery under its own policy.

To prevent abuse, the service counts messages per network address using a one-way hash of the address. Each counter expires an hour after the end of the day (UTC) it counts; hashing does not make network information anonymous. The service’s logs record only whether a message was sent or why it was refused, never your name, your addresses, or what you wrote.

Messages stay in the support inbox with other support email. To have yours deleted, write to [email protected], ideally from the address you used, with the approximate date you sent it.

Services involved

• Apple Maps and MapKit provide maps, search, routes, traffic, and navigation-related data.
• Apple Speech converts spoken destination searches into text, on device when supported.
• OpenStreetMap and Overpass provide community-maintained place data.
• Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia provide available place descriptions and media.
• Cloudflare hosts the WanderWay service used to retrieve and cache tourist information, accept place correction reports, and email website contact form messages to the support inbox. Cloudflare Turnstile checks contact form messages for spam.
• Google (Gmail) hosts the support inbox, [email protected], which receives support email and contact form messages.
• The National Register of Historic Places data service hosted on ArcGIS provides optional historic-place listings using geographic search areas.
• Wikivoyage provides travel-guide introductions to the town a route ends in. Apple Maps finds the town; only its name is requested from Wikivoyage, through the WanderWay service.
• MET Norway provides weather forecasts and the US National Weather Service provides weather alerts for a Sunday Drive. The WanderWay service requests them for the drive's starting point, rounded to about one kilometer.
• The National Park Service provides hours, fees, and alerts for national park sites. Only park identifiers are requested, through the WanderWay service.
• Recreation.gov provides trailheads, historic sites, and tours on federal land. The WanderWay service requests them for search areas rounded to about one kilometer.
• Mapillary provides street-level photos and Open Charge Map provides EV charger details for a place you open. The WanderWay service requests them using that place's location, not yours.
• The US Department of Transportation scenic byway data is stored on the WanderWay service, so showing byways sends no request to the Department.
• HeyCatch (website analytics)
• Meta (website advertising measurement)
• Google (website analytics, via Google Analytics)

These providers may process network information and request data under their own privacy policies.

Requests the WanderWay service makes for you come from its server, so those providers don't receive your device's network address. Photos and street-level images are the exception: they load directly from Wikimedia and Mapillary (Meta) servers, which receive your network address when an image is shown.

Storage and international processing

The publisher is in the United States and the services listed above operate internationally. Requests and information you send may be processed outside your country, including outside the EEA. Information stored only on your device is not automatically uploaded to the WanderWay service. Device backups, if enabled, are governed by your device and backup settings.

Our service caches public place and article responses for up to 14 days. These caches can reflect the geographic areas or articles requested, but are not organised as individual user histories. App-local trips, favorites, and downloaded content remain until removed or replaced by the app's cache management. Navigation and performance diagnostics are bounded local histories and can be cleared in Settings.

Network providers process IP addresses and other technical connection information to deliver and secure requests. The WanderWay service may process request paths and timing for diagnostics. Providers may also process operational or security information under their own policies.

If you email support, use the website contact form, or share diagnostics, we receive your email address, message, and any attachments. Do not send more personal information than needed to explain the problem. Deleting the app does not delete correspondence or correction reports already submitted; contact us to request their deletion.

Your data protection rights

If EEA data protection law applies, you may request access to your personal data, correction, deletion, restriction, or portability where applicable. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests and withdraw consent where consent is the basis. These rights have conditions and exceptions. WanderWay does not use your information for automated decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects.

Send requests to [email protected]. Explain the information or interaction concerned, such as the place and approximate date of a correction report. We may ask for the minimum additional information needed to locate the record and verify your request; we do not require you to create an app account. We normally respond within one month. If a lawful extension is needed because of complexity or the number of requests, we will explain it within that month.

You can also complain to a supervisory authority, particularly in the EEA country where you live or work or where an alleged infringement occurred. The European Data Protection Board lists the authorities.

Your choices

• Change location access at any time in iPhone Settings.
• Turn voice guidance and related options on or off in WanderWay.
• Delete prepared tourist content and local diagnostics in WanderWay Settings.
• Remove other app-local data by deleting WanderWay.
• Choose whether to submit a place correction or share a diagnostic export.
• Choose whether to write to us through the website contact form or by email.
• Accept or reject website analytics and advertising cookies (HeyCatch, Meta, Google) using the "Cookie settings" link in the footer of every page.

Children’s privacy

WanderWay is not directed to children under 13, and the developer does not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated as WanderWay changes. The effective date at the top will be revised when an update is published.

Contact

Questions or privacy requests can be sent to [email protected].