MapTac Privacy Policy

Effective October 20, 2026

The short version: MapTac has no servers, no accounts, no analytics, and no ads. Your trail, trips, and profile are saved on your device and stay there. Your location is never sent to the developer — there is nowhere for it to be sent.

What data MapTac uses

Each permission is explained on its own screen before iOS asks for it, and each is optional. With your permission, MapTac uses:

• Location — GPS coordinates that form your crumb trail, along with the speed, heading, and time of each crumb
• Motion & Fitness — your iPhone's motion sensor, used to tell walking, running, cycling, and driving apart, color the trail by activity, and notice when you have stopped so the GPS can rest and save battery. MapTac keeps only the resulting activity label on each crumb, not raw sensor data.
• Contacts — only your own contact card, read to fill in your profile photo, name, and email. MapTac does not read anyone else's contacts. You can skip this and set your profile yourself.
• Trip details you enter yourself — the names you give your trips

When location is recorded

With Auto Trip on (the default) and location access allowed, MapTac keeps a live trail of where you have been, and at midnight saves each day's trail as its own trip in My Trips. You can pause the live trail from its status line at any time, and turn Auto Trip off in Map Settings to stop it entirely. When you stop moving, MapTac rests the GPS until you move again.

So the trail keeps recording with your phone in your pocket, your screen off, or another app in front, MapTac asks for "Always" location access. If you grant "While Using the App" instead, recording happens only while MapTac is open. You can change or revoke location, motion, and contacts access at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security.

Where your data lives

On your device. Your trail, trips, crumbs, and profile are stored locally and are not uploaded anywhere. MapTac has no user accounts and no backend of any kind, so the developer cannot see, access, or receive your trips. If you have iPhone backups turned on, your trips are included in your own Apple backup the same way the rest of your app data is — that backup is yours and is governed by Apple.

While a trip is recording, MapTac can show it on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity, in its widget, and on your car's screen through CarPlay. These are displayed by your iPhone; nothing is sent to the developer. Anyone who can see those screens can see what they show.

Maps, weather, and speech

Trips are drawn on Apple Maps, and the weather shown on the map screen comes from Apple WeatherKit. To draw the right map tiles and report the right conditions, Apple receives the area you are looking at. That exchange is between your device and Apple and is covered by Apple's privacy policy; MapTac adds no identifier of its own to it and receives nothing back that it stores off-device. Spoken updates use your iPhone's built-in voice and are produced on the device.

When data leaves your device

Only when you choose:

• Sharing a trip. A shared trip is a .maptac file containing the trip's name, start and end times, and every crumb's location, speed, heading, time, and activity. It does not include your profile. It goes only where you send it — the app, person, or file destination you pick in the iOS share sheet or AirDrop.
• Getting directions. Navigate Trip hands the trip's start or end point to Apple Maps so it can give you directions.
• Contacting the developer. Provide Feedback opens the MapTac website; the only thing the app adds to that link is its version number. If you write in with a question, whatever you put in that message is what the developer sees. Please do not include location details you would rather keep private.

Analytics and tracking

None. MapTac contains no analytics, no advertising, no tracking, and no third-party advertising or attribution components. Nothing you do in the app is profiled or sold, and the app does not track you across other apps or websites.

Data retention and deletion

You are in control. Removing a trip from My Trips moves it to Removed Trips, where you can restore it or delete it for good — its crumbs go with it. You can also delete single crumbs, or a range of crumbs, right on the map. Deleting the app deletes every trip, crumb, and profile detail MapTac stored on your device. Because nothing was ever uploaded, there is no server-side copy to request or erase.

Children

MapTac is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.

Navigation and safety

MapTac records where you have been so you can retrace it. It is not a navigation system and is not a substitute for proper maps, charts, or judgment in the backcountry. Do not handle your phone while driving — use CarPlay or let a passenger operate the app — and do not rely on it as your only means of finding your way.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent through the MapTac support page.