Privacy & Data Safety

Your Data, Your Trail

TrailBound is designed to keep hikers safe and connected on the trail. This page explains what data we collect, why we need it, and how you control it.

Permissions We Use

Location (GPS)

Why: Used for SOS alerts, trail condition reports, community posts, weather lookup, and finding nearby help, hostels, and resupply stops.

Shared: Location coordinates are included in SOS alerts, trail reports, and posts you choose to share — visible to other hikers in the community.

Stored: Stored with your posts and reports until you delete them or delete your account.

Camera

Why: Used for the emergency flashlight feature and plant identification scanning.

Shared: Camera access is used in real-time only for the flashlight. Plant photos are uploaded for AI analysis and saved to your journal if you choose to keep them.

Stored: Flashlight video is never stored. Plant photos are stored only if you save them to your journal.

Microphone

Why: Used for bird song identification recording.

Shared: Audio recordings are uploaded for AI bird identification only. They are not shared with other users.

Stored: Audio is processed for identification and not permanently stored unless you save a bird to your journal.

Photos & Videos

Why: Used for community posts, trail journal entries, hiker profiles, trail gallery, and plant identification.

Shared: Photos you post to the feed, gallery, or your profile are visible to other hikers. Journal photos are private unless you mark them public.

Stored: Stored with your content until you delete the post or delete your account.

Security & Control

All data is transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections.

You control what you share — posts, reports, and photos are user-initiated.

Community content (posts, reports, photos) is visible to other TrailBound hikers.

You can delete individual posts, comments, journal entries, photos, budget entries, and your hiker profile at any time — without deleting your entire account.

Delete Individual Content

You can delete specific content without deleting your entire account:

  • • Community posts — tap the trash icon on your post in the Feed.
  • • Comments — tap the trash icon on your comment in the comment thread.
  • • Journal entries — tap the trash icon on a journal entry.
  • • Photos — tap the trash icon on your photo in the Trail Gallery.
  • • Budget entries — tap the trash icon on an expense.
  • • Hiker profile — tap "Delete My Profile" on the Hiker Match profile page.

Delete Your Entire Account

To erase everything — profile, journal, posts, comments, trail reports, photos, and any active Premium subscription — go to Profile → Delete Account. Your subscription is canceled so you are not charged again, and your account is permanently deleted. This action cannot be undone.

Cannot access the app? Visit our public account-deletion page at trailboundhub.com/delete-accountto submit a deletion request.

Data Retention After Deletion

When you delete your account, all your TrailBound personal data is erased. However, the following is retained for legal compliance:

  • • Stripe payment history — your subscription is canceled but Stripe retains payment records for legal, financial, and tax compliance (typically 7 years per US regulations).
  • • Moderation records — if another user reported you, the report is kept for moderation history but your email is replaced with "[deleted user]".
  • • Platform logs — error logs may contain your email; retained per the platform's log retention policy.

TrailBound does not sell your data to third parties. Location and camera access are used only for the features described above and are never accessed in the background.