Privacy Policy

Lukas Lindqvist ("we," "us") — an individual, not a company — operates Hike With Me, a web app that helps pilgrims find and connect with other pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago and other trails. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, and what rights you have over it — including under the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you're in the European Economic Area or UK, we are the "data controller" of the personal data described below.

1. What we collect

We collect only what the app actually needs to work:

• Account information: your email address (if you sign in via magic link), or your name, email, and profile picture as provided by Google (if you sign in with Google).
• Profile information: display name, gender, age, a profile photo, and an optional bio — all provided by you.
• Hike information: the trail you're walking, your starting location and date, and who you choose to make that visible to (e.g. restricting by gender or age).
• Messages: the content of direct messages and group messages you send through the app.
• Safety data: who you've blocked, and the content of any reports you file against another user (or that another user files against you).
• Technical data: your session/authentication cookies (required to keep you signed in), and standard server logs (e.g. IP address, timestamps) collected by our hosting and database provider.

We do not currently use any advertising, analytics, or third-party tracking cookies. If that changes, we'll update this policy and ask for your consent where required.

2. Why we collect it (legal basis)

• To provide the service (contract): your profile, hike, and messages exist because the app's entire purpose is to let you find and talk to other pilgrims — this data is processed to perform the service you've signed up for.
• Safety and moderation (legitimate interest): we process block lists and reports to protect users from harassment and abuse, and to allow us to suspend accounts that violate our Terms of Service.
• Consent: optional fields (like your bio) and your agreement to this policy and our Terms are based on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by editing your profile or deleting your account.

3. Who we share it with

We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with advertisers. We do use processors to run the service:

• Supabase — our database, authentication, file storage, and hosting provider. Supabase processes essentially all the data described above on our behalf.
• Google — only if you choose to sign in with Google, in which case Google processes your authentication as described in their own privacy policy.
• Other pilgrims on the app can see the profile and hike information you've chosen to make visible, and can see messages you send them directly — that's the visible, expected function of the app, not a third-party disclosure.

4. International data transfers

Our database and hosting provider (Supabase) stores your data in Ireland, within the European Economic Area. If you're located outside the EEA, this means your data is transferred into the EEA, which doesn't raise the same restrictions GDPR places on transfers out of it. We don't otherwise transfer your data outside the EEA.

5. How long we keep it

We keep your data for as long as your account exists. If you delete your account, your profile, hike, messages you've sent, and group memberships are permanently deleted immediately — this is a real, irreversible deletion, not a soft/hidden flag. One exception: if you created a group conversation, the conversation and its message history remain available to its other members after you leave, since it's shared content belonging to the group as a whole, not to you alone — only your own authorship link to it is removed.

6. Your rights

If GDPR applies to you, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify inaccurate data — you can edit your profile at any time.
• Erase your data ("right to be forgotten") — use the "Delete Account" option on your profile page, which permanently deletes your account and data immediately.
• Port your data — use the "Download My Data" option on your profile page to get a copy of your data in a portable JSON format.
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that already happened.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you believe we've mishandled your data.

For requests not covered by the self-service tools above, contact us at hello@gohikewithme.com.

7. Age requirement

Hike With Me is only for people 18 and older — this is enforced when you create your account. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) and database-level access controls that restrict who can read or modify each piece of data. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. We'll update the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we'll make a reasonable effort to notify you.

10. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Contact hello@gohikewithme.com.