1. Who we are
The Wainwright Companion is developed and operated by Paul Dickenson, who is the data controller for the personal data described here.
- Postal address: 1 Bannel Head, Windermere Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5SA, United Kingdom
- Email: [email protected]
2. What we collect and why
Most of what the app knows about you stays on your device. The categories below say where each kind of data lives and who can see it.
Location, on your device
The app uses your precise location (GPS position and altitude) to show nearby Wainwright fells, guide you along a route, warn you when you leave it, and record your walk. Location is used only while the app is open, or in the background during a walk you have started tracking. You can stop tracking at any time. Location permission is requested through iOS and can be withdrawn in the Settings app.
iCloud sync
Your completions, walk tracks, routes and profile sync automatically to your own private iCloud account using Apple CloudKit. That data is encrypted by Apple, is accessible only to you, and is subject to Apple's iCloud terms. You can turn iCloud sync off in the iOS Settings app under iCloud.
When you share a completion, a route, or tag a walking companion in this app, the shared post, the shared route, the companion tag (which records the tagged users, your display name and the summit), your public profile, follows, reactions and blocks are stored in the CloudKit public database for this app. Any user of the app can read that database, so treat anything you share there as public.
Completions, walks and tracks
When you log a fell you may add a date, notes, a star rating, weather conditions, companions and photos. A tracked walk records your GPS trace, distance, ascent, duration and pace. This data is stored on your device and in your private iCloud account.
Shared completions
Sharing is off unless you turn it on for a completion. A shared completion shows your display name, the fell name, date, notes, rating, photos, and, if you include it, the walk's full route and statistics. The route is shared as recorded, including where you started and finished, unless you turn on Hide start and finish, which removes the first and last 300 metres before it is shared. Shared completions are shown to people who follow you, and are stored in the CloudKit public database described above.
Photos
Photos you attach stay in your photo library; the app stores only a reference to them. With your permission the app also looks at photos taken on the day of a walk to suggest them for a completion. A photo is uploaded only when you share the completion it belongs to, or set it as your profile picture. Uploaded photos are re-encoded first, which removes location and camera metadata.
Profile
Your profile holds a display name, an optional bio and profile picture, your preferred units, start date and target completion date. If you use social features, your display name, bio, picture, join date and the number of Wainwright fells you have completed are visible to other users.
Following and follow requests
You can ask to follow another user, and accept or decline requests to follow you. We store who follows whom, and pending requests, so the app can show the right posts to the right people. You can remove a follower or block a user at any time.
Ratings and bookmarks
If you rate a route or bookmark a fell or route, we store that with your other app data so it can follow you between devices. Route ratings are combined into an average shown to everyone; individual ratings are not shown.
Reports and blocks
If you report a post or profile, we store what you reported and why so we can act on it. If you block someone, we store the block so their content stays hidden from you and yours from them. The person you block or report is not told who did it.
Apple Health
If you allow it, finished walks are saved to Apple Health as hiking workouts with distance, duration, ascent and route. This is written to your own Health database on your device. The app reads Health only to avoid saving the same walk twice; nothing read from Health leaves your device.
Purchases
Subscriptions and one-off purchases are handled by Apple. We receive a receipt that says what you bought; we never see your payment details.
3. Who processes your data
We use a small number of providers to run the app. Each receives only what the service needs.
- Cloudflare (global network): serves this website and the map tiles the app downloads. Cloudflare receives your IP address and the tiles you request, which reveal the area of the map you are viewing.
- brouter.de (a public routing server run by a volunteer in Germany): when you use the Route Planner, the waypoints you place are sent to brouter.de to compute a walking route. If you choose your current position as a start point, that position is one of the waypoints. Nothing else about you is sent.
- Apple: iCloud, Apple Maps, Apple Health, App Store purchases and notifications, all under Apple's own privacy terms.
- Open-Meteo (weather forecasts): our server fetches forecasts for summit and regional locations and the app reads them from our server. No personal data is sent to Open-Meteo; the app never contacts it directly.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with anyone else except where the law requires.
brouter.de processes data in the European Union, which the UK recognises as providing adequate protection. Cloudflare operates a global network. For those transfers we rely on each provider's data processing agreement, which includes the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses, or on the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified under it.
4. How long we keep it
- Data on your device stays until you delete it or delete the app.
- Reports you make about other users' content are kept as filed, including that you made them, as a moderation record.
5. Deleting your data
Delete Account in Settings removes your completions, walks, routes, profile, shared completions, follows and reactions from your device and from your iCloud data, including the CloudKit public database. This is immediate and cannot be undone. Shared routes and companion tags you created are removed on request: email [email protected]. The bundled fell data is restored the next time you open the app.
You can also delete individual completions, walks and shared posts from within the app at any time.
6. Lawful bases
Under UK GDPR we rely on:
- Performance of a contract (our Terms of Service) to provide the app, sync and social features.
- Consent for location, photo library and Apple Health access, which you give through iOS permission prompts and can withdraw at any time, and for sharing content publicly, which you choose per item.
- Legitimate interests in keeping the service safe: moderating shared content, acting on reports and blocks, and preventing abuse.
7. Your rights
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected (rectification), to have it deleted (erasure), to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive a copy in a portable format (portability). Most of this you can do in the app: edit your profile and completions, unshare posts, and delete your account. For anything else, email [email protected] and we will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. If you live in the European Union you may instead contact your local data protection authority.
8. Children
The Wainwright Companion is rated 13+ on the App Store because social features show content posted by other users. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13; if you believe we have, email us and we will delete it.
9. What we do not do
- No third-party analytics, advertising or tracking SDKs, and no advertising identifiers.
- No access to your contacts, and no discovery of other users through your contacts.
- No email addresses or phone numbers, unless you choose to email us.
- No selling or renting of personal data.
10. QR Landing Page and Android Waitlist
If you scan one of our printed QR codes (found in participating Lake District accommodation) or visit wainwrightcompanion.co.uk/go directly, we log the scan: which property's code was used, your general platform (iPhone, Android, or desktop), and the time, to understand which locations are useful to walkers. This scan log does not include your name, email, or any other personal information.
If you join the Android waitlist (shown to any visitor not detected as an iPhone or iPad, including desktop visitors) we store the email address, and name if you provide one, that you submit, along with which property's code you scanned. This is used solely to email you when an Android version of the app becomes available. Submissions are verified with Cloudflare Turnstile, a bot-detection challenge, to prevent spam signups; no personal data is shared with Cloudflare beyond what a normal web request already includes, such as your IP address.
We hold waitlist details on the basis of your consent, until the Android app launches or you unsubscribe. You can unsubscribe from the waitlist at any time by emailing [email protected]. Waitlist data is stored separately from your in-app account data and is never used for any purpose beyond the Android launch notification.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the app changes. The date at the top shows the current version, and material changes are announced in the app's What's New. We will tell you about material changes in the app before they take effect.
12. Contact
Questions about this policy or your data: [email protected], or write to Paul Dickenson, 1 Bannel Head, Windermere Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5SA, United Kingdom.