Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 1, 2026

This policy explains what information WaTrips collects, how it's used, and the controls you have over it. It covers the WaTrips mobile app and the services it connects to.

1. Information we collect

Account information you provide when you sign up: name, username, email address, bio, and profile/banner photos. You can sign in with email and password, Google, or Apple.

Location and check-ins. When you check in somewhere, we record the GPS coordinates, the resulting city/state/country, the time, and anything you choose to attach — a note, a rating, or a photo. Location access is only used at the moment you check in; WaTrips does not track your location in the background.

Social and travel content: friend connections, rider groups and group trips you join or organize, solo trips and trip plans you create, vehicles you add to your profile, and community posts you choose to share.

Business and verification content. If you list a travel agency, home stay, or vehicle rental business, we collect the business details you provide and any verification documents you upload to confirm ownership.

Device information: a push-notification token so we can deliver notifications (friend requests, waves, trip activity), tied to your device, not to any advertising identifier.

2. How we use your information

• To operate the core features of the app — check-ins, trip planning, groups, friends, and your Digital Passport.
• To show you content according to the privacy settings you choose (see Section 4).
• To send you push notifications you'd reasonably expect (friend activity, trip updates) — you can disable these in your device settings at any time.
• To verify business listings before they appear to other users.
• To detect and prevent spoofed or fraudulent check-ins (for example, flagging check-ins that would require impossible travel speed between two locations).

3. Who we share information with

We don't sell your personal information. We share limited data with the services that make the app work:

• Firebase (Google) — authentication and push notification delivery.
• Google Maps Platform — converting your check-in coordinates into a place name, city, and country.
• Advertising partners — the app shows a small number of native ads within feeds; ad partners may use standard mobile advertising identifiers subject to your device's own ad-tracking permission.

Content you mark as public or friends-visible is, by design, shown to the audience you chose — that's not third-party sharing, it's the feature working as intended.

4. Your privacy controls

WaTrips gives you granular control over almost every part of your profile, independently: your photos, bio, stats, countries visited, timeline, rider activity, solo trips, vehicles, and Digital Passport can each be set to Public, Friends, or Private. You can also set a default visibility applied to new check-ins going forward.

Additional controls available in the app:

• Discoverable mode — an opt-in, time-limited toggle that lets nearby strangers find and friend-request you; off by default.
• Data export — download every check-in, friendship, group, trip, and vehicle tied to your account, in full, at any time.
• Account deactivation — temporarily hides your profile from search; automatically reversed the next time you sign back in.
• Account deletion — permanently and immediately deletes your account and all associated data. This cannot be undone.

5. Data retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account is active. Community posts expire automatically after a configurable window. If you delete your account, your data is removed immediately and permanently.

6. Children's privacy

WaTrips is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

7. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you in the app.

8. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to privacy@watrips.com, or visit our Support page.