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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 July 2026

Packbound is a live location-sharing app for travel groups. This policy explains what information the app collects, why, how long it's kept, and who else ever processes it. If you'd rather read the code than this page, the source is public on the GitHub repository.

1. Information we collect

Packbound is built to collect as little as possible, and only what's needed to run a trip:

• A display name, and when you last opened the app. Chosen by you at sign-in. No email address, phone number, or password is ever requested - sign-in is anonymous.
• Live location. While you have sharing turned on during an active trip: latitude/longitude, heading, and speed, sent periodically so your position can be shown on the trip's map.
• Trip and route data. The trip name, its members, and - if the owner sets one - a planned route (start point, destination, stops).
• Optional messages. Quick preset messages or voice clips you choose to send to your trip group.
• A device push token. Used only to deliver notifications relevant to your trip (e.g. a trip-expiry warning or a message from a group member).
• Basic device signals already needed for the app to work, such as battery level (to warn your group if it's critically low) and network connectivity (to show a "signal lost" status).

Packbound does not use any advertising or analytics SDK, does not build an advertising profile, and does not sell or share your data with data brokers or advertisers.

2. How your information is used

Everything above is used for exactly one purpose: making a trip work for the people on it.

• Your live location is visible only to the other members of the specific trip you're currently sharing to - never to other Packbound users, and never used by us for any purpose beyond displaying it in that trip.
• Your display name is visible only within trips you join.
• Push tokens are used only to deliver the specific notifications described above.

3. How long data is kept

Trips are intentionally temporary, and so is the data behind them:

• Trips can't run forever. Every trip automatically ends 24 hours after it's created (the owner can extend it), or sooner if the group goes quiet for 10 hours.
• Location history is deleted immediately when a trip ends - whether that's the owner ending it manually, it going inactive, or hitting the 24-hour cap. This happens right away, not on a delayed schedule.
• Trip metadata (its name and who was in it) is kept for 30 days after the trip ends, in case you want to look back on it, and is then permanently deleted.
• Your account itself has no separate persistent profile beyond a display name and push token - there's nothing further to retain once you're not in an active trip, and even that is automatically deleted after 180 days of the app not being opened (see deleting your data for how to request it sooner).

4. Third-party services

Packbound is built on a small number of infrastructure providers that process data strictly to make the app function - none of them are advertising or analytics services:

• Firebase (Google Cloud): anonymous authentication, the live database that syncs trip and location data between members, and push notification delivery.
• Google Maps Platform: map display, route calculation, and turn-by-turn directions.

These providers may process data (including approximate location, as part of calculating a route) under their own terms as data processors acting on Packbound's behalf - they are not permitted to use it for their own advertising purposes.

5. Your choices

• Location sharing can be paused at any time with a single tap, without leaving the trip.
• You can leave a trip at any time, which immediately stops your device from sharing further location updates.
• Because sign-in is anonymous with no recovery details, there's no persistent account to delete separately - simply not joining or starting a new trip means no further data is generated.

6. Children's privacy

Packbound is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect information from children under 13 (or the relevant minimum age in your region).

7. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, the "last updated" date above will change along with it. Since the source is public, the history of this file is also visible on GitHub.

8. Contact

Questions or concerns about this policy or how your data is handled can be raised via GitHub Issues or by emailing support@packbound.net.