Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 4, 2026

TLDR

We collect your email, optionally your name, your step and distance data from your phone’s health hub (Apple Health on iPhone, Health Connect on Android), and your activity inside reTrek (adventures, milestones, achievements).
reTrek has a social side. Other users can see your display name, handle and avatar, and, depending on your visibility setting, your level, stats, achievements and how far along an adventure you are. You can set your profile to private so only followers you approve see that.
We do not sell your data, do not share it with advertisers, do not share it with third-party AI services, and do not use it to train AI models.
Your step and distance data is treated as health data and never leaves reTrek. Your position along a route is calculated from it, and that position is visible to other users as described above.
We use self-hosted, cookieless analytics and error reporting on our own infrastructure, on both the app and our website. No third-party trackers.
You can export or delete your account anytime from inside the App.

This summary is plain-language and not legally binding; the sections below are the full Privacy Policy.

1. Introduction

Do Not Panic AS (“we,” “us,” “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Policy describes what data we collect when you use reTrek, meaning both the mobile app and our website at retrek.me, how we use it, with whom we share it, and your rights under the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and Norwegian law.

2. Data We Collect

2.1 Account Information

Email address. When using Sign in with Apple, this may be a private relay email rather than your real address if you chose that option.
Where the sign-in provider supplies it, your name.

2.2 Health Data (Apple Health / Health Connect)

With your explicit permission, we read the following data from your phone’s health hub, which is Apple Health (HealthKit) on iPhone and Health Connect on Android:

Step count.
Walking and running distance (iPhone only; on Android reTrek reads steps and nothing else).

We do not read any other health data category (no heart rate, sleep, weight, workouts, or other health metrics). Health access is requested separately from app login and can be revoked at any time on your device: on iPhone through Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → reTrek, on Android through Health Connect → App permissions → reTrek.

We use this data to track your progress along virtual routes and story-driven quests within reTrek. We do not use health data for advertising, do not sell it, do not share it with any third party, and do not use it for any purpose unrelated to providing the reTrek experience. Where we hold a copy of your daily step and distance totals on our servers, it exists only to calculate your progress and is deleted with your account.

Your position along a route is calculated from this data. Where your profile is visible to other users, that position and the distance you have covered in an adventure are shown to them, as described in Section 5. The underlying health data itself is never shared.

On Android, Health Connect may count steps from your phone’s own sensor once an app has been allowed to read steps, and it also stores data written by other apps on your phone (for example Samsung Health, Google Health (formerly Fitbit), or a watch’s companion app). Those apps are governed by their own privacy policies; reTrek only reads what you have allowed it to read from Health Connect.

2.3 Adventure Data

Information about your activity in reTrek, such as the adventures you start, your progress along them (including current position, milestones reached, and content you’ve unlocked), achievements you earn, and any content you submit (such as reviews or feedback). This data is tied to your account and is used to provide the Service, sync your progress across sessions, and surface stats and recaps within the App.

Your display name, handle and avatar. You choose all three, and they are shown to other users.
Your connections: the accounts you follow, the accounts that follow you, and any pending follow requests.
Your profile visibility setting (public or private).
Blocks and reports you submit, including any description you write about another user.

If another user reports you, we process what they submitted about you, including their description, in order to review the report and decide whether to act on it under our Terms.

2.5 Device & Usage Metadata

Information about your use of the App necessary for security and operation, including app version, device platform (iOS or Android), language, time zone, and request timestamps.

When you visit our website at retrek.me, our analytics record the page you viewed, the site that referred you, and general technical details such as browser, operating system, device type, and approximate location at country level. This is not linked to your reTrek account, and you do not need an account for us to receive it.

2.6 Gift Purchases and Claims

If you buy a gift of PRO on retrek.me: the occasion, your name as you want it on the card, the recipient’s name as you typed it, and, from our payment provider Polar, your email address and the order details. Polar sells gifts on our behalf as merchant of record and processes the payment under its own terms and privacy policy; we never see your card details.
If you claim a gift: the email address you enter, and the reTrek account the gift is applied to. If there is no account with that email yet, we keep the email so the gift can be applied when you sign up.
If you entered someone else’s name for a gift card, we use it only to show it on that card.

2.7 Categories We Do Not Collect

We do not collect special-category data such as race, religion, biometrics, or political views. We do not collect GPS or precise location data: your position in an adventure is a point along a virtual route calculated from your step count, and says nothing about where you are in the real world. Steps and distance from Apple Health or Health Connect are not categorised as special-category data under the Norwegian implementation of GDPR, but we treat them with the same care.

3. Lawful Bases for Processing

We process your personal data on the following lawful bases:

Contract (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)) for data necessary to provide the Service you requested (account, subscription, adventure progress), including the social features you choose to use.
Explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) for processing health data, in conjunction with Article 6(1)(a)) for Apple Health or Health Connect access. Step count and walking/running distance, processed in the wellness context of reTrek, are treated as health data. You grant or refuse this consent through the health permission prompt on your device (the iOS HealthKit prompt, or the Health Connect permission screen on Android) and can withdraw it at any time through iOS Settings or Health Connect.
Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)) for security, fraud prevention, product improvement, and keeping the Service safe, which includes reviewing reports of abuse and enforcing our Terms.
For gifts: contract for the purchase and for applying a gift you claim, and legitimate interest for showing the recipient’s name, as the buyer typed it, on the card they asked us to make.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use the data described in Section 2 to:

Provide and operate the App.
Track your progress along virtual routes and quests.
Show your profile and activity to other users according to your visibility setting.
Authenticate you and protect your account.
Process subscriptions and verify entitlements.
Communicate with you about your account and the Service.
Review reports of abusive behaviour and enforce our Terms.
Investigate and respond to security incidents or abuse.

We do not sell your personal data, do not share it with advertisers, do not share it with any third-party AI services, and do not use it for AI model training.

With your explicit consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)), we may add your email address and name (if available) to our newsletter mailing list to send occasional product updates about reTrek. This is separate from transactional emails (such as sign-in links, account notifications, and security alerts), which we send regardless of newsletter status. You can withdraw consent at any time from inside the App or via the unsubscribe link in any newsletter email.

5. What Other Users Can See

reTrek has a social side, so some of your data is disclosed to other people using the App. We do this to provide the Service you signed up for (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).

Visible to any signed-in user: your display name, handle and avatar. These are how other people find and recognise you, so they cannot be hidden while your account exists.

Visible according to your visibility setting: your level, your stats, the adventures you are on or have finished, your progress along them, your achievements, and your activity in the feed. Your progress is calculated from your step and distance data, so how far along a route you are reflects how much you have walked.

Public profile: any signed-in user can see the above.
Private profile: only followers you have approved can see it.

You can switch between public and private at any time in Settings. Switching to private stops further disclosure, but it cannot recall what other users have already seen.

Blocking someone hides the two of you from each other. We never tell a user that they have been blocked or reported.

6. Cookies & Tracking

We do not use third-party advertising cookies, pixel tracking, or fingerprinting, and we do not share data with third-party analytics or advertising services. We do operate product analytics and error reporting on our own self-hosted infrastructure, covering both the App and our website at retrek.me, so we can understand how they are used and detect bugs; the data flowing to those tools stays with us.

Our website analytics do not set cookies and do not create a persistent identifier for you. They collect the information described in Section 2.5, none of which is linked to your reTrek account or used to follow you across other websites.

Within the App, we use minimal storage on your device for session management and preference persistence (such as your selected theme).

7. Third-Party Processors

We engage third-party service providers for key functions, including:

Subscription management (via the Apple App Store or Google Play, and our subscription processor).
Gift card sales on retrek.me (Polar, as merchant of record).
Authentication.
Email delivery.
Push notification delivery.
Error monitoring.
Infrastructure hosting and content delivery.

Apple HealthKit and Health Connect are named explicitly because Apple’s and Google’s policies require it: they are the sources of step and distance data on iPhone and Android respectively, and access to each is governed by its platform’s health framework. Our use of Health Connect data complies with Google’s Health Connect permissions policy, including the limits on what health data may be used for: only to provide the reTrek features you have requested, never for advertising, and never sold or transferred to third parties for their own purposes.

We enter data-processing agreements (or EU Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable) with each provider. A complete list of subprocessors and the safeguards in place is available on request at [email protected].

8. Data Retention & Deletion

We retain your personal data for as long as your account exists.
Gift records: the names on the card, the buyer’s email and any email a gift was kept for are erased 60 days after the gift is activated, 60 days after a refund, or 60 days after the claim-by date for a gift that was never activated. A record that a gift of PRO was applied to an account is kept, without these details, for as long as that account exists.
Gift claim confirmation links, and the email they were sent to, are deleted within a day of being used or expiring (they expire after 24 hours).
You can request data export or deletion at any time from within the App (Settings → Privacy).
Export requests are fulfilled within 30 days, delivered by email.
Deletion requests log you out immediately. While the deletion is being processed, re-registration with the same email is blocked; your data is permanently erased within 30 days, after which no record of the original account is retained (including any registration block). If you request deletion while an export is pending, the deletion takes priority and the export is cancelled.

On account deletion, we erase your personal data from our systems, including the newsletter mailing list. We cannot remove records maintained by third-party sign-in providers:

Google Sign-In: revoke the connection in your Google Account’s third-party access settings.
Sign in with Apple: we notify Apple as part of your deletion to invalidate its record of the grant. You may additionally revoke the connection in your Apple ID settings.

9. International Transfers

We host data in the European Economic Area where possible. For any transfers outside the EEA, we rely on EU Standard Contractual Clauses or other adequate safeguards under GDPR Chapter V.

10. Your Rights

Under GDPR and Norwegian law, you have the right to:

Access your personal data.
Rectify inaccuracies.
Request export of your data.
Request deletion of your data.
Object to or restrict processing in certain cases.
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent (for example, health access, by revoking permission in iOS Settings or in Health Connect).

To exercise these rights, use your account settings or contact us at [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet), at datatilsynet.no.

11. Children

reTrek is not directed at children under 16. Users under 16 may only register with parental consent. If you become aware that a child under 16 has registered without consent, contact us so we can remove the account.

12. Security

We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including TLS for all traffic, encryption at rest, regular backups, automated vulnerability scanning, role-based access control, and secure secrets management.

13. Policy Updates

We may update this Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date indicates when changes took effect. For material changes, we will also post an in-app notice.

14. Contact

Questions about this Policy or about how we handle your data? Email us at [email protected].

Do Not Panic AS is registered in Norway.