Your information, explained.

Google account information: when you sign in with Google, we receive your display name, email address and profile-image URL.

Hiking records: summit visits you choose to record, including dates, notes, photos, weather, difficulty ratings and group size. Community content includes your posts, comments and likes. Preferences include your theme, nickname, displayed title and public/private settings.

Location: with your permission, the app accesses precise or approximate location when you use map positioning, summit check-ins, SOS or safety tracking. When you enable tracking, the app may continue receiving location in the background. We also process the emergency contacts, tracking links and trip locations you use with tracking or SOS.

Digital Safety Line (from app version 1.10): when enabled, your phone exchanges your nickname, team number, device identifier, platform (iOS or Android), location and its timestamp, battery level and connection status with phones on the same team over Bluetooth. These Bluetooth messages travel directly between teammates, not through PEAKSTW servers. We cannot obtain that information from the Bluetooth messages. Team membership is authenticated with a team key; the Bluetooth packets are not separately encrypted by the app.

Joining a team also starts the separate family-tracking feature introduced in version 1.9. This uploads your location to our Firebase cloud service for people with whom you choose to share the tracking link. You decide whether to share that link. This is separate from Digital Safety Line’s Bluetooth communication.

We use information to synchronise hiking records across devices, provide achievements, leaderboards and community features, improve the service, display your position and support GPS check-ins and hiking mode.

When you enable tracking, people you designate or share the link with can view your location, elevation, movement status and track. SOS incorporates your current location into a message or shared content to help you request assistance. Digital Safety Line shares teammate positions through the team and alerts both sides when a connection breaks.

Location is accessed when you use features that need it, including maps, GPS check-ins, hiking mode, tracking and SOS. Tracking or hiking mode may continue receiving location while the app is in the background or the screen is off.

Digital Safety Line needs Bluetooth permission (Nearby devices on Android). It uses Bluetooth and location in the background to maintain team connections and alerts while your phone is locked. Android displays an ongoing Digital Safety Line notification.

Stop it from More → Digital Safety Line → Stop on the hiking screen, leave the team, or finish the trip. Temporarily turning off Bluetooth does not end the session; it reconnects when Bluetooth is restored. Leaving the team deletes its settings from your phone. Refusing Bluetooth permission does not prevent other features, including family tracking. Range depends on terrain and obstructions; the feature cannot replace emergency arrangements, equipment or team discipline.

Location permission is not required to register, but features such as live tracking, GPS check-ins, SOS location sharing and current-position display may not work without it. We do not sell location data to advertisers or data brokers. When you use tracking or SOS, information is shared according to your actions with recipients or people holding the tracking link.

Data is stored in Google Cloud Firestore on Google Cloud Platform and protected by Firebase security rules. Access to private user data is restricted; profiles you explicitly make public can be viewed publicly. When you enable safety tracking, related location and status information is also stored in the cloud so the tracking page can display updates.

Firebase (Google) provides authentication, storage and hosting. Google Sign-In provides authentication. Open-Meteo provides weather data and OpenStreetMap provides map display; the app policy states that personal data is not sent to those two services.

This marketing website also uses Google Analytics, Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to measure website usage and performance. Google Analytics may use cookies. These website tools are separate from the app’s local storage and Bluetooth team communication.

We do not sell your personal data or provide it to third parties for marketing. Information is used to operate the service. Your actions may share information when you publish posts, profiles or records; enable tracking for people with your link; or send location through SOS, messages or sharing tools.

When you enable Digital Safety Line and join a team, your nickname, location and battery level are shared over Bluetooth with teammates. The team leader’s QR code includes the team name, leader nickname, entered mountain name, separation-alert timing, team size limit, emergency contact name and phone number set by the leader, and team key. Teammates who scan it receive these details.

You can select Delete account and data in Settings at any time. We will permanently delete your personal data in the service, including hiking records, social posts, profile and tracking data associated with your account that remains in the system.

The service uses browser local storage for sign-in state and preferences. Website analytics are described in section 5; the website should not be understood as cookie-free. Digital Safety Line settings and event logs are stored on your phone. Leaving a team removes its local settings. Logs are shared only when you choose Export logs; exported logs remove precise coordinates and replace names with identifiers by default.

The service is not designed for children under 13. If we discover that we have inadvertently collected a child’s data, we will delete it promptly.

Changes to this policy will be published with an updated date on this page. We will notify users in the app of major changes.

For privacy questions, email peaks.taiwan.app@gmail.com.