App Privacy Policy

This privacy policy explains how the iPhone app TerraLumen handles data. Visits to this website are covered by the website privacy policy.

Last updated: October 16, 2026

1. Controller

2. In short

• TerraLumen has no server of its own and no account. The developer receives no location, health, or photo data.
• What you reveal stays on your iPhone and, if you use iCloud, in your private iCloud database at Apple.
• There is no usage analytics, no advertising, and no tracking.
• Data goes only to Apple (map, routes, place search, iCloud, purchases) and, for the TerraLumen Pro subscription, to RevenueCat, as described below.

3. Location and revealing

TerraLumen uses your location only if you allow it in iOS: with “While Using the App” while TerraLumen is visible, with “Always” also in the background. Each accepted location point is immediately converted on the device into a coarse grid cell of about 30 × 30 meters and discarded. TerraLumen stores no coordinates, times of day, or GPS tracks. Speed and accuracy appear only as live readings and are not stored.

For each cell, TerraLumen stores on your iPhone the day it was first revealed, the number of days you were there, the first and last counted day, and how the cell was revealed (location, workout, GPX file, drawn by hand, or from iCloud). There are no times of day, no order, and no list of days. Paths you draw in the drawing mode or add as a route are likewise stored only as coarse cells.

4. Apple Maps, routes, and place search

The map comes from Apple (MapKit). To show it, your iPhone loads map data for the visible area from Apple; Apple receives technical details such as the IP address and the area.

In the drawing mode, you can have routes calculated. Only when you tap “Route Here” or change the travel mode of the route you just added do the two points you set on the map (as coordinates without an address), the travel mode, and the request for alternatives go to Apple. Only while the place search is open do your search text, the map area visible when you opened it, and the suggestion you choose go to Apple. Your own location is never sent. Points, routes, and search results stay in memory only; only the coarse cells of paths you apply are saved.

Apple processes these requests under its own responsibility; see Apple’s privacy policy.

5. Apple Health

Apple Health is optional. TerraLumen reads only what you allow in Apple’s Health sheet and writes nothing to Apple Health.

• Movement Insights reads steps and walking and running distance to show totals for today and the last seven days. The totals are not stored.
• Reveal Workout Routes (TerraLumen Pro) reads workouts and their routes. Route points are immediately converted on the device into coarse cells and discarded; of each workout, only the day it started is kept, as a visit day of those cells. So that later imports read only new workouts, the app keeps a marker from Apple Health locally.

Health data, workouts, and routes never leave your iPhone. A workout’s day can sync with iCloud as the first day of a cell, without any indication that it comes from a workout.

6. Photos

Photo access is optional and read only, limited to the photos you allow in iOS. Photos on the Map shows geotagged photos where you took them; their exact locations stay in memory only while the photos are visible on the map. For Add Countries from Photos, each photo location is immediately rounded to a coarse grid cell and matched to countries and areas in memory only. TerraLumen never stores, copies, or transmits photos, thumbnails, or photo locations; only the “Include Photos” setting is stored on your iPhone.

7. GPX files

When importing, TerraLumen reads only the GPX files you choose in the file dialog, and only while the import runs. Their points are immediately converted on the device into coarse cells and discarded; of each track segment, only its day is kept, as a visit day of those cells. The files are never copied, stored, or transmitted, and their names appear only in the import window until you close it.

8. iCloud

If you are signed in to iCloud, TerraLumen syncs your progress through your private iCloud database (CloudKit) at Apple, so every device with the same Apple Account shows the same map. It syncs the coarse cells, each with its number of visit days and the day it was first revealed, plus technical details needed for syncing, such as whether a reset is running. It never syncs the other days, times of day, how a cell was revealed, health data, or photos.

Cells, days, and counts are stored in an encrypted field: with keys managed by Apple, like iCloud Backup, and end-to-end encrypted with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud. The developer has no access to your private iCloud database; Apple provides it under its own terms. If you back up your iPhone with iCloud Backup, the backup also contains TerraLumen’s local store with all stored days. Without iCloud, everything stays on the device.

9. In-app purchases and RevenueCat

TerraLumen Pro is a subscription through the App Store. Apple handles payment; TerraLumen receives no payment details. To check whether TerraLumen Pro is active, the app uses RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc., 1032 E Brandon Blvd #3003, Brandon, FL 33511, USA) as a processor. RevenueCat receives:

• a random ID created for this installation (no name, email address, or Apple Account),
• your purchases and transactions in TerraLumen,
• a device identifier that is valid only for this developer’s apps (identifierForVendor),
• device model, iOS, app, and build version, and the app’s identifier,
• up to three preferred languages and the App Store country,
• whether the app is a test build,
• the App Tracking Transparency status (TerraLumen never asks to track you; the SDK sends the status anyway),
• how you use the screen for buying TerraLumen Pro (opening, closing, taps).

RevenueCat never receives your location, cells, days, health data, photos, or file contents. The developer sees purchases in RevenueCat’s dashboard only under the random ID.

The purpose is providing the subscription, including restoring purchases; the legal basis is performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). A data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is in place with RevenueCat. RevenueCat processes the data in the United States; the transfer is based on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR), which RevenueCat’s data processing agreement includes. On request by email, the developer deletes your record at RevenueCat; ideally include the order ID from Apple’s receipt. Reset Progress does not affect this data. Apple processes purchases under its own responsibility.

10. Retention and deletion

The data on your iPhone stays until you reset your progress or delete the app. Reset Progress (in TerraLumen under Settings) deletes all revealed cells with their days on this device, in iCloud, and on your other devices; map appearance and units are kept. If you only delete the app, you remove the data on this device; synced cells stay in iCloud and return after you reinstall.

To delete everything:

• In TerraLumen, tap Reset Progress in Settings.
• Wait until the status under Settings → iCloud no longer shows Reset Pending.
• Only then delete the app.

Earlier iCloud backups of your iPhone may contain TerraLumen’s store until they are replaced. You can withdraw permissions at any time in the iOS Settings under Apps → TerraLumen (location, photos) and in the Health app under Profile → Apps.

11. Legal bases

• The app features you use (revealing, map, routes, place search, imports, iCloud sync): Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
• Access to location, photos, and Apple Health: your consent through the permission in iOS (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, for health data Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw it at any time with effect for the future.
• The subscription through the App Store and RevenueCat: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
• Emails to support: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where they concern the app, otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (interest in answering your request).
• Storing and reading information on your device: Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG, where strictly necessary for the feature you use.

12. Your rights and supervisory authority

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection (Art. 15 to 21 GDPR), and the right to withdraw consent (Art. 7(3) GDPR). To exercise them, write to the email address above.

You can lodge a complaint with any data protection supervisory authority. The authority responsible for the developer is the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany, www.lda.bayern.de.

13. Changes

This privacy policy is updated when the app or its handling of data changes. The current version is always on this page, with its date at the top.