Trail Sense

Privacy Policy

Last Updated July 5, 2023

This is the Privacy Policy of Trail Sense. Trail Sense is an Android app which uses your phone's sensors to assist with wilderness treks or survival situations. This Privacy Policy describes all the sensitive data in which Trail Sense uses (does not collect or share), including, but not limited to location and background location.

Location information gathered by this application does not leave your device (as a matter of fact, this app doesn't use the Internet at all). The altitude and pressure history for the last 48 hours is stored in local app storage - this is used to determine weather forecasts. The last known location is also stored in app preferences to allow faster load times and support app functionality when the GPS can not be reached. The beacons store their location in a local SQLite database. All of this information is cleared when you clear the app storage or delete it.

Data collection / storage

Trail Sense does not collect or share any user information outside of the app itself. All data stored by Trail Sense is done locally on your device.

Data retention

All data (which is stored on your device) is cleared when you clear the cache/storage of the application.

Location and background location

Trail Sense uses location data for navigation, barometer calibration, and astronomy calculations.

48 hours of altitude history: When weather monitoring is enabled. This is used for sea level calibration of barometer data.

Your last location: This is used as a cache for your location when you either don't have a GPS signal or when the GPS fix is taking too long.

Beacon / path information: The coordinates and other information for the beacons / paths you create are stored on your device, so you can navigate to them in the future.

Sunset alerts: When sunset alerts are enabled, Trail Sense uses your last known location in the background to ensure the sunset alert time is accurate while you are traveling.

Permissions

Sensitive permissions (can be denied)

  • Notifications: Allows Trail Sense to display notifications (backtrack, weather, sunset alerts, astronomy events, water boil timer, etc)
    When denied: Alerts will not be displayed and some services may not function properly depending on your device manufacturer.
  • Location: Allows Trail Sense to retrieve your location for navigation, weather (sea level calibration), and astronomy.
    When denied: You will have the ability to mock your location under Settings > Sensors > GPS. On Android 14+, backtrack and weather will be unavailable due to Android OS constraints.
  • Background location: Allows Trail Sense to retrieve your location for sunset alerts while in the background. On some devices, this will also improve the reliability of backtrack and weather monitor (though shouldn't be needed on most devices).
    When denied: If you travel and do not open Trail Sense, but have Sunset Alerts enabled, the times will likely be inaccurate.
  • Physical activity: Allows Trail Sense to use your phone's pedometer for distance calculation.
    When denied: The pedometer will not work.
  • Camera: Allows Trail Sense to use your camera on the sighting compass, clinometer, and for taking photos used by the Cloud Scanner, QR Code Scanner, and Photo maps.
    When denied: You will not be able to use the sighting compass, camera clinometer, or QR Code Scanner. You will need to pick an existing photo to use for the Cloud Scanner or Photo maps.
  • Alarms & reminders: Allows Trail Sense to post a notification at an exact time. This is used by the Clock tool (when updating system time) and Sunset Alerts.
    When denied: The clock and sunset alerts may not be accurate.

Non-sensitive permissions (can't be denied)

  • Run at startup: Allows Trail Sense to restart when you reboot your device. This will re-enable backtrack, weather monitor, and several other background services.
  • Run foreground service: Allows Trail Sense to start foreground services, such as backtrack and weather monitor.
  • Flashlight: Allows Trail Sense to control the phone's flashlight.
  • Control vibration: Allows Trail Sense to vibrate the phone. Used for haptic feedback on dials and on the metal detector tool.
  • Prevent phone from sleeping: Allows Trail Sense to reliably run services such as backtrack and weather monitor, especially when the frequency is under 15 minutes.