Privacy Policy

📋 1. What we collect

We believe in being 100% transparent. Depending on how you interact with Itchy Feet, we may collect:

• Waitlist Sign-up: Your email address and the source of your sign-up (e.g., "landing page").
• Account Profile: Your name, email, username, profile picture, location, and your list of visited countries.
• Travel Data: Your saved places, liked places, saved dishes, itineraries, and contribution requests (tips, photos, reviews).
• Location Data: If you use features like "Mom-Approved Tracking", we log your coordinates (latitude, longitude) and share them only with the contacts you pick. You control when this is active and who sees it.
• User Feedback: Any feedback messages you send, along with optional device info (app version, OS, device model) to help us debug issues.
• Usage Logs: Anonymous records of which AI-powered features you use (e.g., translation, auto-guide) so we can monitor usage limits and improve the product.

⚖️ 2. Why we're allowed to (Legal Basis)

Under GDPR and similar regulations, we process your data based on:

• Consent: When you join the waitlist or sign up. You can withdraw this at any time.
• Contract: When you create an account, we need your data to provide you with the service you signed up for.
• Legitimate Interest: For things like anonymous analytics and preventing abuse. We balance this carefully against your privacy rights.

🛠️ 3. How we use it

Your data powers the features you actually use:

• For You: To show you your travel history, power your scratch map, and surface your saved places and dishes.
• For Safety: To allow real-time location sharing with people you choose to trust.
• For the Community: To display your contributions (tips, photos, reviews) so other travelers can benefit.
• For Improvement: To track anonymous AI usage so we can keep the service fast, fair, and free.

We never sell your data to advertisers. We don't have "data partners". We don't profile you for ad targeting. Full stop.

👁️ 4. Who sees it

Public: Your username, profile picture, and any contributions (tips, reviews, photos) you voluntarily share are visible to the Itchy Feet community.

Private: Your email, location logs, saved places, feedback messages, and account settings are locked down. Only you can see them (and in the case of location sharing, only the contacts you explicitly choose).

Us: Julianne and Viktor have admin access to the database for support and moderation purposes, but we treat your data with the same care we'd want for our own.

🔗 5. Third-party services

We use a small number of trusted services to run Itchy Feet. Here's the full list:

That's it. No Google Analytics. No Facebook Pixel. No hidden trackers.

⏳ 6. How long we keep it

• Waitlist emails: Until the app launches and you've been notified, or until you ask us to remove you.
• Account data: For as long as you have an active account.
• Location logs: Automatically deleted 30 days after each sharing session ends.
• AI usage logs: Kept in anonymized form for up to 12 months for service improvements.
• Deleted accounts: All associated data is permanently purged within 30 days of your deletion request.

🌍 7. International transfers

Our database is hosted by Supabase in the United States (us-east-2). If you're located in the EU/EEA, this means your data is transferred outside of Europe. Supabase complies with industry-standard security practices and we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to ensure your data is protected during transfer.

We are based in Malmö, Sweden, so we are very much subject to EU/GDPR requirements ourselves.

🍪 8. Cookies & storage

We use only essential cookies to:

• Keep you logged into your account
• Remember your preferences (like your favorite currency)

We do not use any third-party tracking cookies, advertising pixels, or fingerprinting techniques. Your browser's local storage may be used to cache data for offline features.

🛡️ 9. Your rights

It's your data. Here's what you can do with it:

• Access: Request a copy of everything we have on you.
• Rectification: Ask us to fix anything that's wrong.
• Erasure: Ask us to delete your account and all associated data.
• Portability: Get your data in a standard, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw Consent: Unsubscribe from the waitlist or revoke location sharing at any time.
• Complaint: If you think we've messed up, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in Sweden, that's IMY).

For any of the above, email us at hello@itchyfeet.app. We'll respond within 30 days.

🤖 10. AI & automation

Some features in Itchy Feet use AI to generate or enrich content:

• Country Info: AI-assisted text for transport guides, local laws, and food info. This content is reviewed and moderated by our community.
• Auto Guide: AI narration based on your GPS location. Your coordinates are processed in real-time but not permanently stored beyond the session.
• Translation: Text you submit for translation may be sent to a third-party AI provider. We do not store the translated content.

We log which AI features you use (to manage fair usage limits), but not the content of your requests.

🚸 11. Children's privacy

Itchy Feet is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with their data, please contact us and we'll delete it immediately.

📝 12. Changes to this policy

We aren't a giant faceless corporation. We're two travelers trying to build something useful. If we make significant changes to this policy, we'll notify you via email (if you're on the waitlist or have an account) and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We'll always explain changes in plain English, not 50 pages of legalese.