Privacy.

Last updated: May 15, 2026

Short version: GoParks doesn't track you. Your visits, favorites, stamps, photos, and notes live on your device. If you sign in with Apple, they also sync to your iCloud — Apple's storage, encrypted, we never see it. We never sell data. We never serve ads. There is no account on our side, ever.

What we collect

One thing: anonymous usage analytics through Firebase. We see things like "someone opened the Profile tab" or "a check-in happened" — never who, never where, never tied to you. Basic device info (iPhone model, iOS version, app version) is included for diagnostics.

That's the whole list.

What stays on your device

Everything you create in the app:

• Park visits and check-ins
• Favorites
• Achievements and stamps
• Field notes and visit journals (text and audio)
• Stamp photos you capture
• Your day-streak history

None of this leaves your device unless you choose to share it (via the iOS Share sheet) or sign in with Apple to enable iCloud sync. We don't have servers that store any of it.

Sign in with Apple and iCloud sync

If you sign in with Apple, your visits, favorites, achievements, stamps, and photos sync across your Apple devices via your iCloud account. We use Apple's CloudKit for this. The data lives in Apple's storage, encrypted end-to-end under Advanced Data Protection if you have it enabled, and is accessible only to you through your Apple ID.

We see none of it. We don't have an account database. The only thing we get from Apple is an anonymous identifier (a random string). You choose whether to share your email — by default, Apple hides it behind a relay.

You can disable sync any time by signing out, or delete all synced data from your iCloud account in iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → GoParks.

Voice journals

When you record a voice note at a park, the speech-to-text transcription runs on your device using Apple's Speech framework. If your device supports Apple Intelligence, the transcript is also polished on-device using Apple's Foundation Models — fixing punctuation, removing filler words, no content changes.

Audio files and transcripts stay local (or sync via your iCloud if you're signed in). They never reach our servers. They never reach Apple's cloud servers either — the speech recognition is offline.

Location

If you grant location permission, we use it for two things: showing parks near you on the Explore tab, and verifying check-ins against the park's coordinates (so the app can mark a visit as GPS-verified vs. honor-system).

Location is fetched once per use, never stored, never sent anywhere. If you deny permission, the app still works — Near You is hidden and all check-ins are honor-system.

What we don't do

• No ads. Never.
• No selling data. Never.
• No tracking across other apps.
• No user profiling or behavioral models.
• No third-party data sharing — Firebase Analytics is the only external service, and it receives only anonymous events.
• No notifications without your explicit permission.

Your choices

• Disable analytics: iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements → turn off "Share with App Developers"
• Disable sync: sign out of Apple inside the app, or in iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud
• Disable location: iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → GoParks
• Delete everything: from inside the app (Profile → Settings → Delete account) we wipe all your CloudKit data. To remove local data, uninstall the app.

Children

GoParks is intended for users 13 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If you're a parent and believe your child is using the app, contact us and we'll help.

Changes

If we ever change this policy, the new version appears here with an updated date at the top. Material changes (anything that affects what data is collected or how it's used) will be flagged in the app's "What's New" on update.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or anything else: hello@goparks.app.

GoParks is a one-person project, made by Tim. There's no support team — emails come to me directly.