Nature’s Compass ("the app") is developed and operated by Christopher Cameron ("we," "us," "our"). This policy explains what the app collects, how it's used, who it's shared with, and how you can delete it. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to what's described here.
1. What we collect
Information you give us
- Account — your email address and a password. Your password is stored securely by our authentication provider and is never visible to us in plain text.- Profile — a unique handle you choose, and optionally a profile photo.- Content you create — posts (text, photos, and any location you tag), comments and replies, park reviews (star rating, text, optional photo), and community photos you upload.- Support messages — whatever you include when you contact us.
Information collected automatically
- Location. With your permission, the app uses your device's location to show nearby parks and your position on the map. If you grant "Always" access, it also detects when you arrive at and leave a park so your visits are recorded without you checking in by hand. For each recorded visit we store the park, the visit time, the park's coordinates and the U.S. state, and sync this to our servers so your stats and leaderboard rankings can be validated.- Motion and fitness. With your permission, the app uses your device's motion sensors to count the steps and distance you walk at each park, and to record your walking route while you're inside a park.- Progress and social activity. Check-ins, recorded visits, points, level, achievements, follows, likes, and any reports or blocks you submit.- Push tokens. If you enable notifications, we store a device token so we can send them.
Apple Health (optional, off by default)
If you turn on Health sync, the app writes each park walk to Apple Health as a walking workout — steps, distance, flights climbed and estimated active energy. With your permission it also reads heart rate, resting heart rate, active energy, walking speed, VO2 max, walking speed/distance, step count, and body mass from Health, so it can show what your Apple Watch recorded during a walk and estimate calories more accurately. This health information is used only to show you your own stats. It is never uploaded to our servers, never shared with other users, and never sold.
Stored only on your device
- Private journal notes attached to check-ins — never uploaded, never shared.- Per-park background images and display preferences.
Subscriptions
Nature’s Compass Pro is handled entirely through Apple's App Store. Apple processes your payment; we never receive or store your card or payment details. The app only learns whether your subscription is active.
2. How we use it
To find parks near you and record your visits automatically; to track points, levels, achievements, leaderboards and travel stats; to power posts, comments, reviews, likes, follows, mentions and notifications; to back up and restore your progress; to review reports and enforce blocks so the community stays safe; to answer your support requests; and to meet legal obligations.
3. Who it's shared with
Other users can see your handle, profile photo, level and rank, achievement and visit stats, and anything you post, comment on, review or upload. Please don't post anything you wouldn't want to be public. Your private journal notes and your health data are never shared.
We use the service providers listed below to run the app. They process your data only to provide their service to us, and are required to protect it to the same standard set out in this policy. We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect our users, the public, or us.
We do not sell your personal information, and the app contains no third-party advertising.
Our service providers:
- Supabase — stores your account, profile, content, photos and synced progress, and hosts the server functions that run the app.- Apple — iCloud (progress backup), StoreKit (subscriptions), Apple Push Notification service (notifications), MapKit (maps and park search), and HealthKit if you enable it.- OpenStreetMap — queried for public park information such as boundaries, trails and facilities. These queries use park locations, not your identity.
4. Keeping and deleting your data
We keep your information for as long as your account is active.
You can permanently delete your account and its data at any time from inside the app: More tab → tap your profile → Delete account. This removes your profile, posts, comments, reviews, photos, follows and synced progress from our servers.
Some information may remain briefly in backups before they are overwritten, or where the law requires us to keep it. Aggregated information that can no longer be tied to you — such as a park's overall average rating — may be kept.
5. Your controls
- Location — grant, limit to "While Using", or revoke it entirely in Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. Turning off "Always" stops automatic visit tracking.- Motion and Health — revoke in Settings → Privacy & Security, or in the Health app under Sharing → Apps.- Notifications — turn them off in Settings.- Your content — edit your handle, profile photo, posts and reviews directly in the app.- Blocking and reporting — block users to hide their content, and report anything that breaks the rules.- Deleting everything — see Section 4.
6. Security
We use encrypted connections and database rules that restrict each user's data to that user. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and to address any problems promptly.
7. Children
Nature’s Compass is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, email us at the address below and we will delete it.
8. Contact
Christopher CameronChrisAppHelp12@gmail.com