Last updated: 25 October 2026
This policy explains what information the HydTransit apps for iPhone and Android use, who receives it, and the choices you have. HydTransit is a bus journey planner for Hyderabad, India. It has no accounts and no sign-in, and it plans your journeys on your phone. Both apps work the same way except where this policy says otherwise, marked iPhone or Android.
HydTransit is made and run by an individual developer based in India, trading as HydTransit, who is responsible for how HydTransit handles personal information. The person in charge of privacy (Privacy Officer, data protection officer) can be reached at the privacy contact below.
Privacy contact: hydtransit.support@gmail.com
Your searches, stops, saved journeys and journey progress stay on your phone. We do not run servers that store them.
We use Google services to count how the app is used (Firebase Analytics) and to find crashes (Firebase Crashlytics). The iPhone app also shows ads (Google AdMob); the Android app has no ads. These services receive device and usage information, but never your stops, bus numbers, journey details or GPS location from the app.
Neither app reads your phone's advertising identifier. The iPhone app does not ask for Apple's tracking permission or read Apple's advertising identifier (IDFA), and the Android app does not read the Android advertising ID.
We do not sell personal information and we do not send you marketing messages.
Journey planning. Searches, selected stops, timetable results, recent searches, saved and favorite journeys, and your settings are stored only on your phone.
Location. When you allow it, HydTransit uses your phone's location to find nearby bus stops, to follow an Active Journey, and for walking directions. The location is used on your phone. It is not sent to us, to Firebase or to AdMob.
Background location. iPhone: if you turn on background tracking for an Active Journey, the app asks for "Always" location access and uses it only to update your journey while your phone is locked. Android: the app never asks for "Allow all the time" location access. If you turn on background tracking, the journey you started keeps being followed while the app is in the background or your screen is off, always with an ongoing HydTransit notification, and tracking stops when the journey ends. On both, journey progress is kept on your phone until the journey ends.
Reminders. Get-off reminders, Live Activities (iPhone) and journey notifications (Android) are created and shown on your phone.
Backups (Android). If backup is turned on for your phone, Android saves your saved and favourite journeys and your HydTransit settings to your phone's backup in your Google Account, and can copy them directly to a new phone, so they come back when you restore or move phones. A journey in progress and the timetable are left out. On Android 9 and later with a screen lock, Google encrypts the backup with your screen lock before it leaves the phone. Google keeps it under its own privacy policy, and we cannot see it. You can turn backup off in your phone's Settings (usually Settings > System > Backup).
Walking directions. iPhone: when you open walking directions, the start and end points of the walk are sent to Apple Maps to calculate the route, and Apple handles them under Apple's privacy policy. Android: HydTransit opens Google Maps (the app, or your browser) with the bus stop as the destination. Google Maps works out the route from your location under Google's privacy policy. HydTransit itself does not send your location.
OpenFreeMap (Android maps). The Android app's maps are downloaded from OpenFreeMap (openfreemap.org), run by Hyperknot Software Kft. in Hungary, which draws them from OpenStreetMap data. Like any website, OpenFreeMap's servers see your device's IP address and which map areas it loads. OpenFreeMap says it does not keep IP addresses in its access logs, deletes its server logs after 7 days, and uses no cookies or tracking. The app does not send it your stops, journeys or GPS location.
Firebase Analytics (Google). Records how the app is used, so we can fix problems and decide what to improve:
screens viewed, taps on app controls, and whether features worked (for example, a search finished or a journey was saved);
counts and timings, such as how many journey options a search found or how long it took;
your app language, and whether location, notifications, Live Activities, background tracking and get-off reminders are switched on (on Android: your app language, and whether location and notifications are allowed);
iPhone: whether a purchase or restore succeeded, was cancelled or failed (no price, product, transaction or payment details);
information Firebase collects automatically: an app-instance identifier, device model, iOS or Android version and app version, which app store the app was installed from, and your approximate location (country, region and city) worked out from your IP address.
No analytics event contains a stop, a GPS location, a bus number, a journey or a journey time.
Firebase Crashlytics (Google). When the app crashes or hits a technical error, Crashlytics receives a crash report: technical details of the error, device model, iOS or Android version and app version, and an installation identifier.
Google AdMob, with Google's User Messaging Platform (iPhone only). The Android app does not include Google's ad software and shows no ads. The iPhone app is free and is paid for by ads. When ads are switched on, the app shows a banner ad and occasional full-screen (interstitial) ads. Only ads rated suitable for general audiences are requested. To show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google's ad software receives information such as your IP address (and the approximate location worked out from it), device and app information, identifiers Google's software uses on your device, and how you interact with ads. It does not receive your stops, journeys or GPS location from the app. Google may use this information to choose which ads you see. Where Google requires it, the app shows Google's consent form, and an "Advertising privacy choices" option appears in the app's Settings so you can change your choice. Google explains how it uses information from apps that use its services at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Apple In-App Purchase (iPhone only). The Android app sells nothing. If HydTransit Pro is offered in your country, purchases are processed by Apple, which tells the app only whether you have an active subscription. We never receive your payment details or any personal information from the purchase. Restoring a purchase asks Apple to confirm subscriptions already on your Apple Account. You can review or cancel a subscription at any time in your Apple Account subscription settings.
GitHub and Firebase Hosting. The app downloads a public settings file from GitHub. When someone opens a shared journey link, the page is served by Firebase Hosting. Like any website, these services see the IP address of the device making the request. No other personal information is sent.
How Apple's privacy label describes this. On the App Store, HydTransit lists coarse location, device ID, product interaction, advertising data, crash data, performance data and other diagnostic data as "linked to you". That is because Google's services tie this data to identifiers on your device. We do not collect your name, email address, phone number or any account, and we cannot use this data to find out who you are.
Issue reports and support emails. The "report an issue" options open your email app with a draft that includes the search or journey you are reporting (stops, date and time, search settings), the app version, the iOS or Android version and your device model (on Android, also its maker). You can edit or delete any of it before sending. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write.
Shared journeys. A shared journey link contains the stops, buses and times of that journey. Whoever you send it to can see them.
Finding nearby stops, following your journey and walking directions use your location on your phone. Legal basis: your permission in iOS or Android, which you can withdraw at any time.
Understanding use, fixing problems, improving the app and deciding which features to highlight in it use analytics and crash data. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a reliable app, or your consent where your local law requires it.
Showing ads that pay for the free app uses advertising data. Legal basis: your consent where your local law requires it (asked by Google's consent form where it applies), otherwise our legitimate interest in funding the app.
Answering your emails and issue reports uses what you send us. Legal basis: your request.
We are based in India. Google and Apple process information on servers in the United States and other countries, and OpenFreeMap is run from Hungary, so your information may be processed outside the country where you live. Google processes Firebase and AdMob data as our service provider under its data processing terms, and Apple processes Apple Maps and In-App Purchase data under Apple's own terms. We use these providers because their terms protect your information to the same or an equal standard as this policy. By using the app you understand that your information will be handled this way.
We share information only with the service providers listed above, for the purposes described. We do not sell personal information. We may disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the security of the app and its users.
On your phone: until you delete it, reset the app or uninstall it. Active Journey progress is removed when the journey ends.
Firebase Analytics: no more than 14 months, then deleted.
Firebase Crashlytics: crash reports are kept for 90 days.
AdMob (iPhone): Google keeps advertising data according to Google's privacy policy.
OpenFreeMap: server logs are deleted after 7 days, according to OpenFreeMap.
Android backups: kept in your Google Account according to your phone's backup settings.
Emails and issue reports: up to 12 months after your question or issue is resolved.
Deleting your data: to delete everything HydTransit keeps on your phone at any time, uninstall the app. On Android you can also use Settings > Apps > HydTransit > Storage > Clear storage. To ask us to delete analytics or crash data linked to your device, email us (see "Your choices and rights").
Location is off until you allow it in the iOS or Android permission prompt. You can change it at any time in iOS Settings > HydTransit > Location, or on Android in Settings > Apps > HydTransit > Permissions > Location.
Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics (and AdMob on iPhone) start when you open the app. You can stop all of them by deleting the app. You can also email us to ask about or object to this processing.
Do Not Track: web browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal, but apps don't receive one, so HydTransit doesn't respond to it. HydTransit doesn't follow you across other companies' apps or websites. On iPhone, Google's ad software may use information from HydTransit together with information from elsewhere to choose ads, as described under Google AdMob.
Change location, notification and Live Activities access in iOS Settings, or location and notification access in Android Settings > Apps > HydTransit. Change background tracking and get-off reminders in the app's Settings.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to withdraw consent, to object to its use for advertising, or to receive a copy of it.
To make a request, email hydtransit.support@gmail.com. We will reply within 21 days. Because we do not know who you are, we may ask for details that help us find your device's data in Google's tools.
If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the data protection authority where you live, for example:
India: the Data Protection Board of India
Canada: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca); in Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information (cai.gouv.qc.ca)
Australia: the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au)
Singapore: the Personal Data Protection Commission (pdpc.gov.sg)
United Arab Emirates: the UAE's federal data protection authority
United States: the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov) or your state's attorney general
HydTransit is a general-audience travel app and is not directed to children under 13. In the iPhone app, we only allow ads rated suitable for general audiences; the Android app shows no ads. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we will delete it.
Everything the app sends over the internet is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). We do not run servers that store your information, and we limit access to our developer and service accounts. If a data breach affects your personal information, we will tell the relevant authorities and affected users when and as the law requires, for example within 72 hours where that applies.
We do not send marketing emails, text messages or push notifications. The only notifications HydTransit sends are the journey reminders you turn on and, on Android, the ongoing notification shown while a journey is tracked.
We will publish any changes at this address and update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also say so in the app.
HydTransit, India
hydtransit.support@gmail.com