Last updated: 25 July 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the Minimap app (the phone app and the companion Wear OS watch app, together “Minimap”, “the app”, “we”) accesses, collects, uses, and shares your data.

Minimap is an offline, privacy-first outdoor map and hiking companion. There is no user account, no login, no advertising, and no analytics or tracking SDKs. All of your personal data — including health and location data — stays on your own devices. We do not operate any server that receives your personal data, and we never sell or share it with third parties.

Summary

• Health data (heart rate, exercise/physical activity, distance, pace) is collected on your watch only while you are actively recording a hike or navigation session.
• Precise location (GPS) is used to show your position on the map, to navigate, and to record the route of a hike.
• All of this data is stored locally on your phone and/or watch. It is only ever transferred directly between your own paired phone and watch over Bluetooth / Wi-Fi.
• We do not upload your health or location data to any server, and we do not share it with anyone.
• The only internet connection the app makes is to download offline map data (see “Internet use” below).

Data we access and collect

1. Health and fitness data

When you start a hike or a navigation session, Minimap uses Android Health Services / the watch’s sensors to access and collect:

• Heart rate — read from the watch’s heart-rate sensor and shown live on screen; the average and maximum heart rate may be saved as part of a recorded activity.
• Physical activity / exercise data — the app registers an exercise (hiking) session to measure distance, duration, and pace and to keep the map display active during your workout.

How it is used: to display live workout metrics, to keep the screen and GPS active during a hike, and (optionally) to save a summary of the activity so you can review it later.

2. Location data

• Precise and approximate location (GPS) — used to center the map on your position, to calculate and follow routes, to suggest the map region for your current area when you add a map, and to record the GPS track of a hike (a series of latitude/longitude points with timestamps).

How it is used: map display, on-device navigation and routing, and recording your route while a hike is active. Location is accessed in the background (via a foreground service with an ongoing notification) only while a hike or navigation session is running, so tracking can continue with the screen off.

3. Activity history

If an activity is recorded, Minimap stores an activity summary and its GPS track on the device. This may include the start/end time, duration, distance, the route (GPS points), the destination name (for navigation), and heart-rate statistics. Recorded activities on the watch can be synced to your phone (see below) so you can view them on the larger screen.

How your data is stored and transferred

• All health, location, activity, and map data is stored locally in the app’s private storage on your phone and/or watch.
• Data is transferred only directly between your own paired phone and watch, using the Wear OS Data Layer over Bluetooth or a direct local Wi-Fi connection. This transfer happens device-to-device and does not pass through any server operated by us.
• We do not transmit your health or location data to us or to any third party, and we do not store it in the cloud.

Data sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with any third party. Minimap contains no advertising networks, no analytics providers, and no third-party tracking. The only data leaving your device is the map-download request described below, which does not include your health data.

Internet use (map downloads)

To provide offline maps, Minimap downloads map data (OpenStreetMap extracts) from Geofabrik (geofabrik.de), based on OpenStreetMap. When you choose a region to download, the app requests the corresponding map file for that region. This request necessarily reveals your chosen region and your device’s IP address to the download provider, as with any file download. It does not include your GPS position, heart rate, or recorded activities. Once downloaded, maps are stored on the device and used entirely offline. Please refer to the Geofabrik privacy information and the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy for how those providers handle download requests.

Permissions we request and why

• Location (precise & approximate) — show your position, navigate, suggest the local map region, and record hike tracks.
• Body sensors / Heart rate — measure and display your heart rate during a hike.
• Physical activity (activity recognition) — required to start an exercise (hiking) session for distance, duration, and always-on display.
• Foreground service (location / data sync) — keep GPS tracking and map transfers running reliably, with an ongoing notification, while the screen is off.
• Notifications — show the ongoing hike/transfer notification and status updates.
• Internet / network / Wi-Fi / nearby devices — download offline maps and transfer maps and activities directly between your phone and watch.

Data retention and deletion

Your data remains on your device until you delete it. You can remove it at any time by:

• Deleting individual recorded activities or downloaded maps within the app;
• Using the app’s storage options to clear all converted maps, cached downloads, or activities;
• Uninstalling the app, which removes all data the app stored on that device.

Children’s privacy

Minimap is a general-audience utility app and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Security

Your data is kept in the app’s private, sandboxed storage on your device. Direct phone-to-watch transfers use the platform’s Wear OS connection between your own paired devices. Because no personal data is sent to or stored on our servers, there is no server-side copy of your health or location data to be exposed.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated “Last updated” date.

Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact us via the details provided in our Impressum.