Privacy Policy

Türkçe: Gizlilik Politikası
This English translation is provided for convenience. If it differs from the Turkish version, the Turkish version applies.

This policy explains how your personal data is processed in accordance with Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu, "KVKK") and related legislation when you use the Vagara mobile application ("App").

1. Data We Collect

• Account information: email address, username, display name, optional profile information (region, bio, profile photo).
• Location data: your GPS location is processed if you have granted location permission. Continuously during activity recording (to draw your walking/running route); during recording, if you have granted permission, also in the background. If you are not recording, your location is not read while the app is in the background or closed. Outside recording, your location is read momentarily only while the app is open and for the following features: showing nearby routes and the weather; opening the map at your location and showing your region on the Record screen and the Run screen; identifying the places near you in the route details; showing your location on the map; checking in at places on the route; pre-filling the location and region when adding a new group, event, or spot (nature spot, cultural spot). The momentary location sent for nearby routes, the weather, and check-in is not stored on our server; when you check in, only which place you visited and at what time is saved to your account. Other momentary readings are not sent to our server unless you add content. The location of the spot and event you add and the region of the group, however, are stored as part of the content. Unless you choose a different location, the meeting point of a new event and the location of a new spot are your current location. Events are published publicly together with their meeting point, spots become public after they are approved, and both remain when you delete your account. To show the name of the city you are in, the coordinates may be transmitted to your device's operating system location service (Apple on iOS, Google on Android).
• Content: routes, activities, photos, nature observations, comments, and in-group messages you share.
• Motion and health data: on iPhone, if you have granted motion permission, your step count is read from the operating system's pedometer during activity recording and stored with the recording (step count is not read on Android). The body weight you optionally enter in your profile is used only to estimate the calories of your activities and is deleted when you delete your account.
• Subscription status: information on the validity of your Premium subscription (your payment information — card number, etc. — does NOT reach us; payments are processed entirely by the App Store or Google Play).
• Technical data: the minimum device/session information required for the app to function. The App contains no third-party advertising or tracking SDK.

2. Purposes of Processing

• To create your account and manage your session,
• To record your activities and calculate your statistics and badges,
• To provide community features (following, commenting, sharing),
• To verify the Premium subscription,
• To ensure the security and continuity of the service.

3. Where Data Is Stored

Your data is stored on our servers hosted in the European Union (Hetzner GmbH data centers). Transfer abroad is carried out under Article 9 of the KVKK to the extent required by the service.

4. Third Parties

• Apple: app distribution (App Store), in-app purchase/subscription transactions, sign-in with your Apple account, and delivery of notifications to the iPhone. To show the name of the city you are in, your coordinates may be transmitted to the iPhone's operating system location service.
• Google: Android app distribution and in-app purchase/subscription transactions (Google Play), sign-in with your Google account, and delivery of notifications to the Android device. To show the name of the city you are in, your coordinates may be transmitted to the Android device's operating system location service. If you signed up with your Google account, the address of your profile photo on Google is used on your profile until you change your photo; devices that display this photo (including yours) load it directly from Google's servers.
• RevenueCat: verification of subscription status (does not include payment information).
• Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany): server and data storage. Your account information, your activity records, and the photos you upload are stored on our server in Germany; map tiles and route calculation are also provided from this server.
• Expo: sending notifications (device notification key and notification text).
• Natro: sending password reset emails (your email address) and hosting the emails you write to legal@arfhause.com.
• Map and weather services: weather information is obtained from Open-Meteo through our servers, using coordinates rounded to approximately 11 km. Map fonts, icons, and the relief layer are loaded by your device directly from OpenFreeMap; your IP address and the map area being viewed are transmitted in these requests. When you view the map outside Türkiye, map tiles are loaded from OpenFreeMap; your device's IP address is transmitted to OpenFreeMap in the process. These requests do not contain your identity.
• Wikipedia: species information (only the species name is sent from our server); species images are loaded directly onto your device from Wikimedia servers, and your IP address is transmitted in these requests.
• Open-Topo Data: when you save a route on the route planning screen, the coordinates of the points along the route are transmitted through our servers to calculate elevation and ascent information; these requests do not contain your identity.
• Group logos: if a group's founder entered the address of an image on another website as the logo, when you open that group the logo is loaded onto your device directly from that website and your IP address is transmitted to that website; these requests do not contain your identity.

For advertising purposes, your data is not shared with any third party or sold.

5. Retention Period and Deletion

Your data is retained for as long as your account is active. You may delete your account at any time via Profile → Settings (gear icon) → Account → Delete account. In this process, your email address, your name, your profile images, your device records, the activities you recorded with the app and their GPS tracks, and your posts, comments, and likes are permanently deleted immediately. The routes you created (e.g., on the route planning screen) or imported from a GPX file (including private ones) and their photos, the spots you added to the map (nature spots and cultural spots; including those awaiting approval, which may be approved and published even after your account is deleted), and the groups and events of which you are the founder are not deleted; your name on them is changed to "Deleted user". Those that are public to the community remain published; private routes are not visible to others but continue to be stored on our server and may be linked to you because of the locations they contain (e.g., the starting point). In notifications previously sent to others, your display name at that time and a short excerpt from your comment remain. If you want this content to be removed completely as well, write to legal@arfhause.com before deleting your account. Deleted data remains in backup copies for no more than 90 days.

Step-by-step instructions: Account and data deletion.

6. Your Rights Under the KVKK

Under Article 11 of the KVKK, you have the right to access, correct, and delete your data, to object to processing, and to know the third parties to whom it has been transferred. You may submit your requests to the email address above; they are answered within 30 days at the latest.

7. Children's Privacy

The App is not directed at children under the age of 13, and no data is knowingly collected from anyone under the age of 13.

8. Changes

When this policy is updated, it is published on this page; significant changes are announced within the app.