Privacy Policy

Last updated: 16 October 2026

The English version of this policy is the authoritative one; translations are provided for convenience.

RDBK.app ("RDBK", "we") is a free suite for creating and navigating digital roadbooks, available as a website, an installable web app (PWA) and native apps for Android and iOS. This policy explains what data RDBK handles and why. The short version: your location is used on your device to navigate and record routes; an account and cloud storage are entirely optional; we show no ads, run no third-party tracking and never sell your data.

Location

• When you use the Reader, Follow track, Tripmaster or Recorder, RDBK reads your GPS location to show your position, compute the odometer/heading and follow the roadbook or the track.
• If you record a route, your track is logged as a GPX file on your device. In the native app, recording can continue with the screen locked via a foreground service (shown as an ongoing notification) so the track has no gaps.
• Your live location is not sent to our servers, except in the two cases below. A recorded route only leaves your device if you choose to save it to your account.
• Event live tracking. When you take part in an event and navigate one of its roadbooks while the event is under way, the Reader asks you once for that event whether to share your live position with its organizers, and remembers your answer. Only if you said yes, and only while you navigate one of its roadbooks during the event, your last position and your progress on the roadbook are sent about every 15 seconds. Only the event’s organizers see it, it is never kept as a history, and the “Live” switch on screen turns it off for that run.
• Near you. The app home asks our server for the public roadbooks that start near you with your position — only when you already let the app use it, else with your account’s default location. It travels with that one request and is never kept.

Account (optional)

• The core tools work without an account. If you create one, we store your first/last name, username and email, and a securely hashed password.
• An account lets you save roadbooks to your profile, attach photos and publish public roadbooks.
• Default location. You may give your account a default location (in Preferences): the maps open there, and the app home shows the public roadbooks that start near it. Administrators see it on a map of the users, to know where RDBK.app is used. You can change or clear it at any time.
• Bookmarks. The roadbooks, events and clubs you bookmark are kept with your account so you find them again in Bookmarks. Nobody else sees them — not even who made what you keep. You remove one with the same button; they go with your account.
• Clubs. A club’s page — its name, logo, description, where it rides, how many members it has and the username of whoever runs it — is public. When you ask to join one, its admins see your username, your avatar and the words you write with the request; once you are in, its members see your username, avatar and role — and you see them, and the private roadbooks shared with the club. Who else belongs to a club is never shown outside it. One of its admins may invite you by your username: you are told in the app, and you are in only if you accept. A photo you add to a club’s gallery is public, on its page, with your username; you and the club’s admins can delete it, and it counts towards your storage. You can withdraw a request or leave a club at any time; if you delete your account, the clubs you own pass to another member — or go with it, when nobody else is in them.
• We email your account only what it needs — confirming your address, resetting your password, telling the current address when a change of email is asked, telling an address that already has an account when someone tries to register with it, an event’s invitation — and, once, a few days after you sign up, a short message asking how RDBK.app works for you, which you answer by replying if you wish. No newsletters, no marketing.
• You may optionally sign in with Google or with Apple. The provider returns your name, email address and an account identifier, which we use only to create or sign you into your RDBK.app account — we never receive your password for it. With Sign in with Apple you can choose Hide My Email, and then we only ever see Apple's private relay address, never your real one. Email/password sign-in remains available.
• If you delete your account, your profile data (name, email, password, avatar) is removed immediately. Your roadbooks — with their photos and voice notes — are renamed with your former username, moved to a generic “deleted user” profile and kept in its trash for 30 days (ask us within that window if you deleted by mistake); after that they are permanently deleted.

Roadbooks & photos (only if you save them)

• When you save a roadbook to your profile, its data (voice notes included) and any geotagged photos you add are stored on our server so you can access them across devices.
• Each roadbook is private by default; it becomes visible to others only if you publish it as a public roadbook.
• When you export a .rdbk file, its voice notes always travel inside it, as part of their notes; photos are included only if you tick the “Include photos in the .rdbk” option. The exported file stays on your device — you choose what travels in it.
• The Editor’s map tools — Auto-notes, Follow roads while drawing, Put on the roads, Fit to the path and the places shown along the route — send the route’s points to our own map server (no third party) to read the roads along it; the answers are kept for up to 30 days, so the same route is never asked twice, and they hold nothing about you.
• A comment you post under a public roadbook is shown on its page to every signed-in reader, with your username and avatar. You, the roadbook’s owner and an admin can delete it; deleting your account deletes your comments.
• If you rate a roadbook you rode, its page shows everyone who may open it the average of the stars and how many rated it — never who gave what. Your stars and the message you add for the author are seen only by the author (and an admin). You can change or remove your rating at any time; deleting your account deletes your ratings.

Run reports & your public profile

• When you navigate a roadbook in the Reader or follow a track in Follow track while signed in, its report (distance, time, notes reached, speed limits respected and, in an event competition, the penalties) is saved to your account — a run you leave unfinished too —, together with the track you drove on that run. The track is shown with the report — to anyone when the report is public, only to you when it is private — and is deleted with the run.
• Reports are private unless you choose otherwise — on the report itself or in your profile settings. A public report appears on your public profile page (/u/your-username) together with your username, avatar, bio and the clubs you run. Your real name and email are never shown there.
• You can make any report private again or delete it from your profile at any time; deleting your account deletes them all.
• Each report also records the kind of device it was made on (for example “App · iPhone · iOS 17.5”): a model and system version, never an identifier. Only administrators see it, to fix problems.

Camera, photos & videos

The camera is used only when you choose to add a photo to a roadbook. Photos you attach are uploaded to your account; photos are never collected automatically. A roadbook’s photos and videos follow the roadbook: while it is public, anyone can see them on its page — never where a photo was taken; while it is not, only you and the people who may edit it see them. When a roadbook stops being public, its photos get new addresses, so links seen earlier stop working. A duplicated roadbook shares its photos instead of copying them.

A roadbook’s videos are links to YouTube. Its page shows each video’s preview image, loaded from YouTube’s image server (i.ytimg.com). The YouTube player loads only when you press play, from YouTube’s privacy-enhanced domain (youtube-nocookie.com); from then on YouTube may store data on your device, under its own privacy policy. In the app, a video opens in YouTube.

Maps

The maps are drawn from our own server, with OpenStreetMap data: nothing is asked of a third party to show them. There are two exceptions: the height of the ground (the relief and the contour lines), which comes from Amazon’s open elevation tiles (AWS), and the aerial imagery of the Satellite+ style, which comes from Esri. Like any web request, those services receive your IP address and the area shown, never who you are. The style you choose is kept on your device alone.

Contact form

When you write to us through the contact form, your name, email, the topic and your message are sent to our team by email (through our email provider, SendGrid) so we can answer you. We do not store them on our server; the form is protected by Cloudflare Turnstile against spam.

Suggestions

A suggestion you send, the answers to it and where we stand on it are kept on our server so that we can answer you there; only you and our team (the site’s admins) read them. You can delete a suggestion at any time; deleting your account deletes your suggestions.

Event invitations

An event’s organizers may invite you by your username or by typing your email address. We then email that address an invitation with a link to the event (through our email provider, SendGrid) and, when the address belongs to an RDBK.app account, also tell that account in the app. The organizer never learns whether the address has an account, nor whose it is: they only see what they typed. We keep the invitation — the address or account, who sent it and when — until you accept or decline it, the organizer withdraws it or the event is deleted; an accepted one stays as the record of how you joined, until the event or your account is deleted. An address receives at most three invitations a day. If you did not expect it, you can ignore the email: no account is created for you.

What we do NOT do

• No advertising and no third-party advertising/analytics SDKs.
• No selling or renting of personal data.
• No background collection of your location outside an active recording or navigation you started.

Cookies & local storage

• RDBK uses a single essential cookie — an httponly session cookie that keeps you signed in after login. It carries no profiling data and is only set once you sign in.
• The app stores preferences and offline data in your browser's local storage on your device (language, map style, and crash-safe copies of in-progress recordings, runs and roadbook drafts so nothing is lost). This never leaves your device.
• No third-party cookies of ours, no advertising or analytics cookies, no cross-site tracking. Because we use only essential and functional storage, no consent banner is legally required; we show a one-time notice for transparency. A YouTube video you choose to play is YouTube’s own (see above).

Storage & security

Data you save is stored on our server in the EU. Passwords and access tokens are stored hashed. Connections use HTTPS.

Data retention

• Roadbooks you delete are kept in a trash folder for 30 days, then permanently purged. You can recover them yourself within that window; after the purge the data is gone for good. You can also delete them for good sooner, from the trash itself.
• Activity-log entries (sign-in, password changes and similar security events) are kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically. IP addresses in the log are anonymised from the start.
• Bearer tokens used by the native apps to stay signed in are pruned after 180 days of inactivity.
• Live positions shared with an event’s organizers are deleted a day after the event’s last day, and never kept longer than 3 days.
• Recording drafts created by the Recorder are deleted automatically after 2 days if they are never edited and saved.

Activity & security logging

For security and abuse prevention we keep a short activity log of key account events — sign-in (including failed attempts), sign-out, registration, email verification, password changes and administrator actions. Each entry stores the event, the time, and your IP address anonymised (the last part removed) so it can't single you out. Entries are deleted automatically after 90 days, and all of your entries are erased when you delete your account.

Your choices & rights

• Use RDBK fully without an account (no personal data leaves your device).
• Edit or delete your roadbooks and photos at any time from your account.
• Request deletion of your account and associated data by emailing us.
• Download a full copy of your data (a ZIP containing every roadbook with its photos and voice notes, and your profile information) before deleting your account.
• Export any individual roadbook as a self-contained .rdbk file at any time.

To remove your account and associated data, follow the account and data deletion instructions.

Children

RDBK is not directed to children under 14 and we do not knowingly collect their data.

Disclaimer

RDBK.app is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. It is a navigation and roadbook aid, not a certified safety or navigation instrument: GPS positions, maps and distances can be inaccurate or unavailable, and the app may be interrupted by device, signal or battery conditions. Do not rely on it as your sole means of navigation or safety. Always keep adequate maps, equipment and judgement, follow local laws, drive/ride within your limits and respect private land and the environment. You are solely responsible for how you use the app; to the maximum extent permitted by law, the authors accept no liability for any loss, injury or damage arising from its use.

Changes

We may update this policy; the "Last updated" date above reflects the latest version.

Contact

Questions or data requests: rdbk.admin@gmail.com.