Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 25, 2026

This policy explains what information the Israel National Trail app (“the app”) collects, how it is used, who can see it, and the choices you have. The app is published by Lior Boyango (“we”, “us”). The policy applies to the Android and iOS versions of the app and to this website.

Contents

1. Information we collect
2. How we use it
3. Who can see it
4. Service providers
5. How long we keep it
6. Deleting your account and data
7. Device permissions
8. Children
9. Security
10. Your rights
11. Changes to this policy
12. Contact
13. Trademarks and affiliation

1. Information we collect

1.1 Browsing without an account

When you open the app it creates an anonymous account with Firebase so that it can load trail data (segments, campsites, water points, Trail Angels, weather). This anonymous account contains no personal information and is not linked to you.

1.2 Account information

To use community features you sign in with Google or with Sign in with Apple. We receive and store your display name, your email address (Apple may give us a private relay address if you choose to hide your email), your profile picture URL when the provider supplies one, and which provider you used.

Alongside your profile we also store your device's operating system and version, the device model and the app version. This helps us reproduce problems you report. We also store the list of trail segments you marked as done so it can be restored on a new device.

1.3 Content you create

• Messages in the chats attached to segments, campsites, water points and libraries. They are shown to all users together with your display name and profile picture.
• Difficulty ranks for segments, votes on campsites, water points and libraries, and feedback on Trail Angels.
• Campsites and water points you share with the community.
• Personal points: private locations that only you can see.
• Booking requests to Trail Angels: dates, number of guests, the phone numbers you enter and the messages you exchange with the Angel. Visible only to you and that Angel.
• Trail Angel profile, if you register as an Angel: your name, the place you host at, phone numbers, what you offer (sleeping arrangement, shower, rides, free or paid, religious household), availability, maximum guests, an optional link and an optional profile picture. Your phone numbers are shown to a hiker only after you approve their booking request. Everything else is visible to all users.
• Reports about content or about Trail Mates users, and bug reports. Reports include your description, the app version and device details and, for bug reports, the app's diagnostic log if you choose to attach it; a report about a user names the profile, group or message it concerns and may carry a contact email you enter. They are emailed to us and are not public.
• Translations you submit for community content.

1.4 Trail Mates

Trail Mates is an optional part of the app for finding hikers or a small group walking the same segments on overlapping dates. It is for adults only (18+). If you create a Trail Mates profile we store:

• Your profile: first name, age, sex, a short bio, your profile picture from your Google or Apple account if you choose to show it, your plan (segments, dates and direction), your pace, whether you prefer Trail Angels or camping, the languages you speak, and your matching preferences: same-sex matches only, preferred age range, and your Shabbat and kosher preferences. The Shabbat and kosher preferences can say something about your religious practice; they are used only to match you with compatible hikers and only because you chose to fill them in.
• Your phone number, verified by SMS before you can send a request to another hiker. It is stored in Firebase Authentication, linked to your account, and is used only to make sure that one person is behind one account. It is never shown to other hikers and we do not use it to contact you.
• Requests, groups and group content: the requests you send and receive, the groups you belong to with their plan and rules, the messages you write in a group chat, the nights you propose or vote for, bookings the group makes with a Trail Angel, and the gear list.
• Live location, only if you turn sharing on in a group: see Location below.
• Blocks and reports: the list of hikers you blocked, stored with your profile and visible only to you, and the reports you send about a profile, group or message.
• Reminder settings, the app language used for your notifications, and a flag that you have seen the Trail Mates introduction.

1.5 Push notifications

If you allow notifications, we store your device's notification token so that we can tell you about booking requests, replies and status changes, and about Trail Mates requests, messages, night votes, gear and reminders. Tokens are deleted when you sign out.

1.6 Location

The app uses your location to show where you are on the map, to measure distances to points on the trail and to guide the compass. For these features location is read only while the app is open on your screen, is processed on your device only, and is not uploaded, stored or shared.

The one exception is live location sharing in Trail Mates, which is off unless you turn it on. In a group you joined you can share your position with that group's members for today or until a date you choose, never beyond the end of your trip. While sharing is on, the app sends your exact position to our servers at most every 30 seconds and only once you have moved about 20 metres; while you rest it sends a fresh position every 5 minutes, so that your mates can see you are still reachable. This continues while the app is in the background (Android shows a persistent notification, iOS the location indicator). The members of that group see where you are on the map and along the trail, when the position was last updated and your battery level. Only your latest position is kept; there is no history. It is deleted when you stop sharing, when the time you chose is up, when you leave the group or when you delete your Trail Mates profile. You can pause or stop sharing at any time. The app asks for the “while in use” location permission only, never for “Always” or “Allow all the time”.

You can revoke the location permission at any time in your device settings; the map still works without it.

1.7 Analytics and crash reports

We use Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to learn which features are used and to fix crashes. This data is pseudonymous: an app instance identifier, device model, operating system version, app version, the screens you used and, for crashes, a stack trace. It does not include your name, email or location. You decide whether to allow it on the welcome screen when you first open the app.

1.8 App integrity and abuse protection

The app uses Firebase App Check with Google Play Integrity on Android and Apple App Attest or DeviceCheck on iOS to verify that requests come from a genuine copy of the app. These services process a device attestation token; we receive no personal information from them.

Phone number verification in Trail Mates is additionally protected against automated abuse by Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, which assesses device and interaction signals and returns a risk score, and by a list of countries whose numbers can receive a code. We see only whether a verification was allowed or refused.

1.9 Data kept on your device

Your preferences (language, theme, trail direction), the offline map you download, and the defaults you enter in booking forms (guest count, phone numbers) are stored only on your device. Booking defaults are kept in encrypted storage and are removed when you sign out. Uninstalling the app removes all of it.

2. How we use information

• To provide the features described above.
• To send notifications you have opted into.
• To answer support requests, reports and bug reports.
• To verify phone numbers and keep the service secure and free of abuse.
• To improve the app, using analytics only if you allowed it.

We do not sell personal information and we do not use it for advertising. The app contains no ads.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we process your personal data on the following legal bases: performance of our contract with you, that is providing the app's features, such as showing your profile and contributions to other users, restoring the segments you completed, passing booking requests between you and a Trail Angel and matching you with other hikers in Trail Mates; our legitimate interest in keeping the app secure and working, which covers App Check, phone verification, abuse prevention and handling reports and bug reports; and your consent for analytics and crash reports, push notifications, access to your location and live location sharing. The Shabbat and kosher preferences of a Trail Mates profile may reveal religious practice; we process them only with your explicit consent, which you give by filling them in and withdraw by clearing them or deleting the profile. You can withdraw consent for notifications and location at any time in your device settings, stop live location sharing in the app, and change your analytics choice by reinstalling the app, which shows the welcome screen again.

3. Who can see your information

We do not share personal information with anyone else, except the service providers listed below or when required by law.

4. Service providers

• Firebase and Google Cloud (Google LLC): sign‑in, database, file storage, cloud functions, push notifications, analytics, crash reporting, remote configuration and app integrity. Your data is stored on Google's servers. See Privacy and Security in Firebase.
• Google Maps Platform: the map and Street View. Google's privacy policy applies to map usage.
• Google Sign‑In and Sign in with Apple: authentication.
• Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise: protects the phone number verification in Trail Mates against automated abuse. Google's privacy policy applies.
• Google Cloud Translation: machine translation of community content and chat messages into your language.
• OpenStreetMap: trail map tiles may be fetched from OpenStreetMap servers when they are not available in your offline map.
• OpenWeather: weather forecasts for trail segments are fetched by our server. No user data is sent.

5. How long we keep it

We keep your account information and content for as long as your account exists. Reports and bug reports are kept for as long as needed to handle them. Analytics and crash data are retained by Firebase according to its retention settings. Data on your device stays until you sign out, delete it or uninstall the app.

Trail Mates data is kept while your Trail Mates profile exists. A profile is hidden from matches automatically after the end date of your plan and a group's chat becomes read-only after the trip, but both stay stored until you delete the profile or your account. Requests that are not answered expire after 7 days. Your live location exists only as the latest position and is deleted as soon as sharing stops.

6. Deleting your account and data

You can delete your account and data from inside the app:

1. Open the navigation menu.
2. Tap Sign Out.
3. Tick Delete all my data and confirm.

This deletes your profile, your sign‑in account, your bookings and booking messages, your personal points, your Trail Angel profile, your notification tokens, any reports and bug reports you sent, and everything in Trail Mates: your Trail Mates profile, your requests and group memberships, the messages you wrote in group chats, your live locations, the hikers you blocked and the phone number linked to your account.

You can also delete only your Trail Mates profile, from the profile screen in Trail Mates. This removes the profile, your pending requests, your group memberships and your live locations at once. The messages you wrote in group chats stay visible to those groups, and the verified phone number stays linked to your account so you can come back without verifying again; both are removed when you delete the account.

Contributions you made to the community (chat messages, ranks, votes, Angel feedback, and campsites or water points you shared) are not removed automatically, because other hikers rely on them. If you want them removed as well, email us and we will take care of it.

If you no longer have the app, request deletion on our website at israel-national-trail.app/delete-account, or email intshvilisrael@gmail.com from the address you signed in with. We will complete the request within 30 days and confirm by email.

Signing out without ticking the box keeps your data so it is there when you sign in again.

Facebook sign‑in is no longer offered by the app. If you signed in with Facebook in the past and want that data removed, email us.

7. Device permissions

Each permission is optional and can be changed in your device settings. The app keeps working with reduced functionality.

8. Children

The app is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it. Trail Mates is for adults only: you must be 18 or older to create a Trail Mates profile, and the age you enter is checked when you save it.

9. Security

All traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted. Database and storage access is restricted by security rules so that each record can only be changed by the user who created it. App Check blocks requests that do not come from a genuine copy of the app, and phone numbers saved on your device are kept in encrypted storage. Trail Mates profiles cannot be read directly by other users: matches are computed on our servers, and group content and live locations are readable only by the members of that group. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Your rights

You can access, correct or delete your information, and object to or restrict how we use it. Most of this you can do yourself in the app; for anything else, email us. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, these rights are provided under the GDPR and you may also complain to your local data protection authority. If you are in Israel, the Protection of Privacy Law applies. We will never treat you differently for exercising your rights.

11. Changes to this policy

When we change this policy we will publish the new version on this page and update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also tell you in the app.

12. Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: intshvilisrael@gmail.com.

13. Trademarks and affiliation

“Israel National Trail” and “שביל ישראל” are trademarks of their respective owner. The app and this website use these names only to describe the trail the app is made for. In Hebrew the app is called “בשביל ישראל”.

The app and this website are an independent project by Lior Boyango. They are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the trademark owner or by the organisations that plan, mark and maintain the trail. Trail information in the app is provided by the developer and the hiker community, and may differ from official sources.