Privacy Policy

Effective date: 1 June 2026 · Last updated: 25 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how AFK Ventures (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, stores, and protects your information when you use the Caminantes mobile application (the “App”), a planning and tracking companion for the Camino de Santiago, and this website. Caminantes is published on Google Play under the developer name “Caminantes Project”.

The short version. We collect only what the App needs to work: your account details, the routes and notes you create, and, only while you are actively recording a walk, your location and step count. We also use privacy-focused analytics to understand how the App is used so we can improve it. We do not sell your data, show ads, use advertising identifiers, or track you across other apps. You can delete your account at any time, from inside the App or by emailing us; see section 6 for exactly what that removes and what it does not.

1. Who we are

The App is operated by AFK Ventures. For any privacy question or request, contact us at hello@caminantes.co.

2. Information we collect

Account and identity

When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, Google account identifier, and profile photo URL (via Firebase Authentication and Google Sign-In). You also choose a username and select your country, and may add a short bio and a profile picture.

Location data

When you start recording a walk, the App accesses your device's precise location to draw your route and calculate distance and elevation. Location is used only while a walk is active, via a foreground service shown by a persistent notification; it stops when you end the walk. The App does not access your location in the background outside of an active walk.

Activity and fitness data

During an active walk, the App reads your step count(physical activity recognition) to display steps taken.

Content you create

The App stores the routes you plan, your per-day stages and points of interest, your notes, and your completed walk history (distance, duration, steps, elevation, and the GPS path of your walk).

Messages

The App includes direct and group messaging with people you have added as Compañeros. We store the text of your messages, who sent them, when they were sent, and which conversation they belong to, so that the conversation can be delivered and shown to its participants.

Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. They are stored on our systems and are technically accessible to us. We do not read them routinely, and we access them only where necessary to operate the service, to investigate a report of abuse, or where required by law.

A message you send becomes part of the recipients' conversation. You can delete your own message for everyone within 5 minutes of sending it; after that it stays in the conversation. See section 6 for what happens to your messages when you delete your account.

Photos

If you set a profile picture or contribute a photo to a community point of interest, the selected image is uploaded and stored. The App only accesses images you explicitly choose.

Community contributions

You may submit information about points of interest, such as a venue's public contact details (phone, website) and photos. These submissions are stored and reviewed by us before publication; once approved, they may be shown to other users. You are responsible for what you submit and should provide only a venue's official, public information, never a private individual's personal data. You can flag content for review using the in-app Report option. Content rules are set out in our Terms of Service.

Technical information

The App checks network connectivity to enable offline features. We do not use advertising identifiers or advertising SDKs.

Analytics (app)

We use Firebase Analytics, provided by Google, to understand how Caminantes is used so we can improve it. This collects app-usage information such as the screens you view and the features you use, an app-instance identifier, basic technical details about your device (model, operating system, language), and an approximate location derived from your IP address. We do not collect advertising identifiers, and we do not use this data for advertising or to track you across other apps or websites. For users in the EU, EEA, and UK, our legal basis for this analytics is our legitimate interest in understanding how the App is used and improving it; because we minimize the data as described (no advertising identifiers and no cross-app tracking), the impact on you is minimal, and you can object at any time by emailing us at the address in section 10. Analytics event data is retained for a limited period (see section 5).

Analytics (this website)

This website uses Cloudflare Web Analytics and Umami. Neither uses cookies or any other storage on your device, neither builds a profile of you from your IP address or browser, and neither tracks you across websites or over time. They record aggregate counts only, such as page views, referring site, country, browser, and whether a visitor clicked through to an app store. Because no personal data is processed and nothing is stored on your device, no consent banner is required.

3. How we use your information

To create and maintain your account and profile.
To let you plan routes and save notes across your devices.
To record and display your walks (route map, distance, elevation, steps).
To show maps, place search, and weather relevant to your route.
To protect the service from abuse (app attestation via Firebase App Check).
To understand how the App is used and improve it, using privacy-focused analytics (no advertising identifiers, no cross-app tracking).
To improve and promote the App, including showcasing approved community contributions, and using aggregated, de-identified information that does not identify you.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising or profiling. (We may use anonymised, aggregated data and approved community contributions as described above and in our Terms of Service.)

4. How your information is stored and shared

Your data is stored using Google Firebase(Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Cloud Storage), which processes data on our behalf. We also use the following third-party services strictly to provide App features:

Google Firebase: account authentication, database, and file storage. See Google's Privacy Policy.
Google Firebase Analytics: privacy-focused usage analytics to help us improve the App. Advertising identifiers are not collected and Google Signals is disabled. See Google's Privacy Policy.
Mapbox: map display and place search. Map and search requests (including approximate location and search terms) are processed by Mapbox to render maps and return results.
Open-Meteo: a weather API that receives approximate coordinates to return local weather forecasts. No account or API key is used, and no personal identifiers are sent.
Umami: aggregate, cookieless website analytics for caminantes.co, hosted in the EU.
Cloudflare: hosting and content delivery for the caminantes.co website, and, through Cloudflare Web Analytics, aggregate, cookieless website analytics for it. Cloudflare processes your IP address in order to serve the site and to protect it from abuse; the analytics it produces are aggregate counts and are not tied to you.

We do not sell your personal information. We only share data with these processors to the extent necessary to operate the App, or where required by law.

5. Data retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account (see below), your profile, routes, notes, walk history, and uploaded images are permanently deleted from our systems.

Messages you have sent to other people are an exception and are not deleted. They remain in the conversations they were sent to, because a conversation belongs to everyone in it: deleting one person's half would rewrite the other participants' record of an exchange they took part in. What we do remove is every link back to you: your name, your profile picture and the internal account reference stored on the message itself are all deleted, so a kept message is no longer attributable to you or to any account, and is shown as sent by a former caminante.

Analytics event data is retained for up to 2 months, after which it is automatically deleted.

6. Your rights and Data Deletion Request

You can delete your account at any time.

Option A, in the app (instant):
Open Settings → Account → Delete account, then confirm. This permanently deletes your profile, planned routes, notes, walk history, and any uploaded images, and removes your sign-in account. This cannot be undone.

What is kept: messages you sent to other people stay in those conversations, unlinked from you and shown as sent by a former caminante, for the reason given in section 5. Everything else goes, including your point-of-interest contributions, your reviews and any bedbug reports you filed. The anonymous aggregated point-of-interest information derived from those contributions (an average rating, for instance) stays, because it no longer identifies anyone. If you need a specific message removed, contact us at the address below.

Option B, by request (web):
Email hello@caminantes.co with the subject “Data Deletion Request” from the email address associated with your account. We will verify your identity and permanently delete your account within 30 days, on the same terms as Option A, and confirm by email.

You may also request a copy of, or correction to, your personal data by emailing us at the address above.

7. Children's privacy

The App is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures provided by Google Firebase, including encrypted transmission and access controls, to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable steps to safeguard your data.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, via an in-app notice.

10. Contact us

Questions or requests? Email hello@caminantes.co.