FarSights privacy policy
FarSights is an app to see, save and reach places in the mountains. This policy explains what data it uses, why, and who it is shared with.
In short: FarSights has no accounts, no servers of its own and no ads. Your places and tracks stay on your phone. To work, the app queries map, terrain and peak services, and some of those requests reveal the area where you are. It sends anonymous crash reports and, only if you agree, anonymous usage statistics.
Controller
The data controller is the developer of FarSights. Contact: madelatosoftware@gmail.com.
Data that stays on your phone
- Your places, categories, tracks, recordings and offline areas. They are stored in the app's storage. FarSights does not send them to any server.
- Settings: language, map layers, horizon, route and Compass preferences.
- Downloads in the app's cache. So it does not download them again, the app keeps in the phone's cache what it downloaded for the maps and the Compass (terrain tiles, buildings, rivers and lakes, and built-up areas), together with the area they belong to. The system may clear that cache when it needs to, and it goes away when you uninstall the app.
- Android backup. If Google account backup is on, Android may include your places, tracks, recordings and settings in it (encrypted, in your account) so they come back on a new phone. Offline areas are not backed up. The backup is made by the system, not by FarSights, and you can turn it off in Android settings.
- If you uninstall the app, everything is deleted from the phone.
Location
- The app uses your location to work out the distance and direction to your places, draw the horizon from where you stand, guide you and record routes.
- With the screen off (Android only): only while you record or follow a route that you started with the app open, through a foreground service. Android shows an ongoing notification meanwhile. The app does not ask for the "all the time" location permission.
- FarSights has no servers of its own, so your location is not stored outside your phone. But to work, the app requests data from the external services in the table below, and some of those requests reveal where you are:
- Horizon: when you open it, the app sends the coordinates of your position to OpenStreetMap (Overpass servers) to get the surrounding peaks. The result is kept on the phone for 30 days, so it is not repeated every time.
- Compass: while it is open, the app sends OpenStreetMap (Overpass servers) the centre of the terrain model, which is your position rounded to about 11 m, and a radius slightly larger than the model's, to draw rivers and lakes, nearby buildings (models of 1 km or less) and built-up areas further away. It asks again when you move a part of the radius away. What arrives is kept on the phone for 30 days. The sun and moon of the astrolabe are computed on the phone, without sending anything.
- Huts, springs and parking on the Map (optional): if you turn on that layer, the app sends OpenStreetMap (Overpass servers) the centre of the map you are looking at, rounded to 1 km, and a radius of about 45 km (10 km for parking). When you download an offline area, it also asks for those of that area. What arrives is kept on the phone for 30 days.
- Terrain and maps: the app downloads the grid squares ("tiles") of the area where you are or that you are looking at, which reveals that area approximately (a few kilometres).
- My position for emergencies: shows your coordinates on screen. They only leave the phone if you tap "Share", and only to the app you choose.
Camera and sensors
- The camera is only used in the horizon's camera mode, to overlay the landscape. No photos or video are recorded or saved.
- The compass and motion sensors are used to know where the phone is pointing. Their data never leaves the phone.
Permissions the app asks for
| Permission | What for |
|---|---|
| Location (precise and approximate) | Distance and direction to your places, horizon from where you are, guidance and recording |
| Location foreground service (Android) | Keep recording or guiding with the screen off, only during a session you start |
| Notifications (Android 13 or later) | The ongoing notification of that session. If you deny it, the session still works |
| Camera | Horizon camera mode, without recording or saving images |
The app does not ask for access to your photos, files, contacts or microphone. FarSights sends no push notifications or ads.
Files you open or share
- FarSights appears in the "Open with" menu for GPX, KML, XML and generic files (that is how many downloaded
.gpxfiles arrive). It only reads the file you choose, asks before importing it and reads no other file on your phone. - Tracks, places and positions you export or share only leave the phone towards the app you pick in the share menu.
Crash reports (Sentry)
- If the app fails, it sends an error report to Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.), hosted in the European Union, so it can be fixed.
- The report includes the error, the screen where it happened, the phone model and the system and app versions. Before sending it, the app removes coordinates, file paths and other personal data. It does not include your places or tracks.
- Sentry receives the connection's IP address, like any server. FarSights does not use it to identify you.
Usage statistics (PostHog)
- Only if you agree in the notice shown the first time you open the app. You can change it at any time in the menu → "Usage statistics".
- Anonymous events are sent: screens opened, features used (for example "track imported" or "area downloaded") and app open and close. They carry a random installation identifier, the phone maker and model, the system and app versions, the language and the time zone.
- They do not include your location or the names of your places. No person profile is created and no sessions or screens are recorded. The app asks PostHog not to use your IP to work out where you are.
- They are received by PostHog, Inc. on its servers in the United States. This is an international transfer outside the European Economic Area, covered by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses included in PostHog's data processing agreement.
Suggestions and contact
- From "Suggestions and contact" (on the app's home screen and in the My places menu) you can send us an email. The app only prepares it in your email app: nothing leaves the phone until you send it, and before that you can read and change all of it.
- The email ends with the app version, the phone's manufacturer and model, the system version and the app language, so we know where to look. Never your location or your places.
- It reaches madelatosoftware@gmail.com (a Gmail account, from Google) together with your email address, like any email you send.
External services the app queries
Like any internet server, they all receive your phone's IP address, besides what the table says. Each has its own privacy policy.
| Service | What for | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps (Google LLC) | Base map (can be turned off in the map layers) | The map area you view, and the technical data its own SDK collects |
| Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Spain) and OpenTopoMap | Map layers and offline areas | Tiles of the area |
| AWS Terrain Tiles (Amazon Web Services) | Terrain for the horizon, the Compass terrain model, altitudes and offline areas | Tiles of the area |
OpenStreetMap, Overpass servers (overpass-api.de and, if it fails, overpass.kumi.systems and overpass.private.coffee) | Peak names and heights; buildings if you turn on that horizon layer; rivers, lakes, buildings and built-up areas of the Compass terrain model; huts, springs and parking on the Map if you turn on that layer, and those of each area you download | The point's coordinates (your position on the horizon, the map centre or the centre of the Compass terrain model, rounded to about 11 m) and a radius; for huts, springs and parking, the map centre rounded to 1 km and a radius of about 45 km (10 km for parking), or the area you download |
| OpenStreetMap, Nominatim | Search peaks by name | The text you search and the map area, only when you tap "Search OpenStreetMap" |
Hunting areas (optional, off by default). If you turn on the "Hunting areas" layer in the Map, the app requests the images of the hunting grounds in the area you are viewing from the public servers of the Spanish regions in that area (sometimes also the neighbouring ones): Junta de Andalucía, Gobierno de Aragón, Principado de Asturias, Junta de Castilla y León, Generalitat de Catalunya, Comunidad de Madrid, Generalitat Valenciana, Junta de Extremadura, Gobierno de Navarra, Gobierno de La Rioja and Diputación Foral de Álava. When you tap a point on the map with the layer on, the app sends that point's coordinates to that region's server to find out which hunting ground is there; if the point is near a regional border, it may be sent to the servers of both regions. No other data of yours is sent, except the IP address and, for the Catalonia service, the app identifier ("FarSights/1.0").
Legal basis and retention
- App features and external services: necessary to provide what you ask for (maps, terrain, peaks).
- Crash reports: legitimate interest in the app working without failures. They are anonymous and deleted automatically when Sentry's retention period ends.
- Usage statistics: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in the app. They are deleted automatically when PostHog's retention period ends.
Your rights
Your places, tracks and settings are only on your phone: you can delete them in the app or by uninstalling it. For crash reports and statistics you can request access, deletion or objection by writing to madelatosoftware@gmail.com; since they are anonymous, we may need details of your phone (model and approximate date) to find them. You can also complain to your data protection authority; in Spain, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (www.aepd.es).
How to delete your FarSights data
- Data on your phone (places, categories, tracks, recordings, offline areas and settings): delete it in the app itself, or uninstall FarSights to delete everything. If Android backup was on, delete it in your Google account's backup settings.
- Usage statistics: turn them off in the app (menu → "Usage statistics") so no more are sent.
- Crash reports and statistics already sent: write to madelatosoftware@gmail.com with the subject "FarSights: delete my data", giving your phone model and the approximate date you used the app. We will find and delete them within 30 days at most. Since they are anonymous, without those details it may not be possible to find them; in any case they are deleted automatically when Sentry's and PostHog's retention periods end.
We keep no other data about you.
Children
FarSights is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data.
Changes to this policy
If the app changes what it does with data, this page and its date will be updated.