Privacy Policy

1Who we are

Tickrail is an offline metro-map and route-planning app for Android, developed by Zydeno. It shows the metro networks of a set of world cities as diagrams, lets you search for stations, plan a route between two stations, follow it stop by stop, keep a log of the stations you have ridden, and save trips and notes. This policy explains what the app keeps on your phone, how the optional Nearest feature uses your location, where the map data comes from, and what happens if you choose to contact us at [email protected].

Tickrail is an independent app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any transit operator or government agency.

2What this policy covers

This policy covers the Tickrail Android app. It does not cover your phone’s operating system and location services, the browser, e-mail and file apps you use, document or cloud storage providers, openstreetmap.org, or the web host that serves this page, whose own terms and privacy policies govern the data you give them.

The app works without an account or an internet connection. The app has no ads and no analytics.

3What the developer does not collect

The app does not send the developer your home city, your cities, saved or recent trips, ridden stations, notes, settings, location, device identifiers or any other information. It has no account registration, no advertising SDK, no analytics SDK and no third-party crash reporter. It does not request internet, background location, microphone, camera, contacts, phone, notification, photo-library or storage access.

We do not receive, sell or share your in-app data, use it for advertising or train models on it. Tickrail never asks for your name or contact details.

4What is stored on your phone

Tickrail keeps its working data in Android app-private storage (a local database and a preferences store). Depending on how you use the app, this includes:

• Cities: your home city and the cities you added to Your cities.
• Trips: saved trips (up to 50), recent trips (the last 20) and the ride in progress, so that a ride can continue after the app is closed by Android.
• Ridden stations: the stations you ticked or the app ticked at the end of a ride, with the date.
• Notes: the short notes (up to 120 characters) you attach to stations. Notes are free text; do not enter information you would not want kept on the phone.
• Settings: language, each unit choice, map and route preferences, walking pace, theme, haptics, sounds and keep-screen-on.

All routing, searching, drawing and ride tracking run on your phone. This data is removed when you uninstall the app or clear its storage.

5Built-in map data

The city maps, station names, line information, exits, step-free tags, usual line hours and route data are prepared in advance from OpenStreetMap, together with some facts from Wikidata and a table of usual line hours compiled by Zydeno from operators’ public information, and are shipped inside the app. Looking at a map, searching or planning a route reads these bundled files on your phone. It sends nothing to OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, any transit operator or us, and the files contain no personal data about you.

Map and station data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (openstreetmap.org/copyright). The derived database for each app version can be downloaded at zydeno.com/tickrail/data/; you can open that page from the app’s Map data screen. It is a static web page, and the app does not contact it.

6Location (Nearest, optional)

Location is optional. Tickrail uses it only for the Nearest feature, which finds the station closest to you. Maps, search, routes, rides, saved trips and the ridden log all work without it.

• Asked in context. Nothing is requested when the app starts. When you tap Nearest, the app first explains: “To find the nearest station, Tickrail needs your location once. It is used on this phone to compare with station positions, and it is not stored or sent anywhere.” Only if you choose Allow does Android show its permission prompt. You may grant precise or approximate location, or refuse.
• Read once. After you allow it, the app asks Android for one position fix, waiting up to about ten seconds. It compares that position with the station positions built into the app, on the phone, shows the result and then discards the position. The position is not written to the database, settings, logs or exports, and it is not sent anywhere: the app has no internet access.
• Approximate only. Approximate location is less exact than the distance between central stations, so with approximate location only, the app shows a short list of stations near you with distance ranges instead of a single answer.
• Foreground only. Tickrail never reads your location in the background, runs no foreground service for location, tracks no journeys and keeps no location history.
• Your phone’s location services. Android and the location services on your phone (which, depending on your device and settings, may use GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile-network signals) work out the position under your device settings and their own policies. Tickrail receives only the resulting position.
• Your control. You can say Not now, refuse, or withdraw the permission at any time in Android Settings, Apps, Tickrail, Permissions. If location is off, the app says so and you can search for a station or tap it on the map instead.

7No internet access from the app

The Android app does not declare the INTERNET permission. It has no backend, no external API requests, no automatic uploads, no remote downloads and no cloud synchronisation. Maps, fonts, sounds and help text are bundled in the app.

Links. When you open this policy, the Terms, the map data page or the support e-mail address, the app hands the address to your own browser or e-mail app. Your browser then visits the site, and the website host can process ordinary web-request data such as your IP address under its own policy. Nothing is sent by Tickrail itself, and a support e-mail is sent only if you choose to send it.

8Export, sharing and import

Export. In Settings, Your data, you can export a JSON file with your home city, your cities, saved and recent trips, ridden stations, station notes and settings. The file is created only when you tap Export, and it is written to the place you choose in Android’s file picker or handed to the app you choose in the share sheet. It never contains a location, because the app does not store one.

Import. Import reads only the file you select in Android’s file picker. The app checks it on the phone and adds its contents to what is already there. No storage permission is needed.

Your destination matters. A chat app, e-mail app, cloud drive or other recipient receives the file you choose to give it and keeps it under its own policy. The file is an ordinary, unencrypted file. This is a transfer you start, not automatic synchronisation. Zydeno receives no copy unless you deliberately send one to support.

9Permissions and device access

Location (precise and approximate) is the only permission Android asks you to approve, and it is optional (see Location). Phones without location hardware can still install Tickrail. The app also declares the ordinary vibration permission, which lets it give haptic feedback and which Android grants without a prompt. It does not request internet, background location, microphone, camera, contacts, phone, notification, photo or media, storage-wide, all-files, Bluetooth, exact-alarm or Accessibility-service access, it runs no foreground service, and the advertising-ID permission is removed from the app.

Region. To choose sensible default units, time format and a suggested home city, the app reads your device’s region and language settings locally. This value is used on the device only and is not transmitted. You can change every unit and the language in Settings.

Other device features. During a ride the screen can stay on if you leave that setting switched on; the app does this without a special permission. Sounds play through your phone’s audio output and follow silent mode; the microphone is never used. Haptic feedback and sounds can be switched off in the app or in Android.

10Your controls, backups and deletion

You can remove saved trips, ridden stations and notes, change every setting, export your data, and use Settings, Your data, Delete all to remove your home city, cities, trips, ridden log, notes and settings after typing DELETE to confirm. Export first if you want to keep a copy.

Automatic Android cloud backup is turned off for the app. Depending on your device and Android version, a device-to-device transfer when you set up a new phone may still copy the app’s data; to move your data deliberately, use Export and Import. If the phone is lost or the app’s storage is cleared without an export, the developer cannot restore your data.

Uninstalling Tickrail or clearing its storage in Android Settings removes its private data. Deleting items in the app does not delete files you exported or copies held by other apps or people; remove those separately.

11Legal bases for processing

Where the EU or UK GDPR, or a similar law such as the Swiss FADP or Brazil’s LGPD, applies, these are the legal bases for the limited processing described in this policy:

The app makes no automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you, does not build a profile of you and does not process special categories of personal data; the position you allow the app to read is compared with station positions on your phone, used once and never stored or sent, and the developer receives none of it.

12How long information is kept

Your cities, trips, ridden stations, notes and settings stay on your phone until you remove them, clear the app’s storage or uninstall the app. The ride in progress is replaced when you end or start a ride. Deleting an item is not a guarantee of forensic erasure of every byte on the device. Files you saved or shared outside the app remain under your control, or the recipient’s, and may outlast uninstallation.

13Your privacy rights

Privacy laws in many countries give you rights over your personal data. Because Tickrail keeps your data on your phone and the developer does not receive it, most of these rights are in your own hands: you can view, correct, export and delete everything in the app (§10) and withdraw permissions in Android Settings. For data you have sent us, such as e-mails, write to [email protected].

EU and UK representative. The individual developer does not process personal data of people in the EU/EEA or the UK except occasional e-mails you choose to send to support. This occasional processing does not involve large-scale processing of special-category or criminal-offence data and is unlikely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms. Under Article 27(2)(a) GDPR and Article 27(2)(a) UK GDPR, it does not require an EU or UK representative, so none is appointed. Contact us directly at [email protected]; you can also complain to your local supervisory authority.

Rights by region. A summary; the law where you live decides the details.

• European Union, EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland (GDPR, UK GDPR, Swiss FADP): access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, objection to processing based on legitimate interests, withdrawal of consent at any time, and complaint to a supervisory authority, for example in the country where you live or work (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office).
• United States (California CCPA as amended by the CPRA, and the comprehensive privacy laws of other states such as Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas and Oregon): to know and access, delete, correct and port personal information; to opt out of its sale or sharing, of targeted advertising and of profiling; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; to appeal a refusal; to use an authorised agent; and not to be discriminated against for using these rights. Notice for California residents: in the last 12 months the developer has not collected personal information through the app, other than e-mails you chose to send us. We have not sold or shared personal information, and we do not use sensitive personal information. Global Privacy Control signals are honoured where the law requires; today there is nothing to opt out of.
• Canada (PIPEDA and provincial laws, including Québec’s Law 25): access, correction and withdrawal of consent; complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, in Québec, the Commission d’accès à l’information.
• Brazil (LGPD): confirmation of processing, access, correction, anonymisation, blocking or deletion, portability, information about sharing and revocation of consent; complaints to the ANPD.
• Japan (APPI): disclosure, correction, suspension of use or deletion; complaints to the Personal Information Protection Commission.
• South Korea (PIPA): access, correction, deletion, suspension of processing and withdrawal of consent; complaints to the Personal Information Protection Commission or the KISA privacy centre. The person responsible for personal information is the developer, reachable at [email protected].
• Australia and New Zealand (Privacy Act 1988, Privacy Act 2020): access and correction; complaints to the OAIC or the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner.
• Other countries (for example India’s DPDP Act, Singapore’s PDPA, South Africa’s POPIA or Türkiye’s KVKK): the rights your local law gives you. Write to us and we will respond in line with it.

How we respond. We answer within one month, or sooner or later where your local law sets another period (for example 45 days under the CCPA), and we may extend it where the law allows. We may ask for information to confirm that a request comes from you. Requests are free unless they are manifestly unfounded or excessive. If we cannot do what you ask, we explain why and how you can appeal or complain.

14International users

Tickrail is available in many countries. The developer does not receive the data you keep in the app, so we do not transfer it anywhere.

If you e-mail us, your message is processed by our e-mail provider and may be stored on servers outside your country. Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to such a transfer, it relies on an adequacy decision, on standard contractual clauses offered by the provider, or on the transfer being necessary to answer your request.

This policy is written in English. If a translation is offered, the English version prevails unless your local law requires otherwise.

15Security

Tickrail relies on Android’s application sandbox for its private data. It does not add a password-protected vault or promise encryption beyond what your device provides. Exported files are ordinary files.

No device or storage system is perfectly secure. Someone with access to an unlocked, compromised or rooted phone, or to an exported file, may read it. Use a screen lock, keep your phone updated and share exported files only with people you trust.

16Ads, purchases and future versions

Today. The current version of Tickrail is free of charge, shows no ads, has no in-app purchases or subscriptions, and contains no advertising, analytics or payment SDKs. This describes the app as it is now, not a promise about future versions. Future versions may introduce advertising, paid features, in-app purchases or subscriptions, or other optional services.

If ads are introduced. Ads would be supplied by a third-party ad network, for example Google AdMob. Ad networks typically process your device’s advertising ID, IP address, approximate location derived from the IP address, device and app information and your interactions with ads, in order to show ads, limit repetition, measure performance and prevent fraud, and, only where you allow it, to personalise ads. Ads would also require the app to connect to the internet, which the current version cannot do.

If purchases or subscriptions are introduced. They would be processed by Google Play’s billing system. Google handles your payment details under the Google Privacy Policy. We would receive only what is needed to deliver and verify a purchase, such as a purchase token, the product, its status, the country and the currency, never your full card or bank details.

Before any such change we will update this policy with a new effective date and version, describing what data is processed, by whom, why and how you can control it; update the Google Play Data safety section; mention the change in the release notes; ask for your consent where the law requires it (for example for personalised ads and non-essential access to your device in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, through a consent tool that meets Google’s requirements); and offer the opt-outs the law requires (for example under US state privacy laws). The change applies only from the app version that introduces it. Data already stored in the app will not be used for advertising without telling you first and, where required, getting your consent. We will not knowingly show personalised ads to children (§17).

17Age limits

Tickrail is a map app for general use and is not directed to children. It does not collect personal information from anyone, so it holds no information about children. A parent or guardian who believes a child has sent us personal information, for example by e-mail, can contact support to request its deletion.

18Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when we change the app (including any change described in §16), when the services the app uses change, or when the law changes. The effective date and version at the top of this page show which version applies, and the version history (§19) summarises every change.

For a material change, for example new data leaving your device, ads or purchases, we update this page and the Google Play Data safety section before the app version with that change is published, describe it in the release notes, and ask for your consent in the app where the law requires it. Changes do not apply retroactively to data processed before them. Earlier versions are available on request from [email protected].

19Version history

20Contact

• Developer (controller): Zydeno, the developer of Tickrail on Google Play
• E-mail for privacy questions and requests: [email protected]
• Website: zydeno.com

We aim to answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact your local data-protection authority.

See also the Terms of Use.