Privacy policy

The short version: Routes works fully without an account, shows no ads, and never tracks you across other apps or sells your data. You can browse, save, and log roads with no sign-in at all. If you choose to create a Routes account, your own data syncs to it so it shows here on the website and on your other devices, and you can delete all of it any time. Here's the detail.

Using Routes without an account

You can browse, save, and log roads with no account and no sign-in. The roads you save and the drives you log (your Passport) are stored on your device, and if you're signed in to iCloud they sync privately across your Apple devices through Apple's CloudKit, in your own private iCloud account. That data lives in your iCloud; I cannot see it.

The optional Routes account

If you create a Routes account (by signing in with Apple, Google, or an emailed code), your content also syncs to my backend so it appears here on the website and on your other devices. In that case I store, linked to your account and only ever accessible to you: your email address and name from the sign-in provider; your saved and driven roads, your notes and ratings, and your Garage car names; and, for a recorded drive, the route line you drove (its GPS path) so the drive can show on a map. This is your own data and is never used for advertising. It stays private to you unless you choose to turn on a public profile, described next. You can delete your account and all of this data at any time from Account, then Delete Account, which removes it from my backend, your device, and your iCloud.

Public profiles

You can turn on a public profile at bestdrivingroads.com/@yourusername. It is off by default and entirely optional. When you turn it on, anyone who opens your profile can see the display name, username, and avatar you chose, which roads from the catalogue you have saved and driven, the road trips you have built, and your totals. Nothing else is ever shown: your email, your notes and ratings, your Garage car names, and the GPS routes of any drives you have recorded all stay private. You can switch your profile back to private, or delete it, at any time from Account, and it stops being shown straight away. One detail worth knowing about the avatar: the image file itself is served from a public web address, the way most sites serve profile pictures. The address contains a random id that nobody can guess, and it is deleted when you delete your account or remove the photo, but if you have shared that address with someone it stays reachable even after you switch your profile back off. Remove the photo if that matters to you.

Location

Routes uses your location on your device to show where you are on the map, sort roads by distance, and power Drive Mode. Your location stays on your device, with one exception: if you record a drive while signed in to a Routes account, that drive's route line (above) is saved to your account so it can show on the web. The app only ever asks for location while you're using it.

Weather and maps

In the app, weather and the best-days-to-drive forecast come from MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute), used under their open data licence. Maps are Apple MapKit.

Purchases

Routes Pro is sold through Apple's App Store, as an annual subscription or a one-off lifetime purchase. Apple handles the payment and your subscription status. I never see your card number or payment details. On the web, Routes Pro is sold through Stripe. Your card details go straight to Stripe and never touch my servers. To take the payment Stripe also receives your email address and the billing address you enter at checkout, and it keeps a record of the transaction for as long as tax and accounting law requires, which is why deleting your Routes account cannot erase your payment history at Stripe. You can cancel any time from your account.

Anonymous analytics

To understand which features people use and where the app can be better, Routes collects anonymous usage statistics, for example which screens are opened, through TelemetryDeck, a privacy-focused analytics service. It records no personal data, no advertising identifier, and nothing that can identify you or your device, and it is never used for advertising or to track you across other apps. You can turn it off completely in the app under Account.

What Routes never does

No advertising. No ad trackers. No selling or sharing your data with anyone. The only data linked to you is what you put in your own Routes account (above), which is yours to delete, plus the anonymous analytics you can switch off.

Children

Routes is suitable for all ages. As always, drive responsibly and never use the app while driving.

This website

bestdrivingroads.com shows no ads and never sells your data. Maps come from Apple MapKit, and road pages fetch live weather from Open-Meteo using the road's coordinates, never yours. The site uses two privacy-friendly analytics services to understand what gets used: Vercel counts visits, and TelemetryDeck counts anonymous events like map taps and searches. Neither stores your name, email, precise location, or anything that identifies you personally, and search text is never sent. The site stores nothing at all on your device for analytics: no cookies, and no identifier in local storage. Each page load makes up a random id in memory that is thrown away when you leave, so events on one page can be grouped together but you cannot be recognised on a later visit. That is why you will never see a cookie banner here. It does mean I cannot tell a returning visitor from a new one, which I decided was a fair trade.

Changes to this policy

If this policy ever changes, I'll update this page and the date at the top. Material changes will be reflected in a new app version where appropriate.

Photos you add

If you add a photo to a drive in your Passport, or a photo of a car in your Garage, it is stored in my Supabase project alongside the rest of your account data. Nobody else can see them unless you turn on a public profile. Deleting your account deletes the image files too, not just the database rows.

Who holds this data, and where

The data controller is Simon Keane Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 12370936, registered office 22 Lower End, Leafield, Witney, OX29 9QJ. Email simon@keane.studio.

Account data (your saved and driven roads, trips, Garage, profile and any photos) is hosted by Supabase on servers in London, United Kingdom, and is protected by row-level security so one account cannot read another's. Payments are handled by Stripe. Anonymous product analytics go to TelemetryDeck.

Why I'm allowed to hold it

Three lawful bases, and nothing else. Contract: your account and your Pro entitlement, because you cannot have an account without the data that makes it one. Legitimate interests: keeping the service working and understanding roughly which features get used, via analytics that carry no name, email or precise location. Legal obligation: Stripe's payment and tax records.

How long I keep it

Account data lives for as long as your account does. Delete your account and it goes immediately, including your photos. Copies can persist briefly in my host's routine encrypted backups before those rotate out. Anonymous analytics are retained by TelemetryDeck on their schedule and cannot be traced back to you. Stripe keeps payment records for as long as UK tax law requires, currently six years.

Your rights

You can ask me for a copy of your data, ask me to correct it, ask me to delete it, ask me to restrict or object to how it is used, and ask for it in a portable format. Most of that you can do yourself from your account, including a full delete. For anything else email me at simon@keane.studio and I will answer within a month. If you think I have got it wrong, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, though I would rather you told me first so I can fix it.

Contact

Any questions about your privacy or this policy, email me at simon@keane.studio and I'll come back to you personally.