Location Data Policy

This document explains exactly what Nomadic does with your location, in plain language. It is part of the Privacy Policy and is referenced by the Terms of Service.

Nomadic does not run any background location collection. Every location read described below happens while the app is open on your screen. Most are started by something you tap, navigate to, or post. The badge checks described below run on their own, but only while the app is open.

01 · When we collect location

When you open the map or search for nearby waypoints — your precise location is read once and used to render results. It is not retained on our servers.
When you submit a waypoint, beacon, report, or lost-pet alert — the coordinates you provide become part of that submission and are stored.
When you check in at a waypoint, your precise location is read once and compared with the waypoint to confirm you were there. Only the result (confirmed or not) is kept with the check-in. Your coordinates are not stored.
While the app is open, for badges: when Nomadic opens, when you return to it, and about every 20 minutes while it stays open, your position is sent to our servers to confirm badges that depend on where you have been, such as a night on the road (a position in the evening and again the next morning at the same place). Positions are compared with nearby places and not kept. The evening position is held only until the next morning's check, and never longer than 36 hours. What is kept is the result: the date of a verified night, the kind of place, its state and country, and the waypoint if one is nearby. Only you can see these records.
When you enable the Mutual Aid Mesh — your last-seen point is updated when you next open the app or trigger a location-dependent action. The point is stored as a single record on your profile and is visible to nearby users only while they have an active safety alert. You can disable the mesh at any time in Settings → Mutual Aid; doing so clears your stored point immediately.
When you enable Crew Location Sharing — your last-known GPS ping is stored on your profile. This point is visible to users you have accepted as Crew or Roadmates, and only when they have enabled the Friends layer on the map. This feature is off by default for new accounts. Disabling Crew Location Sharing in Settings → Privacy immediately clears the stored point. The same 14-day auto-clear rule applies (see Retention below).
When you post a convoy — your current location is read to determine your origin coordinates and compute the route bearing. The origin point (not your exact GPS coordinates) is used to match other travelers within the convoy discovery radius. The origin is stored as part of the convoy announcement.
When you raise a beacon, send an arrival ping, or trigger SOS — your current location is read in the foreground and included in the alert so others can find you.
When the deadman switch fires after a missed check-in — the LAST KNOWN location stored on your profile is included in the alert sent to your trusted contacts. The deadman switch itself runs as a server-side cron job that scans for overdue check-ins; it does not read or track location on your device.

We do not track your location in the background. Nomadic reads location only while the app is open on your screen, with no exception.

Public waypoints — coordinates of waypoints you submit publicly are visible to all users.
Beacons, arrival pings, and lost-pet alerts — coordinates are visible to nearby users while the surface is active.
Safety alerts — coordinates are sent to your trusted contacts via SMS and to mutual aid mesh responders.
Crew Location Sharing — when enabled, your last GPS ping is visible to accepted Crew and Roadmate connections on the Friends map layer, with a reverse-geocoded "near [place]" label. You control this entirely through the Settings → Privacy toggle.
Convoy — your convoy origin (used to compute route bearing) is visible to other users browsing convoy listings. Your exact GPS coordinates are not exposed; only the origin point used to start your route.
Badges: other users see the badges you have earned, never the places behind them. A badge shows the month and year it was earned, and you can hide that too.
Messages and Travel Party chats — you can choose to share your live location in a message; if you do, it is visible to the recipients.

We do not sell location data. We do not share location with advertisers. We do not share location with third parties except service providers necessary to operate the app — Mapbox to render the map and reverse-geocode last-ping locations, Twilio to send SMS, Supabase to store the points.

03 · Visibility modes

Nomadic supports visibility modes that let you control how visible your activity is to other users without disabling safety features. These can be changed in Settings → Privacy. Visibility modes never disable safety alerts or the deadman switch — those continue to function regardless of mode. A visibility mode of "private" also suppresses your location from the Crew Location Sharing feature even if you have the toggle on.

04 · Retention specific to location

The Mutual Aid Mesh last-seen point on your profile is cleared as soon as you opt out of the mesh, request account deletion, or are suspended. It is also cleared nightly if it is older than 14 days.
The Crew Location Sharing last ping is subject to the same 14-day nightly clear. Disabling the toggle in Settings → Privacy clears the point immediately.
Check-ins (which record the waypoint, not your coordinates) are kept for 12 months after the check-in ends, then hard-deleted by a nightly cron.
Badge location checks: the evening position is deleted once it is compared with the next morning's, and within 36 hours in any case. Verified nights are kept while your account is active and deleted with your account.
Safety alert coordinates are kept for 24 months as part of the safety audit trail, then hard-deleted by a nightly cron.
Convoy origin coordinates are archived when the convoy ends or departure date passes, and purged 12 months after archival.

05 · Your controls

Device permission — you can revoke Nomadic's location permission at any time in your device's OS settings. The app will continue to function with degraded features.
Mutual Aid Mesh — opt out at any time; your last-seen point is removed.
Crew Location Sharing — opt out at any time in Settings → Privacy; your last ping is removed immediately.
Arrival Pings — opt out at any time.
Badges: turn off "Use my location for badges" in Settings, Privacy to stop the badge location checks; any evening position being held is deleted at once. Revoking location permission stops them too. Badges you have earned stay. Hide the dates on your badges from other users in the same place.
Visibility mode — set to "private" in Settings → Privacy to suppress location visibility across all social features (including the friend map) while retaining safety features.
Account deletion — schedules removal of all stored location data associated with your account (including check-ins, verified nights, Mutual Aid Mesh point, and Crew Location Sharing ping) after the 30-day grace window. Public-record waypoints may persist in anonymized form.

06 · Questions

Email team@nomadic.guide.