Inukshuk — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 14 July 2026

Inukshuk is a free, open-source app for offline trail navigation: it displays georeferenced PDF maps with your GPS position and records your routes as GPX files. This policy explains what the app does and does not do with your data. The short version: your data stays on your device.

Who we are

Inukshuk is developed by Marc-André Vigneault. For any privacy question, contact: marcandre.vigneault.96@gmail.com.

Data the app uses

• Location (GPS). With your permission, the app reads your device location while it is open to show where you are on the map and, when you start a recording, to build your trail. Location is processed on your device only. It is not sent to us or to any server, and it is not used for advertising or analytics.
• Files you import and create. PDF maps you import and the GPX tracks you record are stored locally on your device, inside the app's private storage. They are not uploaded anywhere. You can delete any map or track inside the app at any time, and uninstalling the app removes all of them.

Data we collect

No personal data. Inukshuk has no user accounts, no analytics, and no advertising. Your maps, trails, waypoints and photos never leave your device through us. The one thing the app does send on its own is a technical error report, described next.

Error reports

When the app hits an error, it records a report and — if error reporting is enabled — sends it automatically so the problem can be fixed. A report contains only technical details: the error message and stack trace, the app version, the operating-system version and device model, and a short list of the actions the app took just before the failure. It contains no location, no map or trail content, and nothing that identifies you.

Reports are filed as issues in the app's public GitHub repository, so their technical contents are publicly visible. You can turn this off at any time: Settings → Privacy → Automatic error reporting. With it off, nothing is sent.

Network connections

Inukshuk works offline, but a few features fetch data directly from third-party servers over HTTPS. In each case that server receives your device's IP address and the map area or tile coordinates being requested — the normal information any web request carries. None of these providers are operated by us, none receive an account or identity (the app has none), and the PDF maps you import are rendered entirely offline with no network connection.

• Base map tiles. The 2D map and the draped 3D terrain load image tiles from OpenStreetMap and from Esri / ArcGIS Online, depending on the basemap you choose.
• Elevation data. The 3D terrain view downloads public elevation tiles hosted on Amazon Web Services (the open "Terrain Tiles" dataset) to build the relief mesh.
• Naming a downloaded map area. When you download an offline map area, the app asks OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service for the name of the nearest place, so the download can be labelled something memorable ("Sainte-Adèle") instead of a set of coordinates. That request sends the centre coordinates of the area you chose to download — not your own position, and only at the moment you start a download.
• App updates. On launch the app asks Expo's update service (EAS Update) whether newer app code is available. That request carries basic technical details such as the app version and platform — not your location or any personal data.
• Error reports. If automatic error reporting is on, technical error reports are sent to GitHub as described above. They are queued on your device while you are offline and sent when a connection returns.

Permissions

• Location (while using the app): to show your position and record trails.
• Location (in the background, optional): only so that a trail you are recording keeps recording when the screen turns off or you switch apps — the reason you started the recording in the first place. It is used only while a recording is running, a notification shows whenever it is active, and it stops the moment you stop the recording. The positions go into your GPX track on your device and nowhere else. If you decline this permission, recording still works while the app is open on screen.

Children

Inukshuk is a general-audience utility and is not directed at children under 13.

Your control and rights

Because all of your maps and tracks live only on your device, you are in full control: delete individual items in the app, revoke the location permission in your device settings, turn off automatic error reporting in Settings, export a copy of everything from Settings → Your data → Download your data, or uninstall the app to erase everything. Apart from the technical error reports described above, there is no server-side copy for us to delete.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a new "last updated" date.

Garmin Connect integration

If you choose to connect your Garmin account, Inukshuk retrieves only your own activities (via Garmin's official Connect Developer API) to import them into your personal trail library on your device. Activity data is stored on your device only, is never sold or shared with third parties, and is used for no purpose other than displaying your own trails and statistics to you. You can disconnect Garmin at any time in Settings, which stops all retrieval; previously imported activities remain on your device until you delete them.