Wend records where you ride. That is about as personal as data gets, so the app is local-first: complete trips are saved on your device, and Premium riders can keep a health-data-free copy of their trip history in their own private iCloud. Heart-rate samples and HealthKit workout identifiers are never included in iCloud Backup. There is no Wend account or Wend-operated backend, and the Developer cannot browse your route history.
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Wend is an independent app developed and published by Toan Nguyen, an individual developer based in Singapore ("we", "us", the "Developer"). We are the data controller for the limited processing described below.
You can reach us at iambatoan@gmail.com. We answer privacy questions within 30 days.
Wend is a local-first app. Trip data starts in the app's private storage. The table below explains when data also reaches Apple or Google services.
| Data | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Precise location (GPS) | To draw your route, and to calculate distance, speed and elevation while you record a trip. | Saved in a trip file on your device. For Premium riders with iCloud Backup enabled, that trip file is also copied to the app's private CloudKit database in your Apple iCloud account. It is never sent to the Developer or Google. |
| Place name for a trip | To label a trip with the area you rode in. | Sent to Apple for reverse geocoding, then stored on your device. Governed by Apple's privacy policy. |
| Heart rate & workout data | To show heart rate alongside a trip, if you record with Apple Watch. | Processed through Apple HealthKit and saved with the trip on your device. Before any trip backup is uploaded, Wend removes the heartRateSamples and healthKitWorkoutID fields from its temporary backup payload. Heart-rate and HealthKit workout data are never included in iCloud Backup and are not sent to the Developer or Google. |
| App settings | Theme, language, units, onboarding state and backup preferences. | Your device only, in iOS user defaults. |
| Subscription status | To unlock Wend Premium features and hide ads. | Handled by Apple. Wend receives only a yes/no entitlement signal. We never see your payment details, and we do not receive your Apple Account identity. |
| Photo library additions | To save a trip share card you have created. | Your device only. Wend has add-only access; it cannot read your existing photos. |
| Crash & diagnostic data | To diagnose crashes and improve app stability. | Processed by Google Firebase Crashlytics. This can include crash logs, diagnostic information and basic app/device information. It does not include your trip files, route or precise GPS location. |
| App usage analytics | To understand which screens and features are used, whether key actions succeed or fail, and how to improve Wend. | Processed by Google Firebase Analytics only after you opt in, using a random app-instance identifier and basic app/device information. Wend does not set a user ID or send trip names, trip files, routes, precise location, photos or Health data. You can change your choice at any time in Wend Settings → Privacy. |
| Advertising data | To show ads to users on the free tier. | Collected by Google AdMob, not by us. See section 5. |
While a trip is actively recording, Wend continues to receive location updates when your screen is off or you are in another app. This is what makes it possible to record a full ride without keeping the app open. iOS shows a blue indicator whenever this is happening. Wend requests only "While Using the App" permission — it never asks for, and cannot use, Always-on location. When you stop or pause a trip, location updates stop. Wend writes an in-progress recovery checkpoint to its private local app container about every 10 seconds and when it enters the background. If the process is terminated, the next launch restores that trip as paused; the checkpoint is removed after the trip is saved or discarded and is never uploaded by Wend's CloudKit backup.
Wend can display cycling path and park connector networks published as open data by the Government of Singapore. When you enable an overlay, your device downloads that map layer directly from data.gov.sg. That request reveals your IP address to data.gov.sg, as any web request would. It contains no information about you, your trips or your location. These overlays currently cover Singapore only.
Wend has no account service or Developer-operated backend. These are the external services the app uses and what each one does.
Apple provides map tiles, reverse geocoding, HealthKit, Live Activities, subscription billing and the private CloudKit database used by Premium iCloud Backup. Heart-rate samples and HealthKit workout identifiers remain on the device or in Apple Health and are excluded from Wend's CloudKit payload. Data handled by these services is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. The Developer cannot browse a rider's private CloudKit database.
Firebase Crashlytics receives crash and diagnostic information so we can identify failures and improve stability. Crashlytics does not receive your trip files, route, precise GPS location or Health data.
Firebase Analytics receives screen views and finite feature events such as onboarding progress, trip recording outcomes, paywall actions, share-card exports and iCloud backup outcomes. These events use categories rather than rider content: Wend never includes trip names, coordinates, routes, distance, duration, photos, Health samples or free-form error messages. Analytics uses a random app-instance identifier, but Wend does not set a user ID and configures its Analytics ad-storage, ad-user-data and ad-personalisation consent as denied. Analytics collection is off until you choose Share app analytics during onboarding or in Wend Settings → Privacy. Choosing Not Now leaves it off. Switching it off later stops collection and resets the Analytics identifier stored by the app. See Firebase privacy and security and Google's Privacy Policy.
If you use Wend on the free tier, the Google Mobile Ads SDK is initialised in order to request and display ads. Google acts as an independent controller for the data it collects through the SDK, which may include your device's advertising identifier (IDFA), IP address, device and OS information, coarse location inferred from IP, and how you interact with an ad. We do not receive this data, and we do not send Google your trips or your GPS location.
Google's handling of this data is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and its Privacy Policy.
If you subscribe to Wend Premium, the ads SDK is never started and no ad requests are made.
Used solely to download public cycling path map layers, as described above. No personal data is sent.
Ads on the free tier are how Wend stays free. You have several independent controls over them.
Before the advertising identifier can be used for tracking, iOS asks whether you allow Wend to track you across apps and websites. If you decline — or never respond — IDFA is not made available. Google can still serve ads using signals permitted by your consent choice and applicable law. Declining does not reduce any Wend feature. You can change the iOS permission at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
Before ads load, Google's User Messaging Platform presents a consent form covering personalised advertising and the vendors involved. Your choice is stored on your device and honoured on every subsequent launch. You can revisit it from the privacy options link in the app.
California and a growing number of other states treat personalised advertising as a “sale” or a “share” of personal information, even though no money changes hands and no Wend server is involved. You can switch it off in Wend Settings → Privacy → “Do not sell or share my personal information”. The choice is stored on your device, takes effect from the next ad request onward, and requires no account and no explanation. It does not remove ads — it makes them non-personalised.
For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and other regions with comparable law, we rely on:
Apple and Google may process service data in countries other than the one where you live. Their published privacy terms describe the safeguards and transfer mechanisms they use. Wend does not operate its own cross-border data infrastructure and does not send route or Health data to Google.
You control the local copy of every trip and any private iCloud backup managed through Wend.
The Developer does not hold a separate readable copy of your trip history.
Trip files are stored inside Wend's private app container, which iOS isolates from other apps and protects with device encryption. Premium backup uses the private database of Wend's CloudKit container in your Apple iCloud account, but its payload excludes heart-rate samples and HealthKit workout identifiers. Network requests to Apple, Google and data.gov.sg use encrypted HTTPS connections.
The most meaningful protection for your route history is your device passcode and Face ID or Touch ID. We recommend keeping both enabled. No method of electronic storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Wend is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly use the app to collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has used Wend in a way that requires attention, contact us. Local trips can be deleted in the app, private iCloud backup can be deleted from Wend Settings, and Health data can be managed in the Health app.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or port your personal data, to object to processing, and to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority.
For trip data, you can view, rename and delete local records in the app, restore a private iCloud backup, or delete that backup from Wend Settings. For data processed by Google, use the privacy controls described above and the Google links in section 4.
If you would like help with any of this, or want to make a formal request, email iambatoan@gmail.com. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.
If you live in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, or another state with a comprehensive privacy law, the rights below are yours. We honour them for every US resident rather than checking which state you are in.
Wend has no account system and no backend of its own, so the list is short. A random app-instance identifier and product-interaction events are processed by Firebase Analytics for app measurement. Advertising identifiers together with device and general usage information are processed by Google AdMob to serve ads to free riders. Crash diagnostics are processed by Firebase Crashlytics. Your trips, your precise location and your heart-rate history are part of none of these services. Trip history excluding Health data can be backed up to a Premium rider's private iCloud; heart-rate history stays on the device or in Apple Health and is never included in that backup.
We do not sell personal information for money. We do disclose advertising identifiers to Google for personalised advertising, and several state laws define that as a “sale” or a “share” for targeted advertising. It is the only disclosure of that kind we make, and it is exactly what the opt-out controls.
Precise geolocation is sensitive personal information under California law. Wend collects it to draw your route and never discloses it to anyone or uses it to infer anything about you, so there is no separate right to limit its use to exercise. We do not carry out profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.
Send requests to iambatoan@gmail.com. We may have to ask one question to work out what you are referring to, but we will never ask you to create an account in order to exercise a right. You may use an authorised agent where your state's law provides for one.
Wend is a native app, not a website, so it never receives a browser-based Global Privacy Control signal. The in-app opt-out above is the equivalent control, and it is the one to use.
Wend is developed in Singapore and our practices are designed to comply with the Personal Data Protection Act 2012. We do not operate an account or trip-data backend; processing occurs on your devices and through the Apple and Google services disclosed above. Queries, withdrawal of consent, or complaints under the PDPA may be sent to iambatoan@gmail.com, which serves as our data protection contact.
If Wend's data practices change — a new feature, a new third-party service — we will update this page and revise the "Last updated" date above. For changes that materially affect how your data is handled, we will also surface a notice in the app before the change takes effect. Continuing to use Wend after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Questions, requests or concerns about privacy:
iambatoan@gmail.com
If you are in the EEA or the UK and are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to your local supervisory authority. In Singapore, you may contact the Personal Data Protection Commission.