Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 13 September 2026
BackTrack is a GPS compass, waypoint and track recorder built to work without a signal. This policy describes exactly what stays on your phone, what leaves it, and when.
There are no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting and no user accounts. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to log in to.
1. What stays on your phone
Everything you create in BackTrack is stored only on the device:
- waypoints (name, note, icon, coordinates, altitude, accuracy, time),
- recorded tracks and the points that make them up,
- planned routes and measurements,
- your settings (units, coordinate format, theme, compass style, map preferences),
- map areas you have downloaded for offline use.
None of it is uploaded anywhere. It is not backed up to us, it is not synchronised between devices, and we cannot read it. If you uninstall the app it is gone, unless you exported it yourself to a GPX, KML or KMZ file.
2. Location
BackTrack reads your position from the phone's GNSS receiver and sensors in order to show a compass, draw your position on the map and guide you back to a point. A position is written to storage only when you ask for it — when you mark a point or record a track.
Location never leaves the device. It is not sent to us and not sent to anyone else.
3. What leaves your phone
Three things, and only these.
3.1 Map tiles, when online maps are switched on
The detailed map is downloaded from our map server at tiles.forgelabs.systems,
which is served through Cloudflare. When the app asks for a piece of the map, that request
necessarily carries:
- your device's IP address, as any internet request does,
- the coordinates of the map tile requested — which indicates the general area you are looking at, not your position,
- a standard user agent.
No account, device identifier or advertising ID is attached, and requests are not linked to each other or to you. We do not build profiles from them. Cloudflare processes these requests as our infrastructure provider and keeps short-lived operational logs for security and abuse prevention.
You can switch this off completely. Turn the network button (NET) off on
the map screen, or download the area you need in advance — a downloaded area is drawn entirely
from your phone and asks the network for nothing. The compass, waypoints, tracks and file
export never use the network at all.
Map data is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under ODbL. The tiles are prepared by us from that data; your requests go to our server, not to OpenStreetMap.
3.2 Purchases
BackTrack PRO is a one-time purchase handled entirely by Google Play Billing. Google processes the payment and tells the app whether the purchase exists. We never see or receive your payment details, and the app stores only a yes/no flag for whether PRO is active.
3.3 Google Play services in the app
The app uses Google Play's in-app update mechanism to offer you a new version. That communication is between your device and Google Play, under Google's Privacy Policy.
If you tap a link inside the app — sharing a point, opening this policy or the Play listing — you leave BackTrack and that destination's own policy applies.
4. Permissions and why they are needed
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Location (fine and coarse) | The compass, the map position, marking points, recording tracks. |
| Foreground service (location) | Keeps recording a track while the screen is off. |
| Notifications | Shows the recording notification with time, distance and the current goal. |
| Internet, network state | Downloading map tiles and offline areas; nothing else. |
| Vibration | Confirmation of long-press actions. |
| Ignore battery optimisations | Optional, and only asked the first time you record. Stops the system suspending a long recording. You can change it later in Settings → Background recording. |
Location can be revoked at any time in Android settings. The app keeps working as a plain compass; it will tell you it has no position rather than pretend.
5. Children
BackTrack has no accounts, no chat, no user-generated content shared with anyone, and no advertising. It is not directed at children and collects nothing that could identify one.
6. Data we hold about you
None that identifies you. We hold no user database. The only records that exist are the short-lived server logs described in 3.1, which we do not connect to a person.
Because we hold no personal data tied to your identity, there is no account to delete. Data on your phone is deleted by deleting it in the app or uninstalling the app. Downloaded map areas can be removed at any time from Settings → Downloaded maps.
7. Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes are stated in the release notes of the version that introduces them.
8. Contact
ForgeLabs Systems
iwelautomatyka@gmail.com
forgelabs.systems