Privacy Policy

The short version

• We do not have any servers. We, the developer, never see or receive any of your data.
• Everything your child records — rides, photos, badges and nicknames — is stored on your device and, optionally, in your own private iCloud.
• There are no accounts, no advertisements, no analytics SDKs and no third-party trackers.
• The only network requests the app makes are to Apple's own services: Apple iCloud for your private sync, Apple Maps for map tiles, and Apple WeatherKit for the local weather.

What the app stores

On your device, and if iCloud Drive is enabled, in your private iCloud database, Pedal Quest may store:

• A nickname you choose for your child.
• Their date of birth and interests, if entered, used only to make the app feel personal.
• An optional bike photo and avatar.
• Each ride's GPS trail, distance, time, and any photos or diary notes attached.
• A small weather snapshot taken at the start of each ride (condition icon, temperature and a friendly phrase) so the memory of what the weather was like stays with the ride.
• Badges earned and custom badges invented.
• Your settings, including units, theme, sound and haptic preferences, and the optional grown-up PIN (stored in the iOS Keychain on this device — never synced).

We, the developer, have no access to any of this. It lives on your device and, if enabled, in your Apple iCloud account.

Location

Pedal Quest asks for the "While Using App" location permission only. We do not request "Always" location.

During an active ride, location is used to draw your trail on Apple Maps, calculate distance and speed, and show your route on the map. Location updates continue while the screen is locked so the app can keep recording when the phone is in a backpack or pocket. iOS shows a small blue indicator in the status bar while that's happening, and tracking stops as soon as the ride ends.

Location is also used briefly, in the foreground, when the home screen or a paused ride shows the local weather — see the Weather section below.

The trail is recorded as a series of small GPS points that stay on your iPhone and, if you're signed in to iCloud, in your own private iCloud. Location data is never sent to us or to any third party.

Weather

When the home screen, paused tracker, ride summary or ride detail screen shows the local weather, Pedal Quest sends your current location to Apple's WeatherKit service to fetch the forecast.

The request goes only to Apple — never to us, never to any third party. Apple's privacy promise covers what they do with the request, and your location is not used by Apple for advertising or profiling.

The weather snapshot taken at the start of each ride (a condition icon, the temperature, and a friendly phrase) is kept with the ride in your own iCloud, so revisiting an old ride still shows the same memory.

Camera and photos

Camera and photo access is optional. The camera is used only if you choose to take an avatar photo, take a photo of your bike, or take a photo during a ride. Photo-library access is used only if you choose to pick an existing photo for your avatar or bike.

Photos taken in the app are stored alongside the ride or profile in your own iCloud. EXIF metadata, including any location embedded in the photo, is stripped before storage.

A grown-up can also turn on an optional "Save ride photos to your Photos app" setting. When that's on, Pedal Quest asks iOS for write-only photo-library access — we never read existing photos, only add ride photos you've already taken inside the app. When the setting is off, photos stay inside Pedal Quest.

Bluetooth and local network ride-buddy pairing

Ride-buddy pairing is optional and off by default. When a grown-up enables it, two nearby phones running Pedal Quest can pair using Apple's MultipeerConnectivity framework. The session is encrypted. No data is sent over the internet.

While paired, each phone sends the other a small introduction: the rider's chosen nickname, their avatar style, and, if they have set one, a small thumbnail of their avatar photo, about 96 pixels square. The buddy's phone uses this to draw them on the map and on the "paired with" card. The thumbnail is held in memory for the ride only and is never saved to disk on the buddy's device.

When you finish a ride while paired with a buddy, a small memory is saved with that ride: the buddy's chosen nickname, their avatar style, and any badges they earned during the ride. The avatar photo is not part of this memory; only the symbol-style avatar is kept. This memory lives in your own iCloud private database and never leaves your devices. We cannot see it. You can forget the memory from any individual ride at any time, and the buddy's data is wiped immediately when you do.

The "Favourite ride buddies" list, used for one-tap reconnection, stores only the buddy's chosen nickname, the symbol-style avatar they use, and an opaque pairing identifier. It does not include badges, ride history or any photo.

What the child can type

Nicknames, ride titles, diary notes, companion names and custom badge names are run through a local, on-device word filter to help block obviously inappropriate words before they are saved. The filter is built into the app itself — nothing your child types is sent anywhere to be checked.

iCloud

Pedal Quest uses your own iCloud Drive private database via SwiftData to sync rides between your devices. We, the developer, cannot see this data. The app works fully without iCloud too.

Children

Pedal Quest is designed for children but does not require children to provide any personal information. The nickname, date of birth, interests and bike-colour fields are optional and used only on-device to personalise the experience. No accounts are created. No data is shared with us or any third party.

Third parties

We do not use any third-party SDKs, analytics tools, advertising networks or social-login providers. The only network requests the app makes are to Apple's own services (iCloud, Apple Maps, WeatherKit), all under your existing relationship with Apple.

Changes

If we ever change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. Material changes will be announced in the app.

Contact

For support or privacy questions, please email: marc@iamcoding.uk