The short version: Whistlestophas no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no microphone. It does not know who you are, and we do not keep a record of where you've driven.
Location
The app uses your location and direction of travel to work out what's ahead of you. This happens on your phone, continuously while a tour is running, including when the app is in the background — that's what lets the tour keep going while you're using Maps.
To find candidates, the app sends coordinates to Wikipedia's public geosearch API. Those requests reach the Wikimedia Foundation and are covered by their privacy policy. Your coordinates are never sent to our servers.
What our servers receive
Writing and reading a story aloud happens on our API rather than in the app, so the key that pays for it isn't sitting in a file on your phone. Those requests carry the text to be worked on — an article excerpt, a list of candidate place names, or a finished story to be spoken — and nothing about you or where you are.
Each request also carries a random identifier generated on first launch, and, like any web request, arrives from your IP address. Both are used only to stop one device from running up the bill for everyone else. They are not linked to any account, because there are none. Deleting the app discards the identifier.
Text sent for writing and speech is processed by OpenAI under its API data policy, which does not use API content for model training.
What stays on your phone
Your travel log, your favorites, the stops you've already heard, and your settings are stored on the device and are not uploaded anywhere. They're included in your iCloud device backup if you have one, under Apple's terms. Deleting the app deletes them.
No microphone
The app contains no recording code and never requests microphone permission. Nothing you say in the car is captured, processed, or transmitted.
Children
Kids Mode changes which places are chosen and how their stories are written. It collects nothing additional. The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them.
This website
No cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party analytics. Our host keeps standard server logs.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes materially, the date above changes and the app release notes will say so. Questions go to hello@whistlestop.guide.