العربية

Privacy Policy for Guidy

Effective date: 22 October 2026

Last updated: 22 October 2026 ("Share my trips": trip logs and walking paths under one setting, on by default; reports that a walk is wrong)

Guidy ("we", "our", "the app") is a public transportation routing app for Greater Cairo and Alexandria, and for the intercity microbuses between them, covering the metro, monorail, light rail, buses, minibuses and microbuses. This policy explains what data the app collects, why, and who it's shared with.

Data we collect

Location. Guidy uses your device's location, with your permission, to find nearby stops and to calculate routes from where you are. We ask only for foreground location: the app has no background-location permission on either platform, so it cannot see where you are once you have left it.

Live position while you are riding. This one deserves more than a line, because it is the least obvious thing the app does. Guidy has no vehicle-tracking hardware and no feed from any operator: the only source of real-time information about where a bus actually is, is the phones of the people on it. So while you are actively riding a leg of a trip you have started in the app, and only then, your phone sends its position to our server about every eight seconds. Those reports are what let the app tell the next rider which of several routes along the same corridor is the one actually approaching.

What is sent is a coordinate, the route and direction you are on, and a session identifier your phone generates for that one ride (plus the install identifier every request carries). Your account identifier is not attached and is never sent, and the install identifier described below is not stored with the positions: the server has no way to connect a stream of positions to a person, only to a ride in progress. The positions are held in memory on the server, never written to disk, and are discarded 90 seconds after they stop arriving; ending or completing the leg clears the session immediately. Reporting stops the moment you stop riding, and does not happen while you are walking, while the app is in the background, or when you are not on a trip at all.

Sharing your trip live with people you choose. On the trip screen you can tap Share to send someone a link that lets them follow your trip. Nothing is shared unless you tap it. When you do, the app sends our server a summary of the trip (where you are going from and to, the destination's location, the planned route and its steps, the planned duration, and your first name if your account has one), and then, about every twelve seconds while the trip screen is open, your current location, the direction you are heading, the step you are on and your estimated arrival time. Anyone who has the link can see all of this in the Guidy app until the share ends, so only send it to people you want to see where you are.

The server keeps only your latest location, not a history of where you have been, and the share is not linked to your account. It ends when you tap Stop, when you leave the trip, or when you arrive (people following it can still see that you arrived for 30 minutes), and in any case 8 hours after it started. After it ends, the link stops working, and the share is deleted the next time our server clears out ended shares.

Install identifier. Every request the app makes to our server carries a random identifier, created the first time you open the app and not linked to your account or device. It is used only in the server's memory, to share request limits fairly between riders who reach us from the same internet address, and is never stored with your positions, trip logs or anything else. Clearing the app's data creates a new one; reinstalling usually does too, unless your phone restores the app's data from a backup, which carries the old one over.

"Share my trips": trip logs and walking paths, for fixing our maps. One setting, "Share my trips" in Settings, covers what the app records of a trip you follow: the trip log and your walking paths, both described below. It is on by default, and you can turn it off at any time (see Your choices). With it off, the app records neither, and deletes any that were still waiting to be sent.

Trip logs. Bus and microbus routes change, and our maps can only be as right as the last time someone checked them. So when a trip you navigated in the app ends -- whether you arrived or left it early -- the app sends us a log of it: the route it gave you, when you reached each step, any vehicle or route you switched to, and the path your phone recorded (a point every few seconds, and only while the trip screen was open). When enough riders show that a line now takes a different street between two of its stops, that street becomes the line's route on the map for everyone. No single rider's trip can change a line.

If you are signed in, the log carries a code derived from your account identifier with a secret key held only on our server. It lets us count each rider once; it does not contain your name, email or the account identifier itself, and it cannot be reversed into them. Guest trips carry no account code at all and never count towards changing a line. If you delete your account, your logs are kept but unlinked: the account code is replaced with a random one that can't be traced back, and the place names you searched for and the walking parts at each end of the trip (which start and finish at your door) are removed.

Your walking paths. While "Share my trips" is on, the app also records where you walk, and only during the walking steps of a trip you are following in the app: never before the trip starts or after it ends, never during a ride, and never while the app is in the background or in its floating window. It uses the location the trip screen already has, so it asks your phone for nothing extra. Before anything leaves your phone, the first and last 50 metres of each walk are cut off (so nothing near your home, work or any door is sent), and the path is thinned out to a few points. What we receive for each walk is those points with their times, the identifier of the trip and step, how long the app said the walk was, and the app version, with the same one-way account code as a trip log if you are signed in. If a walk is shorter than about 100 metres, nothing is sent. We use these paths only to find footpaths and crossings that are missing from the map: when several riders walk the same way between the same two places, a person at Guidy looks at it on aerial imagery and may add that footpath to our own walking map and to OpenStreetMap. A path added there is a line on a map; it carries no trip or rider data.

Reports that a walk is wrong. When a trip tells you to walk, you can tap "This walk is wrong" and say why: it goes through buildings, it is too long, the path does not exist, or something else, with a short note if you like. This is separate from "Share my trips": nothing is sent unless you tap it. We store the report with where that walk starts and ends (two coordinates, which can be your own door if it is the first or last walk of the trip), how long the app said it was, the reason and your note, the identifier of the trip and step it was about, and the app version. If you are signed in it carries the same one-way account code as a trip log, so that we can count each rider once; guests send it without one. The report is sent in the background and kept on your phone until it can be, so it never holds up your trip. We use reports only to find footpaths that are missing from the map and walks we draw wrongly. Please don't put personal details in the note.

Searches you type. When you search for a place, what you type is sent to the Google Places API to fetch suggestions, along with a rough location so the suggestions are nearby ones. This is Google's service and is covered by Google's Privacy Policy.

Account information. If you create an account or sign in, we collect what your chosen sign-in method provides: - Email/password sign-in: your email address. - Google Sign-In: your name, email, and profile photo, as permitted by your Google account settings. - Guest mode: no personal information at all, just a temporary, anonymous account identifier so you can use the app without creating an account. This identifier isn't linked to your name or email.

Authentication is handled by Firebase Authentication (Google).

Your agreement to our terms. When you create an account (a guest account included), and whenever we update our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy or Data Deletion Policy, we ask you to agree to them. We keep a record of each agreement with your account: which version you agreed to, when (by our server's clock), the app's language and the app version you used. It is stored in Firebase (Google), used only to show that you agreed, and deleted when you delete your account.

Usage and diagnostic data. We use Firebase Analytics to understand how the app is used (e.g. which screens are opened, which features are used) and Firebase Crashlytics to collect crash reports and error logs so we can fix bugs. Both are Google services and are subject to Google's Privacy Policy.

Push notification token. If you allow notifications, we obtain a device token (via Firebase Cloud Messaging) used to deliver notifications to your device. We do not currently send any notification content beyond what's needed for basic app functionality.

Commute alerts. Guidy can tell you when your usual trip between your saved Home and Work places is easiest, and when the last ride leaves. These alerts are planned and scheduled on your phone, as local notifications, from the lines of that trip, which the app keeps on your phone. To keep their timetables fresh, the app now and then asks our server for the route between your Home and Work places, which is the same request it makes when you plan that trip yourself. No alert content is sent to us. They are on by default once you have saved Home and Work places and allowed notifications; you can switch them off, or switch off each kind separately, in Settings, or decline the notification permission in your device settings.

Preferences on your device. Your language, light or dark theme, Simple Mode, commute-alert and "Share my trips" switches are kept in the app's own storage on your phone. They are not uploaded to us.

Advertising data. Guidy may show ads (banner ads, and an occasional ad when the app is opened) served by Google AdMob. Ads are not shown in every version of the app; the rest of this paragraph applies whenever they are. Google and its partners may collect and use data from your device to serve and measure ads: the device's advertising identifier (IDFA on iOS, subject to your App Tracking Transparency choice; AAID on Android), your IP address, your approximate location (derived from your IP address) and information about how you interact with ads and the app. Where you have agreed to it, ads are personalized using this data; otherwise you'll still see ads, but they won't be personalized to you. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, the app asks for your consent to this in a Google-provided consent form, and you can change your choice later in the app. See How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services for how Google uses this data.

Route corrections you send us. If you report that a route is wrong, or that you know a better one (trip details → "Something wrong with this route?"), we store what you write along with the itinerary you were looking at: the lines and stops in it, their coordinates, the start and destination you searched for, and your account identifier (including the anonymous one, if you are using the app as a guest). We use these reports to correct the underlying transit data for everyone, which is the only reason we ask for them. They are stored in Firebase Cloud Firestore (Google) and are readable only by us; no other user of the app can read, list or download them. Please don't put personal details in the comment box: it is there to describe the route, not to contact us.

Route and trip data. Origin/destination coordinates and computed routes are sent to our backend to calculate directions and fares. We do not sell this data or use it for purposes beyond providing the route you requested.

Saved trips, saved places and trip history. These are stored on your device. If you are signed in with an account (not as a guest), they are also backed up to your account in Firebase Cloud Firestore (Google), so they come back when you sign in on another phone or reinstall the app. No other user of the app can read them: our security rules allow each account access to its own copies only. Removing an item removes the backed-up copy, signing out removes them from the device, and deleting your account deletes them from Firestore.

Data that never leaves your phone

Your recent searches are stored only in your device's own app storage. They are not uploaded to us, not synced between your devices, and not readable by us. Signing out or uninstalling the app removes them.

This website

The guidyapp.com website sets no cookies and loads no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts, and its fonts are served from our own host. If you choose light or dark mode with the switch in the header, that one choice is saved in your browser's local storage so the site remembers it; it is never sent to us. If you email us, we receive what you put in the email.

Data we don't collect

We don't access your contacts, photos, microphone, or camera. We don't track your location when the app isn't in use, and we don't have the permission that would let us.

Who we share data with

Your choices

Children's privacy

Guidy is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age defined by applicable local law), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us at the email below and we'll remove it.

Data retention

We retain account data for as long as your account is active, and diagnostic/analytics data for the retention periods set by Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics (see Google's documentation for current defaults). Deleting your account removes it from Firebase Authentication immediately.

Live positions are the shortest-lived thing here: memory only, never written to disk, and dropped 90 seconds after they stop arriving.

A live trip share stops being visible when it ends: 30 minutes after you arrive or stop sharing, and never later than 8 hours after you started it. Our server then deletes it the next time it clears out ended shares.

Trip logs, walking paths and walk reports (see above) are deleted from our server 180 days after they arrive. Deleting your account unlinks the walking paths and reports you sent in the same way as trip logs (the account code is replaced with a random one, and the notes on reports are removed). Deleting your account unlinks them from you but does not delete them. A street learned from many riders' logs stays part of the line's map data; it contains no trip or rider data.

Route corrections are the exception, and we would rather say so plainly than bury it: they are kept after account deletion, because a report saying "this bus no longer stops here" is still true and still useful once the person who sent it has gone, and we have no way to act on it otherwise. If you want yours removed as well, email us at the address below and we will delete them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. We'll update the effective date above when we do.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: info@guidyapp.com