EXPLORER RANK

Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 15, 2026

Explorer Rank ("Explorer Rank", "we", "us", or "our") is a travel tracking game operated by Orbit Apps LTD, Prohod Makaza 2, 1700 Sofia, Bulgaria. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use the Explorer Rank mobile app and website (together, the "Service"), why we collect it, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have.

Explorer Rank lets you verify the countries, cities, and landmarks you visit using your device's location, earn a score, and compare your progress with friends and a global leaderboard. Because location is central to the game, this policy pays particular attention to how we handle location data.

This policy is a notice of how we process your data, not a contract. Where we rely on your consent for a particular use (for example background location or access to your photo library), we ask for it separately, in the app, at the moment it matters — and you can withdraw it at any time.

1. Who we are (data controller)

The data controller responsible for your personal data is Orbit Apps LTD. You can contact us about privacy at hello@explorerrank.com, through the Contact us form inside the app (Profile → Support → Contact us), or through the contact form on our website at explorerrank.com/contact.

2. Information we collect

2.1 Account information

When you create an account we collect the information needed to sign you in and build your profile:

  • Your email address, display name, and profile photo. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email, and avatar from your Google account.
  • A unique account identifier and, optionally, a friend code so others can add you.
  • A push notification token for your device, so we can deliver the notifications you turn on (friend requests, duels, reminders). It is deleted with your account.

2.2 Location data

Location is the core of Explorer Rank. We collect location data in the following ways, and only after you grant the relevant permission:

  • Foreground ("while using the app") location. When you tap to verify a country, city, or landmark, we read your current GPS location to confirm you are actually there and to award the visit.
  • Background location (optional). If you enable background verification, the app may check your location while it is not open — including in the background — so it can automatically detect and record a visit when you arrive somewhere new. You can turn this off at any time in your device settings or in the app, and the Service remains usable with manual verification only.
  • Approximate location for nearby suggestions. We use your location to show what's near you (nearby cities and landmarks you could verify).
  • Weather on the map. While the map is open, the app sends your current coordinates (rounded to four decimal places) to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway) to show the local weather. No account identifier is sent with that request.

We store the fact that a verified visit occurred (which place, and when). We use your precise coordinates to make that determination and to guard against location spoofing; we do not build or sell a continuous history of your movements.

2.3 Photos on your device (Memories)

If you allow the app to access your photo library, the Memories feature scans your photos on your device to find the places you have been. It reads each photo's EXIF metadata — GPS coordinates, capture time, and altitude (so that photos taken at cruising altitude on a flight can be skipped) — and keeps the results in a local database on your device. Your photos and their metadata are never uploaded to our servers. A memory leaves your device only when you explicitly share or export it (for example as a story or a poster) through your device's share sheet.

The only image we store in our cloud storage is your optional profile photo, which is shown to other users according to your privacy settings.

2.4 Imported location history (optional)

If you choose to import your Google location history ("Timeline") to backfill past visits, the file you provide is parsed entirely on your device and is never uploaded to our servers. We store only the resulting places (which country or city, and when) in your account; the file itself is not kept by the app once the import finishes.

2.5 Usage, device, and diagnostic data

To operate the Service and to fix problems, we collect:

  • Device and app information (device model, operating system version, app version, language) when you submit a bug report or contact us.
  • Crash reports through Firebase Crashlytics: the stack trace, device model, operating system version, app version, and your account identifier, so that a crash affecting one account can be grouped and investigated. You can turn crash reports off at any time in Profile → Account → Privacy → Diagnostics; while they are off, the app sends none and discards any report it has not yet sent.

We do not use a separate analytics or advertising SDK, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

2.6 Purchase information

If you buy the Explorer Pass or a souvenir, the purchase is processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play. We receive a purchase token or receipt and an order identifier so we can unlock your entitlement and handle refunds, but we do not receive or store your payment card details.

2.7 Social and competitive data

We store the data that makes the game social: your friends and friend requests, your score and leaderboard position, achievements, souvenirs, and the visits that make up your progress.

2.8 Messages from the website contact form

If you write to us through the contact form at explorerrank.com/contact, we receive the topic you choose, your message, the email address you give us for our reply, and the language of the page. You do not need an account to use the form. To protect the form from spam, our database keeps a hashed form of your IP address for about 24 hours instead of the address itself. Like any website, our hosting provider's request logs also record IP addresses for a short time.

3. How we use your information

We use the information above to:

  • Verify your visits, calculate your score, and place you on leaderboards.
  • Provide social features (friends, friend profiles, duels) and notifications.
  • Show nearby places, the local weather, country facts, essentials, visa information, and travel booking options.
  • Detect and prevent cheating, fraud, and abuse (for example, impossible-travel and location-spoofing checks).
  • Provide customer support and respond to your messages.
  • Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Service, including fixing crashes.
  • Comply with legal obligations.

4. Legal bases for processing (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on the following legal bases:

  • Performance of a contract — to create your account, verify visits, calculate your score, and deliver the features you ask for.
  • Consent — for background location collection, for access to your photo library (Memories), and for importing your location history. You can withdraw consent at any time.
  • Legitimate interests — to keep the Service secure, diagnose crashes, prevent cheating and abuse, improve the product, answer messages you send us through the website contact form and keep that form free of spam, balanced against your rights. You can object to this processing (Section 7); crash reports in particular can be switched off in the app.
  • Legal obligation — where we must retain or disclose information to comply with the law.

5. How we share your information

We do not sell your personal data. We share information only as described here:

  • With other users, according to your privacy settings — for example your display name, score, achievements, and visits shown to friends or on public leaderboards and public profiles. You control much of this in Profile → Account → Privacy.

  • With service providers (processors) that act on our instructions and are bound by contract to protect your data to a standard at least equivalent to this policy:

    | Provider | What it does for us | Data involved | |---|---|---| | Google Firebase / Google Cloud | Sign-in, database, file storage, push notifications, crash reporting, website hosting | Account data, visits, profile photo, push token, crash reports, contact-form messages, IP addresses in request logs | | Google Sign-In | Optional sign-in provider | Name, email, and avatar from your Google account | | MET Norway (Norwegian Meteorological Institute) | Weather on the map | Current coordinates (rounded); no account identifier | | Travelpayouts | Flight price search in Book Travel | Origin and destination airports and travel month; no account identifier | | Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons | Hosting of landmark photos | Your IP address when a photo loads, as with any website | | open.er-api.com | Currency exchange rates | None — public rates only |

  • With travel partners. When you use travel booking or visa features, we may open a partner's website (for example flight or visa affiliate partners) so you can complete an action there. Those partners are independent controllers of any information you provide to them; please review their privacy policies.

  • For legal reasons — to comply with the law, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, safety, and property of our users, the public, or us.

  • In a business transfer — if we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

6. Data retention

We keep your personal data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account — in the app or at explorerrank.com/delete-account — our servers delete it immediately and automatically:

  • Your account, profile, profile photo, visits, self-marked places, friendships, friend requests, blocks, push token, and support messages are deleted at once.
  • Purchase records are kept without your account identifier (it is replaced with a random reference) so that a purchase can still be restored or refunded through the app store.
  • Fair-play enforcement records (Section 3) are kept for 12 months to resolve disputes and to protect the integrity of the leaderboard. Your account identifier in them is replaced with the same random reference, which cannot be traced back to you, and they are then deleted automatically.
  • Crash reports are retained by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days.
  • Messages sent through the website contact form are kept for 24 months and then deleted automatically. The hashed IP address used against spam is deleted after about 24 hours.
  • Our database provider keeps short-lived, encrypted backup copies for disaster recovery. They expire automatically and are never used to restore a deleted account.

Where the law requires us to keep certain information longer (for example tax records of purchases), we keep only what is required, for as long as it is required.

7. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent. You can:

  • Delete your account and data at any time in the app (Profile → Account → Delete account) or on the web at explorerrank.com/delete-account. This is irreversible.
  • Control what others see in Profile → Account → Privacy.
  • Turn off crash reports in Profile → Account → Privacy → Diagnostics.
  • Manage location and notification permissions in your device settings.
  • Contact us at hello@explorerrank.com to exercise any of your rights.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

8. Children

Explorer Rank is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under that age. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

9. Security

We use technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit and access controls through our cloud provider. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. International data transfers

We operate the Service using cloud infrastructure that may process and store data in countries other than yours. Where we transfer personal data out of the EEA or UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.

11. Third-party links

The Service contains links to third-party websites and services (for example travel booking and visa partners). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties, and this policy does not apply to them.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Your continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised policy.

13. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal data, contact us at hello@explorerrank.com, through Profile → Support → Contact us in the app, or at explorerrank.com/contact.