Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Wanderverse.ai UG (haftungsbeschränkt) ("Wanderverse.ai", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal data when you use our mobile app, distributed via the Apple App Store and Google Play, and our website wanderverse.ai (together, the "Service"). We handle your data transparently and in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG) and other applicable laws.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use it for third-party advertising, and we do not track you across other companies' apps and websites.

Section 16 describes creator features we are preparing. Those parts apply only once each feature launches.

1. Information we collect in the app

Information you provide

• Account information. When you create an account, we collect your name and email address. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive basic profile information from that provider, such as your name, email address and a user ID. With Sign in with Apple you can choose to hide your email address. We no longer offer sign-in with Facebook and receive no data from Facebook.
• What is required. To create an account you need an email address and password, or Sign in with Apple or Google. Everything else is optional, and you can use the app as a guest without an account.
• Guest use. You can use the app as a guest without giving us your name or email. We then create an anonymous account ID with Firebase Authentication. Your guest trips are stored on your device. If you later sign in or create an account, they are uploaded to that account.
• Optional profile details. When you set up your profile, you can add your home location and preferred currency, and your gender and age range to get better packing suggestions.
• Trip data. Details you enter to plan trips: destinations, travel dates, travelers, travel style and preferences, packing style, itineraries, saved activities, packing lists, and any notes or content you add. Your conversations with Ask, our AI trip assistant, are saved with the trip they belong to.
• Feedback. Answers you give in in-app feedback and surveys. If you delete your account, you can tell us why by choosing from a short list of reasons. This is optional.
• Communications. Messages you send us for support, feedback or early-access requests, and your choice about marketing emails (see Section 2).

Information collected automatically

• Usage statistics (only with your permission). If you allow it, we use Google Analytics for Firebase to learn how the app is used, for example which screens and features are used and how sessions run. Advertising features are switched off. We do not use the advertising ID. Nothing is collected until you have made a choice.
• Crash reports (only with your permission). If you allow it, Firebase Crashlytics sends us a report when the app crashes. A report contains the device model, operating system, app version, an installation ID and technical details of the error.
• Security and app-integrity data. Firebase App Check uses your device platform's attestation service to confirm that requests come from a genuine copy of our app. Our backend also records technical logs (time, the function called, errors) and limits how many requests one account can make.
• App configuration. Firebase Remote Config tells the app, for example, whether an update is required. It uses a Firebase installation ID for this.
• Location. The app does not access your device's location. We use only the destinations you enter.

You can change your choices about usage statistics and crash reports at any time in the app under Profile → Privacy. If you withdraw permission, collection stops and the analytics data on your device is reset.

2. How we use your data

• To provide and personalise the Service, including AI itineraries, packing lists, trip cover images, answers from Ask, weather-aware suggestions, place search and activity recommendations.
• To create and manage your account, including guest accounts, and to authenticate you securely.
• To send service emails, such as email verification and password reset.
• To respond to your requests and provide support.
• To keep the Service secure and reliable, prevent fraud and abuse, and, if you allow it, analyse usage and diagnose crashes.
• To learn why people delete their accounts. The deletion reasons are stored only after your account is deleted, without your user ID, email or any free text.
• To send you news about Wanderverse.ai by email, only if you opted in. The opt-in box is unchecked by default. You can unsubscribe in any email or by contacting us. We don't send marketing emails yet. Before the first one, we will name the service that sends them in this policy.
• To comply with legal obligations.

3. AI features

We use Google's Gemini models (Gemini API) to generate itineraries, packing lists, trip cover images and answers in Ask. Here is what we send:

• Itineraries: your destination, travel dates, number and type of travelers, and your travel preferences.
• Packing lists: your trip details and packing style, plus your gender, age range and home location if you provided them.
• Ask: your question, the recent conversation and the details of your trip.
• Trip covers: only the destination name, country and a place ID. Cover images contain no personal data and may be reused for other trips to the same place.

We do not send your name or email address to the AI provider. Google processes this data on our behalf to produce the result. We use the paid Gemini API. Under Google's terms for paid services, Google does not use your prompts or the results to improve its products.

AI results can be wrong or out of date. Please check important details, such as opening times, prices and entry rules, before you travel. We do not use AI to make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Legal bases for processing (GDPR)

Where the GDPR applies, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)): your account, guest account, trips, AI features, place and weather data, service emails, and account deletion.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): usage statistics and crash reports in the app, Google Analytics on our website, the creator waitlist, and marketing emails. Where these involve storing or reading information on your device, we also rely on your consent under Section 25(1) TDDDG. You can withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect processing that took place before.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): keeping the Service and website secure and available (App Check, Remote Config, rate limits, server and hosting logs), answering your messages, and improving the Service, where your rights do not override these interests.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): for example keeping tax and accounting records and responding to lawful requests.

Storing information on your device that is strictly necessary for the Service, such as your sign-in session, your privacy choices, and the installation identifiers App Check and Remote Config need, does not need consent (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG).

5. How we share your data

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only as needed to operate the Service:

• Service providers (processors) who process data on our behalf under contract, such as cloud hosting and AI providers (see Section 7).
• Sign-in providers (Google, Apple) when you choose to sign in with them.
• Booking partners when you choose to open a booking link (see Section 6).
• Legal and safety reasons, where required by law or to protect rights, property or safety.
• Business transfers in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

6. Booking links and commissions

The app suggests activities and tickets from Viator and Tiqets. Links to these partners are paid links. If you book through one of them, we may earn a commission.

• To find suggestions, our backend asks the partners for activities at your destination. We send the destination, not your account details.
• Activity photos are loaded directly from the partners' servers when suggestions are shown, so the partners see your IP address and device type at that point, as with any image on the web.
• When you tap a booking link, you leave our app. The partner processes your booking and payment under its own terms and privacy policy. It may use cookies or similar technology to record that you came from Wanderverse.ai.
• We do not receive your payment details.

7. Third-party services

We rely on the following key third parties to deliver the Service:

• Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, App Check, Remote Config, Hosting, and, with your permission, Analytics and Crashlytics): hosting, authentication, database, backend and diagnostics.
• Google Gemini API: AI models for itineraries, packing lists, cover images and Ask (see Section 3).
• Google Places API: place and destination information. The app sends search requests to our backend, which forwards only the search text or place ID to Google.
• Visual Crossing: weather data. Our backend sends only place names and travel dates.
• Google Workspace: sends account emails such as email verification and password reset, and receives the emails you send us.
• Google Fonts: when you export a trip as a PDF, the app downloads the font for the PDF from Google Fonts, which sees your IP address.
• Flagpedia (flagcdn.com): the app loads small country flag images from this service, which sees your IP address when a flag is shown.
• Viator and Tiqets: activity and ticket suggestions and booking links (see Section 6).
• Google and Apple: sign-in, if you choose it.
• Apple App Store and Google Play: distribute the app. They process data about your download under their own privacy policies.

8. Our website

Hosting and server logs

Our website is hosted on Firebase Hosting (Google). When you visit, your browser automatically sends technical data, such as your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, the referring page and your browser type. Google uses this data to deliver the website and protect it against attacks. We rely on our legitimate interest in a secure, working website (Art. 6(1)(f)). We do not use these logs to identify visitors.

Fonts

We host our fonts on our own server. Loading the website sends no requests to third parties until you accept analytics cookies.

Cookies and Google Analytics

When you first visit, a banner asks whether we may use analytics cookies.

• If you click Accept, we load Google Analytics 4 (Google Ireland Limited). It sets cookies (_ga and _ga_<ID>) and records page views and clicks on buttons such as "Get the app". Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses, and Google signals and advertising personalisation are switched off. Google Analytics keeps event data for 2 months and user-level data for up to 14 months.
• If you click Decline, Google Analytics does not load and no analytics cookies are set. If analytics cookies were set earlier, we remove them.
• We store your choice in your browser's local storage (key wv_consent) so we don't ask again. This entry is necessary to respect your choice and stays until you clear your browser data.
• You can change your choice at any time using "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page.

Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and Section 25(1) TDDDG).

Links to other sites

Our website links to other sites, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, LinkedIn and Calendly (to book a consulting call). These sites receive data only when you click the link. Their own privacy policies then apply.

Contacting us by email

If you email us at hello@wanderverse.ai or privacy@wanderverse.ai, we use your email address and message to reply.

9. Creator waitlist

You can join the waitlist for our creator beta on our website. We collect:

• your email address;
• optionally, a link to where you publish and the type of content you make (blog, video or both);
• your consent, the source ("website"), your browser language and the time you signed up.

We store this in Google Cloud Firestore. The record's ID is a one-way hash (SHA-256) of your email address, which prevents duplicate sign-ups. No website visitor or app can read the list. Only we can access it.

We use this data only to email you about the creator beta. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw at any time by emailing privacy@wanderverse.ai or hello@wanderverse.ai, and we will delete your entry. We keep your entry until we have invited you to the creator beta, and at most 12 months after you signed up. Then we delete it.

10. Data retention

• Account and trip data: as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, we delete it within 30 days (see Section 13).
• Usage statistics: Google Analytics keeps event data for 2 months and user-level data for up to 14 months. Collection stops as soon as you withdraw permission.
• Crash reports: kept by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days.
• Backend logs: kept in Google Cloud Logging for 30 days.
• Website analytics: see Section 8.
• Creator waitlist: see Section 9.
• Support emails: as long as needed to handle your request.
• Account-deletion reasons: kept without any link to you, so they are not personal data.
• Records we must keep by law: for example invoices and accounting records, for the periods required by German commercial and tax law (generally 6 to 10 years).

11. International data transfers

Some of our service providers, or companies in their groups, are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA), mainly in the United States. This includes Google, Viator and Visual Crossing. Where we transfer personal data outside the EEA, we rely on an adequacy decision of the European Commission (including the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for certified companies) or on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

12. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you;
• rectify inaccurate or incomplete data;
• erase your data ("right to be forgotten");
• restrict certain processing;
• data portability: receive your data in a portable format;
• object to processing based on our legitimate interests, on grounds relating to your situation, and to direct marketing at any time;
• withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that took place before;
• lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@wanderverse.ai. We reply within one month. Where a request is complex, we may extend this by up to two more months and will tell you why. In the app, you can change your usage-statistics and crash-report choices under Profile → Privacy. On the website, use "Cookie settings".

You can complain to any EU data protection authority. The authority responsible for us is the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit (Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information), Alt-Moabit 59-61, 10555 Berlin, Germany, www.datenschutz-berlin.de.

13. Account & data deletion

You can delete your Wanderverse.ai account and the personal data associated with it at any time:

• In the app: open Profile and choose Delete account. You can tell us why you are leaving, but you don't have to.
• By request: email privacy@wanderverse.ai from the address linked to your account, or write to us at the postal address above. We will verify and process your request.

When you delete your account, we delete or irreversibly anonymise your associated personal data, including your profile, trips, itineraries, packing lists, Ask conversations, feedback and any early-access request, within 30 days. If you signed in with Apple or Google, we also ask Apple or Google to revoke our app's access to that sign-in. We keep data only where the law requires it (for example tax or accounting records) or to resolve disputes. Residual copies may remain in secure backups for a limited period before being overwritten. If you only want to delete specific data rather than your whole account, contact us and we will help.

14. Security

We use technical and organisational measures to protect your data. These include encryption in transit, authenticated access, Firebase App Check to help prevent abuse, database rules that control who can read and write each record, and least-privilege access controls. Calls to Google Places, weather and AI services run through our backend, so the keys for those services are not stored in the app, and we limit how many requests each account can make. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work continuously to safeguard your information.

15. Children's privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

16. Features we are preparing

We are building features for travel creators. They are not live yet. This section explains how we plan to handle data for them. Each part applies only once the feature launches. Before any of these features launches, we will update this policy with the final details and tell you about the change.

In the next app update

The redesigned app adds a map to each trip, using Google Maps. Google provides the map tiles and processes technical data about the map requests partly as an independent controller under its own terms. The app also adds trip countdowns, a short "get ready" list and "Been here" check-ins for the places you visit. These are saved with your trip, like the rest of your trip data. Optional trip reminders are local notifications on your phone, shown only if you allow them.

Wanderverse.ai Studio for creators

Creators will manage their itineraries in a web dashboard. For a creator account we will process your name, email address, public creator profile (for example display name, photo, short bio and links) and the itineraries and content you create.

WanderLens imports

WanderLens turns a travel blog post or video into an itinerary. When you give WanderLens a link, we retrieve the content at that link and use AI (Google Gemini) to find the places and activities in it. Travelers can use WanderLens privately: the result is saved only in your own account.

Public creator itineraries

Creators can publish itineraries. A published itinerary and the creator's public profile can be seen by anyone with the link, on the web and in the app. When you save a creator's itinerary, a copy is added to your own account.

Creator links and click statistics

Creators can add their own links, including their own affiliate links, to their itineraries. These links are labelled. The creator and the partner are responsible for what happens after you tap them. To show creators how their itineraries perform, we will count taps on links and show creators totals only. We plan to count these taps without cookies and without identifying you, and we will describe the details here before launch.

Creator subscriptions

Paid creator plans will be sold through Paddle (Paddle.com Market Limited, United Kingdom), which acts as our merchant of record. This means Paddle is the seller of the subscription. Paddle collects your payment and billing details, handles taxes and invoices, and processes this data as an independent controller under its own privacy policy. We receive information about your subscription (for example plan, status and billing country) so we can give you access, but not your full payment card details. The United Kingdom has an EU adequacy decision.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when we launch the features in Section 16. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, notify you in the app or by email. If a change affects a choice you made, such as your consent to usage statistics, we will ask you again in the app.

18. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact: