Privacy statement

Bromwijzer, a trade name of SlimContact ("we") is responsible for the processing of personal data in the app and website Bromwijzer ("the app"). Here you can read which data we process, why, how long we keep it and which rights you have. Questions? E-mail info@bromwijzer.com.

1. Which data we process and why

Account

Username, an encrypted (hashed) version of your password, the date of creation, the moment you accepted the terms, and your sign-in sessions (a hash of your sign-in token, date, last use). Needed to make your account work (performance of the agreement). If you create an account with a username and password, you also enter an e-mail address; if you sign in with Google or Apple, the app asks you to add one (Profile → Settings → Account). We first send an e-mail with a confirmation link; only after that do we use the address: for a code if you forget your password, for e-mails about your account (see Notifications in the app and e-mail below) and for the newsletter if you switch it on yourself. You can remove the address at any time. If you use the contact form without an account, we ask for an e-mail address so we can reply; that address also gets a confirmation of receipt (without your message in it).
If you sign in with Google, Google gives us a fixed, anonymous account ID, your first name (to suggest a username) and your e-mail address. We only compare that address with Premium that is reserved for it (see Reserved Premium). We only keep the ID, to recognise you next time; we do not store your e-mail address or first name, and you do not need a password. For signing in with Apple, see section 2.

Profile and vehicle

What you fill in yourself: vehicle type, make, model and build year, a profile photo and a background photo, bio, links to your social media, which figures you want to show on your profile, and home and work address if you save them. The vehicle type is needed for the right route, and the build year (if you fill it in) to know whether you may enter a low-emission zone; the rest is voluntary and serves your public profile and the community (consent; you can always clear it again). We remove location and camera data (EXIF) from photos you post on our server. A vehicle photo or parts list from an earlier version of the app is no longer visible to others; you can delete it under My vehicle ("Delete old vehicle photo and specs"), otherwise it is deleted with your account.

Location

• When planning a route we send your departure and arrival point (and your current position if you choose it as the departure point) to our server to calculate the route. Your vehicle type is sent along and, if you have filled them in, the build year and whether your vehicle is electric; these are not stored with the route.
• For the map layer with closed roads the app asks our server what is closed in the map area you have in view.
• During navigation the app processes your position on your phone to give the instructions. Your position only goes to the server when necessary: for a recalculation, to fetch the speed limit or the rain forecast on your route, to check whether your vehicle is allowed on that road, to find a petrol station nearby or to make a report.
• On Android navigation continues with the screen off via a foreground service with a fixed notification; we do not ask for "always" location access and do not track you outside a ride. To keep that service running it sends your position to our server during the ride, which discards it immediately: it is not stored, not even in the log.
• Group ride: if you join, the other members of that group see your position every few seconds, and while navigating also your direction, remaining distance and expected arrival time, as long as you have the app open. If you share your route with the group, they also see its points (destination and stops). When the group ride stops, or is twelve hours old, we delete that data.
• Sharing your arrival time: with a share link, anyone who has the link sees your destination and expected arrival time, and if you switch on "live" also your position. The link works until you stop, and for twelve hours at most; after that it shows nothing.
• Rides: if you ride with an account, we store the ride in your account so you can look back at it and share it: distance, duration, the track ridden, the highest speed your phone measured on the way, whether it rained, which provinces you passed through and which zones you conquered (see below). If sending fails (no signal), the app keeps the ride on your phone for at most 14 days and sends it later. You can delete any ride yourself. A ride that does not seem to have been ridden for real (for example straight lines, or exactly the same track as another ride) is flagged automatically; it then does not count towards points, leaderboards and Conquered area, but stays in your account. If that is wrong, contact us.
• Saved routes: when you save a route or a custom loop, a copy of it (points, line and stops) is stored in your account, along with the number of days you split it into and which days you have ridden. You can delete them yourself; they are removed when you delete your account.

Legal basis: performance of the agreement. You grant location access itself via your phone's permission (consent), which you can withdraw at any time.

Points, badges, leaderboards and Conquered area

From your rides we calculate points, your level and badges (for example "100 km in one day" or "ridden in every province"), and totals such as kilometres, number of rides, riding time, rides in the rain and your top speed.

• Leaderboards: other users with an account see your username, your profile photo and your figure for that list (for example kilometres, longest ride, top speed, points or zones) in the leaderboards, for this month or for all time.
• Conquered area: the map is divided into hexagons of about 300 metres across. If you ride through one with the app, the hexagon becomes yours, with the date. Other users with an account see on that map which hexagons are yours, with your username; this roughly shows where you ride.

You choose what others see (Profile → Settings → Privacy): your rides, your level and badges, your vehicle and your social media, each for everyone, friends only or nobody, and whether you take part in the leaderboards and in Conquered area. If you do not show your rides to everyone, others only see your hexagons as "other rider", without a name and with the day only. If you do not take part in Conquered area, a ride conquers nothing and you do not appear on that map for others. If you do not take part in the leaderboards, you are not listed. Legal basis: performance of the agreement; you decide what others see of it.

Search history

The last 20 places you searched for, so you can find them again quickly. You can delete them one by one.

Friends

Other users with an account can find you by searching for your username. If you add friends (with a friend code, QR code or link), we store who is friends with whom and pending requests. Friends see each other's username and profile and can send each other a route; such a shared route is kept for 90 days.

Blocking

If you block another rider, we store whom you blocked. You will then no longer see each other's name, profile and content and cannot send each other a friend request or a route. You can lift a block in the app.

Reports of speed cameras and checks

Type, location, time, any note and photos, plus your vote (yes/no) and comment on reports by others. Reports are visible to other users, with your username. They expire automatically (checks at the end of the day, route errors after 14 days) and are deleted at the latest 90 days after posting.

Community content

Shared routes, reviews, forum posts, comments, votes and photos you post, and reports you make about content of others. This content is visible to other users, with your username. Text you post is automatically checked for abusive language, drugs, sexual content and sales when you post it; a message may therefore be refused or put forward to the administrator for review (legitimate interest: a safe community).

Feedback

Bug reports, tips and wishes you send via the app, with your username and, if you tick the box, technical details about your phone and app version to reproduce the problem. If signing in with Google or Apple or speech recognition fails, the app sends the error code and the error message from your phone to our server, even if you are not signed in, so we can find the cause. Of your IP address we only keep a hash that can no longer be traced back after the server restarts, to recognise duplicate reports.

Notifications in the app and e-mail

Messages in the app itself: about replies and votes on your content, friend requests and routes from friends, your request for a 3D model, and messages from the team. We do not send push notifications outside the app. You only receive e-mail at an address you entered yourself, and apart from the e-mail to confirm it, only once you have confirmed it: a recovery code if you request one yourself; a notice when your password or e-mail address changes (the latter to the old address) and a confirmation when you delete your account; when the team blocks or unblocks your account; about your Premium (started in the store, ends within a week, stopped); about your request for a 3D model; and a confirmation of receipt and a reply when you send us a message. You only receive the newsletter if you switch it on. Legal basis: performance of the agreement, and for the notices about your password and e-mail address also our legitimate interest in a secure account.

Newsletter

If you switch on the newsletter (when creating your account or under Profile → Settings → Account), we send you an occasional e-mail with new routes, tips and now and then an offer, and only to a confirmed address. We keep whether and since when you signed up, and when you unsubscribed, as proof of your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time, with the link under every newsletter or with the switch in the app. Legal basis: consent.

Technical data

• Usage statistics: on first start the app creates a random installation number (not a phone ID or advertising ID) and reports at most once a day that the app is used, with that number, the app version, the operating system and its version, and the language. We keep on which days an installation used the app. If you are signed in, we link it to your account. This shows us how many phones use the app, how many people come back and whether a version causes problems (legitimate interest). We do not store an IP address for this.
• Feature use: per day we count how often features (such as planning a route, searching, the rain radar or a group ride) are used and by how many different people. To count people we use a hash of the IP address that is only kept in the server's memory for that day; we do not store who did what (legitimate interest).
• Measurements: sometimes we temporarily measure how fast the app and the map start, or where a purchase in the store gets stuck: times per step, app version, system and, if you are signed in, your account number, without location. This is only in the server log (legitimate interest).
• Our server keeps a log with IP address, time, requested page and the type of browser or app (without search terms, coordinates or the code of a share link), to detect outages and abuse (legitimate interest). Logs are deleted automatically after eight weeks at most.
• The app stores settings (theme, voice, vehicle), your sign-in token, the map along your route, the map areas you download yourself and rides that still need to be sent on your own phone. On Android this storage is not part of a cloud backup.
• A cookie (`bw_app`) with a random app key, so that only the app can use our server and the photos, not anyone who opens an address. It contains nothing about you, does not track you and is not shared with others (functional cookie, needed for the app to work).
• Microphone and camera: the app only uses the microphone when you press the speech button. Your phone's speech recognition (on Android usually Google's) turns your words into text; only that text reaches us. The app uses the camera to scan QR codes and take photos; a QR code is read on your phone itself.
• The app reads the battery level and temperature of your phone to warn you on the road. That stays on your phone; only if your phone reports that it is getting too hot does the app send that report with the battery temperature to us, once per ride, so we can detect false warnings.

If the app shows an advertisement to a free account, it is one we place ourselves, without tracking: we only count how often it was shown and clicked, not by whom. We use no advertising ID, no analytics or tracking services and do not sell data.

Payments. If you buy Premium or your own 3D model in the Android or iOS app, payment goes through Google Play or the App Store. We never see payment details; we only receive a proof of purchase from the store (a code, the product, the status and the expiry date), verify it with Google or Apple, and use it to link the purchase to your account. We keep that proof of purchase as long as your account exists. If you delete your account, we keep it without a link to you (without name, e-mail address or the store's full response), so that the same purchase is not processed twice. Premium works on one phone at a time; for this we keep which sign-in session uses Premium and when you switched phones. In our accounts we record the amount, the date, the product and your username for every payment; we keep that entry for seven years, even if you delete your account, because the law requires it (tax retention obligation).

Reserved Premium. If we give someone Premium, for example in a collaboration, we can reserve it for an e-mail address. We keep that address until it belongs to an account whose address is confirmed (via our confirmation e-mail, or by Google or Apple); after that we only keep a hash, so it cannot be used twice.

Photos for your own 3D model. If you request a 3D model of your own vehicle, you upload four photos (front, back, left, right). When saving them we remove all metadata (location, time, device) and reduce their size; the number plate and any people in the photo are not reproduced in the model. The photos are visible only to you and the team that builds the model, and are deleted no later than 30 days after your request is completed or declined. The model itself stays with your account until you delete it or your account. Legal basis: the agreement you enter into with the request.

Collaborations with creators. If you make videos about the app in a collaboration with us, you sign the agreement in the app. For this we keep your name, your social media account, your date of birth (to see whether a parent or guardian must co-sign), your IBAN and the name of the account holder, your signature and that of your parent or guardian, the text of the agreement, when and with which username you signed and your IP address as proof. We only ask this of people who enter into a collaboration; only you and the administrator see it, and we only use it to carry out the collaboration and pay you. Legal basis: the agreement; for keeping it afterwards the legal retention obligation and our legitimate interest in being able to show that we may use the video.

2. Who else sees your data

• Other users with an account see your username, your public profile and the content you share, and what you leave visible to them under Privacy (rides, level and badges, vehicle, social media, leaderboards and Conquered area). Without an account, or outside the app, your profile cannot be seen; for a report on the map, someone without an account only sees the report itself, not who made it.
• Hosting: our server is located at Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany (EU).
• Map display: your phone loads the map tiles directly from OpenFreeMap, the satellite imagery (if you choose that map layer) from Esri and photos of sights from Wikimedia; those services see your IP address in doing so. Fonts and program components come from our own server, not from another party.
• Address search, places and traffic signs: our server requests these from OpenStreetMap (Nominatim, Overpass), Photon (Komoot, Germany) and the PDOK Locatieserver (Kadaster, the Netherlands), and information about sights from Wikipedia, without passing on your IP address.
• Weather: rain and wind forecast from Buienradar and Open-Meteo, requested by our server for the position of your route. Weather warnings are fetched by our server per country from MeteoAlarm, without any of your data.
• Closed roads and low-emission zones: our server fetches these from the road authorities (NDW, GIPOD) and municipalities, without sending any of your data along.
• Natural voice: the text of spoken instructions (for example "in 200 metres turn right, Dorpsstraat") may be converted into speech by our server at an external speech service (Microsoft or ElevenLabs, outside the EU). No account data or position is sent with it. If you choose your phone's voice in the settings, this does not happen.
• Sign in with Google: if you choose this, Google Ireland Limited handles the sign-in and our server checks it with Google. Google then knows you use the app.
• Sign in with Apple (iPhone): if you choose this, Apple Distribution International Ltd. (Ireland) handles the sign-in and our server checks it with Apple. We then store the account ID Apple issues for this app and a key we use to revoke the link with Apple when you delete your account. We only use the email address from Apple to suggest a username and to check whether Premium is reserved for that address; we do not store it.
• Number plate lookup: if you enter a number plate, our server requests the make and model from the RDW (Dutch vehicle authority). We do not store the number plate itself.
• Share link: the page of a share link shows a small OpenFreeMap map (map data from OpenStreetMap), which the browser of whoever opens the link loads directly from OpenFreeMap. The preview image of the link (for example in WhatsApp) is drawn by our own server.
• Opening a route in Google Maps: if you choose this, your route and waypoints go to Google.
• E-mail: confirmation and recovery e-mails and the newsletter are sent via our e-mail provider One.com (Denmark, EU).
• In-app purchases: Google (Google Play) or Apple (App Store) handles the payment; our server verifies the proof of purchase with them.
• Notices for the administrator: for a new account, a new installation of the app or a subscription, the administrator receives an e-mail with the username (mailbox at Google).
• Government: only if we are legally obliged to.

We do not pass your data on to others for their own purposes.

3. How long we keep data

• Account, profile, rides, points and badges, routes, feedback, community content, blocks and your newsletter sign-up: as long as your account exists.
• Messages via the contact form or a bug report without an account: one year.
• Proofs of purchase from the store: as long as your account exists, after that without a link to you.
• Premium reserved for an e-mail address: until it is used; after that only a hash.
• Hexagons in Conquered area: until someone else takes them over or you delete your account.
• Rides waiting on your phone to be sent: 14 days at most.
• Payment entries in our accounts: seven years (legal retention obligation).
• A signed agreement for a collaboration: the agreement, the video, your name, account and signature for as long as we may use the video (that right has no end date), even if you delete your account; your IBAN, the account holder's name, your date of birth and the IP address up to eight years after signing (legal retention obligation). An offer you did not sign disappears with your account.
• Sign-in sessions: up to one year after last use; as long as you use the app, you stay signed in.
• Reports on the map: until they expire, and at most 90 days.
• Notifications in the app: 90 days.
• Server logs: eight weeks at most.
• Routes you send to friends: 90 days.
• Share links: until a week after they expire; your position and destination can no longer be seen once you stop.
• Positions and the shared route in a group ride: until the group ride stops, at most twelve hours after it started.
• Recovery and confirmation codes: only as a hash, until a day after they expire (a code is valid for half an hour, a confirmation link from an e-mail seven days, a code from the administrator for a day).
• Usage statistics (installation number and the days on which the app was used): up to one year after the app was last used.
• Counts of feature use: only numbers per day, without people.
• Server backups: 14 days; after that, deleted data has also disappeared from the backups.

4. Deleting your account and data

You can delete your account yourself in the app: Profile → Settings → Account → Delete account (your password is required, or for a Google or Apple account a confirmation via Google or Apple). This immediately deletes your account, e-mail address, profile, photos, rides, points and badges, hexagons in Conquered area, search history, shared and saved routes, reviews, forum posts, comments, votes, reports, feedback, app notifications, friendships, group rides, share links, blocks and any request for your own 3D model (with the photos). Proofs of purchase from the store (Google Play, App Store) are kept without a link to you, so that a purchase is not booked twice, and your usage statistics (installation number) are unlinked from your account. If a subscription is still running, the app asks you to cancel it first: deleting your account does not stop the payment at the store. If you had a confirmed e-mail address, we send one last confirmation to it; after that the address is gone too. Reports you made about others are kept without a link to you, as moderation history; payment entries stay in our accounts for seven years (see above). We keep a signed agreement for a collaboration without a link to your account (see above).
No longer have the app? See https://app.bromwijzer.nl/en/account-verwijderen or e-mail info@bromwijzer.com. We handle requests within 30 days.

5. Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, delete and transfer your data, to restrict and object to the processing, and to withdraw consent. You can do a lot yourself in the app, including downloading all your data (Profile → Settings → Account → Download my data); for the rest, e-mail info@bromwijzer.com. You can also lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl).

6. Security

Connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords and sign-in tokens are stored only in hashed form. A new password must have at least 8 characters, with a letter and a digit, and must not appear in lists of commonly used passwords. The server is shielded by a firewall and receives security updates automatically. Access to the data is limited to the administrator.

7. Children

The app is not intended for children under 16. If we notice that a younger child has an account without a parent's consent, we delete it.

8. Changes

We may amend this statement. The date at the top shows when that last happened; in the event of important changes we let you know in the app.

9. Contact

Bromwijzer, a trade name of SlimContact
Kerklaan 100, 2678 SX De Lier
Chamber of Commerce (KvK): 98786229
E-mail: info@bromwijzer.com