Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2026

Roam Community is a map for camping and road trips, and using it means trusting us with sensitive things, like where you go and where you plan to sleep. This policy explains in plain words what we collect, why, who sees it, and what you can do about it.

This policy comes from Roam Community LLC ("Roam Community," "we," "us" or "our"), 605 East Walnut Street, Annville, PA 17003. It covers our website at https://roam.community, our web app at https://roam.community/app, our iPhone and Android apps (coming soon), and emails and support conversations with us (together, the "Service"). Please also read our Terms of Service and Refund & Cancellation Policy.

The short version#

This summary doesn't replace the full policy below.

• You must be 18 or older to create an account, and you sign in with Apple or Google. We never have a password for you.
• Your location mostly stays on your device. A trip's track stays on your phone unless you choose "Save as route." We receive your precise location mainly with contributions, which you send only after agreeing to how they work.
• Contributions become part of the shared map. We review each one before it appears. Once approved, it shows on every member's map at the spot where you made it, but never with your identity. If you withdraw your agreement or delete your data or account, contributions still waiting for review are deleted, and approved ones stay on the map, unlinked from your account.
• Your saved stays and routes are private to you. Tapping Reserve on a campsite with dates picked adds a pending stay, which you can confirm or delete.
• We don't sell your personal information or use it for targeted advertising, and Roam Community has no ads. We don't use your personal information to train large language models.
• RevenueCat and Stripe handle payments on the web, and Apple handles App Store purchases. We never see your full card number.
• You can delete your data, or your whole account, yourself under Account, then Manage account. Wherever you live, you can ask to access, correct or delete your information.

What information we collect#

Information you give us#

Your Google account information. You sign in with "Continue with Apple" or "Continue with Google," and either way it goes through Google's Firebase Authentication service. If you use Google, Google shares your name, email address, profile photo and a Google account identifier with us. We give your account a unique account ID and use it to connect the rest of your information to you.

Your Apple account information. If you use Apple, Apple shares your name (only the first time you sign in, and you can edit it or leave it out), an email address and an Apple account identifier with us. The email address is your real one or, if you choose Apple's Hide My Email, a private relay address at privaterelay.appleid.com, and Apple forwards the email we send there to you. Apple doesn't give us a profile photo. If you sign in with Apple and Google using the same email address, the two are linked to one Roam Community account, but only after you've signed in with the one you used first.

Your membership record. When you first sign in, we record your account ID and email address, the order and date you joined, and whether you've finished the welcome tour.

Phone-app waitlist. Anyone can join the waitlist for our phone apps with an email address on our homepage, without an account, and signed-in members can join in the web app. If you're under 18, please don't join. We record the email address, which app(s) you want, where and when you joined, and your account ID if you were signed in. To limit homepage sign-ups from one connection, we store a one-way code made from your IP address and the date, not the address itself.

Contributions. Where contributing is available (right now, only to a limited group of testers), you can help build the map with:

• campsite pins: the site number and the spot where you're standing;
• campsite outlines you trace by walking the edge of a site;
• campsite scans (with or without your phone's LiDAR sensor), which can include the site's outline, slope and elevation, things you label (like a picnic table, fire ring or bear box), and measurements worked out from these (like whether a hammock or a rig fits);
• sky scans, which measure the tree cover overhead where you're standing; and
• fall-foliage reports, which say how far along the leaves are where you are.

Each contribution includes your account ID and your device's precise location at the time (latitude, longitude and the accuracy your device reported), plus the time and the measurement. Feedback reports and survey answers aren't contributions.

Your agreement before contributing. Before your first contribution, the app shows a short notice and asks you to tap "I agree." It explains that:

• a contribution sends us the precise location where you are, what you measure there, and your account, so it's linked to you;
• we review every contribution before it appears on the map;
• once approved, it shows on everyone's map at the spot where you were, so you shouldn't contribute from somewhere you want to keep private (fall-foliage reports aren't shown on their own; they go into improving the fall-color map);
• other members never see who made a contribution; and
• you can withdraw your agreement in the contribute panel at any time, and if you do, or delete your account, what's on the map stays there with your account removed from it, and anything still waiting for review is deleted.

We record that you agreed and when. This is how we ask for your consent to collect your precise location with contributions. Contributions sent before this notice existed have been unlinked from their accounts.

Withdrawing your agreement. Tap Withdraw my agreement in the contribute panel at any time. It deletes your agreement and your contributions still waiting for review or that we declined, removes your account from your other contributions (see "Your contributions"), and clears contributions waiting to be sent from that device. We'll ask again before your next contribution. If you email us instead, we'll do the same within 15 days.

Camera and LiDAR measurements. Scans use your device's camera and, on iPhones that have one, its LiDAR sensor. The app works out the measurements on your device and sends us only the results, never photos, video or the raw 3D scan. Raw scan files stay on your phone (on iPhone, in the Files app).

Saved stays and routes. We keep these in your account so they appear on your other devices. For a stay, we store the campground or campsite and its coordinates, your dates, whether it's pending or confirmed, and any reservation link. When you tap Reserve on a campsite with dates picked, we automatically add it as a pending stay, which you can confirm or delete. For a route, we store its title, activity type and line; a saved walk includes the path you walked and its date.

Feedback reports. When you send a report ("Report a problem," "Something wrong here?" or "Share an idea"), it includes what you type; a screenshot of the Roam Community map (not your other apps); what the map was showing (where it was centered, rounded to about a kilometer, the zoom level, open layers and panels, and any site you'd selected); your last few taps and actions, with any spot you tapped, or where the map came to rest, rounded the same way; recent warnings, errors and failed or slow network requests (without their query strings); device or browser details (model, operating system, app version, screen size, language, region, time zone, user-agent, whether you were online, and whether you've allowed location access); and whether you have Premium and, after a crash, the crash message. Reports don't include your GPS coordinates, but the screenshot shows whatever was on the map, which in our phone apps can include your blue location dot. Reports are linked to your account so we can reply in the app.

Survey answers and emails. We store in-app survey answers with your account ID. When you email us, we keep the conversation, including your email address.

Purchases. If you buy Roam Community Premium on the web, RevenueCat runs the checkout page and Stripe processes the payment. Your payment details go directly to them, never through our servers, and we never see your full card number. We send RevenueCat your account ID and email address to tie the purchase to your account, and it tells us whether you have Premium. In their dashboards we see what you bought, when, the amount, your email address, and your card's brand and last four digits.

If you buy Premium in our iPhone app, you buy it from Apple through the App Store, and Apple processes the payment under Apple's privacy policy. We never see your payment details. RevenueCat receives the purchase details (the App Store receipt or transaction: what you bought, when, the price, the store, and your country and currency), linked to your account ID, and tells us whether you have Premium; we can see those details in its dashboard. Restore Purchases in the app ties your Apple Account's existing Premium purchase to the Roam Community account you're signed in to.

Information collected automatically#

Location. On phones, Roam Community asks to use your location only "while using the app," to show where you are, center the map on you, measure distances for campground filters, and guide you along a route. In a browser, the web app uses it only if you allow it. After you tap "Start route," the app keeps using your location in the background, even with your phone locked, until you end the route; your phone shows when this is happening. The track stays on your device unless you choose "Save as route." As the app says next to the button, that "Saves the path you walked, with its date, to your Roam Community account."

Your device's location reaches us only:

• with contributions, after you've agreed to the contribution notice;
• with saved walks, if you choose "Save as route";
• when you start a campsite scan, which sends your current position to our server to find nearby campgrounds. It's sent in the body of the request, not the web address, so request logs don't record it. We use it only to answer that request and don't keep it;
• in feedback reports, as the map center and tapped spots, rounded to about a kilometer, and any location dot in a screenshot from our phone apps; and
• as map areas. When the app loads map data, we and our map providers receive the area on your screen. Requests to our servers include your account ID and may appear briefly in our hosting providers' logs.

Turning off location access stops new collection. It doesn't remove your account from contributions you've already sent; use Withdraw my agreement or Delete my data, or ask us.

Crash reports. When the app hits an unexpected error, it sends us the error and a stack trace, your platform, operating system and app versions, whether the app closed, when it happened, and your account ID.

Usage records.

• Days of use. For each day your account uses Roam Community, we record your account ID and the date, with no location or activity detail. We use it to count active members and to answer payment disputes.
• Contributions you've seen and campgrounds you open. We count these to show contributors how many times a day members saw their contributions (a number, never who) and to measure campground popularity. To count each member once a day, we keep a one-way code made from your account, the item and the date until the day ends, then only the counts.
• Announcements and daily limits. We record which in-app announcements you've seen, and count each account's contributions and reports per day to enforce daily limits.

Searches. Text you type in the search bar goes to Mapbox's search service to find places.

Website analytics. We use Google Analytics on our website and web app, not in our phone apps. It uses cookies to count visits and record pages viewed, how you arrived, general browser and device information, and your approximate location (city or region), which Google estimates from your IP address. We don't send Google Analytics your name, email address or account ID, and we don't use it for advertising.

Server logs and IP addresses. Our servers automatically record technical details of requests: your IP address, the date and time, the web address requested, and your browser or device type. Some logs also record account IDs. Each provider your device connects to also sees your IP address.

App updates. Our phone apps check Expo's servers for updates, which gives Expo your IP address, basic device and app-version information, and a random identifier for your app installation.

From other companies. Apple or Google gives us your account information when you sign in. RevenueCat and Stripe tell us about your purchases (including, through RevenueCat, App Store purchases), refunds and payment disputes, and whether you have Premium.

What we don't collect: your contacts, the photos on your device, camera images, advertising identifiers or push notification tokens.

How we use information#

We use information to:

• provide the Service: sign you in, show the map and its layers, save your stays and routes, find places, plan and follow routes, and unlock Premium;
• build the shared map: review contributions, add the ones we approve, improve the fall-color map, and show you your contributions and how often members saw them;
• support you: reply to your reports and emails, and send service emails, such as notices about important changes. For web purchases, RevenueCat sends receipts, renewal reminders and other billing emails for us. If we send promotional emails, including the app-launch email you asked for by joining the waitlist, they'll include a way to unsubscribe;
• fix and improve Roam Community, using crash reports, feedback, survey answers, usage counts and website analytics;
• keep the Service safe: prevent abuse, spam and fraud (for example, with daily limits) and protect our systems;
• handle billing: process purchases, refunds, accounting and taxes, and answer payment disputes; and
• meet legal obligations: comply with the law, enforce our Terms of Service, and establish or defend legal claims.

We don't use your information for advertising or build profiles of you. We don't use your personal information to train large language models. We don't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

How information is shared#

With other members#

"Members" means people signed in to Roam Community; the map isn't open to the public internet. Once we've approved a contribution, other members can see it. Reviewing a contribution doesn't mean we've verified it.

• Sky scans mark tree cover or open sky in an area about 26 meters (85 feet) around where you stood.
• Campsite pins, outlines and scans look like any other campsite on the map: its location, number, outline, slope, labeled features and measurements.
• Foliage reports aren't shown one by one. We use them to improve the fall-color map.

We never show your name, email address, photo or account ID with a contribution, and nothing in the Service tells other members who made one. But a contribution's location is visible, so someone who knows where you were could guess it came from you. Our Terms of Service don't allow members to try to find out who made a contribution. Still, think twice before contributing from a campsite where you're staying.

With service providers#

We require our service providers by contract to protect your information at least as well as this policy does and to use it only to provide services to us, apart from limited security and fraud-prevention uses. Stripe and RevenueCat may also use payment information under their own privacy policies to process payments, prevent fraud and meet their legal obligations.

Apple isn't one of our service providers: when you buy Premium in our iPhone app, Apple sells it to you and gets your payment details from you directly, under its own privacy policy.

Weather, wildfire, river, tide, campground-availability and other map data comes from public agencies and data partners (like Campflare). Our servers request it directly and send them nothing about you.

Payment disputes#

If you dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer, we may respond through Stripe, our payment processor, which passes our response to the card network and your card issuer. It can include purchase and account details, such as when you subscribed, which billing emails you were sent, and the days your account was used.

Other sites, legal reasons and business changes#

• Other sites. Roam Community doesn't take bookings. When you follow a link to another site, like Recreation.gov to reserve a campsite, or use Apple's or Google's sign-in page, that site's privacy policy applies. Apple's or Google's own terms and privacy policy govern your Apple or Google account.
• Legal reasons. We disclose information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, such as for a valid subpoena, court order or search warrant, or when needed to protect someone from serious harm, prevent fraud or abuse, or protect the rights and safety of others. Where the law allows, we'll try to tell you first.
• Business changes. If Roam Community is acquired, merges or sells its assets, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. We'll notify you before it becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Counts and statistics#

We may publish totals that don't identify anyone, like how many campsites members have mapped, and we keep contributions no longer linked to an account in a form that doesn't identify anyone. We won't try to work out who this information is about, and our Terms of Service don't allow members to try.

What we don't do#

We don't sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising (ads based on your activity across other websites and apps), and we don't intend to. If we learn that a service we use handles your information in a way that counts as a sale or sharing, we'll take steps to stop it. We don't give your information to anyone for their own marketing. See also "Past sharing with Mapbox and Google."

Who on our team can see your information#

Roam Community is run by two people. Our private dashboard runs only on our own computer and needs both an administrator account and a secret key. In it we can see each account's email address, account ID and join date; activity counts; waitlist addresses (which we can export to send the launch email); feedback and crash reports; survey answers; and each contribution's location and the account that made it, so we can review it ("deleted" once it's unlinked). We also have administrator access to our hosting and payment accounts. We look at your information only when we need to run and fix the Service, review contributions, answer you, handle billing, prevent abuse or meet legal obligations, and dashboard changes are logged.

How long we keep information#

After we delete something, copies may remain in our providers' backups for up to about 30 days.

Your choices and rights#

Choices you can make right now#

• Location and camera. Turn access on or off in your phone's or browser's settings. You can browse the map without location, and ending a route stops background location. Camera access is used only for scans.
• Saved stays and routes. Delete a saved stay in the app, or a saved route or walk under Your routes in the Account panel, at any time, on any plan.
• Contributions. Contributing is optional, and you can use Withdraw my agreement at any time.
• Emails and the waitlist. Unsubscribe from promotional emails with the link in them. Leave the phone-app waitlist from the web app while signed in, use Delete my data, or email us.
• Analytics and cookies. Block or delete cookies, use a tracker blocker, or install Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.
• Signing out ends your session on that device, though some information, like saved routes or queued reports, may stay on it until you clear site data or uninstall the app.

Delete my data and Delete account#

Open Account, then Manage account, in the app or the web app at https://roam.community/app. There are two buttons.

Delete my data keeps your account and any subscription. It deletes your saved stays and routes (and their copies on that device), feedback reports and screenshots, survey answers, crash reports, usage records (days of use, contributions and announcements you've seen, and daily-limit counts), your agreement to the contribution notice, contributions still waiting for review or that we declined, and your phone-app waitlist entries, including homepage ones made with your account's email address. It removes your account from your contributions on the map and deletes your list of them, including how often members saw them. If you keep using Roam Community, we start new records, like a new day of use.

Delete account does all of that, then deletes your sign-in account and membership record and signs you out. If you've signed in with Apple, it also asks Apple to revoke Roam Community's access to your Apple sign-in, so Roam Community no longer appears under Sign in with Apple in your Apple Account settings. If you sign in again later, you'll start over as a new account.

• Cancel Premium first. While a web subscription or free trial is set to renew, including while a failed payment is being retried, you can't delete your account, because that wouldn't stop the charges. Under Your plan, tap Cancel Premium, then come back.
• App Store subscriptions. Deleting your account doesn't cancel one either. If yours is set to renew, the app warns you that Apple will keep billing you until you cancel it in your Apple Account's Subscriptions settings, and lets you delete your account anyway.
• Premium ends with the account. If you've cancelled but have paid or trial time left, it ends when you delete your account, and we don't refund the unused time. If a recent web charge qualifies for a refund under our Refund & Cancellation Policy, for example within 30 days of your first Premium charge or of a yearly renewal you didn't want, ask before you delete your account, or email us afterwards from the address on your receipt. If you're ever charged on the web after deleting your account, email us and we'll refund that charge in full.

You can also email support@roam.community and we'll do either for you. If you ask us to delete your account while a web subscription is set to renew, we'll cancel it first; emailing us doesn't cancel an App Store subscription.

Your contributions#

Other members rely on what's on the map, so once a contribution is on it, it can't be removed at your request, except where the law requires it or the account belongs to someone under 18 (see "Age"). That covers sky scans (tree coverage), campsite scans, campsite locations, campsite grade and foliage reports.

When you withdraw your agreement, use Delete my data or delete your account, we remove your account from your contributions. They're all marked with the same "deleted" value, so they're no longer linked to your account and can't be grouped by account, once backup copies expire (about 30 days). They keep their location and what was measured, and only the day they were made, not the time. Your list of contributions, and how often members saw them, is deleted. We keep them in de-identified form and won't try to re-identify them, and our Terms of Service don't allow members to try. We may still remove a contribution ourselves, for example if it's wrong or breaks our Terms.

What isn't deleted#

Neither button deletes:

• purchase and payment records held by RevenueCat and Stripe, kept for accounting, tax and legal reasons;
• Google Analytics data, which isn't linked to your account and expires on its own schedule;
• short-lived server logs, which may include your account ID and a record that the deletion happened;
• for 24 hours after Delete account, your account ID, so an old sign-in can't bring the account back;
• our emails with you (ask us if you'd like them deleted); or
• other information on your devices.

We may also keep information the law requires, or that we need to resolve a dispute or prevent fraud.

Your rights#

We offer these rights to everyone, wherever you live:

• Access: ask what personal information we hold about you, where it came from, why we use it and who we disclose it to, and get a copy.
• Correction: ask us to fix inaccurate information. You can also change your name, email address and photo in your Google Account. Apple shares your name only the first time you sign in, so if you use Apple, ask us to change the name we have.
• Deletion: delete your information yourself, as described above, or ask us to. The exceptions are the records in "What isn't deleted" and contributions on the map, which we unlink instead.
• Portability: get a copy in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Restriction and objection: ask us to limit how we use your information, or object to certain uses.
• Withdrawing consent: where we rely on your consent (like location access or the contribution notice), withdraw it at any time.
• Opting out: we don't sell your personal information, use it for targeted advertising, or use it for profiling that leads to decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. If that changes, we'll update this policy first and honor opt-out requests, including Global Privacy Control signals.
• Appeal: ask us to reconsider if we turn down your request.
• No discrimination: we won't charge you more, give you a worse service, or treat you differently for using these rights.

How to make a request#

Email support@roam.community from the email address on your Roam Community account, or the one you used for the waitlist, and tell us what you'd like. If your account uses an Apple Hide My Email address, you can write from the address Apple forwards it to, and we'll confirm through the relay address. There's no charge.

• Verification. We'll match your request to your account's email address and may ask you to confirm by replying from it, or for a bit more on sensitive requests, like a copy of your contribution locations. If we can't verify you, we'll tell you why.
• Authorized agents. Someone can make a request for you with your signed, written permission. Unless they have a power of attorney, we may still ask you to confirm your identity.
• Timing. We'll respond within 45 days; if we need up to 45 more, we'll tell you why. In the EEA or UK, we'll respond within one month, extendable by two months for complex requests.
• Appeals. If we decline your request, reply to our decision with "Appeal" in the subject line, and we'll respond within 60 days. If you still disagree, you can contact your state attorney general or your data protection authority.

US state privacy rights#

Some state laws, like California's Consumer Privacy Act, apply only to businesses larger than Roam Community is today. Here's what applies to us now.

Connecticut#

Connecticut's privacy law covers any business that handles sensitive data, like precise location, as we do. Under it:

• We ask before collecting your precise location. It reaches us with contributions only after you agree to the contribution notice, and with saved walks only when you choose "Save as route." Feedback reports carry only map positions rounded to about a kilometer, though a screenshot from our phone apps can show your location dot, and you choose whether to send one.
• Withdrawing is as easy as agreeing. Use Withdraw my agreement, delete a saved walk, or turn off location access. If you email us instead, we'll act on it within 15 days.
• Your rights. You can confirm whether we process your personal information, and access, correct, delete or get a portable copy of it. You can opt out of sale, targeted advertising and significant automated decisions, which we don't do.
• Appeals. If we deny your appeal, you can contact the Connecticut Attorney General.

California#

Under California's online privacy law (CalOPPA): this policy describes what we collect and who we share it with; you can review and correct your information as described in "Your rights"; and "Changes to this policy" says how we'll tell you about changes. Our website and web app don't change their behavior in response to browser "Do Not Track" signals. Google (through Google Analytics) may collect information about your use of our website and web app over time; we don't let third parties use it to advertise to you across other sites.

Past sharing with Mapbox and Google#

Until October 2026, Mapbox's map software in our apps sent Mapbox usage data, including, in test versions of our phone apps, your device's location, and Mapbox could use that data for its own purposes. Our Google Analytics settings may also have let Google use analytics data for its own purposes. Some state laws could treat either as a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We weren't paid for either, and we've turned both off.

Other states#

We don't sell covered information as Nevada law defines it. In any state, you can use the rights above and appeal as described.

If you're outside the United States#

Roam Community is designed for people in the United States, and we have no office elsewhere. If you use it from another country, your information goes directly to us and our providers in the US, where privacy laws may differ from yours. Some providers, like Cloudflare, also handle requests in data centers around the world.

EEA and UK. If the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to you, Roam Community LLC is the controller of your personal information. Our legal bases are:

• Contract: your account, the map features, saved stays and routes, Premium and support.
• Consent: precise location with contributions; your device's location and camera, which you allow in its settings; saving a walk's path or adding you to the waitlist, only when you ask; and optional surveys. You can withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what we did before.
• Legitimate interests: security and abuse prevention, diagnosing problems, usage counts and analytics, keeping the shared map accurate, keeping unlinked contributions on the map, answering payment disputes, business records, and telling you about the Service. We rely on these only when your rights don't override them, and you can object.
• Legal obligation: tax and accounting records, and valid legal requests.

You have the rights in "Your rights," and you can complain to your data protection authority (see the European Data Protection Board's list, or in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office), though we'd appreciate the chance to sort it out first.

Cookies and similar technologies#

Here's what we store in your browser (cookies and browser storage) or in our phone apps' storage:

Blocking Google Analytics won't affect how Roam Community works, but blocking all cookies or site data stops you from signing in to the web app. We don't show a cookie banner. Uninstalling a phone app removes its storage.

How we protect your information#

Information travels between your device and our servers over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Only your own signed-in account can read your saved stays and routes, most features are for signed-in members only, and we never send a contributor's identity to other members. Google and Cloudflare, which store our data, encrypt it at rest. No system is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you as the law requires.

Age#

To create an account, you must be 18 or older and old enough to form a binding contract where you live. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and if you're under 18, please don't join the phone-app waitlist. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we'll close it, delete its information, remove its contributions from the map, cancel any subscription and refund the latest charge in full. We keep only the purchase records the law requires. If you believe someone under 18 has given us personal information, email support@roam.community.

Changes to this policy#

We may update this policy as Roam Community changes or the law requires, and we'll change the "Last updated" date when we do. If we make a material change, we'll tell you at least 30 days before it takes effect, by email or with a notice in the Service. Small changes, like fixing typos or making something clearer, take effect when we post them. We may give less notice if a change is needed for legal, safety or security reasons, or if it only adds features that don't change what personal information we collect or how we use or share it. If a change would affect how we use information we've already collected, we'll ask for your consent where the law requires it.

Contact us#

Questions? We're happy to help.

• Email: support@roam.community
• Phone: (717) 926-5870
• Mail: Roam Community LLC, 605 East Walnut Street, Annville, PA 17003

Portions of this policy are adapted from the Basecamp open-source policies, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes were made.