Privacy Policy — Track the Track

Short version: Track the Track does not collect, store, or share any personal information. No account is required. No tracking. No ads (yet). Your preferences stay on your device.

1. Information We Collect

Track the Track does not collect personal information. The app does not require an account, email address, name, or any identifying information to use.

The following preferences are saved locally on your device only using standard device storage. They are never transmitted to any server:

Your home station selection
Favorite stations
Display settings (Basic / Advanced mode, feature toggles)

The app does not request access to your device's location.

2. How the App Works

When you open a station or view train arrivals, the app makes requests to our backend server (hosted on Cloudflare Workers at api.vibecodigital.com) to retrieve real-time train data, weather conditions, and service alerts for the rail systems the app covers — WMATA Metrorail, Virginia Railway Express (VRE), and MARC commuter rail. These requests include:

The station or stop code you are viewing (e.g. "A01" for Metro Center, or the equivalent stop identifier for a VRE or MARC station)
Standard HTTP request metadata (IP address, device type, request timestamp) — logged automatically by Cloudflare per their standard infrastructure practices

No personally identifiable information is attached to these requests. The station code is not linked to your identity.

3. Third-Party Services

Track the Track retrieves data from the following third-party services. We do not control their privacy practices.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) — provides real-time train predictions, service alerts, and elevator/escalator status. See WMATA's Privacy Policy.
Virginia Railway Express (VRE) — provides published timetables, live train positions, and service alerts for the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines via its public GTFS feeds. No personal data is sent. See vre.org.
Maryland Transit Administration (MTA Maryland) — provides published timetables, live train positions, and service alerts for MARC commuter rail via its public GTFS feeds. No personal data is sent. See mta.maryland.gov.
Open-Meteo — provides current weather conditions based on station coordinates. No personal data is sent. See Open-Meteo's Terms.
Cloudflare — hosts our backend infrastructure. Cloudflare may process request metadata per their standard practices. See Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.

4. Data Retention

Our backend database retains anonymized transit data (train arrival patterns, incident history, elevator outage history, published timetables, and service alerts) for analytical purposes. This data contains only transit information published by the transit agencies themselves — WMATA, VRE, and MTA Maryland — and no user identifiers, no device IDs, and no IP addresses are stored in the database.

Raw request logs are retained by Cloudflare per their standard log retention policies.

5. Children's Privacy

Track the Track does not knowingly collect any information from children under 13. The app contains no mechanisms to collect personal information from any user, regardless of age.

6. Analytics and Advertising

To understand which features are used and improve the app, Track the Track logs anonymous, non-personal usage events to our own backend — for example, that an arrival screen or the trip planner was opened, along with the app version. These events contain no personal data, no device identifiers, and no location, and are never linked to your identity.

The app uses no third-party analytics SDKs (such as Google Analytics or Firebase) and carries no advertising. This is permanent, not a description of the current version: Track the Track is not ad-supported, contains no advertising SDKs, and will not carry advertising.

7. In-App Purchases

On iOS, Track the Track offers optional tips that support continued development. These are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see or receive your payment details, card information, or billing address — Apple provides us only anonymous, aggregated sales totals.

Tipping is entirely optional and unlocks nothing. Every feature of the app is free whether or not you tip. No purchase information is stored on our servers or linked to your use of the app.

8. Changes to This Policy

If this privacy policy changes materially, we will update the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

9. Contact

Questions or concerns about this privacy policy? Contact us at [email protected].