Privacy Policy
Last updated: 15 August 2026
Wanderful is a location-aware AI walking guide. To do its job it needs to know where you are — often continuously, and on mobile sometimes while the app is in your pocket. That is the most sensitive thing we handle, so this policy sets out plainly what we collect, why, who else sees it, and what you can do about it.
1. Who we are
Wanderful is operated by Peter Boledziuk, a sole trader established in Berlin, Germany. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
Postal address: [POSTAL ADDRESS — to be completed]
Email: me@peterboledziuk.com
We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer, as we are not required to under Article 37 GDPR. Privacy questions and requests go to the address above.
2. What this policy covers
This policy covers the Wanderful web app and the Wanderful mobile app for iOS and Android. Both are served by the same backend, so the same data practices apply to each, except where we call out a mobile-only difference (most importantly, background location).
Wanderful is an early-stage product under active development. We keep this document in step with what the software actually does; if you spot a discrepancy, please tell us.
3. What we collect
Account information
If you create an account: your email address, a password (stored only as a salted hash by our authentication provider — we never see or store the password itself), and the display name you choose.
Anonymous use
You can use Wanderful without signing up. When you first open the app we create an anonymous account so your conversation and settings persist across the session. It holds no name or email — just a randomly generated identifier — but it is still personal data, because the conversation and location history attached to it relate to you. If you later sign up, that history is carried over to your new account rather than discarded.
Location data
This is the core of how Wanderful works, so we describe it in detail:
- Precise GPS coordinates while you are using the app, so the guide can tell you about what is actually around you.
- Continuous location while “Follow Mode” is on. Your device checks its position roughly every two seconds, and sends us a position only once you have moved a meaningful distance (about 25 metres). Most readings never leave your device. On a twenty-minute walk this typically results in a few dozen positions reaching our servers.
- Background location, on mobile only. If you grant the “Always” location permission, the app can continue to follow your tour while it is in the background or your phone is locked — that is what lets the guide greet you when you arrive somewhere. Accuracy is reduced automatically after 15 minutes without interaction, and background collection stops entirely after 45 minutes of inactivity.
- Along with each position, your device’s reported accuracy, speed and heading, which we use to work out which direction you are walking and what is coming up ahead.
- An approximate location derived from your IP address, used only to pick a sensible starting city before you grant location access. This is not stored.
Location is only collected when you have granted the relevant permission, and you can withdraw it at any time in your browser or device settings, or by turning Follow Mode off in the app.
Your conversations
The messages you send, any photos you attach, and the guide’s replies. Because the guide is a conversational agent that remembers context, we also store its working memory of the conversation — a transcript that includes your messages, the coordinates that were current at the time, and references to any images you sent.
Feedback
If you rate a response or leave a comment, we store the rating, the free-text comment, and a link to the response it refers to.
Technical and usage information
- Your browser or device user-agent string, and the time of each request.
- Which AI model handled a request, how long it took, and how many tokens it used — we use this to monitor cost and performance.
- A record of which facts about which places you have already been told, so the guide does not repeat itself on your next visit. Over time this amounts to a history of the places you have been shown.
- Message counts, used to enforce usage limits, and any voucher code you redeem.
- Standard server logs kept by our hosting provider, which include IP addresses.
4. Why we use it, and our legal basis
Under Article 6 GDPR we must have a lawful basis for each use of your data. Ours are:
- Providing the guide
- Answering your questions, narrating places around you, giving directions, remembering your conversation, and running your account. Performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b). Location is not an optional extra here: a guide that does not know where you are cannot function.
- Background location
- Following your tour while the app is closed or your phone is locked, so the guide can speak when you reach a stop. Also performance of a contract — but it additionally requires the “Always” permission on your device, which you grant separately and can revoke at any time in your device settings without losing the rest of the app.
- Voice narration
- Converting the guide’s replies into speech when you enable audio. Performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b).
- Keeping the service working and safe
- Debugging faults, preventing abuse, enforcing usage limits, and improving the quality of the guide’s answers. Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f). Our interest is in running a reliable, affordable service; we have weighed this against your rights and use the minimum data needed. You can object to this processing (see Your rights).
- Responding to you
- Handling support messages, feedback and upgrade requests. Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f).
What we do not do: we do not sell your data, we do not use it for advertising, we do not build marketing profiles, and we do not track you across other websites or apps.
We do not ask for special categories of data under Article 9 (such as health, religion or sexual orientation). We are aware that location history can imply such things — for example if you visit a place of worship or a clinic. We neither infer nor act on any such inference, and we do not use your location for any purpose beyond guiding you.
7. International transfers
Several of the providers above are established in, or process data in, the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, or on the provider’s certification under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where applicable.
You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards that apply to a specific transfer by writing to me@peterboledziuk.com.
8. How long we keep it
We keep personal data for as long as your account exists, and delete it when you delete your account. In more detail:
- Account details
- Until you delete your account.
- Conversations and location history
- Until you delete your account, or until you ask us to erase them.
- Photos you attach
- Until you delete your account, or until you ask us to erase them.
- Anonymous sessions
- Retained on the same basis as an account. If you never sign up, contact us with the details in section 9 and we will locate and erase the session.
- Technical logs and usage counts
- Kept in aggregate for capacity and cost monitoring; identifying fields are removed or deleted along with the account.
When you ask us to erase your data, or delete your account, we action it across all of the above within 30 days.
9. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to: get a copy of the data we hold about you (Art. 15); have inaccurate data corrected (Art. 16); have your data erased (Art. 17); restrict how we use it (Art. 18); receive it in a portable, machine-readable format (Art. 20); and object to processing based on our legitimate interests (Art. 21). Where processing depends on a permission you granted, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting what was done beforehand.
You can delete your account, and everything associated with it, from your account settings in the app. For any other request — access, correction, portability, restriction or objection — email us at me@peterboledziuk.com. You can also use that address to request erasure if you would rather not do it yourself, or if you used Wanderful without signing up.
We respond within one month, as required by Article 12(3). If a request is unusually complex we may extend that by up to two further months, and will tell you if so. Exercising these rights is free of charge.
10. Complaints
If you think we have handled your data incorrectly, please tell us first — we would rather fix it. You also have the right under Article 77 GDPR to complain to a 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), datenschutz-berlin.de. You may equally complain to the supervisory authority where you live or work.
11. Children
Wanderful is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has used Wanderful and provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Automated decision-making
The guide’s replies are generated by AI, and what it chooses to tell you is shaped by where you are and what you have already been told. That is automated content, not an automated decision about you: we do not make decisions producing legal effects or similarly significant effects on you by automated means, so Article 22 GDPR does not apply.
As with any AI system, the guide can be wrong. Please do not rely on it for safety-critical navigation.
13. How we protect your data
All traffic between your device and our servers is encrypted in transit. Our database enforces row-level security, so an authenticated user can read only their own records. On mobile, your session token is held in the operating system’s secure keychain rather than ordinary app storage.
One limitation we want to be upfront about: photos you attach to a conversation are stored at long, unguessable web addresses that are not themselves password-protected. Anyone who obtains the exact address of an image could view it. Please bear that in mind before sending anything sensitive.
No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal data, we will notify the supervisory authority and, where required, you, in line with Articles 33 and 34 GDPR.
14. Changes to this policy
We update this policy as the product changes. The “last updated” date at the top always reflects the current version, and we will tell you in the app about changes that materially affect how we use your data.
Questions about any of this? Write to me@peterboledziuk.com.