NaviMate is a walking-tour app that writes your tour as you walk, using Google's Gemini AI. This policy explains exactly what leaves your iPhone, who receives it, and why. It is short because the app does very little with your data.
| Data | When | Who receives it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Precise location | While a tour or an Explore session is running | To find landmarks near you and to write narration about where you actually are. Your coordinates are included in the request sent to the Gemini API, and in map and place lookups. | |
| Photographs | Only when you take a picture with Landmark Lens | The single photograph is uploaded so the model can identify what you are looking at. Nothing is uploaded unless you deliberately take a picture. | |
| Microphone audio | While you are speaking to your guide | Apple | Speech recognition uses Apple's Speech framework, which sends audio to Apple's servers to transcribe it. See the note below — this one surprises people. |
| Your words, as text | When you ask a question, type a tour theme, or write a journal note | So your guide can answer you, and so your tour matches the theme you asked for. |
This is worth stating plainly, because the obvious assumption is wrong in one direction and right in the other.
SFSpeechRecognizer, which by default performs recognition on
Apple's servers rather than on the device. This is covered by Apple's own
privacy policy, not ours.
Saved tours, your walk journal, postcards, downloaded narration audio and any photographs you took are stored in the app's own container on the device. They are not uploaded anywhere. If you have iCloud Backup enabled, they may be included in your device backup, which is between you and Apple.
NaviMate is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect data from children under 13.
Tour narration is written by a large language model at the moment you walk. It is not written or reviewed by a human, and it can be wrong — confidently and plausibly wrong — about dates, names and buildings. Treat it as an enthusiastic guide rather than a reference work, and check anything that matters.
Content filters are applied to every request, and every story in the app has a Report this story button beneath it. Reports go to the support address below and are read by a human.
Requests are sent to Google's Gemini API and are handled under Google's Gemini API terms and privacy policy. Speech recognition is handled under Apple's privacy policy. NaviMate has no other third-party SDKs of any kind.
If this policy changes in a way that affects what is collected or who receives it, the in-app disclosure will be shown again before the change takes effect.
Questions, reports or data requests: navimatellc@gmail.com