Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-09-14
The short version
Whale’s Metro runs entirely on your device. There is no account, no sign-in and no server of ours. Every map, station name and route is built into the app, so it works in airplane mode. The only part of the app that uses the internet is the advertising banner.
What stays on your device
Your pinned and recent cities, your recent station searches, your appearance setting and the counters behind the “rate this app” prompt are kept on your device in iOS’s standard settings storage. They are never sent anywhere. Deleting the app deletes them.
Location
If you allow it, the app reads your approximate location on the city list, to put the city you are in at the top. It is requested to kilometer accuracy — a city, not a street — used immediately, and never stored, logged or transmitted. If you decline, everything else works exactly the same. You can change this at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services.
Advertising
The app shows one banner supplied by Google AdMob. To fill it, the Google Mobile Ads SDK contacts Google’s servers and may send your device’s IP address, the coarse location derived from it, your device and iOS version, and advertising identifiers. The app asks first, through Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt. If you decline — or if “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off — the app requests non-personalized ads, which are chosen from general context rather than from a profile of you. What Google does with that data is governed by Google’s own privacy policy. We receive no personal data back: we see only aggregate counts of impressions and revenue.
What we never do
We do not collect, store, sell, rent or share personal information. We run no analytics SDK and no crash-reporting SDK. There is no server of ours for the app to talk to. We cannot identify you, and we do not know which cities you look at.
Children
The app is rated 4+ but is not directed at children, and it is not in Apple’s Kids Category, because it shows advertising. We knowingly collect nothing from anyone, of any age.
What Apple sees
Downloads, updates, the in-app review prompt and crash reports go through Apple. Apple gives us only aggregate statistics we cannot trace to a person. Apple’s handling of that is governed by Apple’s privacy policy.
Your choices
You can withdraw tracking permission in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking, reset your advertising identifier, turn location off for the app, or delete the app, which removes everything it stored. Because we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to export or erase on request — but write to us with any question and we will answer it.
If you are a California resident, the CCPA as amended by the CPRA gives you rights to know, delete and opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information, and we hold none to disclose or delete. Declining the tracking prompt is the opt-out that matters here, because it stops the advertising identifier being shared with Google.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date at the top changes with it and the new version replaces this page.
Contact
Handtechnics — write to [email protected].