Navigate to YES

Privacy Policy

Navigate to YES is an offline-first companion app for the Burning Man festival. This policy explains what the app collects, what it does with that information, and what control you have over it.

What we collect

Stored only on your device. None of the following ever leaves your phone unless you actively share it:

• A randomly-generated device id (8 characters, no PII).
• The name and status you type in on the People tab.
• The crew codes / names you create or join.
• Your preferences (vibe tags, things to avoid, YES picks, home address) and your starred items.
• A photo cache (URLs, no images themselves) of pictures we've resolved for camp / art / event cards.

Used in-the-moment, never stored on our servers:

• Your GPS location and compass heading are read while the app is open so the arrow can point at your destination. They're never written to a server we control. Your location is shared with a crew only if you turn on location sharing (off by default) and then check in — see below.

Sent off your device only when you opt in and check in:

• Crew location sharing (lat/lng + your typed name + your status + your device id). Location sharing is off by default: your position is never sent to anyone until you turn it on. Once on, you can share your position once (a single check-in), or start a time-limited live session — e.g. 15 minutes, 1 hour, or until you stop — during which your position updates automatically, including while your phone is locked, for as long as that session lasts. Background tracking is never on outside of a live session you explicitly started — it stops the moment the session ends (or when you stop it, or turn sharing off). You can also block any crew member, which hides them from your map and list. Positions travel via ntfy.sh (a public pub/sub relay) when the internet is reachable, and via Bluetooth Low Energy / Multipeer when you're near another crew member. The "topic" on ntfy.sh is your crew code — anyone who knows the code can read these messages, so treat the code like a passphrase and don't use a guessable word. Only members of the crew with the right code see your position. Because these travel over a public relay, a position you've already shared can stay visible to your crew for a short time (until it ages out) even after you stop — stopping prevents any further updates from going out.
• Photo lookups. When you open a card we hash the entity's id and ask a Vercel-hosted API endpoint for a thumbnail URL. The endpoint searches Wikimedia Commons. We don't log who asked for what.

What we don't collect

• We don't have user accounts.
• We don't have analytics. No Google Analytics, no Sentry, no Mixpanel, no third-party trackers of any kind.
• We don't read your contacts, photos, calendar, or any other phone resource that isn't explicitly listed above.
• We don't sell, trade, or rent any of your data — we don't have a database to sell from.

Permissions and why we ask

• Location (foreground and background) — the arrow points at your destination, and — only when you check in or during a live session you start — shares your current position with your crew. Background location is used only while a live session you started is active, so sharing keeps working while your phone is locked; it stops the moment the session ends or you stop it, and the app never tracks or broadcasts your position outside of a session you explicitly started.
• Bluetooth scan / connect / advertise — cell-free crew finder when you're at the playa with no signal. Only used to share your position when you check in.
• Motion sensors — the compass heading inside the arrow.

You can revoke any of these in your device's Settings at any time. The app still works (less well) without them — the arrow just shows a static bearing instead of one you can rotate around.

Children

The app targets adults and is not intended for children under 13.

Contact

Questions: n2y@dewhirst.net

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top of this page. Changes are tracked in the public repository at github.com/harrydewhirst/navigatetoyes.