eOrth ("the Service") takes your privacy seriously and complies with the Personal Information Protection Act of the Republic of Korea and other applicable laws. This policy explains what personal data the Service collects, why, and how it is protected.
This is an English translation provided for convenience. The Korean version is the authoritative text:
개인정보처리방침 (한국어)
1.Personal data we collect
1) Account and authentication
- Email address, password (stored in a form that cannot be decrypted)
- If you use social sign-in: the email address and name from your Google/Apple account, within the scope you agreed to share
2) Profile
- Username (handle), profile photo, bio, emoji
- (Optional) Country of residence
- Your country of residence is shown only on your profile as seen by your mates (people you have mutually connected with) and is not disclosed to anyone else.
3) Content you create in the Service
- Travel records: photos and videos, text, countries and cities visited, travel dates, companions, weather, ratings, budget, keywords
- Comments, likes, mate relationships, block lists
- Direct message (DM) content
4) Finding mates
- Mates are added by username search, suggestions based on travel records and mate relationships, and QR/link sharing. The Service does not collect phone numbers and does not access your device contacts.
- Mate suggestions are computed from the names of countries and cities you have visited. Photos, post text, and dates are not used.
- Even when a record's visibility is set to "mates only," the names of countries and cities you visited are also used to compute suggestions for users who are not your mates. Where fewer than a set number of users have visited the same place, names are withheld so that individuals cannot be re-identified from the aggregate.
- You can opt out of this use (Settings > Account; see Section 7). If you opt out, your visited countries will not appear in other users' suggestion lists.
5) Photos and media
- Photos and videos you select or import from your gallery, together with their capture location and time (EXIF metadata), used to recognize past trips automatically
6) Location
- (Optional, only if you grant permission) Your device's approximate location — used solely to detect arrival in another country and to fill in the country and city on your travel records.
- Coordinates are used only to derive a country and city name. Only the derived name is stored on eOrth's servers; the coordinates themselves are not.
- Wherever possible the conversion runs on your device using map data bundled with the app. Only when that cannot determine the place does the app fall back to the geocoding service provided by your operating system (Apple on iOS, Google on Android). In that case the coordinates are sent to that platform provider, and their handling is governed by that company's privacy policy.
- When you search for a region by name on the map screen, the search term and country code are sent to OpenStreetMap (Nominatim). Your location coordinates are not sent.
- You can decline location permission and still use every feature by entering countries and cities yourself.
- Your approximate region may be inferred from your IP address when ads are served; see Section 6 (Advertising).
7) Automatically collected
- Service usage records, device settings (such as language), authentication tokens (session)
- App settings and state: theme and globe skin/color, notification settings, badges earned, days active, travel card layout and order, archived/hidden/muted/blocked lists — backed up to our servers so your setup can be restored when you change devices or reinstall the app.
- (If you use Naver Blog import) The content of public posts from the blog you authenticated and selected
- (If you allow notifications) A push notification token — an identifier used to deliver notifications to your device. It is no longer used once you turn notifications off or delete the app.
2.Why we collect it
- Identifying and authenticating members, keeping you signed in
- Providing core features such as creating, storing, and sharing travel records
- Providing social features such as finding and connecting with mates, and messaging
- Computing shared destinations for mate suggestions (names of countries and cities visited — you may opt out; see Section 7)
- Restoring your records and settings when you change devices or reinstall the app
- Detecting arrival abroad and filling in the country and city on records
- Handling blocks and reports, and keeping the Service safe
- Improving the Service and responding to errors
3.How long we keep it
- As a rule, your data is destroyed without delay when you close your account.
- When you request account closure there is a 30-day grace period during which you can recover the account. After the grace period the data is permanently destroyed.
- Information we are legally required to retain is stored separately from other data for the required period and then destroyed.
4.Sharing and processing by third parties
The Service does not provide your personal data to outside parties without your consent. We do entrust processing to the following providers in order to operate the Service.
| Provider | Entrusted work | Notes |
|---|
| Supabase Inc. | Authentication, database, and file (photo/video) storage | Cloud backend |
| Google LLC | Social sign-in (OAuth); converting coordinates to place names on Android | Sign-in only if you choose it |
| Apple Inc. | Social sign-in (OAuth); converting coordinates to place names on iOS | Sign-in only if you choose it |
| OpenStreetMap Foundation | Region name search on the map screen (Nominatim) | Only when you search; the search term only |
| Naver | Blog import (from the blog you authenticated) | Only if you choose it |
| Google LLC | Advertising (AdMob) | Personalized ads with consent; non-personalized otherwise |
| Expo (650 Industries, Inc.) | Push notification delivery relay | Only if you allow notifications |
5.International transfer of personal data
To use cloud infrastructure, the Service transfers (stores and processes) personal data outside the Republic of Korea as follows.
| Recipient | Country | Data transferred | When and how | Purpose and retention |
|---|
| Supabase Inc. | United States | The categories in Section 1 generally (account, profile, travel records, media, etc.) | Sent over the network (HTTPS/TLS) as you use the Service | Authentication and data/file storage to provide the Service; until you close your account or the engagement ends |
| Google LLC | United States | Account identifiers (email, name) when using social sign-in | Sent when you choose Google sign-in | Identity verification; until authentication completes |
| Apple Inc. | United States | Account identifiers (email, name) when using social sign-in | Sent when you choose Apple sign-in | Identity verification; until authentication completes |
| Expo (650 Industries, Inc.) | United States | Push notification token, notification title and body | Sent over the network (HTTPS/TLS) when a notification is delivered | Delivering push notifications; until delivery completes |
| Google LLC | United States | Advertising-related data described in Section 6 (IP address, device identifiers, ad impression and interaction records, etc.) | Sent over the network (HTTPS/TLS) when an ad is requested | Serving ads; per Google's retention policy |
You may refuse the international transfer of your personal data. If you do, sign-up and use of the Service may be limited.
6.Advertising
- The Service shows ads to users on the free tier, using Google LLC's AdMob and affiliated advertising services.
- The following may be collected when ads are served:
- IP address (used to infer approximate region)
- Device identifiers
- Ad impression and interaction records
- App diagnostic data (launch time, error records, etc.)
- Personalized ads are provided only with your consent.
- On iOS, the Service requests App Tracking Transparency (ATT) permission before the first ad is shown. Personalized ads using the advertising identifier (IDFA) are provided only if you allow it.
- If you decline, have not yet decided, or are on Android, only non-personalized ads are provided.
- Declining does not restrict any feature of the Service.
- The above data is provided to Google LLC for ad serving and processed on servers located in the United States.
- The Service may contain affiliate advertising links. Selecting a link takes you to the affiliate's site, where that affiliate's privacy policy applies. If a purchase results, the operator may receive a commission from the affiliate.
- You can withdraw from personalized ads at any time:
- iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking — turn off tracking for this app.
- Android: Settings > Google > Ads — delete your advertising ID or opt out of personalized ads.
7.Your rights and how to exercise them
- Access and correct your personal data (in-app profile/settings)
- Delete posts and your account, and close your membership (Settings screen)
- Control your exposure through blocking and notification muting
- Choose whether your travel records (names of countries and cities visited) are used for mate suggestions (Settings > Account) — opting out does not restrict your use of any other feature
- You may also exercise these rights through the contact in Section 12, and the Service will act without delay.
8.Destruction of personal data
- When you close your account or request deletion, the data is deleted from our servers and storage.
- Electronic files are permanently deleted by means that make recovery or reconstruction impossible.
9.Security measures
- Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
- Authentication tokens stored encrypted in the device's secure storage (iOS Keychain / Android Keystore)
- Row Level Security (RLS) so that only you and authorized users can reach your data — private records, mate-only records, and access by blocked users are prevented on the server side
- Minimizing access privileges and reviewing them regularly
10.Device permissions
The Service requests the permissions below only when you use the related feature. Declining a permission does not prevent you from using other features.
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|
| Photos / media | Importing and saving travel photos and videos. To recognize past trips automatically, the capture location recorded in the photo (EXIF) is read as well (the "media location" permission on Android). |
| Camera | Taking travel photos |
| Location | Detecting arrival abroad and filling in the country and city on records (see Section 1.6) |
| Notifications | Receiving alerts such as mate requests, comments, and messages |
11.Children under 14
The Service does not allow sign-up by children under the age of 14. The Service does not knowingly collect personal data from children under 14, and will destroy such data without delay if it becomes aware that it has been collected. At sign-up we ask you to confirm that you are 14 or older; we do not collect your date of birth.
12.Privacy officer and contact
For questions about how your personal data is handled, complaints, or remedies, please contact us.
You may also report privacy concerns to the following Korean authorities:
- Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (kopico.go.kr / 1833-6972)
- Korea Internet & Security Agency Privacy Center (privacy.kisa.or.kr / 118)
- Supreme Prosecutors' Office Cyber Investigation Division (spo.go.kr / 1301)
- National Police Agency Cyber Bureau (ecrm.police.go.kr / 182)
13.Notice of changes
If this policy is added to, removed from, or amended, we will give notice in the app at least 7 days before the change takes effect (30 days before for changes that materially affect your rights).
Announced: August 13, 2026 / Effective: August 20, 2026
Change history
- 2026-08-20: Clarified that the names of countries and cities you visited are used to compute mate suggestions (Sections 1.4 and 2) and added an opt-out for this use (Section 7). Also discontinued collecting date of birth and gender, removing them from the collected items in Section 1.2, and added to Section 11 how we confirm you are 14 or older and that we do not collect date of birth.