Overview
Wilderness Survival Companion is an offline reference application for backcountry emergencies, hiking preparation, and wilderness skills. All content is based on authoritative sources including FM 21-76, SAS Survival Handbook, CDC, EPA, NWS, and NOAA.
No accounts, no servers, no tracking: The app has no backend, so nothing you enter, record, or measure is collected by us or uploaded anywhere. The only data that ever leaves your device is what you deliberately send yourself using the Share or Copy buttons.
Data Collection
We do NOT collect, receive, transmit, or share:
- Personal information
- Your location
- Camera images or video
- Heart-rate or other physiological measurements
- Device identifiers
- Usage analytics or crash telemetry
- Browsing history
Some information is saved on your own device so the app is useful between sessions — see On-Device Storage below. That data stays on your device and is never uploaded.
Nothing is sent automatically: The app performs all content lookup and all calculations on your device and never sends your data to us — there is no server behind it. Two deliberate exceptions are under your control: if you tap Share or Copy on a position, trip plan, or checklist, your device passes that text to whatever app or contact you pick; and if you use the web version rather than the iPhone app, your browser downloads and updates the app's own files from the site hosting it.
On-Device Storage
The application saves the following on your device, so your settings and work persist between sessions:
- Theme preference (4 adaptive display modes) and Survival Mode setting
- Unit system preference (imperial/metric)
- Bookmarked content entries
- Pace calibration setting
- Packing checklists and their progress
- Waypoints you save, including their coordinates
- Your check-in interval and the emergency plan you write for it — this is free text, so it holds whatever you type into it, which may include names, routes, or phone numbers
- Trip plans you create
- Survival scenario progress
- Any photos you attach to a waypoint (stored in the app's local database)
This data never leaves your device. You can erase all of it at any time by deleting the app, or item by item within the app.
Location Data
Several tools can use your device's GPS location: the compass and waypoint navigator, the daylight and sun-position estimators, the UV exposure estimator, and the check-in timer. While the app is open it also keeps a live position readout in the header, so location updates continuously during a session rather than only at the moment you open a tool.
- Location is used on your device only, to show your position or perform the calculation you asked for
- It is never transmitted to us or to any third party — there is no server to receive it
- Most uses are transient: a reading is displayed, replaced by the next one, and never written to storage
- Exception: if you deliberately save a waypoint, its coordinates are stored on your device until you delete that waypoint
- If you tap Share or Copy on your position, you are choosing to hand those coordinates to another app — that is the one way location leaves this app, and only at your direction
Location Permission: Location is optional and you may deny it. Some tools then accept manual latitude/longitude entry — the Daylight Estimator, for example — while others, such as the header position readout, need a real fix and will simply show no position.
Camera
The app uses the camera for three features, and only while you are using them:
- Waypoint photos — when you add a photo to a saved waypoint, your device opens its normal camera or picker sheet. The image you take or choose is saved on your device, in the app's local database, until you delete it.
- Heart-rate monitor — measures your pulse optically by detecting colour changes when your fingertip covers the lens. This requires camera access.
- SOS signal beacon — flashes your device's flashlight (torch) in an SOS pattern. On iPhone the app drives the flashlight directly as hardware, which normally involves no camera prompt; where that direct path is unavailable it reaches the torch through the camera interface instead. No image is captured either way.
Live camera frames are never recorded: For the heart-rate monitor and the SOS beacon, frames are analysed in memory as they arrive and immediately discarded — no photo or video is written, and the camera is released as soon as you leave the feature. The only images this app keeps are the waypoint photos you deliberately attach, and they stay on your device.
The heart-rate reading is an estimate for field awareness only. It is not a medical device and is not written to Apple Health. It is not saved, though if you choose to carry a reading into the triage tool it is passed along for that session.
Motion & Orientation Sensors
The step tracker, compass, slope/avalanche inclinometer, and sun tracker read your device's motion and orientation sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer). Your device may ask your permission the first time.
These readings are used live on your device to display a heading, angle, or step count. They are not recorded and not transmitted. Your step count is not written to Apple Health.
Permissions
Permissions the app MAY request (each optional, each only for the feature named):
- Location — navigation, sun/daylight, UV, and turnaround tools
- Camera — waypoint photos, the optical heart-rate monitor, and the SOS flashlight beacon
- Motion & orientation — step tracker, compass, inclinometer, sun tracker
Permissions the app explicitly DOES NOT request:
- Microphone
- Contacts
- Photo library
- Apple Health / HealthKit
- Push notifications
Attaching a photo to a waypoint uses your device's standard photo picker. The app receives only the single image you choose — it never gains access to your photo library.
Third-Party Services
Wilderness Survival Companion does not use any third-party services. There are no analytics, advertising, tracking, or data-sharing integrations of any kind, and no third-party SDKs that collect data.
Children's Privacy
This is a general-audience educational app. We do not collect any information from any user, including children under 13. The app is COPPA-compliant by design — there is no data collection mechanism.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected in the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the application after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact
If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at:
Email: privacy@martinapps.dev
Wilderness Survival Companion is published by Martin Apps LLC, an Alabama limited liability company. Company information is available at martinapps.dev.