Privacy Policy
Last updated: 11 November 2026
In short
The app has no accounts and no sign-up. Your location, the places you save and the neighbourhoods you look at never reach our server; Apple, which draws the maps, receives only the map area you look at. Our server receives only the stops and stations whose live information you ask for, what the notifications and lock screen countdowns you turn on need, and the feedback you choose to give. The setup at first launch asks for the live information of the stops and stations it suggests or you pick, like any other request: our server sees their codes, never your location, and Metro's timetables are asked for the whole network, naming no station. On iPhone, adding a stop from its page also starts its lock screen countdown when "Show on the lock screen" is on; you can turn it on or off before adding the stop. The setup starts none.
Data controller
This policy covers the İstanbul Şimdi app and the server that serves it. The data controller is the developer who publishes the app in the app stores, whose identity is shown as the developer (seller) on the app's store page. You can reach us at support@stackbase.space.
What stays on your phone
Your location is used on your phone: to find the stops and stations near you, to save your home or work from where you are, to plan journeys and, during a stop alarm, to tell you where to get off. While a stop alarm is on it is also used in the background, only for as long as the alarm runs. Once your home is saved, the home screen works out tonight's last connection home by itself, from your phone's last known position. Your location is never sent to our server.
The places you save (home, work), the places you last searched for, the list of stops and stations you follow, your settings and the downloaded city files are kept only on your phone and are deleted with the app. What a notification or countdown sends to our server is set out below.
The home screen widget (iPhone) keeps the name, estimates and look of the home screen's Leave Now stop on your phone, in a space the app shares with the widget. While the app is closed it asks for that stop's live information again as often as iOS allows; as with every other live information request, only the stop's code reaches our server.
What reaches our server
Live information: when you ask for a stop's, station's or line's live information, our server sees only which one you asked about, not where you are. The setup at first launch asks in the same way for the stops and stations it suggests or you pick: our server sees their codes, never your location. Metro's timetables are asked for the whole network, so those requests name no station. Requests pass through Cloudflare, which also runs our server. From version 1.1, every request also carries the app's version and build number and your phone's platform (iOS or Android), so that our server can keep older versions working; these identify no one.
"Leave now" notifications ("Remind me on a schedule"): turning one on records your phone's notification token, its platform (the phone's operating system), the stop, the lines, your walk, the days, the time window and the language. Following a Metro station records the stations, whether you follow escalators, the language, the notification token and the platform. Line announcements ("Tell me about line announcements") record the stops you follow and their lines, the language, the notification token and the platform. The app renews these records each time it starts. Turning the notification off deletes its record; so do 30 days without renewal and the notification service rejecting the token.
Lock screen countdown (iPhone): starting one, as you add a stop from its page or from the stop's card, records the countdown's own notification token, the stop, the lines, your walk, the bus it follows and what it shows, so that it stays up to date while the app is closed. Adding a stop from its page starts one only when "Show on the lock screen" is on; you can turn it on or off before adding the stop. The setup at first launch starts no countdown. The record is deleted when the countdown ends: when you stop it or unfollow the stop, a little after the bus has come, and after eight hours at most.
Wait-for-next feedback: your yes or no is recorded with the station, the vehicle and when the advice was given. It is kept without a time limit and identifies neither you nor your phone.
None of these records holds your name, address, location or an account. To limit abuse, our server counts your IP address in its memory only and never stores it. Cloudflare, which requests pass through, also limits how often one address may send registrations, as part of its network's security.
How data is collected, and on what grounds
Data is collected through the app, automatically, and only when you use a feature.
Live information requests, the notifications you turn on and the lock screen countdowns are processed to provide the service you ask for. The legal ground is that this is necessary to set up and perform that service, a contract (Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law, KVKK, Article 5(2)(c)).
Counting IP addresses in memory and reviewing feedback in aggregate protect the service from abuse and improve it. The legal ground is our legitimate interest, provided it does not harm your fundamental rights and freedoms (KVKK Article 5(2)(f)).
The data is used for no other purpose, is never sold and is not used for marketing.
Transfers abroad
Our server and some of our service providers may be outside Turkey. What reaches our server (live information requests, and the notification and countdown records) may be processed on that server and by these providers: Cloudflare, which runs our server, keeps its records and carries its requests (hosting, storage, network and security), and Apple and Google, which deliver notifications.
The maps in the app (the live map of stops and lines, and the map of a place you open in Mahalle Karnesi or Pazar Nerede) are drawn by Apple Maps: their map images load from Apple's servers, so Apple receives the map area you look at for those requests and handles them under its own privacy policy. Your location dot on the map comes from your phone's location services; your location does not reach our server.
Data is transferred only to provide the service you ask for, and we work only with providers that protect it with safeguards equal to those in this policy. If you turn on no notification and start no lock screen countdown, our server keeps no record for you; on iPhone, adding a stop from its page starts its countdown only when "Show on the lock screen" is on, and the setup at first launch starts none.
Ads
In the free version the ads are shown by Google's AdMob service. The app asks for non-personalised ads: an ad is not chosen from your history or interests. The app asks for no tracking permission on iOS and no advertising ID permission on Android. Your location is never given to the ad network, and for ad-free subscribers the ad software never starts.
To show an ad, cap how often it appears, count impressions and prevent fraud, Google collects your IP address (from which a general location can be inferred), technical information about the device and the app, and how you interact with the ad, and may process them abroad. Google processes this data under its own responsibility; how it uses it is described in its own privacy policy.
Your phone's location, the places you save and the stops you look at are never given to the ad network. With the ad-free subscription no ad is loaded and the ad software does not start.
In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google's consent form asks for your choice before any ad is shown, and Settings > Membership > Ad privacy options changes it whenever you like.
Purchases
The ad-free subscription is bought through the App Store or Google Play, and we never see your payment details. Its status is checked with the store and kept on your phone; it is not sent to our server.
Notifications
Notifications from our server, and the lock screen countdown's updates, arrive through Apple's and Google's notification services. The stop alarm, the stop screen's "Remind me when to leave" reminder, the journey planner's "Remind me before I leave" reminder and Last Connection Home reminders are set on your phone, and nothing reaches our server for them.
Your rights and contact
Under Article 11 of KVKK you have the right to learn whether your personal data is processed and, if so, to ask about it; to learn the purpose of processing and whether the data is used for it; to know who it is transferred to in Turkey or abroad; to ask for it to be corrected if it is incomplete or wrong, or to be deleted or destroyed, and for those it was transferred to to be told; to object to a result against you that comes solely from automated analysis; and to claim compensation for damage caused by unlawful processing.
Write to support@stackbase.space with requests and questions; we answer within 30 days at most. If you find the answer insufficient, you can complain to Turkey's Personal Data Protection Board. If you live in the European Union, you can also write to the same address about your rights under its data protection rules.
As the records on our server are tied to no account, the quickest way to delete them is to turn the notifications and countdowns off in the app.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published in the app and the date at the top is updated.