Privacy policy

Last updated 3 November 2026

Bikompanion shows bike-share availability and bike parking on a map, and lets riders rate the bikes they use. It has no accounts and no ads. This policy covers the Android app, the desktop app and the web app at bikompanion.com.

Who is responsible

Bikompanion is run by Tiago Araujo, who is the controller of the data described here. For anything about your data, email [email protected].

Bike ratings

The first time you rate a bike, the app signs in to Firebase anonymously. That gives this installation a random ID that isn't linked to your name, email, phone number or advertising ID. Each rating stores:

• that random ID
• the bike-share network and the bike number
• whether the rating was good or bad, whether the bike was electric, and any issues you ticked
• when you rated it
• how the network was chosen: from your location, from the map, or picked by hand

Ratings never include your location. Each bike's combined score (how many ratings it has, how many were good, and which issues were reported) is public, so other riders can see it. Only your installation can read the individual ratings it made. The app also stores, for each bike, when you last rated it, so the same bike can't be rated again within five minutes.

We use this to show bike scores, relying on our legitimate interest in running the rating service. Ratings are kept until you ask us to delete them or the service shuts down.

Your location

If you allow it, the app uses your location on your device to center the map and to suggest the network you're in. Your location is never sent to us or stored with your ratings. You can turn location access off at any time in your device or browser settings, and the map still works.

Services that see the map you look at

To draw the map, the app loads data from the services below. Like any website, each one receives your IP address and the area of the map being loaded, which can reveal roughly where you are looking. They handle that under their own privacy policies.

• CARTO, for the map tiles
• CityBikes, for station availability
• The bike-share operators' public GBFS feeds, for station availability: Bicing (publicbikesystem.net) and nextbike
• Public Overpass API servers, for bike parking: overpass-api.de, overpass.private.coffee and overpass.kumi.systems

Firebase

Ratings and the anonymous sign-in are handled by Google Firebase (Realtime Database and Authentication), which processes them for us. The database is hosted in the European Union (Belgium). Firebase Authentication may also process your IP address when the app signs in. See Firebase's privacy information.

Usage statistics and crash reports

The Android app and the web app send usage statistics to Google Analytics for Firebase, and the Android app sends crash reports to Firebase Crashlytics. The desktop app sends neither. They record:

• which screens you open, and the theme, language and map layer you choose
• when you start or cancel watching a station, and whether a bike turned up or the watch ran out, with the bike-share network and bike type but not which station
• when you rate a bike, with the network, whether the rating was good or bad, whether the bike was electric, the issues you ticked and how the network was chosen, but not the bike number
• when you open a shared station link or a watch notification
• a random ID for this installation or browser, separate from the one your ratings use, plus the app version, device model, operating system and language
• your approximate location (country, region and city). On the web this is worked out by our host, Cloudflare, from your IP address, and your IP address isn't passed on to Google.
• for a crash, what the app was doing when it crashed and when it happened

We use this to find and fix crashes and to see which features are used, relying on our legitimate interest in keeping the app working. Google processes it for us, and may process it outside the European Union under the EU's standard contractual clauses. Usage statistics are kept for up to 14 months and crash reports for 90 days. On the web, the random ID is kept in your browser's storage, and clearing the site's data removes it. You can object at any time by emailing us.

Stored only on your device

Your settings, the stations you're watching, and ratings waiting to be sent stay on your device or in your browser's storage. They're never sent to us, apart from the usage statistics described above, which don't say which station you're watching. Notifications about watched stations are created on your device. Uninstalling the app, or clearing the site's data in your browser, removes all of it.

Deleting your ratings

Because ratings are tied only to a random ID, we can't find yours without it. In the app, open Settings, then About, and tap "Delete my ratings". That writes an email to us with your installation's ID, and we'll delete every rating made with it within 30 days. Do this before you uninstall the app or clear its data, because the ID is lost after that. You can also email [email protected] directly.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, including under the GDPR, you can ask to access, correct or delete your data, to restrict or object to how it's used, and to get a copy of it. Email us to do any of these. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

Bikompanion isn't aimed at children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be published here with a new date.