Roamix is a private travel journal that runs on your iPhone. It reads your photos, location, and Health workouts to rebuild your trips — and using it sends none of that to us, because there is no “us” server to send it to. Maps, place names and road routes come from Apple Maps, so the map areas and coordinates involved go to Apple. Roamix has no account, shows no ads, and never tracks you. The one exception is a printed plaque, if you choose to order one: then we receive what we need to make it and post it to you, and nothing more. Everything below spells that out.
Who this policy is from
Roamix is an independent app made by Maxwell Commer. This policy explains what the app does with information on your device. It applies to the Roamix iOS app and to the plaques you can order from it, and nothing else.
If anything here is unclear, please write to: roamix@maxwellcommer.com
The one thing to know: using Roamix sends us nothing
Roamix has no servers, no backend, and no company database. Using the app — importing, replaying, sharing a reel, everything it does — never sends your personal information to us, because it never leaves your device to reach us in the first place. The only time we receive anything is when you order a plaque, and only what that order needs; it is described in full under “Ordering a plaque”. “Tracking” is answered “No” in App Store terms, and always will be.
There is no sign-up and no account. You do not create a profile, and we do not know who you are.
What Roamix reads on your device
To turn your real trips into maps and flythroughs, Roamix asks your permission to read a few things. Each is used only on your iPhone, and only for the feature it powers:
- Photos — with your permission, Roamix uses each photo’s date and place (its EXIF metadata) to build trips and put the photo on your travel map, and shows the photo from your library. Roamix keeps a reference to each photo in your library, never a copy, and does not upload your photos anywhere.
- Location — Roamix uses your location to record a trip you are taking right now. If you turn on automatic trip tracking, it also uses your location in the background so it can quietly detect and map getaways without you pressing a button. Background location is entirely optional and off until you enable it.
- Health — with your permission, Roamix reads your workout routes (for example a run, walk, or ride) and adds them to trips you already have, so it can replay the paths you actually travelled. Workouts you import from Apple Health stay on this iPhone. They are not synced to iCloud, even when iCloud sync is on.
- Google Timeline export — read through the file picker when you choose it, and only then. Roamix builds your trips from it on your iPhone; the file itself is not copied.
- Trips you record — when you record a live trip, the route you travel is saved on your device as part of that trip.
You are always free to grant only some of these and skip the rest — Roamix still works with whatever you choose to share, and simply leaves out the features that need what you didn’t.
Where your information lives
Everything Roamix builds — your trips, routes, place names, photo references, stats, and the places you ask it to keep out of your trips — is stored locally on your device using Apple’s on-device database. Because there is no Roamix server, none of it is transmitted to us or to any third party for our benefit — unless you order a plaque, and then only the parts of one trip that the plaque is made from.
Places you keep out of your trips (home, work, a parent’s house) are hidden, not erased: Roamix sets the trips, routes, places and photos inside them aside on your device, and brings them back if you remove or shrink the place. Delete all data removes them for good.
Two things leave the device as you use Roamix, and both go to Apple rather than to us: your own private iCloud, if sync is on, and the map areas and coordinates Roamix asks Apple Maps about. A third leaves only if you order a plaque. All three are described below.
Optional iCloud sync
If you are signed in to iCloud, Roamix keeps your trips, and the places you keep out of them, in sync across your own Apple devices using CloudKit and your private iCloud container (iCloud.com.roamix.app). Sync is on by default, and you can switch it off in Roamix’s Settings › iCloud sync. This is your personal, Apple-operated iCloud storage, tied to your Apple Account — the same place your other iCloud data lives. Workouts you import from Apple Health are not synced; they stay on this iPhone.
This matters for your privacy: even with sync on, your data goes only to your own private iCloud, governed by Apple’s iCloud terms and privacy policy. Maxwell Commer has no access to your private iCloud database and receives nothing from it. If you would rather not sync, switch off iCloud sync in Roamix’s Settings, turn iCloud off for Roamix in the system Settings app, or simply not use iCloud.
Place names and routes come from Apple Maps
Roamix draws its maps with Apple Maps (MapKit), the mapping service built into iOS. When you view a map, MapKit loads that area from Apple. Three things also ask Apple a question while a trip is being built: turning a coordinate into a place name, finding what is at a stop so the pin gets the right mark, and snapping a drive or a walk onto the real road. Each sends the coordinates involved to Apple, and Apple sends back a name or a route.
Those lookups happen only while Roamix is reading a trip in, as a small number of paced requests rather than a live feed, and not at all when you are offline — a trip simply keeps its coordinates and is named later. Apple handles map requests as the map provider, under Apple’s own terms and privacy policy. Nothing goes to Maxwell Commer; there is no Roamix server to send it to, and no identity is attached, because Roamix doesn’t have one for you.
If you search for a place to keep out of your trips, the words you type go to Apple Maps the same way, to get places back. Nothing else you do in that screen leaves your device.
Map data is © Apple and its data providers, and is shown with the attribution Apple requires.
Ordering a plaque
Roamix can make a printed plaque of one of your trips. Ordering one is the only thing in Roamix that sends information about you to us. Previewing a plaque, turning it around and trying colours all happen on your iPhone and send nothing.
What the app sends when you tap Order. Tapping “Order” sends these to us straight away, before you pay, through Apple’s iCloud (CloudKit), into a database for Roamix orders that only the maker, and the iCloud account that placed the order, can read:
- an order code — a random string that ties your order to your payment, and nothing else;
- the plaque’s design: its title, subtitle, colour and map scope, and the words and figures printed on it — the trip’s dates and its distance and number of stops;
- when you tapped Order, the plaque’s price and size, and the version of Roamix you ordered from;
- the trip’s route, rounded to about 80 metres, and the places you stayed and the ends of any flights, rounded to about 800 metres. The first and last kilometre of each road line is cut off. It carries no GPS timestamps and no times of day;
- the two files the plaque is printed from, and a preview picture of it;
- an identifier for your iCloud account, which Apple attaches to the order. It is unique to Roamix and does not tell us your name or Apple Account; we use it only to keep your order together.
Rounded is not the same as anonymous: a road rounded to 80 metres still runs past what it ran past. That is why we keep it only as long as the plaque needs it (below).
Nothing else from your library goes with it: no photos, no notes, no Health data, no other trips, no location history. To send it, your iPhone must be signed in to iCloud.
What you give at checkout. Payment happens on Stripe’s checkout page, which opens in a Safari sheet over the app. There you pay by card or Apple Pay, and enter your name, email address, shipping address and, when Stripe asks for it, a billing address. Stripe passes us your name, email address, shipping address and billing address so we can post the plaque and write to you about it. Your card details go to Stripe. Stripe shows us the card’s brand, last 4 digits and expiry date, but we never see your full card number.
Who receives it, and why:
- Apple (iCloud / CloudKit) stores the order details above until we delete them, under Apple’s iCloud terms and privacy policy.
- Stripe takes your payment, works out sales tax, sends your receipt, and keeps the payment record, under Stripe’s own privacy policy. Stripe keeps some payment records for as long as financial law requires it to, even after we have deleted ours.
- Maxwell Commer, who makes each plaque by hand, uses all of it to make, pack, post and support your plaque, and for nothing else.
- Pirate Ship and the US Postal Service receive your name and shipping address to print the label and deliver the parcel. Pirate Ship also receives your email address and emails you the tracking number. Pirate Ship keeps a record of labels it has printed.
- Apple (iCloud Mail) carries the emails between us — any message you send, and our replies — because our support address is hosted by iCloud Mail.
We don’t sell any of it, share it for advertising, or use it to profile you. We don’t add you to a mailing list; we email you only about your order.
How long we keep it.
- An order you don’t pay for is deleted after 30 days.
- The design, route sketch and print files are deleted 90 days after your plaque ships, with the preview picture. That covers the time to report a problem and get a replacement.
- The record of the sale — name, addresses, what you paid — is kept for 7 years for tax, then deleted.
- Our emails with you: kept for the same 7 years, then deleted.
Your choices. You can ask us at any time to show you, correct or delete what your order sent us: write to roamix@maxwellcommer.com with your order code. If your plaque hasn’t shipped yet, we’ll ask whether you’d like us to finish and ship it first or cancel it now with a full refund, then delete it. If it has shipped, we delete the design, route sketch and print files straight away. The sale record is kept only as long as tax law requires. We answer within 30 days, usually much sooner. If you never order a plaque, none of this ever applies to you.
No ads, no tracking, no selling
Roamix contains no advertising, no analytics SDKs, no third-party trackers, and no “identifier for advertisers.” We do not build a profile of you, follow you across apps or websites, or sell any information about you, ever. If you order a plaque, we pass your name, email and address to the companies that take your payment and carry the parcel, for that alone — never to anyone for advertising or for their own use.
If you chose to share analytics with app developers in iOS Settings, Apple may send us anonymous crash reports.
Children’s privacy
Roamix is a general-audience app and is not directed at children. Using Roamix collects no personal information from anyone, so it collects none from children. You must be 18 or older to order a plaque. If we learn that someone under 18 has placed an order, we cancel it, refund it and delete what it sent. If you are a parent or guardian and have questions, please get in touch at the address below.
You’re in control of every permission
You can review or revoke any permission you granted at any time — Roamix will keep working, minus the features that relied on it:
- Photos — Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos › Roamix (or Settings › Apps › Roamix › Photos).
- Location — Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Roamix, where you can switch between “While Using,” “Always,” or “Never.”
- Health — open the Health app › Sharing › Apps › Roamix to change what Roamix may read.
- iCloud sync — switch it off in Roamix’s own Settings › iCloud sync, or in Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Saved to iCloud.
- Automatic trip tracking — switch it off any time inside Roamix’s own Settings.
Deleting your information
Because your data lives on your device, you can remove it yourself. Deleting a trip inside Roamix removes it from the app. Delete all data erases your trips and places from this iPhone and from your iCloud, and your settings and the list of plaques you ordered from this iPhone. It doesn’t cancel an order or delete what an order sent us; for that, write to us (below). Deleting the Roamix app removes its on-device store entirely. If you had iCloud sync on, you can also delete Roamix’s data from iCloud in Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Account Storage.
If you ordered a plaque, you can ask us to delete what the order sent us at any time by writing to roamix@maxwellcommer.com. If your plaque hasn’t shipped yet, we’ll ask whether you’d like us to finish and ship it first or cancel it now with a full refund, then delete it. If it has shipped, we delete the design, route sketch and print files straight away. The record of the sale — name, addresses, what you paid — is kept for 7 years for tax, then deleted.
Your rights over your information
Privacy laws such as the EU and UK GDPR and California’s CCPA/CPRA give you rights over personal information a company holds about you — to know what it has, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and not to be discriminated against for asking.
If you have never ordered a plaque, Roamix holds nothing about you, anywhere. There is no server, no account, and no database in Maxwell Commer’s hands, so there is no file to disclose, export, correct, or erase — and no request queue standing between you and your own data. In practice your rights are exercised directly, on your device, at any moment and without asking permission:
- Access and portability — everything Roamix knows is visible in the app itself, and the trips it is built from are your own photos, your own Health workouts, and an export you requested from Google. Roamix adds no hidden record. You can also export your own trips, places and photo references to a file from Settings › Export your data; the file goes only where you choose to send it.
- Correction — Roamix keeps no profile or account, and holds contact details only if you have ordered a plaque. A trip that came in wrong can be removed and re-imported from the source it was built from.
- Erasure — delete a trip to remove it, or delete the app to remove its store entirely. Delete all data, in Roamix’s Settings, erases your trips and places from this iPhone and your iCloud, and your settings and plaque order list from this iPhone.
- Objection and restriction — every source is opt-in. Revoke Photos, Location, or Health at any time in iOS Settings and Roamix simply stops reading that source.
- Plaque orders — if you have ordered one, write to roamix@maxwellcommer.com to see a copy of everything the order sent us, to correct it, or to delete it. We answer within 30 days, usually much sooner, and we never treat you differently for asking.
We do not and cannot sell or share your personal information, and Roamix does not process it for advertising or profiling. Under the CCPA there is no “sale” or “sharing” to opt out of: the only personal information we ever receive is a plaque order’s, and it goes only to the companies that store the order, process the payment and carry the parcel, as our service providers. Roamix doesn’t track you across apps or sites, so Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track signals change nothing.
If you are in the EU or UK and want to raise something formally, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. We would rather you wrote to us first — the address is at the bottom of this page.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will ship with a new effective date at the top, in the app and on the web. This version is published at https://maxwellcommer-hub.github.io/roamix/1.2/privacy, and the Terms of Service at https://maxwellcommer-hub.github.io/roamix/1.2/terms. Roamix has no way to contact most people who use it, so the app always carries the version that applies to it, under Settings › Legal. If you have an order open when the policy changes in a way that affects it, we will email you.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or feedback about privacy are always welcome: roamix@maxwellcommer.com