Privacy Policy
Last updated October 26, 2026
Whumpf shows avalanche and weather forecasts for the backcountry and helps you leave a trip plan with people you trust. There are no accounts, no advertising, no analytics, and no tracking. Most of what the app knows about you never leaves your phone.
The short version
- You can use the whole forecast side of the app without giving us anything.
- Observations never pass through our servers. You file them on your avalanche center's own form, by email from your own mail app, or keep them as a PDF.
- A trip plan goes to our server only when you send it, so your contacts can see it and be emailed and called if you're late. It is deleted seven days after the trip closes.
- If you allow notifications, our server keeps an anonymous device token and the list of zones you get alerts for, so it can send them.
- We do not sell data, share it with advertisers, or use it to build a profile of you. There are no third-party analytics or advertising SDKs in the app.
What stays on your device
- Your saved zones and app settings.
- Cached forecasts and weather observations, so the app works when you lose service.
- Your observations, including drafts, photos and PDFs, until you file or delete them.
- Your observer details (name, email, optional phone) so you don't retype them for each observation.
- Your trip profile: vehicle, gear, clothing, emergency contacts, a description and photo, and any medical notes you choose to add. Medical notes, date of birth and home address are held in the device's secure storage (the iOS Keychain). None of this leaves the phone unless you send a trip plan.
- Your last location fix, if you turn on the nearest-zone feature (see Location).
What we send, and where
| Trip plans | When you send a trip plan, the details you entered (where you're going and parked, your times, the party, vehicle, gear, clothing, photo, satellite messenger link and any medical notes you included) and the contacts you chose (name, email, phone) are stored on our server. We use them to show your contacts the trip page, email them the plan when you send it (unless you choose "Only if I'm late"), and email and call them if you haven't checked in by your worry-by time. What happens to the plan is recorded with it: when messages and calls go out, when a contact opens the page, and what a contact does there (extending the time, noting they've heard from you, or noting a search has started). |
|---|---|
| Overdue calls | The automated call to your contacts is placed through our phone provider using the number you entered for them. The call reads a short message about your trip and asks them to press 1 to confirm they got it. Whether the call was answered and confirmed is recorded with the plan. |
| Texts | Whumpf texts a contact only after they ask: by texting the alert line, or pressing 2 during an overdue call; they then get updates by text about that trip until it closes. Calling the alert line back and pressing 2 sends the link once. Each text has the state of the trip and that contact's link to the trip page. Replying STOP turns texts off. Message and data rates may apply. Phone numbers are used only for your trips and never for marketing. We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. Texting terms are in the Terms of Service. |
| Trip tracking | If you turn on location sharing for a trip, your position is sent to our server while that trip is open, and shown to the contacts holding that trip's link. It stops when you check in or cancel, and the trail is deleted with the trip plan. It is off unless you turn it on for that trip. |
| Notifications | If you allow notifications, the server stores an anonymous device token, the zones you've chosen alerts for, and your alert settings. It uses them to send your morning forecast alerts, avalanche warnings, and National Weather Service alerts you've turned on, and to refresh your saved zones in the background. It also records which weather alerts it has already sent, so you don't get one twice. None of this is linked to a name, email or account. |
| Forecast requests | To show forecasts and weather, the app asks our server for the zones you look at. These requests carry no personal information. |
| Nothing else | The app makes no other outbound requests carrying personal information. |
Observations
An observation you write stays on your phone until you file it, and you choose how:
- On your center's own form. Whumpf opens your avalanche center's public observation form inside the app and fills it in with what you wrote. Nothing is sent until you tap the center's own Submit button, and then it goes to that center (and the National Avalanche Center, which runs most centers' forms) under their policies.
- By email. Whumpf opens your mail app with the observation, a PDF and your photos addressed to the center. It is sent from your email account, not through us.
- As a PDF you keep or share yourself.
Whether your name is shown publicly is your choice on the center's form. Our servers never receive your observations.
Location
Location is used four ways, all of them optional:
- Setting a point. When you tap "Use current location", the app reads your position once to fill in the coordinates and elevation of an observation. You can type coordinates or pick the spot on a map instead.
- Trip plans. A trailhead location you choose is included in the plan you send.
- Nearest zone, only if you turn it on. With location access set to Always, the app notices when you've moved a significant distance and works out the nearest avalanche zone, so it can show that zone on the home screen and keep its forecast fresh on your phone. Your coordinates stay on the phone. If you turn on alerts for the nearest zone, only that zone's name goes to our server, with the rest of your alert zones.
- Trip tracking, only if you turn it on for a trip. The app records your position while that trip is open and sends it to our server, so the contacts you chose can see where you are and which way you were heading. It is off unless you switch it on for that specific trip, it does not stay on between trips, and it stops when you check in or cancel. Only people holding that trip's link can see it, and the trail is deleted with the trip plan. This is the only time your position leaves your phone.
Photos and camera
Photos are used only where you add them: attached to an observation, or as a photo in your trip profile. The app does not browse your library on its own.
Your contacts' information
When you add someone as a trip contact, you're giving us their name, phone number and, if you add one, their email, so Whumpf can reach them about your trip. Please only add people who have agreed to be your contact. We use their details only for the trips you add them to, and they are deleted with each trip plan.
How long things are kept
- Trip plans are deleted seven days after the trip closes, including the contacts, the shared page, any photo, the location trail and the record of messages and calls. The link stops working at the same time. A plan nobody closes expires 72 hours after its worry-by time and is deleted seven days after that.
- Notification data (device token, alert zones and settings) is kept while the token is valid. Turning notifications off or deleting the app stops it being used; email us to have it removed.
- On-device data stays until you delete it or remove the app.
- Observations you file are held by the avalanche center (and the National Avalanche Center) under their own policies.
Service providers
- Supabase hosts the backend, the forecast cache, notification data and trip plan records.
- Deno Deploy serves the trip page your contacts open, these pages, and the overdue call's responses.
- Resend sends trip plan emails to the contacts you choose.
- Twilio places the automated overdue calls to the contacts you choose, and sends the texts a contact asks for.
- Expo and Apple deliver push notifications.
- The National Avalanche Center, NOAA/NWS, Synoptic Data and NRCS SNOTEL are the sources for forecast and weather information shown in the app.
Each provider handles data under its own terms, only to provide its part of the service.
The website
whumpf.app is a plain information site. It sets no tracking cookies and runs no analytics. It loads its fonts from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when you visit, and its host may log errors when a page fails to load.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their information.
Your choices
- Decline any permission and keep using the forecast features.
- Switch alerts off per zone, or turn notifications off in iOS Settings.
- Turn off the nearest-zone feature, or set location access to Never or While Using.
- Cancel a trip plan at any time, which closes it and starts the deletion window.
- Clear saved observer and trip details from within the app.
- Email kai@kaiconsulting.ai to ask what is held about you or to request deletion. That includes trip contacts who want their details removed.
Safety note
Whumpf shows each avalanche center's forecast as the center publishes it. It does not replace the source forecast. It contacts the people you choose at the times you set, but it does not monitor your safety and never contacts rescuers itself. Always read the original forecast from your local avalanche center before making travel decisions. See the Terms of Use.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that affects what we collect, the date above changes and the new version appears here.