Tentsite

Privacy statement

Updated: 8 November 2026

This statement covers the Tentsite app for Android and iPhone and the website tentsite.ca. Tentsite is an independent project run from Canada. Questions, requests and complaints go to [email protected].

In short

What stays on your device

The app keeps these on your phone, and nowhere else: the trips you plan and save, the offline maps you download, the campsites and reports it has downloaded, reports and photos you haven't shared yet, and your settings. On tentsite.ca, the trip you are planning and your saved trips are kept in your browser's own storage. Uninstalling the app, or clearing the site's data in your browser, removes them.

Your location

The app asks to use your location to show where you are on the map, to record where each photo in a report is taken, and to place a hazard you report where you are. It uses it only while you are using the app — never in the background — and it does not send it to us, except as part of a report you share (below). On Android, the app gets your location through Google Play services, which Google runs under its own privacy policy; on the iPhone, from the phone itself (Apple's Core Location).

When you add a photo from your phone's gallery, the app reads where the photo was taken (the app asks for permission to see photo locations for this) so the photo can be placed on the campsite.

Your account

Signing in needs only your email address: we email you a one-time code, and there is no password. Supabase handles sign-in; the code email goes out through IONOS's mail service. We keep your email address, when your account was made, and which version of the contributor terms you agreed to and when. The terms — what you give Tentsite when you share, and what it promises you — are at tentsite.ca/terms.

Moderators see an account number with each report, not your email address. We use your email only to sign you in, and to answer you if you write to us.

When you share a report

A report holds the campsite, how you got there (paddling or hiking), the date you were there, your answers about the site, and your photos with their captions. Each photo carries the position where it was taken, how precise that position was, which way the camera faced, and when it was taken.

Before anything leaves your phone, each photo is re-saved, which removes all of its hidden details (its "EXIF" data, such as the phone's make and model) and makes it smaller.

A moderator checks every report before anyone else can see it. Once published, everyone can see the report, its photos and their positions, but not your name or email address, and only the month of your visit and of each photo, not the day. Reports are published on tentsite.ca and in the app.

If you add a campsite that isn't on the map, its position and name go with it. If you mark a report as helpful or still accurate, or flag a problem with one, that is kept with your account so you can change it and so it counts once; others see only the totals.

When you report a hazard

A hazard report — a tree down across a trail, a flooded landing — holds what it is (your answers to a few questions and an optional note), how serious it is, where you were when you reported it and how precise that position was, the time you reported it, and up to two photos, each with where and when it was taken. Photos are re-saved before they leave your phone, as a report's are.

A moderator checks every hazard before anyone else can see it. Once approved, everyone can see it, its photos and its position, and the day it was reported (a hazard's day matters to people heading there), but not your name or email address. Anyone signed in can mark a hazard as gone; that is kept with their account, and others see only that it's gone.

The park or outfitter whose area it is may answer it ("on it", or "cleared", which takes it off the map). Their answer shows on the hazard with the organisation's name and the day — never the name or email of the person who wrote it. If you answer hazards for an organisation, your account's email is kept so a moderator can add you to it, and each answer is kept with your account.

Map tiles and downloads

To draw the map when you are online, your device asks OpenFreeMap for map tiles, as any web map does; OpenFreeMap sees your device's internet address and the area being shown. Offline maps are downloaded from our storage at Backblaze. Like any internet service, these keep ordinary technical logs (addresses and times of requests) for a short while.

tentsite.ca

The website needs no account and sets no cookies. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which handles every request to it and keeps ordinary technical logs under its own privacy policy. The reports and campsites it shows come from our database at Supabase.

A shared trip link carries the trip itself in the part of the link after the "#". Browsers never send that part to any server, so a shared trip is not stored anywhere by us — but anyone you send the link to can see the trip. Trip PDFs are made in your browser or on your phone.

Who else handles data

Only the services that run Tentsite for us: Supabase (database and sign-in, Canadian region), IONOS (sending the sign-in code email), Backblaze (photos and map downloads, Canadian region), Cloudflare (hosting tentsite.ca, and passing mail sent to [email protected] on to us), OpenFreeMap (map tiles) and Google Play services (location on Android). On the iPhone, your sign-in is kept in the phone's Keychain, on that phone only; reports waiting to be shared may be sent while the app is in the background. We don't sell, rent or trade personal information, and we don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. We would disclose information only if the law required it.

How long we keep it

Your account and email address are kept until you delete your account. Reports, hazards and photos you share are kept, under the licence you gave when you shared them, and stay published while a moderator judges them useful to other campers. A report or hazard a moderator returns or takes down is kept privately for moderation records; a hazard is shown while it's current and kept privately once it's gone. Technical logs at our service providers are kept only as long as their own policies say.

Deleting your account

In the app: Maps & data → Account → Delete my account…. Your account and email address are deleted at once, with your votes and flags. The reports, hazards and photos you shared stay on Tentsite — published, or waiting for a moderator — without any link to you, under the licence you gave when you shared them. Your reports stay on your phone.

By email: write to [email protected] from the address you sign in with and say so. We delete your account within 30 days and confirm when it's done.

Your rights

You can ask what personal information we hold about you — your account and email address — and ask us to correct it, by writing to [email protected]; you can delete it by deleting your account (above). What you shared carries no name, so it isn't information about you once your account is gone. We answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca).

Security

Everything between the app or website and our services travels encrypted (HTTPS). Access to the database is limited by rules on the server: no one can read another person's account details or unpublished reports, except moderators, who can see reports waiting for review.

Children

Tentsite is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has shared something, write to us and we will remove it.

Changes

When this statement changes, the date at the top changes, and the app and website link to the new version. If a change affects how your shared reports are used, the app will ask you to agree again before you share another.