PathBloom privacy policy

Last updated: August 4, 2026

PathBloom is made by Simple Tree LLC. The game turns your real-world walks into a blooming voxel map, which means it works with something personal: where you walk. This policy explains exactly what the app does with that information, in plain English. The short version: your walks stay on your phone.

The short version

• No account, no sign-up, no email. We don't know who you are.
• Your location is used only while a walk is active. Your routes and GPS traces stay on your phone, always. If you keep Progress Backup on, a coarse map of the areas you've explored is saved to your own private iCloud, where only you can read it.
• The only thing shared with anyone is your leaderboard entry: a display name you choose, your avatar's look, your city, your rank title, and your scores.
• The app shows ads from Google AdMob. Google's ad software collects some device data, and personalized ads only happen if you say yes to the tracking prompt.

No accounts

PathBloom has no sign-up. You never give us your name, email address, phone number, or password. Behind the scenes, the app uses a player code so the leaderboard can tell players apart. From version 1.1, that code is worked out from your iCloud account and then put through one-way encryption, so what gets stored is a scrambled stand-in that cannot be turned back into the account it came from. This is what lets your leaderboard entry find its way back to you if you reinstall PathBloom or move to a new phone — before 1.1 the code was random and lived only on the phone, so reinstalling lost it and created a second entry.

The code is not your Apple ID, your name, or your email. It cannot be reversed, and a different one is produced for every app, so it cannot be used to follow you anywhere else.

Your location

Location is the heart of the game, so here is exactly how it's handled:

• Only during walks. The app reads your location only while a walk is in progress. When you end the walk, location stops. The app asks for "While Using the App" permission; if you lock your phone mid-walk, iOS shows the standard indicator that location is still being used, and it stops the moment your walk ends.
• Processed on your phone. Your GPS trace, your routes, and your home area are stored only on your device. They are never uploaded to us or anyone else, and no setting changes that. Your bloomed map also stays on your device, with one exception you control: if Progress Backup is on, a coarse copy is saved to your own private iCloud (described under "Backups" below). That copy records the general areas you have ever explored, in tiles about 80 meters across, never individual walks, routes, or timings. Deleting the app deletes everything stored on the device.
• One exception, and it's small. To label your leaderboard entry with a city, the app asks Apple's geocoding service to turn coordinates into a city name (for example, "Portland"). That request goes to Apple under Apple's privacy terms, and only the city name is kept. Street-level location is never stored or shared.

The leaderboard

PathBloom has a public leaderboard, stored in Apple's CloudKit database (CloudKit is Apple's cloud storage service for apps). Your entry contains, and other players can see: the display name you chose during setup, your avatar's body and skin tone choice, your city-level region, your rank title, and your weekly and all-time scores, tied to your player code. From version 1.1 you can change your display name in Settings, once every 30 days. Renaming updates the entry you already have, so your scores, rank and history come with you rather than starting over.

You can opt out of the leaderboard at any time using the toggle in your Profile. Opting out deletes your entry from the public database immediately; you can still browse the standings as a spectator, and opting back in resubmits your current scores.

What is never on the leaderboard: your GPS traces, your routes, your home location, or anything street-level. Scores are numbers, not maps.

Backups to your own iCloud

Everything in this section lives in your personal, private iCloud storage. That storage belongs to your Apple ID: we cannot read it, access it, or receive anything from it, and raw routes are never part of it. PathBloom keeps two backups there.

Cosmetics and petals (always on). Cosmetics you've earned and your petal balance are backed up so they survive a new phone. Nothing about your location goes into this one.

Progress Backup (your choice, on by default). When you first set up PathBloom you choose between "Back up my progress" and "This phone only," and you can change your mind any time in Settings. With it on, the app backs up three kinds of progress. First, your bloom map, stored as coarse tiles about 80 meters across that record the general areas you have ever explored; your walks, routes, and timings are never part of it. Second, the public landmarks you've discovered in the game (parks, plazas, viewpoints): their names, locations, and when you found them. Third, your game stats: XP, level, streaks, badges, souvenirs, display name, avatar choice, city-level region, and your leaderboard player code. Your home location is never backed up; a new phone simply works it out fresh. Because the bloom map and landmarks come from where you've walked, this backup does reveal the general areas you've explored over time, to you and only to you.

Turning Progress Backup off in Settings deletes the backup from your iCloud immediately. It's worth being clear about the mechanics: because the backup sits in your private iCloud, we could not delete it for you even if you asked; the toggle in Settings is the delete button. If you choose "This phone only," no backup exists anywhere, and deleting the app permanently deletes all progress.

Reinstalling, or moving to a new phone. If a backup exists, PathBloom offers to restore it at first launch. From version 1.1 it checks before you create a new explorer, and if it can't reach iCloud it tells you so and lets you try again rather than quietly starting you over; you can also check from Settings any time before you finish your first walk. Also from 1.1, your leaderboard entry reconnects on its own whether or not you restore, because your player code comes from your iCloud account rather than from this app's storage on the phone.

Purchases

PathBloom offers optional one-time purchases (like the Supporter Pack and Boutique cosmetics) through Apple's App Store. Apple processes the payment; we never see your card number, billing address, or any payment details. Your purchases are tied to your Apple ID, which is what makes "Restore Purchases" work on a new phone.

Ads

PathBloom shows ads through Google AdMob, Google's advertising service. Google's ad software runs inside the app and collects some data from your device to show and measure ads: device identifiers, your IP address (which gives a rough general location), how ads are interacted with, and technical diagnostics. This is Google's collection, under Google's privacy policy.

If you're in Europe. From version 1.1, players in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are asked for consent by Google's own form before any ad loads. You can consent, decline, or open "Manage options" to decide partner by partner. Declining costs you nothing in the game — you simply get non-personalized ads. This is separate from Apple's tracking prompt below, and where both apply, both are respected.

After your first walk, iOS shows Apple's tracking prompt ("Allow PathBloom to track your activity…"). Your choice matters:

• If you allow tracking, Google may use your device's advertising identifier to show ads personalized to you.
• If you decline, the app tells Google to serve non-personalized ads instead. You'll still see ads; they just won't be tailored to you.

You can change this choice any time in your device's Settings under Privacy & Security → Tracking. Buying the Supporter Pack permanently removes the between-walk ads; the optional "watch an ad for a bonus" ads remain available but only ever play when you choose them.

What we don't do

PathBloom contains no analytics packages, no crash reporters, and no social media software beyond what's described above. We don't sell your data. We don't have your data to sell.

Children

PathBloom is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them.

Your choices

• Location: you control the permission in Settings. Without it, the map simply can't bloom.
• Personalized ads: your call at the tracking prompt, changeable in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Your on-device data: deleting the app deletes your map, routes, and progress stored on the phone. If you want nothing left anywhere, turn off Progress Backup first, then delete the app. Deleting the app alone leaves your own iCloud backup in place, on purpose, so your progress survives a reinstall.
• Progress Backup: the toggle lives in Settings. Turning it off deletes the backup from your iCloud right away; turning it back on rebuilds it from your phone. On a new phone, PathBloom offers the restore at first launch, before you create a new explorer; from version 1.1 you can also check for a backup from Settings any time until you finish your first walk.
• Your leaderboard entry: flip the Leaderboard toggle in your Profile and your entry is deleted from the public leaderboard right away. If you've already deleted the app, contact us through the support page and we'll remove it for you; include your display name and city so we can find the right record.
• iCloud generally: both backups live in your own iCloud and can also be seen and managed in your device's iCloud settings.

Depending on where you live (for example, the EU, UK, or California), you may have legal rights to access or delete personal data. Given how little we hold, the practical answer to most requests is the leaderboard deletion above, but contact us and we'll help.

Changes to this policy

If our practices change, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Meaningful changes will also be noted in the app's update notes.

August 4, 2026 (version 1.1). Your leaderboard player code changed from a random value stored on your phone to one worked out from your iCloud account and one-way encrypted, so it survives reinstalling the app. Display names also stopped being permanent — you can now change yours in Settings once every 30 days. Nothing new is collected, and nothing new is shared: the leaderboard shows exactly what it showed before.

Contact

Simple Tree LLC
The fastest way to reach us is the contact form on our support page. Messages go straight to the people who make the game.

This policy describes what PathBloom actually does, written in plain English on purpose. It is not legal advice.