Privacy Policy
Last updated 5 August 2026 · Effective 5 August 2026
Tellby is an audio travel guide. To play the right story at the right place we need to know where you are, and to keep your account and purchases working we need to know who you are. This page says exactly what we collect, why, where it goes, and how to get rid of it.
The short version. We collect your account details, your location while you're using the app, and anything you choose to publish. We don't sell your data, we don't run advertising trackers, and we don't build profiles for anyone else. You can delete your account and everything in it at any time.
1. Who we are
Tellby is operated by iai, a business registered in the Republic of Korea (business registration no. 213-08-81338). Representative and data protection officer: Changmyoung Kim. Contact: [email protected] — for privacy questions, put "Privacy" in the subject line.
2. What we collect
| Data | Why we need it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Your email, display name and profile picture, received from Google or Apple when you sign in. Identifies your account and carries your purchases. | At sign-up |
| Location | Coordinates, so the app can play the story for the place you've reached. Sent to our server to record which stops you triggered and to avoid replaying the same one. | While a guide is active |
| Audio you record | Only if you create a guide. Stored so listeners can play it. | When you record |
| Content you publish | Guides, plans, posts, photos, meetups, messages. Public by design. | When you publish |
| Purchases | What you bought and your credit balance. We never see your card number — Apple, Google and Stripe handle payment and tell us only whether it succeeded. | At purchase |
| Crash reports | Technical details when something breaks, so we can fix it. | On error |
Location, specifically
Audio guides work by noticing that you've arrived somewhere. If you allow background location, the app keeps doing this with your phone in your pocket — that's the point of the product. We store the stops you triggered, tied to your account, so a guide doesn't repeat itself. We do not track your continuous movement, keep a location history, or share your location with anyone. You can deny or revoke location permission at any time in your phone's settings; guides will then need a tap to play.
What we don't collect
- Card numbers, bank details or billing addresses
- Contacts, calendar, SMS or call history
- Advertising identifiers — there are no ad networks in this app
- Any data from anyone under 13
3. Who else touches your data
We use these companies to run the service. They process data on our instructions and for no purpose of their own.
| Company | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Neon | Database — accounts, content, purchases | United States |
| Fly.io | Application servers | Singapore, United States |
| Cloudflare | Audio and image storage, website delivery | Global |
| Google (Gemini) | Generating and narrating guide text | United States |
| Google / Apple | Sign-in and in-app purchases | Global |
| Stripe | Payment for real-world tours | United States |
| Sentry | Crash reporting | United States |
| LiveKit | Live audio sessions, if you join one | Global |
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We hand data to authorities only where the law requires it.
Where your data lives
Our servers are outside your country in most cases — primarily the United States and Singapore. Using Tellby means your data is transferred and stored there. For users in the EEA and UK we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses with our providers.
4. How long we keep it
- Account and content — until you delete your account.
- After deletion — removed within 30 days, except as below.
- Purchase records — kept up to 5 years where tax and consumer-protection law requires it, stripped of anything identifying you beyond the transaction.
- Crash reports — 90 days.
- Published guides you sold to others — buyers keep access to what they paid for. Your name is removed and the guide is shown as anonymous.
5. Your rights
You can ask us to:
- Show you a copy of everything we hold about you
- Correct anything wrong
- Delete your account and its contents
- Send your data to you in a portable file
- Stop processing your data, or object to it
Delete your account in the app under My page → Account, or email [email protected]. We answer within 30 days and charge nothing.
Depending on where you live you may also have rights under the GDPR (EEA/UK), the CCPA (California) or PIPA (Korea), including the right to complain to your data protection authority. Our legal bases for processing are: performing our contract with you (account, purchases, delivering guides), your consent (location, microphone — withdrawable at any time in your phone settings), and our legitimate interest (keeping the service secure and working).
6. Security
Traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS). Passwords aren't stored because we don't use them — sign-in goes through Google or Apple. Sign-in tokens are kept in your device's secure keystore. Access to production data is limited to the operator. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects you, we'll tell you and the relevant authority without undue delay.
7. Children
Tellby is not for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
8. Changes
If we change this policy we'll update the date above, and for anything significant we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.
9. Contact
iai · Representative Changmyoung Kim · Business registration no. 213-08-81338
[email protected] · Republic of Korea
Terms of Service