The short version
- No account, no ads, no tracking. The app has no sign-in, shows no advertising and contains no analytics or tracking code.
- Your journeys stay yours. Your logbook, notes and settings live on your device and, if you turn on sync, in your own iCloud. We can’t see them.
- No location access. The app never asks where you are. You choose your stations.
- Maps come from outside services. To draw the map and plan routes, the app asks Mapbox and open railway data services for the areas and stations involved, never with your name or an account.
- Apple handles payments. We never see your card or Apple Account details.
1. Who is responsible
Train of Thought is made by David Noé Bänziger, Switzerland, who is responsible for the processing described here (the “controller” under data protection law). On the App Store, the seller is listed as David Bänziger. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean David Noé Bänziger.
Contact: contact@ileb.zip
2. What this policy covers
This policy covers the Train of Thought app for iPhone and iPad, including its widgets and Live Activities. How this website handles your visit is covered in section 13.
3. What the app doesn’t collect
- No account. There’s no sign-in, and the app never asks for your email address or phone number.
- No location. The app doesn’t ask for access to your location. You choose stations yourself.
- No advertising or tracking. There are no ads, the app doesn’t use the advertising identifier, and it doesn’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
- No analytics or tracking SDKs. The app contains no third-party analytics, advertising or crash-reporting code.
- No access to your contacts, photos, camera, microphone or health data.
- No selling or sharing. We don’t sell your personal information or share it for advertising.
4. What stays on your device
To work, the app keeps the following on your iPhone or iPad. We can’t see any of it.
| Data | For example |
|---|---|
| Your traveller pass, if you fill it in | A name or monogram, your home station |
| Journeys | Stations, route, departure and arrival times, how long you focused, purpose, train, seat, how far you got |
| Notes | Anything you write on a journey |
| Progress | Streaks, milestones, statistics |
| Settings | Soundscape, map look, daily goal, reminder time, your own purposes |
| Purchases | Which features and trains are unlocked, as confirmed by Apple |
| Saved maps | Map tiles downloaded for a ride, if you turn this on |
Widgets and Live Activities read this data through a shared container on the same device. Nothing leaves the device for them.
You’re in control of it: in the app’s settings you can export your logbook at any time, and Erase all data removes every journey, your profile and your preferences from the device. Deleting the app removes everything it stored on the device.
5. iCloud sync
If you turn on Sync with iCloud, your profile, settings and logbook are also stored in your iCloud account, in the app’s private CloudKit database and in iCloud key-value storage, so they appear on your other devices. Apple stores this data under the Apple Privacy Policy. It sits in your private database, which we can’t access.
When sync is off, nothing is sent to iCloud. Journeys you delete in the app while sync is on are removed from iCloud too. You can remove the app’s remaining iCloud data from your device’s iCloud storage settings where iOS lists it, or by emailing us for help.
6. Services the app connects to
Maps and routes come from outside services. When you look at the map, search for a station or plan a journey, the app asks the following providers for what it needs. These requests don’t include your name, an account or any identifier from us. Like any internet request, each provider sees the IP address your device connects from and basic technical details, and keeps its own server logs under its own policy.
| Provider | Used for | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Mapbox, Mapbox, Inc., USA Privacy policy | Drawing the map, and saving it for offline rides | The map areas and zoom levels shown; IP address, device model, iOS, app and SDK version; and one usage event each time the map starts, with an identifier created by the Mapbox software, which Mapbox uses for billing. We switch off Mapbox’s optional telemetry, and the app never shares your location with Mapbox. |
| OpenRailRouting routing.openrailrouting.org | Finding the railway line between two stations | The coordinates of the stations you plan between; IP address |
| Photon by komoot GmbH, Germany Privacy policy | Searching for stations by name | What you type into station search, and the area you’re searching near; IP address |
| Overpass API servers for OpenStreetMap data: overpass-api.de (FOSSGIS e.V., Germany), overpass.kumi.systems (Austria), overpass.osm.ch (Switzerland), overpass.private.coffee (Austria) About Overpass | Details of stations and lines along your route, such as speed limits and platforms | Geographic areas around your route; IP address |
We use these services to provide the features you ask for (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and in our legitimate interest in giving you working maps and realistic routes (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Mapbox processes data in the United States; where data leaves Switzerland or the European Economic Area, the provider relies on safeguards recognised by law, such as the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses.
7. Purchases
Train of Thought Pro and individual trains are sold through the App Store. Apple processes the payment and never shares your card or Apple Account details with us. On your device, the app receives what it needs to unlock your purchase: the product, its status and dates, and a transaction identifier, verified with Apple. See the Apple Privacy Policy for how Apple handles purchases. Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
8. Notifications and Live Activities
The daily reminder and the reminder before a free trial ends are scheduled on your device as local notifications, and only if you allow notifications. Live Activities and the Dynamic Island are updated on your device too. The app doesn’t use a push server and sends no device token to us.
9. Crash reports
If you’ve chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device’s settings (Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), Apple may give us crash reports and usage statistics that don’t identify you. We use them only to find and fix problems. You can change this setting at any time.
10. When you email us
If you write to contact@ileb.zip, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to send, and use them only to answer you. We keep the conversation for as long as it takes to help and deal with any follow-up, and delete it within two years at the latest. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in answering you (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
11. How long data is kept
- On your device: until you delete it in the app, erase all data, or delete the app.
- In iCloud: until you delete it, or turn sync off and remove the app’s iCloud data.
- With the providers in section 6: according to their own policies, usually as short-lived server logs.
- Emails to us: as described in section 10.
12. Your rights
Depending on where you live, including under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, you have the right to access, correct and delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its processing, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw any consent you’ve given.
Because we don’t keep your app data on our own servers, you can exercise most of these rights directly in the app: view and edit your journeys, export your logbook, and erase everything. For anything else, email contact@ileb.zip and we’ll answer within 30 days.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In Switzerland, that’s the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC); in the EU, it’s the authority where you live or work.
California residents: we don’t sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA.
13. This website
This website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages by Cloudflare, Inc., USA, which processes technical data such as your IP address, browser and the pages you request in order to deliver and protect the site (Cloudflare privacy policy). The site uses no cookies, analytics or trackers, and its fonts are served from the site itself. If you switch the site between day and night, that choice is saved in your browser and never sent anywhere. Links to the App Store take you to Apple.
14. Children
Train of Thought is suitable for all ages. It collects no personal information from anyone, children included, beyond what’s described above.
15. Security
Data on your device is protected by iOS, including encryption when your device is locked. iCloud data is protected by Apple. All connections the app makes use HTTPS.
16. Changes to this policy
If the app starts handling data differently, we’ll update this policy and its effective date before the change takes effect, and point out significant changes in the app or on this page.
17. Contact
Questions about privacy? Write to contact@ileb.zip.