Privacy notice

• Account details: your email address, and the name and profile picture provided by Google or Facebook if you sign in with them.
• Local or foreign visitor (optional): what you chose, used only to decide whether to show travel notes for foreign visitors. Only you see it. If you choose before signing in, it's kept in your browser.
• Your travel log: the places, provinces and listings (hotels, restaurants and the like) you mark as visited, your Laag Level for each city or municipality, when you marked them, and any visit details you add (date visited, notes, your vlog link, and whether to show it in your travel guide).
• Photos you upload: the image, the province and place you link it to, an optional caption, the date it was taken, and an approximate location (rounded to about 1 km). Before upload, the image is re-saved on your device, which removes hidden details such as exact GPS coordinates and camera information.
• Places you add: the name, location, description, travel tips and vlog link you submit. For a restaurant, hotel, shop or tour you suggest: its name, location, description, phone and Facebook page, and whether you said you own or manage it.
• Location suggestions: when you suggest where a listed spot really is, the spot, the location you picked and your optional note. Only you and our admins can see them; we use them to fix the pin.
• Tips you share for a city or municipality: the kind of tip, its text, the town, when you shared it, and your public name if you choose to be credited. We also keep which tips you marked "Helpful".
• On-screen and famous-visit facts you suggest: what it is (a movie, series, commercial, music video or a famous person's visit), its title or the person's name, the year, a short detail, the source link and the place, and when you suggested it.
• Notifications: when we review something you sent in (a place, listing, tip, on-screen fact or location fix), a note of the decision and any reviewer comment, shown only to you under the bell. You can clear them; they're deleted with your account.
• Searches that find nothing: when a search in the app finds nothing listed, we count the words typed (only the words: no account, location or device details), to learn which places to add. They're kept for 90 days.
• Messages you send us through the contact form: your name, email, topic and message (and your account, if you're signed in). Only our admins can read them, and we use them only to reply.
• Public profile (optional, off by default): a handle, short bio and channel link. When you turn it on, anyone with the link can see your public name, bio, channel link, which provinces and places you've visited with how well you know each province (your Laag Level, shown up to "Stayed overnight", so where you've lived stays private; never dates or notes), approved places you added with credit, and public photos you chose to be credited on. Other travelers can follow a public profile; their feed shows your new credited places and photos (never your visits), and your profile shows how many followers you have. Who you follow is private.
• Public name (optional): a name you choose, such as your vlog or channel name, to be credited on places and photos.
• Sign-in records: when you signed up and last signed in, kept by our sign-in provider to keep your account secure.

Browsing the map without an account doesn't create a record about you on our side.

• To sign you in and keep you signed in.
• To save your travel log and show your visited provinces, places and regions.
• To show your photos to you, and to other travelers only if you make them public.
• To review places you add, list them for other travelers once approved, and let you know the outcome (in the app and by email).
• To keep the app safe: when someone reports a public photo or place, we review it and may hide or remove it. Reports are only seen by us, not by the person reported.

We process this data because you asked us to when you created an account (your consent), and you can withdraw that consent anytime by deleting your account.

We don't sell your data, show ads, or share it with advertisers. Your travel log is private: other users can't see it.

Photos are private unless you choose "Everyone". Public photos appear on the province page, with their caption, place, date taken and approximate location, but and your public name only if you choose to be credited. You can make a photo private again or delete it anytime.

Places you add are visible only to you until we review them. Once approved, they are public, with your vlog link and, if you choose, your public name. Visit details (dates, notes) are always private. Restaurants, hotels, shops and tours you suggest are visible only to you until we review them; once approved, they're listed for everyone without your name. If you said you own or manage the business, we may contact you about it.

Tips you share are visible only to you until we review them. Once approved, anyone can read them on the town's page, with your public name only if you choose to be credited, and how many travelers found them helpful. Who marked a tip helpful is private.

Your travel guide is off unless you choose it, spot by spot. When your public profile is on, it lists the places and listings you chose to show, with your vlog links. Dates and notes always stay private.

On-screen and famous-visit facts are visible only to you until we review them. Once approved, anyone can see them with their source link; your name is never shown with them. Famous visits are listed only when they were in the past and reported by the news or by the person's own public post. If you delete your account, approved facts stay as shared travel information without any link to you; ones still waiting for review are deleted, and so are listings you suggested that weren't approved.

Traveler counts. Town cards show how many travelers have a Laag Level there and how many lived there ("128 travelers have been here"). These are totals only, never names, and they appear only for towns with at least 3 travelers, so a count can't point to one person.

• Supabase stores our database and photos, and handles sign-in. Its servers may be outside the Philippines.
• Resend delivers our emails (only about places you added).
• Google or Facebook, only if you choose to sign in with them. Their own privacy policies apply to your accounts there.
• OpenFreeMap serves the map images. Like any website, it receives your IP address when your browser loads them.
• MapTiler serves the satellite photos, only when you choose Satellite. The Mapzen terrain tiles on AWS provide the hill shading on the map. Like any website, they receive your IP address.
• Cloudflare Web Analytics counts visits so we know which pages people use: the page, the site you came from, your browser and device type, and your country. It uses no cookies, doesn't follow you across other sites, and doesn't tell us who you are. Admin pages aren't counted.
• Open-Meteo provides the weather on a place's card. Your browser sends it the place's coordinates (not yours), and like any website it receives your IP address.
• Photon (komoot), using OpenStreetMap data: when a search finds nothing listed in Asa Ta, your browser sends the words you typed to Photon to look for the spot on the map. It never gets your location, and like any website it receives your IP address.
• Google Maps or Apple Maps open only when you tap a directions button. Google Search opens only when you tap "Search Google".

If you allow it, the map uses your device's location to start on your island group (Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao), and the "I'm here now" button uses it to place a pin. Your location is used only on your device and is never sent to us. If you decline, everything still works.

So your map still opens with weak or no signal, your browser keeps a copy of your travel log (your visits, Laag Levels and visit details) and of pages you've opened, on your device only. Visits you mark while offline wait there and are sent to your account when you're back online. Signing out, clearing your travel log or deleting your account removes the copy from that device.

Some business listings are featured in their province and labelled "Featured". To show the "Featured near you" card, your device works out which province you're in; your location still stays on your device. To report to these businesses, we count how many times a featured listing is shown and tapped, as anonymous daily totals. We don't record who saw it or where you were. Your browser remembers what it has already counted that day, so it's counted once a day.

The app's admins can see account emails, sign-up and last sign-in dates, sign-in methods, and activity counts (how many places, photos and visits), to help with support and keep the app safe. Admins can't see your private photos, notes or visit dates.

You must be 18 or older, or 13 to 17 with a parent's or guardian's permission to have an account (see our terms of use). If you believe a child has signed up without permission, contact us and we'll delete the account.

Your data is sent over encrypted connections, and the database only lets each traveler see and change their own private data. If a personal data breach ever puts you at risk, we'll tell the National Privacy Commission and the people affected within 72 hours of finding out, as the law requires, along with what happened and what you can do.

We use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in. No advertising or analytics cookies.

We keep your account, travel log, photos and tips until you delete them. When you delete a photo, a tip or your account, it's removed right away; deleting your account also deletes all your tips and helpful marks. Places you added that were already approved stay listed as shared travel information, but your name and vlog link are removed from them; places still waiting for review are deleted.

Under the Data Privacy Act you have the right to:

• be informed about how your data is used (this notice);
• access your data and get a copy of it;
• correct inaccurate data;
• object to processing and withdraw consent;
• have your data erased;
• receive your data in a portable format;
• file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission.

You can use most of these yourself on your account page: download your data as a file, make photos private or delete them, clear your travel log, or delete your account (see how to delete your data).

Our Data Protection Officer, Clifton Alegarme, handles privacy questions and requests.

Reach them through our contact form and choose "Privacy or my data". You can also download or delete your data yourself from My account.

If we change how we use your data, we'll update this page and its date.