PLATFORM PAL

Privacy

Last updated 10 November 2026

Platform Pal shows you train platforms. It needs very little information to do that, and this page lists exactly what. The short version: there are no accounts and no trackers, your favourites live on your phone, and your location never leaves your phone. The free version shows a few adverts from Google, which are not personalised. The adverts and our anonymous feature counters are both described below.

Who we are

Platform Pal is an independent app, built and run in the United Kingdom. For anything in this policy, contact hello@platformpal.co.uk.

What the app sends us

When you open a departure board or a train's detail page, the app asks our server for that station or that train. The request contains a station code and the train's identifier, and nothing else. There are no accounts, so we never hold a name, email address or password.

Our server is hosted in London. Like most servers, it keeps short-lived logs of incoming requests, which include the IP address the request came from. We use these to keep the service healthy, and they are kept for no more than 30 days.

Live Activity updates

If you track a train and allow notifications, the app sends our server what it needs to keep your Lock Screen up to date: the train's identifier, the stop you are getting off at if you picked one, the platform your Lock Screen is showing at that moment, and two push tokens issued by Apple. The first token only works for that one Live Activity. The second lets us send you a notification if the platform changes, even if you have removed the Live Activity. Our server uses these to update the Live Activity as the platform firms up and to tell you if it moves. They are kept on our server only while you are tracking that train, and they go when you stop tracking it or when the journey ends. None of it is linked to an account or a name.

Commutes

A saved commute is the one thing the app asks our server to remember. When you save one and allow notifications, the app sends the commute's own identifier, a push token issued by Apple, and the commute itself: the stations, any changes, the days of the week you travel, the time window, how far ahead you want it to start, and any operator filter you set. Our server needs those to work out which trains are yours and when to put them on your Lock Screen while the app is closed.

The commute is kept until you delete it or turn it off, and deleting it removes it from our server. There is still no account and no name attached. This is more information than the rest of the app collects, so we want to be clear about it: a saved commute describes a journey you make regularly, and it is only used to find your trains.

Emailing us

The Get in touch button in the app opens an email to us in your own mail app. It fills in the app's version number and your iOS version, so we can help with anything that has gone wrong. You can delete them before you send it, and nothing reaches us unless you send the email yourself.

What stays on your phone

Your favourite stations, recent searches, tracked trains, journey history and settings are stored on your phone and nowhere else. We cannot see them. Deleting the app deletes them.

Location

If you allow it, the app uses your location to sort the nearest stations to the top. That is the only thing it is used for. The sorting happens on your phone, nothing is stored, and your location never leaves your phone. The app works fine if you say no.

Moving to a new device

If you use Move to a new device, the app puts your settings, stations, recent journeys, commutes and whether you have Plus into a code on your screen, and, if you choose, your Journey Log as well. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else: your other device reads the code with its camera, or from an image of it you choose to save. The app uses the camera only to read the code and keeps no picture.

Feature counters

The app counts how often its features are used: plain totals like "boards opened: 41 times" or "trains tracked: 6 times". Once a day it sends those totals to our server. The counts carry no identifier of any kind: not your device, not an install code, not your location, nothing that could link them to you or to each other. We use them to understand which features are used, and nothing else.

The platform question

After a tracked train leaves, the app may ask one question: did we get the platform right? If you answer, the app sends our server the answer and the train it was about: the train's timetable identifier, the station, the date, the platform we showed and how sure we said we were. The message contains nothing else: there is no identifier of any kind, and one answer cannot be linked to another. We use these answers to find the stations and trains where our platform information needs work.

Adverts

The free version shows a small number of adverts from Google. They are not personalised, and the app never asks permission to track you, so an advert here cannot follow you into other apps.

Loading an advert sends a request to Google. The request includes your IP address, your phone's model and operating system, and which advert was then shown. Google uses this to serve the advert, count that it appeared, and guard against fraud. Google's own privacy policy covers how Google handles it. Platform Pal Plus removes every advert.

Things we do not do

No accounts. No analytics services, and no trackers. The only third party the app talks to is Google, for the adverts described above, and that request is not used to track you. We do not sell or share your data with anyone.

If this changes

If the app ever collects anything new, this page will change first: we will describe what is collected and why, date the change in the list below, and update the app's privacy label on the App Store to match.

Your choices

Location and notification permissions live in your phone's Settings and can be switched off at any time; the app keeps working. Deleting the app removes everything it stored, and deleting a commute removes it from our server. If you have any questions about your data, email us and we will help.

Your rights

UK data protection law gives you rights over your personal data, including the right to request a copy of it and the right to have it deleted. Because Platform Pal has no accounts, we hold very little that could identify you, but we will help with any request: contact hello@platformpal.co.uk. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Contact

hello@platformpal.co.uk

Changes to this policy