Home Zone & privacy
An app that records your paths has to be especially careful with your home. On Barnaby, privacy isn’t a switch in the fine print – it’s the default: the Home Zone blurs where you live, recording only happens during a walk, and what’s private stays private.
What the Home Zone does
A route that begins and ends exactly at your front door reveals your address. That’s why Barnaby has the Home Zone: a radius of your choosing around your home. Before you share a walk, the start and end points within this zone are blurred automatically. So you can show your best routes without giving away where you live.
The Home Zone acts exactly where it matters – when sharing and in the preview others see. For yourself, the walk stays complete.
Recording only during the walk
Your way is only recorded as a route while a walk is active – from the moment you tap “Start”. Beyond that, the app reads your location while you have it open: for the map and for location-based hints such as the weather or a heat warning for your area. Those lookups are not stored as a track. There is no permanent tracking in the background and no secret movement profile.
Private accounts are truly private
When you set your account to private, only approved followers see your walks. This isn’t mere display cosmetics: visibility is enforced on the server, so private walks stay protected even if someone tries to fetch them around the app. How following and feeds work is explained on the Community page.
Your data belongs to you
You stay in control. Every walk can be exported as a GPX or CSV file, and you can delete your entire account and all its content at any time, right in the app. No form, no waiting, no questions asked.
Stored securely
Your data is transmitted encrypted (HTTPS/TLS) and passwords are stored hashed only. Access to your content is strictly limited to your account via Firebase security rules.
Questions about this feature? They live in the frequently asked questions.