KawasZone privacy policy
Last updated: October 21, 2026
KawasZone ("the app") is made by Kawas LLC, Arlington, Virginia, USA ("we"). This policy explains what information the app uses, why, and who it is shared with. You can use KawasZone as a traveller without creating an account.
Your location
KawasZone uses your phone's precise location while a tour is running, so it can tell you about the places around you and which side they're on. It does not use your location in the background when the tour is stopped, and we do not keep a history of where you have been.
To find places, the app asks online services for the information in the area around you:
- Map squares of places from our own website and services (Firebase, run by Google), from OpenStreetMap servers (Overpass), and from Geoapify. These requests name an area of roughly half a kilometre to a few kilometres, not your exact position.
- Wikipedia, to find landmarks in that area and read their stories.
- RentCast, for homes for sale and for rent. This request includes your approximate position (to about a metre) and a radius of 2 miles. Results are kept on your phone for 24 hours.
- Offers from local businesses, read from our database (Google Firebase) for an area of a few kilometres around you.
- Place websites. In Rich mode, when a place has no Wikipedia article, the app may open that place's own website to read its short description and find its menu link.
- Your phone's location services (Google Play services) work out your position.
- Google Maps shows the map. Google receives the map areas you view under Google's privacy policy.
These services receive the request like any website visit (including your phone's internet address). We do not send them your name or any account details.
Information kept on your phone
- Your settings, saved places, places you asked the guide not to mention, and map data downloaded for your area.
- A random code for each coupon you open (for example K7QM-4RTX), so the shop can redeem it once.
- If you use the Beacon screen, a random install code that identifies your phone's beacon channel.
Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android settings, removes all of it.
Information sent to our database
- Offer counts. When an offer is shown, read out or tapped, we add one to that offer's view or tap count, so the business sees how many people it reached. No information about you is stored with the count.
- Coupon redemptions. When a shop scans your coupon, we store the coupon's random code and the time, so the same coupon can't be used twice. Your phone checks that record to show "Redeemed".
- Reports. If you report an offer, we store the offer and the reason you chose.
- Beacons. If you broadcast a beacon from the Beacon screen, we store the store name and message you enter, with your phone's random install code.
Speech and translation
Narration is spoken by your phone's own text-to-speech engine. When you choose a language other than English, the app downloads Google's on-device translation model once, and translation then happens on your phone.
Businesses using the KawasZone business portal
Businesses that sign in to the portal give us their sign-in e-mail (through Google Firebase Authentication), business details, location, photos and offers. Business details and offers are shown publicly in the app. A business can delete its offers at any time, and can ask us to delete its account by writing to kawasllc@gmail.com.
What we don't do
- We don't sell your information.
- We don't use advertising trackers or build a profile of you.
- Sponsored offers are chosen by where you are at that moment, not by a history of where you've been.
Children
KawasZone is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Your choices
- You can stop location use at any time by stopping the tour, or in Android settings.
- You can turn off homes, offers or Wikipedia stories in the app's settings.
- To ask about or delete information, write to kawasllc@gmail.com.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.
Contact
Kawas LLC, Arlington, Virginia, USA · kawasllc@gmail.com