What the Virtual Tour Guide Android app collects, why it collects it, what leaves your device, and how you can get it deleted. No advertising trackers, no data sales - the app does one job: turning where you are into a wildlife record.
Last updated: September 28, 2026
Encrypted in transit
All traffic uses HTTPS/TLS.
Deletion on request
Delete it online on this site, or by email.
Data is not sold
No sale, no ad sharing, no advertising ID.
Optional sharing
Sightings can be posted anonymously or privately.
Everything below is collected only while the relevant feature is in use. Nothing is collected in the background while the app is closed.
Your first and last name and your email address, when you create an account, sign in, or request a one-time password to reset your password. Your password is stored as a salted hash, never as plain text.
Collected when: Account creation, sign-in, password reset
The GPS coordinates of where you are when you record a sighting or play the proximity game, together with the nearest road, intersection and park/zone. This is the core of the product - a sighting without a place is not a record.
Collected when: Recording a sighting, playing the proximity game, viewing the live map
The species, animal count, description, date, time and direction of a sighting you record, plus any photo you take or choose from your gallery to go with it. You can flag a sighting as anonymous or private when you submit it.
Collected when: Recording a sighting
Proximity game answers, scores and levels, kept against your account so your progress and leaderboard position survive a reinstall. Voice and text searches for species run on the device and are not sent to us as audio.
Collected when: Playing the game, searching the species database
The microphone is used for voice search and to train species name aliases. Speech is converted to text by the speech service built into your device - audio is not uploaded to our servers. Trained aliases are stored on the device only.
Collected when: Voice search, voice training, attaching a photo
The app version and OS identifier are sent with each upload so we can trace a fault to a build, and a local log file is written on the device for troubleshooting. No advertising ID is collected - the app carries no advertising SDK.
Collected when: Every sync, upload or error
Your trained voice aliases, your offline copy of the species database, maps and downloaded images, and the diagnostic log file are stored locally on the phone. They are not uploaded unless a feature explicitly sends them - voice training data and logs are never sent to us.
Sharing is limited to what the service actually needs. There is no advertising or data-broker sharing of any kind.
Sightings you record are meant to be seen. Unless you set a record to anonymous or private, your sighting - species, count, place, time and photo - appears on the public live map and on the website for other visitors. No email address or account name is shown with it.
Data is stored on our own MySQL database on our server. Account emails (verification and one-time passwords) are delivered through our mail server. These providers process data only on our instructions.
Map tiles are requested from tile.openstreetmap.org over HTTPS. That service sees your IP address and the tiles you load, as any map provider would. We send it no account information.
We may disclose information if required to do so by law or in response to a valid request from a public authority, or to protect the rights, safety and property of our users and the public.
Your name, email address, password and device diagnostics are never shared with other users, never sold or rented, and never handed to advertisers or data brokers. We run no third-party analytics or advertising SDK in the app, so no advertising ID is generated or transmitted.
Every request the app makes - login, sync, sighting uploads, game scores, map and image downloads - goes to https://www.virtualtourguide.co.za over TLS. Nothing is sent over plain HTTP.
You can delete your account and the personal data attached to it at any time through the account deletion page on this site, or by emailing us. You can also remove individual records - your sightings or game data - while keeping your account.
We do not sell or rent your personal data, we do not share it with advertisers, and we do not use it for interest-based advertising. The app contains no advertising SDK and collects no advertising ID.
Account details and your submitted records are kept while your account is active and for as long as they are useful to the service, or as long as the law requires. Diagnostic logs are kept for a short period.
Each permission powers a specific feature. If you deny one, only that feature stops working.
Precise location (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION / ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION)
To attach your position to a sighting and to place you in the right park, zone or road for the proximity game.
Microphone (RECORD_AUDIO)
To run voice search and let you train the app to recognise species names. Audio stays on the device.
Camera and photos
To take or choose an image when you want to attach a photo to a sighting.
Internet and network state (INTERNET / ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE)
To sync sightings, download map and species data, and to know when the device is offline so uploads can be queued.
You can ask us to delete your account and the personal data attached to it at any time. You can also control location at the system level - deny the location permission in Android settings and the app will still browse species and maps, but cannot record a geotagged sighting.
Use the account deletion page - verify with your password or an emailed code
Use the account deletion request page
Email us at app@isdi.co.za
Turn off individual permissions in Android settings
Ask us what we hold about you, ask for a correction, or ask for everything to be removed. We will confirm what was done.