Effective date: August 18, 2026 · Last updated: August 18, 2026
Transit Now and Cycle Now ("we", "us", or "our") are transit and cycling information apps operated from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This Privacy Policy applies to every version of our mobile apps (each, the "App"):
| App | Platform | Store identifier |
|---|---|---|
| Transit Now — the current app | iPhone, iPad, Android | com.opl.transitnowv3 |
| Transit Now Toronto — free | Android | opl.textc |
| Transit Now Pro Toronto — paid, ad-free | Android | opl.tnt.donate |
| Transit Now — the previous Android app | Android, Wear OS | com.opl.transitnow |
| Cycle Now | Android, Wear OS | com.opl.cyclenow |
These apps span more than a decade of releases, and older versions remain installed on some devices. This policy describes everything any current version of our apps does — so if you are running an older release, some of what follows simply will not apply to you. Where a practice belongs to only some apps or platforms, we say so with a note like this:
Applies to: the current Transit Now app on iPhone and iPad only.
Our apps are intended primarily for riders in Canada, especially in Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, and are operated under Canadian privacy law. By using an App you agree to the collection and use of information as described here.
Our apps are designed to collect as little as possible. We do not require you to create an account, and we do not collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, calendar, health or fitness data, or your home and work addresses.
If you grant location permission, the App uses your device location while you are using it to find the transit or bike-share stations nearest you and to show the departures most relevant to where you are. Location is optional — decline it and you can still search for stops, routes and stop numbers by hand — and you can revoke it at any time in your device Settings.
Where your coordinates go depends on what you are doing:
We do not track your movements over time, and we do not build a location history about you.
Our free apps are supported by ads served through Google AdMob. To show and measure ads, Google's advertising SDK may collect an advertising identifier (Apple's IDFA on iOS, the Advertising ID on Android), coarse location and IP address, device information (model, OS version, language, region), and ad-interaction data.
Our paid apps — Transit Now Pro Toronto and the paid upgrade in the previous Android app — never display ads. The advertising components are switched off in those builds and no ad is ever requested.
One honest detail: on Android, Google's analytics tools read the Advertising ID by default for measurement purposes, even in our ad-free apps. That is why our Google Play data disclosures state that the advertising identifier is used, including for the paid app, where the reason is analytics rather than advertising. You can reset or restrict that identifier at any time (see §4).
Whether ads are personalized depends on your consent choices (see §4). Decline, and ads still appear but are non-personalized. We do not ourselves combine advertising data with your identity.
We use Google Firebase Analytics to understand how the apps are used in aggregate — how many people open the app, which screens get used, whether a feature is worth keeping. It records a randomly generated app-installation identifier, basic device and app-version information, and an approximate location derived from your IP address.
We deliberately keep our own events coarse. We record things like "a favourite was added", "trip tracking started" and which transit agency is selected — never the text you typed into search, and never the specific stops or routes you looked at tied to you.
When the App crashes or hits an error, we collect a diagnostic report so we can fix it: the error and where it happened in our code, the sequence of screens leading up to it, and your device model, OS version and app version. These reports are not linked to your name or an account, because there isn't one.
If you ask the App to track a vehicle or a bike station, it watches arrival times and alerts you as your ride approaches. How that works depends on the platform:
Spoken countdowns are produced by your device's text-to-speech or by audio clips bundled in the app. The apps never record audio and never request microphone access.
Paid apps and in-app upgrades are sold and processed entirely by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see or receive your card number, billing address or payment details — only whether a purchase is active, so the App can unlock what you paid for.
Your favourite stops, recent stops, tracked-trip history, app settings and the last location fix used to speed up the next launch are stored locally on your device. They are not uploaded to us, and they are removed when you uninstall the App. If you use the backup or export feature, the file is written wherever you choose to send it, and we never receive a copy.
Our prediction servers keep standard technical logs — IP address, time of request, and the stop or route requested — to operate the service, keep it reliable and prevent abuse. These logs are not used to build a profile of you.
If you email us for support, we receive whatever you choose to include, such as your email address and your message, so we can reply and help you.
We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you, and we do not attempt to identify you personally.
App Tracking Transparency (iPhone & iPad). Apple requires your permission before an app can use the advertising identifier (IDFA) to track you across other companies' apps and websites. Transit Now shows Apple's prompt. Choose "Ask App Not to Track" and the App serves non-personalized ads. Change it any time under Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, or reset the identifier under Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising.
Consent management. We use Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) to gather the consent Apple's and Google's advertising policies require, and to record your personalized-versus-non-personalized choice.
Android. You can reset or delete your Advertising ID, and opt out of ad personalization, under Settings → Google → Ads (menu names vary by device). Deleting it also limits the analytics measurement described in §2(b).
With Google directly. See Google Ads & privacy and Google Ad Settings.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising beyond what §4 describes. Information is shared only:
| Service | What it does for us | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google AdMob | Ads in the free apps | policies.google.com/technologies/ads |
| Google Firebase | Analytics, remote configuration, App Check, crash reporting and messaging in older apps | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Maps, Places & Directions | Maps, address search, cycling routes | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Play services & Play Billing | Core Android services, app distribution, purchases | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Sentry | Crash and error reporting in the current app | sentry.io/privacy |
| Apple | App distribution, push notifications, App Tracking Transparency, App Attest | apple.com/legal/privacy |
| Transit agencies & bike-share operators | The real-time data the apps exist to show | Published by each agency |
Location is used to answer the request in front of you and is not retained as a profile. Trip-tracking sessions on iPhone and iPad are deleted from our servers when the trip ends. Server logs are kept only as long as needed to operate and secure the service, then discarded or aggregated. On-device data stays until you clear it or uninstall the App. Data held by Google, Apple and Sentry is retained under their own policies.
All communication between the apps and our servers uses encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), and requests are verified with App Check so our servers can turn away traffic that did not come from a genuine copy of the app. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
We handle personal information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial law.
The apps are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.
Our apps are operated from Canada, and our service providers — including Google, Apple and Sentry — may process data in Canada, the United States and other countries where they operate. By using an App you consent to this processing.
Because our Toronto apps have been on Google Play since 2011, a device may be running a release from years ago. Those older versions do not include the newer practices described here — there is no App Check, no Sentry, no on-device nearby search and no server-assisted trip tracking in them. They do include location, ads in the free edition, Firebase Analytics, Remote Config and Crashlytics. Updating to the current version is the best way to get both the current features and the current privacy posture.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we revise the "Last updated" date above and post the new version on this page. Material changes will be made reasonably prominent. Your continued use of an App after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information? Email support@transitnowapp.com.