Rihla is a navigation app for driving in Saudi Arabia, with Haram and Miqat alerts, prayer-time stops, car-aware routes and Android Auto. This policy explains what information the app uses, why, and your choices. Rihla has no ads and no analytics, signing in is optional, and we never sell your information.

Your location

• Why. Rihla needs your precise location to show you on the map, give turn-by-turn directions, warn you about speed, cameras and difficult roads, and tell you when you are near or inside the Haram boundary or a Miqat.
• When. While you use the app, and, if you leave the alerts on, while a notification shows that Rihla is watching your location (so it can announce the Haram, Miqat and sights with the screen off). You can stop this from the notification or in Settings.
• What leaves your phone. To plan a route, search for a place or read the road's speed limit, the app sends the needed coordinates (your position, your destination, or a short trace of recent positions) to the map services listed below. These requests are not linked to your identity and are not stored by FWZ.
• History stays with you. Your trip history, recent places, saved places (Home, Work and others), trip plans and what Rihla learns about your preferences are kept on your phone. They are copied to the cloud only if you sign in (see Account below).

Account (optional)

You can use Rihla without an account. If you choose “Sign in with Google”, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from Google, and Firebase Authentication gives you a user ID. We then keep a private copy of your saved places, recent places, trip history, trip plans and a few app settings (car type, fuel use and price) in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore, hosted in Saudi Arabia) so they are restored on any phone you sign in on. Only you can read this copy. We do not use it for advertising and do not share it.

You can sign out at any time in Settings › Account. Delete account in the same place permanently deletes your cloud copy and your account; the data on your phone stays until you remove it. You can also ask for deletion on the web at fwz.ai/rihla/delete-account.

Camera reports (optional)

If you report or confirm a traffic camera, the app stores the camera's location, its type and a time in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore, hosted in Saudi Arabia), together with a random anonymous ID created by Firebase Authentication so one phone cannot report the same camera twice. Reports are shown to all Rihla users as camera alerts. They contain no name, phone number, email or trip.

Services we use

• Routing, road surface, elevation and speed limits: Valhalla routing servers (currently the public server run by FOSSGIS e.V., Germany; later our own server).
• Search, addresses and places (gas stations, mosques and similar): Esri ArcGIS World Geocoder, Photon by Komoot (OpenStreetMap data, Germany), and OpenStreetMap Nominatim as a fallback.
• Smart search: when the app does not recognise what you typed, the search text (and nothing else) is sent to fwz.ai, which asks Anthropic’s Claude model what kind of place you mean. Answers are cached by the text only.
• Human voice: the sentence to be spoken is sent to fwz.ai, which uses Microsoft Azure Speech to turn it into audio. Sentences contain directions and street names, not your identity.
• Account sign-in (optional): Google Sign-In and Firebase Authentication.
• Map images: OpenFreeMap (OpenStreetMap data) and Esri satellite imagery. Traffic cameras and sights: OpenStreetMap data through the Overpass API.
• If you paste a short Google Maps link, the app asks Google only to open that link so it can read the place.
• Camera reports and the anonymous ID: Google Firebase.

Each provider handles requests under its own terms. Servers may be outside your country.

Things you choose to share

“Share trip” and “Share place” create a message with your arrival time and map links that you send yourself through another app (for example WhatsApp). “Export backup” creates a text you keep wherever you like. Rihla does not send these anywhere on its own.

Permissions

• Location (precise): navigation and alerts, as above.
• Notifications: Haram, Miqat, prayer and camera alerts.
• Android Auto: to show navigation on your car's screen.

Security

All connections are encrypted (HTTPS).

Retention and deletion (how to delete your data)

Everything on your phone is removed when you uninstall Rihla or clear its data; Settings also has “Clear what Rihla learned” and “Clear history” in search. If you signed in, your cloud copy is kept until you delete your account (Settings › Account › Delete account, or on the web), and is deleted at once when you do. Camera reports are kept while they are useful for other drivers (mobile camera reports expire after a few hours). To ask us to delete camera reports made from your phone, email salam@fwz.ai and we will respond within 30 days.

Safety

Rihla is a driving aid. Always follow road signs, traffic laws and the conditions you see. Camera locations and road-surface data come from public and community sources and may be incomplete.

Children

Rihla is meant for drivers and is not directed at children under 13.

Changes

If we change this policy we will update this page and the effective date above.