Privacy policy

Hop has no account. No sign-up, no ads, no advertising trackers, no profile of you, and nothing sold. Hop doesn’t send us, or anyone else, your trips, documents or anything you type into it, except what you choose to share. If you email us or join a test version of Hop, we receive what you send us: see “If you live in the UK or EU” below.

Who we are. Hop is published by Jason Hounsfield through his Apple and Google developer accounts, which are being moved to his company, Hop Group Pty Ltd (trading as Hop Travel). “We” and “us” mean him until then. Contact: support@hoptravelapp.com, or PO Box 193, Australind WA 6233, Australia.

What stays on your device. Your chosen passport, your settings and display choices (such as your theme, which tips you’ve already seen and whether Explore shows the map or the list), saved trips, the bookings and places you add to your trips and any confirmations you attach to them, documents you add to a stop or a trip, your notes, your travel history (the countries you’ve been to, with any years and months you add), currency picks and favourites, the last exchange rates Hop downloaded, the latest copy of these legal texts and which version you’ve agreed to, the demo Premium switch, and — if you used an earlier version of Hop — a count of how many separate days you had opened it, are kept in Hop’s own storage on your phone. If you attach a photo or PDF of a visa or approval to a trip stop, or a booking confirmation to a booking, that file is also kept on your phone, in Hop’s own storage. Hop never uploads it or sends it anywhere; it leaves Hop only if you share it or save a copy yourself. When you tap Auto-fill, Hop reads that photo or PDF on your phone to fill in the booking; the file and the words in it never leave your phone. Anyone who can unlock your phone and open Hop, or who can read a backup of your phone, could see it, unless you turn on the optional passcode lock (Settings, Document lock). The lock encrypts the contents of each stored file, including trip documents, with a key made from your passcode; the file’s name, type, size and date stay readable, and the name shows on the locked row. With the lock on, Hop also encrypts your documents, attachments and booking reference numbers. If you turn on Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint unlock, your phone keeps your passcode in its secure storage and releases it only after it recognises you. Hop never receives your face or fingerprint data. The passcode is 4 to 8 digits, so it raises the bar but is not unbreakable, and if you forget it the documents cannot be recovered. Removing a stop, trip or booking deletes its documents and attachments. Countries a trip added to your travel history stay there until you remove them. Deleting the app or clearing its data removes Hop’s copy of everything above, documents included, but not copies in your phone’s backups or files you saved elsewhere. Hop keeps no other copy, so keep your own.

Network requests Hop makes. Hop’s screens and information are built into the app, so it works without a connection. When you’re online, Hop downloads a few public data files to keep its information current between app updates: government travel-advisory levels, entry-rule corrections, the dates on which Hop last checked each destination’s entry rules, and the current version of these legal texts. Each comes from raw.githubusercontent.com (GitHub), or from a jsDelivr mirror of the same files if that fails. Hop also fetches exchange rates directly from ExchangeRate-API about once a day, with Frankfurter (European Central Bank rates) as a fallback. Hop's Premium sections show extra photos that are not built into the app. When you open one of those photos, or tap "Download photos for this trip", Hop downloads it from its own photo storage, served by Cloudflare. Cloudflare receives your IP address and the name of each photo you open. Each photo shows a place. Cloudflare can tell which destinations you looked at. Hop does not receive or keep a record of these requests. Each photo is then kept on your phone, so it is not downloaded again, and you can remove saved photos in Settings. If you never open a Premium section, Hop never contacts its photo storage. Like any web request, these send your IP address and standard technical details to the provider, which handles them under its own privacy policy; Hop adds no personal information, account or identifier to them. Offline, Hop uses the last rates and texts it saved, or the ones built into the app, and makes no requests at all. A Premium photo you have not saved shows as a blurred preview until you are back online. The Hop website, hoptravelapp.com, is hosted by Cloudflare, which sees routine technical data such as your IP address when you visit. When you open its privacy or terms page, your browser also downloads the current text from GitHub or jsDelivr, which see your IP address.

Notifications. Hop can send you notifications. They are made on your phone from the same daily data; nothing about you or your trips is sent to Hop.

Shared links. If you share a trip or your travel map, Hop puts only the details you choose into the link itself, on your phone. Hop doesn’t upload or store them, and the pages at hoptravelapp.com/t/ (trips) and hoptravelapp.com/w/ (travel maps) read the link only in the viewer’s own browser. Anyone who has the link can see those details, and a link can’t be cancelled once sent.

Counting how Hop is used. Hop has no analytics: it keeps no count of how often it’s opened or by whom. If you test Hop through Apple’s TestFlight, Apple shows us how many times you’ve used each test build and any crashes, with your name if we invited you by email, or anonymously if you joined through a public link.

Links out. Government visa and advisory links open third-party websites with their own privacy practices.

If you live in the UK or EU (GDPR). The preferences, trips and documents above stay on your phone; we never receive them. If you email us, or join a test version through Apple TestFlight or Google Play, we hold your email address, your name if you give it, your message or feedback, and the TestFlight counts described above, to answer you and run the test (our legitimate interests). Ask support@hoptravelapp.com for a copy, a correction or deletion. The data-file and rate providers receive your IP address when your device contacts them, and handle it under their own privacy policies. Photo requests go to Cloudflare, which handles the IP address for Hop under its data processing terms; Hop does not receive them. How long Cloudflare keeps that data is set by its own privacy policy: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.

Children. Hop doesn’t ask anyone, including children, for personal information.

Changes and contact. We may update this policy without an app update: Hop downloads the current version when you’re online, keeps it for offline use, and shows the date it applies from. If a change is significant, Hop tells you in the app. We keep every earlier version, dated, and will send you a copy if you ask. Questions: support@hoptravelapp.com.