TopoKin
Privacy policy
Last updated: October 7, 2026.
TopoKin is built so your kin's whereabouts stay with your kin. In short: no accounts, no ads, no analytics, no selling or sharing data, and your group's positions and messages are end-to-end encrypted.
What stays on your phone
Your maps, waypoints, trips, trail history and settings are stored on your phone only. Your trail history is kept for 30 days unless it's part of a recorded trip.
Your group: end-to-end encrypted
When you share with your group, your location and messages (including places, drawings, bearings and receipts) are encrypted on your phone with your group's key and can only be read by your group's phones. The key never leaves your group's devices.
They travel through TopoKin's relay server (on Cloudflare) when you have internet. The relay cannot read them. To work, it keeps:
| Kept by the relay | Why | For how long |
|---|---|---|
| Each member's display name, a random member id, a public key, and role (owner/admin/member) | to know who is in the group and who may invite | until they leave; everything is deleted when a group has no members |
| Each member's latest encrypted position | so phones that just connected see where everyone is | 24 hours |
| Invite codes (stored as a one-way hash) | to let someone join | until used or expired (at most 7 days) |
Messages are passed on to the group's connected phones and not stored by the relay.
Radios
With a Meshtastic radio, positions and messages go radio to radio. TopoKin sets your group's radios to a private channel whose key comes from your group's key, so other radios nearby can't read them. Trackers carried by people without the app report their position, battery and replies on that channel.
Maps and updates
When you download maps or satellite photos, or check for an app update, your phone asks TopoKin's map service (Cloudflare) and public map sources (such as the U.S. Geological Survey) for the map squares you picked. Like any web server, they see your phone's internet address and which area you asked for. Map requests aren't tied to your group or your name.
Permissions
- Location: to show you on the map and share with your group (only if you join a group and sharing is on). It keeps working with the screen off while sharing or recording a trip, shown by an ongoing notification.
- Bluetooth / nearby devices: to connect to Meshtastic radios.
- Notifications: messages and tracker alerts.
Children
TopoKin is meant to be used by adults. Kids and others without the app can carry tracker radios set up by their group; TopoKin collects nothing from them beyond what their radio reports to that group.
Your choices
Turn sharing off any time (Group, top switch). Leave the group to delete your membership from the relay. Uninstall to delete everything on your phone.
Contact
Questions or requests about your data: privacy@topokin.app. For anything else, see Support.