Please read before you rely on anything here

Terms, Privacy& the safety notice that actually matters

Safety notice

Climbing, scrambling, mountaineering, and backcountry hiking can kill you or leave you permanently injured. That is not a formality. Every route described on Cairn involves real hazards including rockfall, falls from height, avalanche and snow hazard, altitude illness, severe weather, getting lost, and being a long way from rescue.

You alone are responsible for assessing whether you have the skill, fitness, equipment, and judgement for any objective, and for the consequences of going. If you are not sure, hire a certified guide or go with someone who is qualified.

Terms of use

Privacy

What we store

  • Your email address or mobile number, and your display name. If you use phone sign-in, see SMS and text messaging for how your number is handled.
  • Trips you create or join, their dates, plans, and gear lists.
  • Journal entries, photos, and route suggestions you write.

Data lives in a Postgres database with row-level security. Photos are kept in private storage and served through short-lived signed links.

Who can see it

  • Trip data is visible only to members of that trip.
  • Journal entries follow the visibility you choose: private, crew, or public.
  • Private journal notes are stored in a separate table readable only by their author. Marking an entry public never exposes them.
  • Route suggestions are visible to all signed-in users, under your display name.

Deleting your account and data

You can have your Cairn account and everything attached to it permanently deleted at any time.

  • How to request it: email privacy@thecairnapp.com from the address on your account, with the subject "Delete my account". No reason required.
  • What gets deleted: your profile, journal entries and their private notes, uploaded photos, ticks, conditions reports, route suggestions, trips you own, and your membership in trips owned by others.
  • What stays: route facts and beta you contributed to shared route pages remain, because other people rely on them, but they are unlinked from your name. Tell us if you want your contributions removed as well and we will remove those too.
  • How long it takes: within 30 days of the request, usually much sooner. We confirm by email when it is done.
  • If you signed in with Google, Facebook or Apple: deleting your Cairn account does not affect that account. Revoking Cairn's access from that provider does not by itself delete your Cairn data, so send the request above as well.

We do not sell your data, and there is no advertising. Third-party services used to run the site: Netlify (hosting), Supabase (database, authentication, storage), Open-Meteo (weather), and OpenStreetMap/OpenTopoMap (map tiles). Map and weather requests include approximate route coordinates, not your identity or location. To delete your account and everything in it, email us and we will remove it.

SMS and text messaging

How Cairn uses text messages, and what happens to your number.

What we send

Cairn sends one type of text message only: a six-digit one-time passcode used to sign you in to your account. We do not send marketing, promotional, or advertising text messages, and we do not send newsletters or trip reminders by SMS.

Consent

You provide your mobile number voluntarily when you choose phone sign-in. Entering your number and requesting a code is your consent to receive that one-time passcode by text. Consent to receive these messages is not a condition of using Cairn; you can create an account with an email address instead, and you can switch to email sign-in at any time.

Message frequency, rates, and help

  • Frequency. Messages are sent only when you request a sign-in code. There is no recurring or scheduled messaging.
  • Cost. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile plan and carrier. Cairn does not charge you for these messages.
  • Opting out. Reply STOP to any message to stop receiving texts from Cairn. You will receive one confirmation message, after which no further texts will be sent. Because our only text is the sign-in code, opting out means you will need to sign in with your email address instead.
  • Help. Reply HELP for assistance, or email support@thecairnapp.com.
  • Carriers. Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

We do not share your mobile number

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We do not sell, rent, or trade your phone number. Your number is never shown to other Cairn users, is not used to help people find you, and is not passed to advertisers or data brokers.

The only third party that receives your number is Twilio, the messaging provider that delivers the text on our behalf, and Supabase, which hosts our authentication system. They process it solely to deliver and verify your sign-in code, under their own terms as our service providers. Neither uses your number for their own marketing.

Twilio's privacy notice: twilio.com/legal/privacy. Supabase's privacy policy: supabase.com/privacy.

Storage and deletion

Your mobile number is stored with your account so we can recognise you at sign-in. Sign-in codes themselves are short-lived and expire within minutes. Delivery logs held by our messaging provider are retained on their standard schedule.

You can remove your number by switching your account to email sign-in, or have it deleted entirely along with your account. See Deleting your account and data.

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