RouteBuddy GIS Limited
Legal, Privacy & Safety
Clear information about using RouteBuddy Beacon and QuodWords, how location information is handled, and the limits of the service.
Effective: 20 August 2026
Important safety information
Beacon is a location aid. It is not an emergency service.
RouteBuddy Beacon and QuodWords are designed to help a person see, communicate, share and confirm a location. They should not be relied on as the sole means of navigation, rescue, emergency communication, personal safety or determining an exact position.
GPS, mapping, device sensors, network services and software can be inaccurate, delayed or unavailable. Always use judgement and, where safety is involved, use appropriate maps, signs, official instructions and established emergency procedures.
If there is an emergency, contact the appropriate emergency service using the normal emergency channels available to you. Beacon does not itself contact, dispatch or monitor emergency services.
1. Who provides the service
The service is provided by RouteBuddy GIS Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16910560.
2. What Beacon and QuodWords do
Beacon is a location application. It can display the device’s position, generate a QuodWords location code, help a user read or share that location, find a QuodWords location, create map links and, where the user chooses, export or send location information using services available on the device.
QuodWords is a location-code system. It converts geographic locations into compact codes intended to be easy to read, say, type and confirm. RouteBuddy Beacon is one implementation of QuodWords.
3. No guarantee of exact position or continuous availability
Location information is affected by the device, satellite visibility, operating-system services, mapping data, signal conditions, user permissions and other factors outside RouteBuddy’s control. A displayed position, map, route, QuodWords code, accuracy figure or shared location may therefore be wrong, incomplete, delayed or unavailable.
We do not promise that Beacon, QuodWords, any map or any linked third-party service will always be available, error-free or suitable for a particular purpose.
4. Safety-critical and emergency use
You must not treat Beacon or QuodWords as the sole source of information where life, health, personal safety, rescue, emergency response, legal compliance or significant property risk depends on the result. Confirm important information using other appropriate sources and procedures.
QuodWords is not, unless an organisation expressly states otherwise, an official addressing system, emergency-service location standard or substitute for coordinates, an address, recognised navigational references or instructions from an emergency authority.
5. Sharing information
Beacon may allow you to share a location, code, map link, message, GPX/CSV export or other information. You decide whether to share it and with whom. Before sending location information, consider whether the recipient is appropriate and whether revealing your location could create a privacy or safety risk.
Messages, map links and exports may be handled by Apple, a mobile network, a messaging provider, a mapping provider or another service chosen by you. Their own terms and privacy practices may apply.
6. Maps and third-party services
Maps, operating-system functions, communications services and external links may be supplied by third parties. RouteBuddy GIS Limited does not control those services and is not responsible for their independent availability, content or accuracy.
7. Appropriate use
You must not misuse the service, interfere with it, attempt to compromise its security, use it unlawfully, or deliberately use it to mislead another person about a location.
8. Intellectual property
RouteBuddy, RouteBuddy Beacon, QuodWords, their branding, software, designs and documentation are owned by or licensed to RouteBuddy GIS Limited, except for third-party material identified as such. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership of that intellectual property to you.
QuodWords is being developed with an open-standard direction. Any separately published specification, code or data is governed by the licence or terms accompanying that material. The existence of an open specification does not make RouteBuddy or QuodWords trademarks, logos, branding or other proprietary material open for unrestricted use.
9. Third-party use of QuodWords
QuodWords may be implemented by third-party developers, organisations, products or services under the terms applicable to the published QuodWords specification, software or data.
Unless RouteBuddy GIS Limited expressly states otherwise, those implementations are independent of RouteBuddy GIS Limited. We do not operate, control, endorse, certify or guarantee third-party implementations and are not responsible for their software, services, accuracy, availability, security, privacy practices or use of QuodWords.
A third party’s use of the QuodWords specification, software, data or compatible codes does not give that party the right to represent its product or service as being produced, approved, certified, endorsed or supported by RouteBuddy GIS Limited.
Any permission to use the QuodWords name, logo or other marks is separate from permission to implement any open specification, software or data and may be subject to separate trademark or brand-use rules.
10. Changes
Beacon and QuodWords are evolving products. Features, code behaviour, coverage, precision, documentation and these terms may change. Material changes to these terms will be shown by updating the effective date on this page.
11. Liability
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where the law does not allow us to do so. Subject to that, the service is provided as a practical location tool and you remain responsible for how you use location information and for checking information where accuracy or safety matters.
We do not accept responsibility for losses caused solely by third-party services, device failure, loss of connectivity, inaccurate source data, user error, or use of Beacon or QuodWords contrary to the safety information on this page, to the extent the law permits.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, subject to any mandatory consumer rights that apply to you in the country where you live.
1. Data controller
RouteBuddy GIS Limited is the data controller for personal information that we receive and determine how to use. Contact: support@routebuddy.com.
2. Location information used by Beacon
Beacon needs access to device location services to perform its core location functions. Depending on the feature in use, this may include latitude, longitude, altitude or accuracy information, movement information, heading, time and a QuodWords code derived from the location.
Beacon performs its core location display and QuodWords conversion on the user’s device. RouteBuddy GIS Limited does not operate a central user account, central RouteBuddy location-history service or continuous location-tracking service for Beacon.
Beacon does not currently include analytics or third-party analytics SDKs that transmit user activity or location information to RouteBuddy GIS Limited.
If you choose to send, share or export location information, that information leaves the app only through the destination or service you choose, for example messaging, email, a map link or an exported file.
3. Support and beta reports
If you contact RouteBuddy, send a beta report or otherwise ask for support, we receive only the information you choose to send to us.
Beta reports are user-initiated. Beacon does not automatically transmit crash reports, diagnostics, location history or issue reports to RouteBuddy GIS Limited through the beta-report function. A tester may describe a crash or issue and may choose to include relevant information in that report.
We use information supplied in support or beta reports to answer you, investigate problems, improve the product, maintain security and keep an appropriate record of support or testing activity.
4. Website information
When you visit RouteBuddy.com, the hosting and security infrastructure may process ordinary technical information such as IP address, browser/device information, requested pages, timestamps and security logs needed to deliver and protect the site.
RouteBuddy.com does not currently use optional analytics, advertising or non-essential tracking as part of the RouteBuddy website. If we introduce analytics, advertising, non-essential cookies or similar tracking, we will update this notice and, where required, ask for consent before using them.
5. Why we process personal information
Depending on the context, our lawful basis may be that processing is necessary to provide a service you requested, that we have legitimate interests in operating, securing and improving RouteBuddy, or that you have given consent where consent is required. We will not treat one lawful basis as applying automatically to every type of processing.
6. Sharing
We do not sell personal information. We may use service providers that host, secure or support our systems, and we may disclose information where required by law or where reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
Where you deliberately send information through a third-party service, that service receives the information under its own terms and privacy arrangements.
7. Retention
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including support, security, legal and accounting requirements. Support and beta correspondence may be retained while it remains useful for resolving issues, product history or legal obligations and then deleted or anonymised when no longer needed.
8. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to ask for access to your personal information, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, or withdrawal of consent. To exercise a right, contact support@routebuddy.com.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully.
9. Children
Beacon may be useful in family or safeguarding contexts, but the product should not be treated as a substitute for appropriate adult supervision, safeguarding arrangements or emergency procedures. If we introduce accounts, tracking or other features specifically directed at children, we will review and update the privacy and consent arrangements before doing so.
10. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information we control. No internet, email, device or software system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Beta software may contain defects
A TestFlight or otherwise identified beta version is pre-release software supplied for evaluation and testing. It may contain bugs, unfinished features, inaccurate results, performance problems or changes that do not appear in the final release.
Beta testers should not rely on a beta build for safety-critical, emergency or sole-navigation purposes. Important locations and results should be checked independently.
Feedback and issue reports
Beta feedback and issue reports are supplied by the tester. Beacon does not automatically send a beta issue report to RouteBuddy GIS Limited. By sending feedback, you permit RouteBuddy GIS Limited to use that feedback to investigate, improve and develop its products.
Please do not include personal, confidential or location information that is unnecessary for the issue you are reporting.
No waiver of legal rights
Beta status does not remove rights or responsibilities that cannot lawfully be excluded. These beta provisions supplement, rather than replace, the other terms and safety information on this page.
RouteBuddy GIS Limited
Registered in England and Wales
Company number: 16910560
Registered office: 40 Warwick Close, Holmwood, Dorking, England, RH5 4NL
Email: support@routebuddy.com
Website: routebuddy.com
RouteBuddy and QuodWords are names and marks used by RouteBuddy GIS Limited. Trademark registrations and applications may apply in relevant territories.