Privacy policy

Last updated: 11 October 2026

N-Way helps you find buildings in Nigeria and get to them. We collect as little as we can to do that, keep it only as long as we need it, and never sell it.

Who we are

N-Way (the app and nways.ng) is operated by NWays Limited Liability Company. We are the data controller for the information described here. Contact us at privacy@nways.ng.

What we collect and why

Without an account

• A random device ID. The app creates a random identifier on your phone. It is not linked to your name, phone number or device serial. We use it to count your map points and to stop the same phone voting twice on a road report.
• Your location, while you use the map. Used on your phone to show where you are and guide you. When you ask for directions, your starting point and destination are sent to our servers to work out the route. We do not keep a history of where you have been.
• Anonymous speeds, only if you agree. When you choose to share them, the app sends your speed and position while driving so everyone sees live traffic. Each trip gets a new random ID that is not linked to you or your device ID, the start of every trip is left out so your home stays private, raw positions are deleted within an hour, and only average speeds per road are kept. You can turn this off at any time.
• Entrance photos you take. When you photograph a building's entrance, we store the photo, the building, the time, where it was taken (to check you were at the building) and your device ID. Photos are shown to others to help them find the entrance. Please avoid photographing people.
• Ratings you give. When you rate a place (thumbs up or down, and a few optional aspects), we store the place, your rating, the time, and your account or device ID, so you have one rating per place that you can change or delete. To mark a rating as from someone who went there, your phone remembers places you arrived at for a week; when you rate one, it sends the point where you arrived and when, which we use only to check you were within about 150 m in the last 7 days, and don't keep. We never store your route or a trace of your movements for ratings. Others see only totals (such as "87% · 124 ratings"), never who rated what.
• Road reports and answers. When you report police, a crash, traffic, roadwork, a hazard or a closure, or answer whether a report is still there, we store the report, its place and time, and your device ID. Reports disappear on their own after a few hours (roadwork after a week).
• Entrances and other contributions you add to the map, with your device ID.
• My car and fuel estimates, kept on your phone. If you add your car (make, model, year, fuel type and tank or battery size), N-Way estimates how much fuel or charge you have, notices when you stop at a filling station or charger during a trip, and warns you before you run low. The fuel level, fill-ups and trip details stay on your phone and are never sent to us. To find stations ahead, the app asks our servers for filling stations or chargers along your route or near you, as it does for any search.
• Anonymous counts of where drivers stop. On long drives N-Way suggests places to eat, rest or sleep, and shows which are "Popular with N-Way drivers". To know that, when a drive ends at a business or place (a restaurant, hotel, park, filling station and so on), or passes a stop like that, the app tells our servers the place. We store only a scrambled code made from your device ID and that place, plus the month: it can't be turned back into your device ID, the same phone gets an unrelated code at every place, so your trips can't be pieced together, and we don't keep the time, the route or any history of where you went. A count is only shown once at least 3 different people stopped at a place. Homes are never counted: drives to a postcode or a dropped pin are not sent. Counts are deleted 13 months after the latest visit. Places to stop are found by asking our servers about the road ahead, as for any search.

With an account

• Sign in with Apple or Google. We receive an identifier from Apple or Google, your email address (Apple may give us a private relay address instead) and your name if you share it. We use these only to sign you in and keep your points and contributions across your phones. We never receive your Apple or Google password.
• Your car, if you add one. Its make, model, year, fuel type and tank or battery size are saved to your account so they follow you to your other phones. Your fuel level and fill-ups are not; they stay on each phone. Removing the car in the app deletes it from your account.
• Your sessions. A sign-in lasts up to 180 days on each phone. We store only a scrambled (hashed) form of it.
• Your trip history. Each finished trip is listed in your profile: where it started, stopped and ended (named and rounded to about 100 metres), when, how far, how long and the estimated fuel, plus the time lost to traffic, tolls paid, the planned time and how many times you went well over the speed limit (for your weekly recap). Never the roads you drove or your GPS positions. It is kept on your phone and, when you're signed in, in your account so it follows you to other phones. You can remove any trip, or clear them all, in Profile, then Places.
• Your profile picture, if you choose one. Only when you tap "Use my photo as my profile picture". We re-save it at 512 pixels, which removes its hidden details (such as where it was taken). Remove it any time; it is deleted with your account.

Your week and your year

• Worked out on your phone. Your weekly recap (streaks, badges, goals and insights such as "living closer to Victoria Island could save you 290 hours a year") and your year's look-back are calculated on your phone from your own trip history. We don't calculate them on our servers and don't keep them. They are only for you.
• The place you usually set off from. Your phone may notice where most of your trips start. It is never called your home, never sent to us, and is left out of the pictures and videos you share.
• Pictures and videos stay with you. The recap's share picture and videos are made on your phone. We never receive or keep them; they go only where you choose to share them. The photo you add to your recap stays on your phone unless you make it your profile picture.
• Reminders. If you allow notifications, your phone reminds you on Monday mornings that your week is ready. Turn the recap off in Profile, then Preferences, "Your week".

Ads on the map

• Ads are chosen from context, not from who you are. Businesses put billboards on their buildings. Which one you see depends on where you are, the road ahead, the time, how you travel, and the kind of place your trip is going to. We don't build a profile of you, and advertisers never learn who saw their ad.
• Interest topics stay on your phone. Your phone works out up to three kinds of places you go to (for example food or fuel) from your trips and saves. Only those three category names are sent with an ad request, never your trips or places, and now and then one is swapped for a random category. Turn this off in Profile, then Preferences, "Ads based on your interests"; ads then use context alone, and the topics are deleted from your phone.
• Counting ads. When an ad is shown, watched, saved, routed to or closed, we record that event with a code made from your device ID with a secret that changes every month. Old secrets are deleted, so older codes can't be tied back to a phone. We keep these events for 90 days. We don't keep where you were.
• Visits and conversions. Tapping "Route there" or "Learn more", saving an ad, finishing an ad's video or using an offer code gives that action a random click ID. If you then arrive at the business, we count a visit. Businesses can tell us that a click ID or offer code led to a sale; they send only the click ID, the kind of event and its value, and we refuse anything that looks like personal data (names, phone numbers, emails). "Learn more" opens the advertiser's website through N-Way, which counts the tap and adds the click ID to the address; after that you're on their website and their privacy policy applies. Advertisers see only totals, and nothing about a group smaller than five phones.
• Advertisers. If you advertise, we keep your business name and contact, your campaigns and creatives, your payments and our review notes, for as long as your account is open and as Nigerian tax law requires.

Walk views you record

• What's recorded. Only while you record a walk view: video from your back camera, your location, compass direction and the phone's motion (to place each frame along the walk and check it was really walked), and any note you add about getting in. No sound.
• Bystanders are protected. Before anyone else sees anything, our server blurs faces and number plates. A reviewer at N-Way then checks every walk view before it's published, and can reject it or ask you to record it again.
• The original video. It's stored encrypted while it's processed and reviewed, and deleted as soon as the walk view is approved or rejected (or a week after an upload is abandoned). Only the blurred pictures are kept and shown.
• What others see. The blurred walk-through and 360° views, the date it was recorded and your gate note, never who recorded it. Points are linked to your device ID (and your account if you're signed in).
• Where people need one. When a trip ends with a walk, the app tells us the building and the walking distance, so we can show "wanted" places. We count trips per building, not who made them.
• Deleting. Delete any of your walk views in Profile, then Ratings & Photos; its published walk goes too. Deleting your account unlinks your walk views from it.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your information. We share only what each service needs to work:

• Apple and Google, to sign you in (only if you choose to).
• NIPOST, the Nigerian Postal Service, when a postcode is looked up. They receive the postcode, not who asked.
• Open-Meteo, for weather. Our server sends a rounded position (about 10 km), never your device ID.
• Satellite imagery providers (Esri, MapTiler, EOX), only when you switch to satellite view. Your phone requests map images directly from them, so they see your internet address and the area being viewed.
• PalmPay, which processes advertisers' payments. It receives the amount, the order and, if given, the advertiser's business name and email; never anything about people who see ads.
• Hosting and security providers (such as Cloudflare) that run our servers and protect them from attacks.
• Authorities, only when Nigerian law requires it.

How long we keep it

• Raw traffic positions: deleted within an hour. Trip start points: within a few hours.
• Road reports: until they expire (hours, or a week for roadwork), then deleted within a day.
• Anonymous counts of where drivers stop: 13 months after the latest visit.
• Entrance photos and map contributions: while they help people find places.
• Ratings: until you delete them or your account (ratings made while signed in are deleted with your account; ones made without an account stay as anonymous totals).
• Walk views: the original video until it's approved or rejected; the blurred walk view while it helps people, until you delete it.
• Trip history: until you remove it, clear it, or delete your account.
• Ad events (shown, watched, saved, routed, closed, visits): 90 days, under codes that change every month.
• Your account: until you delete it.

Your rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, you can:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct it;
• delete your account at any time in the app (Profile, then Delete account) or by email, as described on our delete your account page. This deletes your account, sign-ins, saved places, trip history, profile picture, car details and the link to your phones, and revokes N-Way's access to your Apple sign-in. Anonymous map contributions stay, no longer linked to you;
• object to or withdraw consent for any use based on consent, such as sharing speeds;
• complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (ndpc.gov.ng).

To use any of these rights, contact us at privacy@nways.ng. We reply within 30 days.

Security

Information travels encrypted (HTTPS). Sign-in sessions are stored only in hashed form, and access to our systems is limited to the people who run N-Way.

Children

N-Way is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date above and, for important changes, tell you in the app.