Last updated: 22 October 2026

Only the German text is legally binding, in every country. Any other language version is a translation and serves only to aid understanding. Where it differs from the German text, the German text applies.

Cuolma Privacy

This page describes what the Cuolma app (iPhone, iPad, Mac) does with data. Cuolma is free, has no account and no sign-in. For bimover’s website and account services, see the general Privacy Policy.

1. Controller and contact

bimover GmbH, Hammer 19, 5000 Aarau, Switzerland Email: privacy@bimover.ch

2. What Cuolma collects

Cuolma has no analytics of its own and no advertising identifier. The app does not report to bimover what you do with it, and for Cuolma there is no server of ours that it calls on its own. bimover still comes up twice, and both are here: in Cuolma links lead to this page and to the terms of use, and tapping one calls up our website like any other visit (section 3). And anyone who tests Cuolma through TestFlight is known to us, as the paragraph after next describes.

Reports and figures about Cuolma reach us only through Apple, and only if you allow sharing analytics with app developers in your device’s settings. We then see crash and performance reports, for instance when Cuolma hangs or uses a lot of power, and figures that Apple totals up across many devices, such as how often Cuolma is opened. A crash report mostly shows where in the program Cuolma crashed, along with the device model and system version. We read it to find and fix faults, and for nothing else. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in an app that does not crash (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We build no collection of our own: we look at the reports at Apple, and there they disappear under Apple’s own time limits.

If you test Cuolma through TestFlight, this does not depend on that setting. TestFlight then shows us your crash reports, how often you opened Cuolma and whatever you send us through TestFlight. If we invited you by email, your name and email address appear with it. We need that to run the test and to reply to you; the legal basis is your taking part in the test (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Your name and address stay in the test group at Apple until the test ends or you write to us. After that we take you out of the test group, and both disappear there with it.

The versions for testing and development also have a switch that fetches an older issue of the avalanche bulletin; the request to the SLF then carries the chosen date. The App Store version has no such switch.

3. What Cuolma sends where

Cuolma gets its terrain, aerial imagery and the national map from swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, at data.geo.admin.ch, and the national map on the start page at wmts.geo.admin.ch. A search for an address or a place asks swisstopo’s search service at api3.geo.admin.ch. There Cuolma also asks which hiking trails in a region are closed or diverted; the cantons and their trail associations report these closures to the Swiss Hiking Federation, and the Federal Roads Office and swisstopo publish them. It gets the avalanche bulletin from the SLF, the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, at aws.slf.ch. The table shows what leaves your device on which occasion, and where it goes.

When	What	To whom
You open a route or a tour or add routes to the open tour, or Cuolma reopens the last tour at launch, or failing that the newest one in its tour archive; if you last closed all routes, Cuolma shows its start page at launch (next row)	the region of the routes with a 4 km margin, plus coarse terrain reaching at least 15 km past the routes for the horizon	swisstopo
The start page is showing: at first launch, after “New region”, when you close the last route or a region does not open, and at launch if you last closed all routes; at launch it may also show briefly before the route opened last comes up. In addition, every time you move or zoom the map on it	the tiles of the national map for the section the map shows, and with them which section you are looking at; after launch first Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein as a whole, then the section the map showed last	swisstopo
You type into the “Address, place or peak” field, once there are three characters and you pause briefly; again when you press Return	the text you typed and nothing else, neither your position nor the open region	swisstopo
You open a region from typed coordinates, a search result or with a tap on the map on the start page	that region with a 4 km margin, plus the terrain for the horizon	swisstopo
You open, draw or change a route, or Cuolma opens a route at launch or opens the region again with its routes; you rig a highline, let go of one of its anchors or select one that has not been measured yet	the terrain under the line at fine resolution, for a highline at the finest your choice for the terrain allows (half a metre, or two metres with the coarser choice), as far as it is not already on the device, and with it exactly where the line lies	swisstopo
You open a region or a route, or Cuolma reopens the last route at launch or opens the region again; “Stay offline” goes off or the network comes back while a region is open. Each time only if there is no state for this region on the device that is younger than six hours	the question of which hiking trails in this region are closed or diverted; it carries the same section as when opening, without the route and without your position. If very many closures come back, Cuolma asks again for the four quarters of the section one by one	swisstopo
You open a region for which something is already on the device and it is more than a week old	the question whether anything newer exists for that region since last time; it carries the region and the date of what you hold, and with that the fact that this connection has fetched this region before	swisstopo
You tap “Where I am now”	a region 6 km square with a 4 km margin, centred on the nearest intersection of the kilometre grid on the Swiss national map, plus the terrain for the horizon; then the fine tiles above your position, because the view flies there	swisstopo
After “Where I am now” swisstopo has no terrain for your spot, and Cuolma shows it on the map on the start page	the tiles of the national map for a section of at least 20 km around the measured spot, and with them roughly where you are standing; finer ones if you then zoom in	swisstopo
You tap “To me” while “Stand” is not lit: the view moves over your position	the fine tiles above your position, and with them the spot where you are standing, to within a few hundred metres	swisstopo
You tap “To me” while “Stand” is lit: the view stands at eye level at your position and moves along with you	the finest tiles around your position, as long as the view moves along and as far as they are not already on the device, and with them your spot and your path to within a few dozen metres	swisstopo
The view shows places that are not yet on the device, for instance because you move it or because the network comes back	the tiles for what the view shows, and with them which part of the region you are looking at	swisstopo
You open a region; if it opened without a network, as soon as the network comes back, “Stay offline” goes off or Cuolma comes to the front again; only while Cuolma is in front	the question of which sheets of the 1:10,000 national map exist for this region; Cuolma needs the answer for the map on the mountain and for the size of the offers under “Offline”	swisstopo
The “Map or aerial image” slider is not all the way to the right (the map is the default). If the question got no answer, Cuolma asks again on its own: right away when the network comes back or “Stay offline” goes off, otherwise after 5, 15, 30 and 60 seconds, then every 10 minutes, only while Cuolma is in front	the sheets for the region you are looking at, and on a repeat the question for the sheets again	swisstopo
“Stay offline” goes off or the network comes back, and terrain is missing under the open route. Fetching it starts only while Cuolma is in front, otherwise as soon as it is in front again; once each time; one already running finishes	if the region opened without a network only from the device, first the question of which files exist for the region of the route with a 4 km margin; then the missing terrain under the route; in addition the tiles for the part the screen is showing	swisstopo
You choose a different resolution for terrain or aerial imagery, or loading a region you take along under “Offline” ends, finished or aborted: Cuolma opens the region again	as when opening, the region with a 4 km margin and the terrain for the horizon, as far as it is not already on the device; not the question for the map sheets again	swisstopo
You start Cuolma or bring it to the front again, with or without a route; you open a region or a route, or Cuolma opens the region again; you change the route or its schedule; you open “Avalanches”; you switch on the tint by the avalanche bulletin while a region is open (under “Tint”, “by” set to “Avalanche bulletin”, the slider not at zero); “Stay offline” goes off or the network comes back; with a route open or the terrain tinted, also on its own when the issue shown expires or a new one is due at the SLF. Each time only if the SLF may have a new issue	the question for the whole issue of the bulletin, in the app’s language; plus the question for the warning regions, every 30 days and at once when a bulletin names a region Cuolma does not know yet	SLF
You take a region along under “Offline”, as “Overview” or “Finest resolution”	the files for that region at the chosen resolution	swisstopo
You agree to the terms of use on first launch or for a new version, and iCloud is on on the device	the version of the terms of use you agreed to (a date), so that Cuolma does not show them to you again on your other devices	your iCloud, at Apple
“Sync via iCloud” is on	your tours in the tour archive including highlines and markers, and for each tour the lists of your changes (section 5)	your iCloud Drive, at Apple
You tap “© swisstopo”	a visit to swisstopo’s website, in your browser	swisstopo
You tap “SLF avalanche bulletin”, “slf.ch” or “CC BY 4.0”	a visit to the SLF’s website or to the licence page, in your browser	SLF, and Creative Commons for the licence
On the map on the start page you tap Apple’s notice about the legal information	a visit to that information at Apple	Apple
You tap the link inside Cuolma to this privacy page or to the terms of use	a visit to this page or to the terms of use, in your browser	bimover
You share analytics with app developers, or you test through TestFlight	the reports and figures from section 2	Apple, and from there bimover

Every request carries your IP address and the time, plus what the operating system attaches to every request of its own accord, including the name and version of the app, the version of the system and the languages set on your device. Cuolma attaches no identifier of your device to any request. If swisstopo or the SLF sets a cookie, Cuolma accepts it and sends it along next time; their own terms apply to it. Cuolma itself sets none.

Cuolma does not keep the search text: it stays in the field only while you search, and goes into no file and no log. swisstopo sees it with your IP address, like any other request.

Which closed hiking trails concern your route, Cuolma works out on the device; that is why the route is not in the question about them. The designated wildlife areas and wildlife reserves of the Federal Office for the Environment come with the app, and nothing goes out for them.

Cuolma reads what you took along under “Offline” from the device. While “Stay offline” is off, swisstopo still learns which region you open and supplies whatever is not on the device.

The map on the start page asks swisstopo for its tiles the way the terrain view does, with no identifier. When Cuolma itself moves the map to where you are standing, it never shows less than 20 km around it. This map is drawn by the system’s map component, which Apple supplies, but only with tiles from swisstopo: Cuolma loads no map sections from Apple for it. What that component exchanges with Apple of its own accord follows Apple’s rules, not Cuolma.

Cuolma asks the SLF the same thing: the whole issue of the bulletin. Which of the 149 warning regions belong to your route, and which level a slope carries when you tint the terrain by the avalanche bulletin, is worked out on the device. So neither your position nor the route or region you have open is in the request. It carries the app’s language and the identifier of the issue already on the device. If that is already the latest one, the SLF answers only that there is nothing new, and sends no data. The occasions for this question are the launch and every return to the front, before you tap anything, plus opening a region or a route, Cuolma opening the region again, any change to the route or to its schedule, opening “Avalanches”, switching on the tint by the avalanche bulletin, and the moment “Stay offline” goes off or the network comes back. With a route open or the terrain tinted by the avalanche bulletin, Cuolma also asks on its own when the issue shown expires or a new one is due at the SLF, even if you tap nothing; an appointment already set for this can still ask once more after you switch the tint off or close the region. The question does not go out every time, but only when the SLF may have a new issue or the last question is long enough ago. From it the SLF sees when somebody is using Cuolma, not who and not where. The only way to stop it is “Stay offline”, and that also cuts off terrain from the network.

With “Stay offline” on, Cuolma fetches no more terrain, imagery or national map from the network, not even for the horizon, and draws what is on the device. It asks the SLF nothing either, and shows the bulletin that is on the device. Nor does it load the national map on the start page, and a search for an address or a place does not ask swisstopo. Nor does it ask about closed hiking trails; it shows what it has on the device for them. The switch does not cover locating or the iCloud sync, which Apple provides.

Apart from what section 2 describes, none of this reaches bimover. If you tap the link to this page or to the terms of use inside Cuolma, our website opens in your browser, and our web server receives, as with every visit, your IP address, the time, your browser’s identification and the path requested. What swisstopo, the SLF and Apple do with their requests is governed by their own privacy policies. For swisstopo, see swisstopo.admin.ch; for the SLF, see slf.ch.

4. Location

Cuolma uses your location to show where you are, and to open the region around you when you ask. It asks only when you tap “Where I am now” or “To me”, and only with your permission. There are no other occasions.

Locating does not run continuously. It starts with one of those two actions and ends at the latest when you open another region or route, or quit Cuolma. Cuolma does not ask to locate you in the background. On iPhone and iPad, locating therefore pauses while Cuolma is not on screen. The Mac makes no such distinction: there it keeps running as long as Cuolma is open, even when another window is in front.

The coordinates themselves go to no one. What leaves the device is the region, not the point: with “Where I am now”, swisstopo learns which intersection of the kilometre grid on the Swiss national map is nearest to you, because Cuolma centres the section there. The fine tiles the view then fetches above your position give it away to swisstopo to within a few hundred metres. The same applies to “To me”: the button moves the view over your spot without opening a new region, and the view fetches the same fine tiles there. If swisstopo has no terrain for your spot, Cuolma instead shows the spot on the national map on the start page after “Where I am now”, in the middle of a section of at least 20 km. From the tiles of that section swisstopo then learns roughly where you are standing, and more precisely if you zoom in afterwards.

If “Stand” is lit, “To me” puts the view at eye level at your spot and moves along with you until you tap another spot, walk yourself, switch to “Overview” or “Bird” or leave the region. The view then fetches the finest tiles around your spot, as far as they are not already on the device, and from them swisstopo learns your spot and your path to within a few dozen metres. On iPhone and iPad the view in “Stand” also turns with the device, at your spot as at any other. For this Cuolma reads the device’s compass and orientation, and only while “Stand” is lit. Both stay on the device: Cuolma sends them to no one and stores them in no file.

The location is not measured by Cuolma but by your device’s locating service, which Apple runs. What that service reports to Apple in the process follows Apple’s rules and your device settings, not Cuolma.

If you decline, everything else works as before. You then open a region from the map on the start page, the search or coordinates. You can change the permission at any time in your device’s settings.

5. What stays on the device

Terrain, imagery and the national map that Cuolma fetched along the way stay on the device with no time limit. How much of it Cuolma keeps is your choice, under “Offline” at “Keep”: 2, 8 or 20 GB, with 8 GB preset. Above that limit Cuolma discards what has gone unlooked-at the longest, no matter how much space is still free on the device. All of it goes at once with “Delete what was fetched on the way”. Regions you took along do not count towards this limit and are not touched by it.

For as long as these files are there, they are a dated trail of the regions you have looked at: each file stands for one section, and the device records when it was last used. They sit in the app’s own area. On iPhone and iPad no other app can reach it; on a Mac that area sits in your home folder, and a program running with your rights can read it.

For every region you open, Cuolma also keeps small lists of what swisstopo has for it, each with the section asked for, margin included, and the time Cuolma last asked about it. These lists do not count towards the limit under “Keep” and stay until you tap “Delete what was fetched on the way”.

Cuolma sends its requests to swisstopo and the SLF over the system’s ordinary network connection. The system may keep small responses and cookies in its own cache while doing so, also in Cuolma’s area on the device. This includes the tiles of the national map on the start page: while they are there, they show which sections you looked at on the start page, and without a network the map shows them again. That cache is run by the system; Cuolma has no button for it, and “Delete what was fetched on the way” does not touch it. The question about closed hiking trails goes out without this cache.

A region you took along under “Offline” stays until you free it up there. “Delete what was fetched on the way” leaves it in place. For every region taken along, Cuolma keeps the name of the route that was open at the time and the date, so that the list under “Offline” has something to show. Cuolma also keeps the horizons it worked out for your most recently opened routes. It clears older ones away itself, and there is no button to delete them.

Cuolma also keeps the bulletin and the SLF warning regions it fetched last, so it can still show them without a network. The next issue replaces the previous one, and “Delete what was fetched on the way” does not touch them.

Cuolma keeps the closed hiking trails of a region for each query, with the section of the region in the file name and the time of the query, so that they are there on the mountain without a network. No more than the thirty newest stay; Cuolma clears older ones away itself. “Delete what was fetched on the way” does not touch them.

Of every tour Cuolma was able to show, it keeps a copy in its own tour archive, as one GPX file with all the routes and places of the tour, even if a route came from a KML, KMZ or FIT file. If you choose several files at once, Cuolma keeps them as one new tour. The original stays where it was. If there is nothing for the region, or the file carries no point, nothing is kept. If you add routes to the open tour, they go into its file as a copy, and the tour they came from stays. If you take a route out of a tour, split a route or join two, Cuolma keeps the route you took out and the routes you split or joined each as a tour of its own. If you edit a route and save it, Cuolma rewrites the file of its tour, with the name from the tour card. If you set a time under “Schedule” at “Set off”, the route keeps it in that file, as a time of day without a date; “Automatic” takes it out again. It also keeps the kind you choose in the tour card (Hiking, Alpine or Ski tour). The file also records which route is active, which are hidden and which are templates, plus the highlines and markers of the tour. If the tour archive is in your iCloud Drive, all of this goes there with the file. What you export with “Export route” carries neither time nor kind. You can also export a route as GPX with “Export route”, put all the routes of the region into one GPX file with “Save tour …”, and save the picture of the view as a PNG; where they go is up to you in the dialogue. With “Sync via iCloud” on and iCloud Drive available on the device, the tour archive is in your iCloud Drive, and on iPhone and iPad you see it in the Files app; what you delete there is deleted. Otherwise it is on this device only, in the app’s own area, and on iPhone and iPad nothing but Cuolma leads there.

From a KML, KMZ or FIT file Cuolma takes only what a route needs: the position of the points, their height and time including the date where the file carries them, the names of the route and its places, and for a KML the descriptions of its places. Whatever else a watch records, such as heart rate, laps or details of the device, it leaves out, and it does not follow references in a KML to other files or addresses. These versions Cuolma first puts into the folder for temporary files in the app’s own area; while a tour with several routes is open, it also puts working copies of its other routes there. The system clears them away from time to time, and Cuolma also clears those from KML, KMZ and FIT at the next import once they are older than seven days.

The file from “Save tour …” carries each route with its places, its time, its kind and whether it is active, hidden or a template, plus the highlines and markers of the region, but no identifiers for syncing. Highlines and markers are not in the lists for syncing via iCloud; they reach your iCloud Drive with the file of the tour in the tour archive or in a file that you put there yourself.

So that you can edit a tour on several devices, Cuolma puts a hidden folder next to each tour in the tour archive in your iCloud Drive. It holds the tour as it was at the first sync and, for each device, a list of what you changed on it on that device: which point or place was added, where it went (with height and time, if the file carries them) or that it was removed, where a segment begins, what the tour, its routes and its places are called, the time you set and the kind, for a tour with several routes also which route was added (with all its points) or went and whether a route is active, hidden or a template, each with the moment of the change. Highlines and markers are not in the lists. Each list carries a random identifier of its device, which Cuolma creates once and keeps on the device, in its backup and in these folders, rarely also as part of the key of a route in the file of the tour. So that a device restored from another one’s backup gets its own, Cuolma keeps beside it a checksum of the identifier the device itself carries, and like its own identifier keeps it only on the device and in its backup. Tour and folder also carry a shared random identifier, and in a tour with several routes each route carries a key that Cuolma forms from the tour and the route. From the lists of all devices Cuolma puts the tour together on each device. What you saved that is not in the list yet, for instance because iCloud has not loaded it, Cuolma keeps until then as a copy of the tour in the app’s own area on the device, together with the state of the lists it is recorded against. It removes both there as soon as it is in the list or you remove the tour in Cuolma. None of this goes to bimover. If the tour archive is on the device only, there are no such folders.

In Cuolma itself you remove a tour with all its routes in the tour archive with the trash symbol next to its name. The question “Remove route?” already says whether there is a trash there, and afterwards the app says what happened: either the copy is in the trash, and you can put it back from there, or it is deleted. If the tour archive is in your iCloud Drive, the tour disappears on every device that syncs via iCloud, and its hidden folder with the lists of changes goes with it. The original in your folder is untouched, and so is whatever you exported as GPX, put away with “Save tour …” or saved as a PNG. If you delete or replace a tour outside Cuolma, for instance in the Files app, its hidden folder stays. So does a folder that no longer fits its tour: Cuolma renames it and puts it aside instead of deleting it, and it goes with no tour. In the Finder on a Mac, Command-Shift-Period shows hidden folders.

Whatever else Cuolma has stored about that tour stays where it is: the region fetched for it, the computed horizons, the name of a route with a region taken along, and its entry in the list of tours opened last. For these, what the other paragraphs of this section say applies. If the tour was already in the tour archive when you switched “Sync via iCloud”, it is in the other tour archive too, in iCloud Drive or on the device: switching makes copies and moves nothing. That copy stays; switch back, and the tour is in the list again.

Cuolma also remembers which tours you opened last, and your settings, such as whether “Stay offline” is on. That list holds up to eight tours, and each entry carries the path to the file with it, so often your user name and the folder the tour came from. There is no button that empties the list; an entry drops out when a ninth one arrives. Cuolma also remembers the version of the terms of use you agreed to, a date; if iCloud is on, it is in your iCloud as well (section 3).

Cuolma writes the measured coordinates to no file. The region, on the other hand, it does: what Cuolma fetches after “Where I am now” then sits among what was fetched on the way, with the time it was used. The lists of what swisstopo has for it name the section around the nearest intersection of the kilometre grid. If Cuolma shows the spot on the map on the start page, its tiles then sit in the system’s cache. A region taken along is listed with the name of the route and the date.

Cuolma writes diagnostic lines into the device’s system log. What kind of error it was is readable there; whatever words the error itself brings along, Cuolma records only masked, as a hash. Besides error lines, Cuolma writes lines about the state of the national map, for instance when a region opens: whether sheets are there, whether there is a network and where the slider stands, with no place and no names. What stays out is the storage path, the file name, the name of the route, what you type into the search field, and your position. The tile reference of the view, so roughly the region that was on the screen, can only appear in that masked part; the system shows it in plain text only with a profile that releases private log data. While locating is running, Cuolma leaves the masked part out entirely. The lines stay on the device; they leave only in a sysdiagnose that you trigger and pass on yourself.

On a new iPhone your tours are there again, the regions are not. Cuolma keeps everything it stores itself from swisstopo and the SLF out of your device backup, so that your backup does not grow by several gigabytes; every device fetches the regions itself. The tour archive goes with it, and with “Sync via iCloud” on your tours are on all your devices anyway.

If you delete Cuolma from an iPhone or iPad, all of this goes with it. On a Mac it sits in your home folder under Library/Containers/ch.bimover.cuolma, and that folder stays after you delete the app, until you delete it yourself. The app was previously called Tourenansicht, then TourGuide, then Zentour. Cuolma reads no folder of another app, not even that of an earlier version under another name; on a Mac a folder of one of those versions can therefore be left behind under its own name. Anyone tidying up should look there under the old names too. Tours in your iCloud Drive stay there until you delete them there, and so does the version of the terms of use in your iCloud: after a new installation, Cuolma therefore does not ask again.

6. Children

Cuolma is not directed at children, but at people aged 16 and over. It asks no one for an account or for personal details, and we do not knowingly collect data from children.

7. Your rights

If you use Cuolma from the App Store, the most bimover holds from it is what section 2 describes, and Apple passes it on without details about who you are. We cannot find you in it, so there is nothing of it we could hand over, correct or delete. TestFlight is different: there your name and email address are held by us, and your rights apply there in full.

As far as the applicable law grants them to you, you have the right to information about your data, to rectification, to erasure, to restriction of processing, to object to processing, and to receive your data in a common format. A consent, such as the one for locating, you can withdraw at any time in your device’s settings; that takes effect from then on and not retroactively. Write to us at privacy@bimover.ch.

You can also complain to a supervisory authority. In Switzerland that is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner; in the EU and the EEA, the authority of your country of residence.

For the requests that go to swisstopo, the SLF and Apple, contact them directly. swisstopo and the SLF are Swiss federal bodies. The SLF answers the requests on its own machines in Switzerland. swisstopo delivers its data over a worldwide delivery network run by Amazon; your request, your IP address with it, thus reaches a machine of that provider, and that machine need not stand in Switzerland. Apple also processes data outside Switzerland and the EEA, including in the United States; the basis for that is the agreements Apple concludes with us as a developer, and Apple’s own privacy policy. bimover itself is based in Switzerland, and the European Commission has recognised Switzerland as providing an adequate level of data protection.

8. Changes to this page

This page changes with the app. When a feature arrives that sends or stores something, it is described here before the version containing it is released. The top of the page says when we last changed it. We do not keep older versions.