Safety and privacy in RunBattle
In RunBattle a zone shows everyone the contour you ran, and your loop’s start lies on it, so start and finish away from home if you don’t want that area on the map. Replays show less: they cut at least 300 m around the start and the finish and hide the time of day. Only accepted friends can message you. Chat opens in the year you turn 14, and the app in the year you turn 13.
What do other players see of my runs?
A zone is public: everyone sees its contour, which is the route of your loop, and your loop’s start lies on it. If you don’t want your home area on the map, start and finish away from it.
Every zone has a replay of the run that captured it. You, the owner, see the whole trace. In everyone else’s replay, the server cuts everything within 300 m of your start and of your finish.
On top of that, each zone gets a fixed extra of up to 150 m, and the centre of the cut is shifted too. The extra is the same every time someone views that zone, so watching it again doesn’t narrow the spot down. The hidden part therefore reaches at least 300 m from your start, and further in some directions.
Timestamps in other players’ replays are moved, so the time of day you ran is hidden. They do see the date the zone was captured, rounded to the day.
What does the map show when a zone changes hands?
The former owner sees that the zone was taken, and by whom, when they open the app. Everyone else sees the event 2 hours later, without a name and only to the nearest district.
Mystery Boxes are different: they sit on the public map, so their markers are exact.
Age: the app from 13, chat from 14
RunBattle stores only your birth year, so the age that counts is the one you reach this calendar year. The app is open from the year you turn 13. Messages and zone cards open from the year you turn 14.
Before that you can run, take zones, add friends and open boxes. The birth year can be changed once, and that change can’t open chat.
Who can message me?
Only friends you accepted. A friend request has to be accepted before anyone can write to you, and a block from either side closes the chat. Before the first message, the app shows the community rules.
How do I report or block someone?
From their profile or from the chat. Reasons you can pick: spam, offensive name, cheating, harassment, or other. Block is in the same places.
If someone is in danger right now, call your local emergency number first.
Are Mystery Boxes gambling?
Boxes can’t be bought, so there is no money going in. Nothing with cash value comes out either: a box holds coins or an item for your map and runner, no box is empty, and a duplicate item turns into coins.
The odds are on screen before you open a box, and they are the same for every player.
Where can special places appear?
Special places come from open map data and skip anything private, military, paid or a hotel, as well as anything closer than 40 m to motorways and main roads or 20 m to rail.
These filters lower the risk of a bad spot. They don’t make a route safe, and you choose where you run.
Running in the evening
If your daily missions are first handed out at or after 19:00 local time, the set leaves out missions that send you to new streets, RunPoints or special places. Weekly missions are not filtered, and a set handed out earlier in the day stays as it is. That is a default in how missions are picked, not a safety guarantee.
Special-place coins and RunPoints count only from 07:00 to 21:00. The map shows real dusk and night for the place on screen, and many parks close at nightfall, so after dark pick lit streets you know.
What does the app read from Apple Health?
RunBattle writes each run to Apple Health as an outdoor running workout with distance, active energy and the route. It reads heart rate, body weight and workouts with routes for import, and asks only for the data types it uses.
Background location is used only during an active run. While the app is open, the map also uses your location.
For parents
The app is for ages 13 and up, counted by birth year, and chat opens from the year your child turns 14. Only accepted friends can write, and report and block are in every profile and chat.
Boxes hold nothing with cash value. Location is used on the map while the app is open and in the background only during a run.
You can delete the account in the app. Questions about your child’s data go to privacy@runbattle.io.
Your data and deleting it
Deleting your account removes your runs, zones, friends and messages. Runs already saved to Apple Health stay there. To ask for a copy of your data, write to privacy@runbattle.io.
Key numbers
- Privacy
- In other players' replays, everything within 300 m of your start and finish is cut, plus a fixed extra of up to 150 m per zone (the circle's centre is shifted too), so the hidden reach is 300 to 600 m depending on direction. The zone itself is public: its contour is the route of the loop, and the loop's start lies on it.
- Privacy
- Timestamps in other players' replays are rebased, so the time of day is hidden. Others still see the zone's capture date, rounded to the UTC day.
- Privacy
- Background location is used only during an active run. While the app is open, the map also uses your location.
- Safety
- The app is open from the calendar year you turn 13; chat (messages and zone cards) from the calendar year you turn 14. Your birth year can be changed only once, and that change cannot open chat.
Numbers checked against the app code
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play