Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 1, 2026

This policy explains what SG Bus (“the app”, “we”) collects, why, and who it is shared with. It applies to the app on Android and iOS.

SG Bus has no accounts and never asks for your name, email address or phone number. The app is free and is supported by advertising; the data below is collected to show those ads, to keep the app working, and to understand how it is used.

Location

With your permission, the app uses your device’s precise location to find the bus stops near you and sort your bookmarks by distance. This is worked out on your device: your precise location is not sent to our servers. When you search, the app may send an approximate location, rounded to about 1 km, so that nearer results come first; see Search below. To show the address at the top of the Nearby screen, your device’s own address lookup (a service of Android or iOS) sends your coordinates to Apple or Google. You can turn location off at any time in your device settings; everything except Nearby keeps working.

The advertising and analytics services below may estimate your general (city-level) location from your IP address.

Advertising

The app shows ads from Google AdMob, which can also serve ads from Meta Audience Network. These services collect and use, for advertising, measurement and fraud prevention:

  • your device’s advertising identifier (Android advertising ID, or on iOS the IDFA only if you allow tracking) and app set ID;
  • your IP address and, from it, your approximate location;
  • your interactions with ads, such as views and taps;
  • diagnostic information about the app and the ad SDK.

This data is shared with Google and Meta for their advertising purposes. On iOS the app asks for your permission before tracking; on Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device settings. Where local law requires it, you can change your ad privacy choices at any time from Ad privacy options in the app’s More page. You can remove ads with a one-off in-app purchase.

Analytics and crash reports

We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used — for example which screens are opened, which features are used, and general settings such as the text size or layout chosen. It collects an app instance ID, your advertising ID, your approximate location from your IP address, and your in-app actions and purchases. We use Firebase Crashlytics to receive crash reports, which contain technical details of the crash and your device, and an installation ID. Firebase processes this data on our behalf.

Notifications and bus alerts

If you allow notifications, Firebase Cloud Messaging gives your device a push token so we can send service announcements and app updates.

When you start a bus alert, the app sends our alert server (api.sgbus.app) a random install ID created by the app, your push token, the bus stop and bus services you chose, the alert interval and your app language. We use these only to notify you as your bus approaches. The alert is removed as soon as the bus arrives, when you cancel it, or at the latest 15 minutes after it was started or extended. Our server’s logs keep the bus stop code and a shortened form of the install ID and push token for troubleshooting.

When you search, what you type is sent to our search server (api.sgbus.app) so it can find bus stops, bus services, MRT/LRT stations and places such as malls, schools, parks, HDB blocks and postal codes. If the app already knows roughly where you are, it also sends an approximate location, rounded to about 1 km, so that nearer results can be listed first. Your precise location is never sent.

The search server keeps a log of searches for 30 days to improve results. Each entry holds only the time, the text searched (and its spelling correction, if one was made), how many results it found, the kind of the top result, whether OneMap was asked, and how long the search took. It does not record your IP address, your location, or anything that identifies you or your device; the location sent with a search is used to rank that one answer and is not stored.

If our server cannot find an address, it may look up the search text with OneMap, the Singapore Land Authority’s map service. Only the search text is sent — never your location or anything about you — and OneMap sees our server, not your device.

Data stored on your device

Your bookmarks, custom stop names, recent stops, recent searches and settings are stored only on your device. Deleting the app deletes them.

Data Usage & Third Parties

Our app utilizes data from LTA DataMall and Land Transport Guru to enhance your transit experience, and search finds places using data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), information from data.gov.sg made available under the Singapore Open Data Licence, and OneMap © Singapore Land Authority. No user-identifiable data is shared with these entities; OneMap receives only search text, from our server, as described under Search. If you are a representative of a data source and have concerns regarding the information displayed, please contact us for removal.

We do not sell your data. All data the app sends is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS).

Deleting your data

Because there are no accounts, we cannot link data to you personally. Bus alert data is deleted automatically as described above, and search logs — which contain nothing that identifies you — are deleted after 30 days. Recent searches on your device can be cleared from the search screen. To reset data used for ads, reset or delete your advertising ID (Android) or turn off tracking (iOS) in your device settings. For anything else, contact us at the address below.

Children

SG Bus is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Our application may provide links to official third-party websites (such as the SimplyGo Fare Calculator). We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these external sites.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page when the app’s data practices change, and change the date at the top.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about our application or this policy, please contact us at hello@sgbus.app.