Terms of Service

The Hikers is a self-funded platform for planning real hikes with real people, across the world. It's run by The Hikers, a company based in 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark ("we", "us"), registered under CVR number 44118599. You can reach us any time at hello@thehikers.com. By joining, you agree to these terms. They're short and in plain language, because you should be able to actually read them.

We're in a closed alpha. Things will change, break, and improve. We'll do our best, but we can't promise the service is always available or bug-free.

Last updated: 11 August 2026

Your real name

When you join, you tell us your real name, and you confirm it's actually yours. It's part of how we keep this a place of real people, not anonymous profiles. You can also choose a trail name, a nickname shown alongside or instead of your real name. The trail name is for display. The real name is the real you.

You need to be 18

You have to be at least 18 years old to join. If we learn an account belongs to someone younger, we'll remove it.

We'd like to make it possible for 13-year-olds to join one day, but we're holding back for now. We'll revisit this.

Be good to each other

That's the whole code of conduct. Treat other people the way you'd want to be treated. No harassment, no hate, no threats, no spam, and no trying to break or abuse the platform. We'd rather stay small and keep good company than grow at any cost, so if you're here to make life harder for other people, this isn't the place for you.

What you upload

You keep ownership of what you add: your words, your photos, your character and gear illustrations. By posting them, you give us permission to store and show them on the platform so it works.

Some illustrations are drawn from a photo you provide, of yourself or of your gear. When you generate one, that photo is sent to Google to draw the illustration. We don't store your photo. We keep only the finished illustration, never the original. Google processes the photo under its own terms.

It's tempting to upload a picture of Darth Vader and have him pop up among the trip participants next to your friends. Not to be a downer, but please don't. If you want to look a certain way, dress up, take a photo of yourself from the front, and we'll draw your character from that.

Only upload a photo you have the right to share: a photo of yourself, or of gear you own or have permission to photograph. Keep what you post relevant and appropriate: nothing unlawful, hateful, or explicit, and nothing off-topic or meant to mislead.

The gear database is different. It's a shared catalog of product information: brands, models, weights, and specs. We maintain it as a resource for everyone. When you add gear from it to your garage, your garage keeps its own copy for you to edit and organize. Your garage is your data, and it's deleted when you delete your account. If you add a product that wasn't in the catalog yet, that entry joins the shared catalog and stays there as product information, without your name on it.

Supporting The Hikers

Nothing here sits behind a paywall, and nothing will be moved behind one because you didn't pay. You can still back the build, in two ways. A Supporter subscription costs €5 a month, tax included, and renews every month until you cancel it. A Founding Member donation is a one-time payment where you choose the amount, starting at €100, and it can be made once per account while the founding era is open.

The price you see is the price you pay. Tax is already included in it, so nothing is added at checkout. If you're outside the euro area, Stripe may show you the amount in your own currency and convert it at checkout; the euro amounts above are what the price actually is.

Payments are handled by Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe, never to us, and Stripe processes them under its own terms and privacy policy.

You can cancel your subscription any time from your support settings, which hand you over to Stripe's customer portal. Cancelling stops the next payment. It doesn't refund the month you're in, and your support runs to the end of the period you've already paid for. If a payment fails, Stripe retries it over the following days and emails you about it. If it keeps failing, the subscription ends.

What you get is a badge on your profile, with a counter showing how many months you've supported. Cancelling takes neither away, and the counter picks up where it left off if you come back. The Founding Member badge is tied to the founding era rather than to an amount: when we close that window, it stops being available to anyone.

If you regret a payment, email hello@thehikers.com and we'll refund it. We'd rather sort it out directly than have you argue with a policy. This doesn't take away any right you have as a consumer in your own country.

Misuse

If you misuse the platform or break these terms, we can suspend or remove your account, with or without warning. We'd rather talk to you first, but for real abuse we won't hesitate. We may also remove content that doesn't belong here.

Your data

We collect what you give us: your name, birthday, where you're based, your email, your hiking preferences, and any images you add. We collect it to run the platform you asked to join, and for nothing else.

Your profile is private by default. Nothing you add is public unless you choose to make it so. We don't sell your data, we don't run ads, and we don't track your location. For the cookies we set, and why there is no cookie banner, see our cookie policy.

To run the platform we share data with the service providers that power it: hosting (Vercel), database and file storage (Supabase), email (Resend), payments (Stripe), product research (Perplexity), and image generation (Google and remove.bg). Some of them may process your data outside the EU, including in the United States. We only send what a provider needs to do its job.

Some of this happens before you have an account. If you're on the waitlist and we ask about the gear you carry, we look up what you tell us the same way: the name or link goes to Perplexity, and a photo of that product goes to Google and remove.bg to be drawn. The entry that ends up in the catalog is product information, not information about you. Your answers stay with your waitlist entry and go when it goes. Once you join, the products you helped add count toward your contributions.

We keep your data for as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, any time from your settings, we delete your profile, character, garage, pack lists, trips, and images. Content you left in shared spaces, like the forum, can remain but no longer carries your name. If you joined our newsletter or waitlist, those are separate lists you can leave any time from their unsubscribe link.

You have the right to see the data we hold about you, correct it, export it, delete it, or object to how we use it. Email us at hello@thehikers.com and we'll help. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Changes

We'll update these terms as the platform grows. If we change something important, we'll let you know. Continuing to use The Hikers after a change means you accept the updated terms.

These terms are governed by the laws of Denmark.

Questions

Email hello@thehikers.com.