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Who can see my Polarsteps account and trips?

That's really up to you — whether it's your account as a whole or your most recent adventure, you're in control.

With that in mind, your privacy settings consist of two parts:
  1. Overall account settings (who can see the content of your account).
  2. The settings for individual trips (allowing you to decide, on an individual basis, if a trip can be seen by just you, your followers, or by everyone).
Basically, things can be as open or closed as you like — these are your memories in the making, and you get to choose who comes along for the ride.
In this article:

The different account privacy options and how to switch between them

You control who can and can’t see the content of your account. There are two privacy settings to choose from:

Private
People can only see your trips after you've accepted their follow request. This means that you’re only sharing experiences with people that you have already decided you can trust.
Public
Your account is open to everyone — including users who don’t follow you yet and people without a Polarsteps account. Perfect for those who love to share their story far and wide!
Note: When you join Polarsteps, your account is always set to private by default.

How to change your account’ privacy settings:

  1. Go to ‘Settings’
  2. Scroll down to ‘Account type’
  3. Switch the ‘Private Account’ toggle to on or off according to your preference 
Remember, you can change your mind (and your settings) at any time.

The different trip privacy settings and how to set them for each trip 

As well as your account privacy, you control the settings for each individual trip. There are three privacy levels to choose from:
Public
Your trip is visible to everyone – meaning even someone who doesn’t follow you or have a Polarsteps account can join in on your adventures. But remember, an active trip includes your location while on the road, which should be kept in mind when sharing widely! 
Note: If you have a private account but set an individual trip to public, that trip will be viewable by everyone.
My followers
Only people that follow you on Polarsteps, or people who you’ve shared your secret link with, will be able to see your trip in its entirety. Not sure what a follower is? Read more here. 
Note: If you want to approve people before they can follow you, make sure your account settings are set to private.
Only me
This means that your trip, including details such as your current location, photos, and steps, are only visible to you. 

Changing your trip’s privacy settings:

  • View the desired trip in your Polarsteps account
  • Press ‘Trip Menu’ and then ‘Trip Settings’
  • Scroll down to ‘Who can see this trip?’
  • Switch the toggle to your desired privacy setting
Note: The default privacy setting for all your trips is always ‘My followers’. 

Why you might be finding that people can see your trip even though your account is private (and how to stop it). 

If you have a private account, but people are still able to see your trips, there are two possible scenarios:

The privacy level of your trip is set to public. Even if your account is private, trips that are set to public can still be viewed by everyone — to avoid this make sure you set the privacy level to ‘My followers' or ‘Me only’' for your trip. 

People are viewing your trip via your secret trip link. Everyone who has the secret link to your trip can see it in full. So, make sure you only share your link with people you trust to not share it with others or post about it on their social media accounts (without your permission).

Can I choose which followers see which trip?

No, it’s not possible to choose which of your followers can see a trip on an individual basis. When you accept someone as a follower, that person can see all trips on your Polarsteps account (apart from the trips set to 'Only me’). 
Note: If you want someone to only see specific trips, consider sending them just those secret links rather than accepting them as a follower.