Remember what you learn — without the endless re-reading and cramming

Multiple proven patterns — pick what fits you

• Build-as-you-go: Draw, place Lilypads, create Frogs and make Lilypad connections immediately, encapsulate the session in a Pond (General is only a first-region shortcut — rename it or create a named Pond with +), schedule first review.
• Clean-up then connect: Produce a “messy” map during focused study, review it a few times to consolidate, then add Frogs/Lilypads for connections once the structure is clearer.
• Cycle-powered review: Organize Lilypads or Frogs into folders (or use Pond ordering) and use the forward/back arrows in the menu to cycle through them in sequence — perfect for “predict what this connects to” active recall.
• Pond-focused deep work: Create a separate Pond for each study session. Use Pond View to dim everything else, warp from notifications or the Pond menu, and stay in flow.
• Folder-organized navigation: Drag Lilypads and Frogs between folders, reorder inside folders, and cycle within a folder only when you want structured sequential review.

The in-app Help menus contain detailed “Pro Tips for Mind Mapping & Learning” for each mode — highly recommended reading once you start using the app.

How “Set next review” actually works

In the Pond Editor (Reviews) or on the Home Review Calendar, you can pick a day and time yourself or tap Use Smart time. Smart grows from that Pond’s last scheduled interval (not a late actual gap), respects your preferred window (Morning / Afternoon / Evening / Any), and honors Longest Smart gap so waits do not grow forever.

You can accept the suggestion as-is or change the day and clock. Then you confirm. That’s it.

Completing a review happens only in the file — never on the calendar. The calendar owns the next fire and the phone reminder. The HopMap file owns history and Smart. After you mark complete in the file, nothing is auto-scheduled. That is intentional:

• You might want the next interval shorter or longer than the suggestion.
• You might have forgotten to review for a few hours or days and want to adjust.
• You might decide you no longer need to review that Pond.
• You stay in complete control — the app never forces a schedule on you.

The smart logic is transparent and per-Pond: it remembers your preferred window and max auto-gap, shows last reviewed / last gap / count, and lets you override anything. Reset reviews (with confirm) if you have forgotten it all and want a clean first review — the Pond stays.

Notifications fire at the exact time you chose and open the correct .HopMap at that Pond. Encrypted files warn that the Pond name can appear on the lock screen.

Lilypads, Frogs, Folders & Cycling

Lilypads are your named bookmarks. Tap any Lilypad in the menu (or from a notification) and the canvas warps to it and highlights it for 10 seconds. Perfect for jumping to key concepts during review.

Frogs are labeled connection hubs. You can link multiple Lilypads to a Frog and see the relationship clearly (e.g. “requires”, “improves”, “causes”). Tap a Frog to warp to it. Frogs and Lilypads both show which Pond(s) they belong to in their displayed name.

Folders keep a big map from becoming a junk drawer. Tap + in the Frog or Lilypad Menu to create a folder. A marker can live in only one folder at a time, but it is always listed under All. Checklist + long-press (or the handle) files items into a folder. Cycle arrows can stay inside a folder or walk everything, depending on your settings.

This gives you multiple powerful review modalities: sequential cycling for structured retrieval practice, random access via search or direct tap, and notification-driven focused review inside a Pond.

Group, focus, and review without distraction

A Pond is a region — like a study session you return to. Encapsulate one session in a Pond. Draw or spray area onto the canvas; if nothing is focused, HopMap names that first region General so you can start immediately. Rename it whenever you like. After the first, most Ponds start from + in the Pond Menu: name it, star it (focus), then Draw or Spray to give it a region.

Frogs and Lilypads inside the bounds are listed on that Pond — you can warp to those, not only to the Pond’s anchor. Erase Pond removes region, not the Pond; star it again and draw to add area back.

Move Pond: with Pond View on, drag a Pond over content to reveal it, off content to hide it. Double-tap and hold, then drag, to relocate that region and anything that lives only in it.

Pond View (status-bar water-drop, or View → Pond View) dims everything outside the selected Pond so you can concentrate on exactly the material you’re reviewing right now.

Notifications + Pond View + instant warp = the fastest path from “I should review this” to high-quality, focused recall.

The little reviews replace the big cramming sessions

Yes, the short reviews take a few minutes each — but they replace hours of painful re-reading and cramming later. Here’s what the research on spaced repetition + active recall shows when you replace “re-read everything” with visual maps + smart, focused reviews:

Bottom line from the studies: Once the spaced-review habit is in place (usually after the first 3–4 weeks), most learners cut total study time by 30–50 % while remembering 2–4× more long-term. The smart suggestions + Pond View + one-tap warping make those short reviews actually happen instead of being postponed forever.

The science foundation is solid: drawing for dual-coding and active encoding, explicit labeled connections (Frogs) for building rich associative networks, retrieval practice via cycling / predicting before warping, and expanding intervals tailored to your real history.

Test Canvas, tutorials, and your first file

Help → any mode’s “Open Full Test Canvas” lets you try drawing, arrows, brushes, erasing, Lilypads, Frogs, Media, Ponds, cycling, and selection — live and isolated. Review scheduling and Pro tutorials need a real saved HopMap, not Test Canvas.

On a real file, Help → Tutorials walks the infinite canvas, Ponds, Reviews, and Frogs & Lilypads on that file (Next / Back / End anytime; anything you create stays). The Review Calendar guide starts from Home → Help. Mode Help pages still have “Pro Tips for Mind Mapping & Learning.”

Set a HopMaps folder on Home if you want new files to save there. Review schedule backup (a .hmcal file you choose) is for moving reminders to another phone — it is not cloud sync.

HopMap Pro is a subscription (monthly, quarterly, or yearly — yearly is Best value) that unlocks Lilypads, Frogs, Ponds, reviews, and the Review Calendar. Free users get the infinite canvas: draw (including brushes), arrows, erase, select, media, pan, zoom, and undo/redo.

HopMap is designed to operate entirely on your device without collecting, storing, or transmitting any personal or user data to us or third parties. All processing—such as creating, editing, saving, and reviewing HopMap files (e.g., .HopMap or .json formats)—happens locally in your device's memory or storage.

• No Personal Data Collected: We do not collect, access, or store any personally identifiable information (PII), such as your name, email address, device ID, location, or usage analytics.
• No App Activity Data: We do not track your interactions within the App, such as features used, session duration, or content created.
• No Device or Performance Data: No crash reports, diagnostics, or telemetry are sent off-device.
• Local Files Only: HopMap files you create are saved to your device's local storage (including a folder you pick through the system file picker). Any sharing (e.g., via copy/paste, export, or OS share sheet to services like Google Drive) is initiated and controlled by you, and we do not facilitate or monitor these actions.
• Review times: Next-review times and reminder state live in an on-device store used by the in-app Review Calendar. Nothing is written to your OS calendar. A review-schedule backup (.hmcal) is a file you choose to save or import — not cloud sync.
• Notification text: Phone reminders are local. If a Pond is encrypted, the App warns that the Pond name can appear on the lock screen.
• Media Content (Images & GIFs): Using Media mode, you can add images and animated GIFs directly to your canvas. These media files are stored entirely locally as part of your .HopMap files. The app never uploads, scans, moderates, or transmits any media content off your device.
• Encryption Feature: Encrypted saving uses a user-provided password to secure file contents on-device via AES-CBC encryption with PBKDF2 key derivation. The password is used only during save/load and is not stored, transmitted, or accessible to us. We do not guarantee recoverability (lost passwords mean irrecoverable files) or security against advanced attacks—this is a convenience feature, not a professional encryption tool.

In summary: No data of any kind is sent to the developer or any third party except for standard Google Play Billing requests (handled securely and privately by Google) when checking subscription status or processing a purchase.

Billing Data: Google may collect standard billing info (e.g., payment method, transaction history) per their Privacy Policy. We access none of it—your subscription is processed end-to-end by Google.

To provide core functionality, HopMap requests the following Android permissions. These are used solely for on-device operations and do not involve data transmission:

We request these permissions at runtime where required and explain their use. You can revoke them via your device settings at any time, though this may limit App functionality.

HopMap integrates minimal third-party services, all focused on local or anonymized operations:

• Google Play Billing: For freemium features (e.g., subscriptions to unlock advanced modes). All payment processing, including purchase data and billing info, is handled entirely by Google. We receive no payment details, user identifiers, or transaction history—only an anonymized entitlement token confirming whether premium features should be unlocked. To support seamless offline use, HopMap caches this token locally after initial verification, granting access until the end of your paid billing period. For accuracy (e.g., cancellations or refunds), the app performs light verification checks on launch or resume when online—connect periodically to ensure continued access. See Google's Privacy Policy for details.
• Flutter Plugins: We use open-source libraries (e.g., file_picker, share_plus, flutter_local_notifications) for local file handling and notifications. These do not collect or share data off-device. Full list available in our pubspec.yaml (if hosted).

No advertising SDKs, analytics tools (e.g., Firebase Analytics), or trackers are included.

Since we collect no data:

• Use: All "data" (e.g., your canvas content) is processed ephemerally on-device for App features only, including local encryption/decryption during save/load.

Offline Subscription Access: Premium features remain active offline by trusting the cached paid period end-date. On cancel or payment failure, access continues until that date (your full paid time—no extras added). Refunds (Google's ~48-hour window) revoke immediately upon detection. We recommend connecting online occasionally (e.g., weekly) for verification—it's quick and keeps everything current.

• Sharing: We do not share, sell, or disclose any information about you. User-initiated shares (e.g., exporting files) are your responsibility and not mediated by us.

In the event of a device backup (e.g., via Google Drive), that's controlled by your OS/account settings—not the App.

HopMap now supports Media mode, which lets you add images and animated GIFs to your canvas. These become part of your local .HopMap files.

• All content you create—including any media—is stored only on your device and remains under your complete control.
• We do not review, moderate, scan, or have any visibility into the specific images, GIFs, or other content users add.
• Important: When you share a .HopMap file in any way, the recipient receives everything in that file, including any images or GIFs you added. Conversely, files you receive from others may contain media that is inappropriate, explicit, offensive, or unsuitable for certain audiences (including children).
• The developer cannot guarantee the suitability or appropriateness of any content in user-shared files. Please exercise caution and discretion when opening .HopMap files received from others.

This is a fully local, user-controlled app. You are responsible for the content you create and share.

HopMap is designed for users of all ages, including children aged 6 and above.

We do not collect, use, store, or share any personal information from any user — including children. No accounts, no analytics, no identifiers, no crash logs, nothing leaves the device except when the user explicitly shares a file themselves.

Because no personal information is ever collected or transmitted, HopMap fully complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), GDPR-K (EU/UK), and all similar children’s privacy laws worldwide. Parental consent is not required.

HopMap has been designed from the ground up to fully comply with Google Play Families Program policies and is intended to participate in the program.

In the Google Play Data safety section the app is declared as:

• No data collected
• No data shared

This declaration is accurate and complete.

All local operations use standard Android security (e.g., scoped storage for files). Encryption is implemented on-device but is not audited or warrantied for compliance (e.g., GDPR/HIPAA). We do not store data, so there's no central breach risk. Keep your device secure and use strong locks for sensitive HopMap files. Remember: Lost passwords cannot be recovered by us.

Depending on your location (e.g., GDPR in EU, CCPA in California), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to data processing. Since we collect none, these are N/A—but contact us for clarification. For Google-handled billing data, exercise rights via your Google Account.

We may update this policy to reflect App changes. Significant updates will be notified in-app or via Play Store. Continued use after changes implies acceptance. Check back periodically.

For questions, concerns, or to exercise rights: Email hopmapdev@proton.me. We're a solo dev project, so responses may take a few days.

Thank you for using HopMap—we're building it to empower your ideas, not track them!