Privacy Policy - TideWatcher

Section 1

Introduction

Welcome to TideWatcher. We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your data when you use our app.

Section 2

Information We Collect

Location Data

We request "When In Use" location access solely to center the map on your current position and show nearby tide stations. TideWatcher may also use your current location on-device to determine a broad state or regional ad selection, such as choosing a state-based ad folder or a broader location-based ad group. Raw latitude and longitude are used in-app and are not stored on our servers for app-open history. If you are signed in, we may store a coarse approximate location with an app-open event, such as rounded latitude and longitude that are intentionally less precise than your device's exact coordinates.

Advertising and Ad Configuration

TideWatcher may load banner ads and related ad configuration from Firebase-hosted services. If you are signed in, we may store lightweight ad-related account fields such as whether ads are enabled for your account and one or more derived ad folders or region codes used to select relevant banner content. These derived folders may reflect a broad state-based selection together with a broader location-based ad group. We do not store your precise location coordinates on our servers for this ad selection flow.

Tide, Weather, and Station Data

We fetch station lists, tide predictions, weather, and buoy information from public sources such as NOAA, NWS, and NDBC. This data may be cached temporarily on your device for performance.

Favorites and Notification Preferences

If you use TideWatcher without an account, your favorite station IDs and local notification preferences are stored on your device so they persist across launches. If you sign in, those favorites and preferences are also synced to your account in the cloud.

Account Information

If you create an account, we store your first name, last name, email address, favorites, notification preferences, and display preferences such as whether Weather & Moon and Satellite View are enabled. We may also store ad-related account fields such as ad display preferences and derived ad folders used for server-configured banner content. Authentication and cloud storage are provided through Firebase.

App Usage Logs

If you are signed in, we record app-open activity associated with your account. This may include the time the app was opened, local date and time context, time zone, device model, device model identifier, app version, app build, operating system name and version, and a coarse approximate location associated with that app open. We also maintain summary fields such as a running app open count and last-opened timestamp. We use this data to understand account activity and support app operations.

Important privacy note Raw app-open latitude and longitude are not stored in app-open history. The app stores only a broader coarse location when that information is available and relevant to the signed-in account's app-open record.

Section 3

How We Use Your Information

To display your current location on the map.
To fetch and render tide predictions, charts, weather, and buoy data.
To save and sync your favorite stations and notification preferences.
To keep your display settings consistent across devices when signed in.
To maintain account-related usage history such as app-open times, coarse app-open location, and device/app/OS metadata.
To select and display relevant banner ads and server-configured ad content.

Section 4

Data Sharing and Security

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We use Firebase as our cloud service provider for authentication and account data storage. External data requests to public tide and weather services use HTTPS where available. Banner ad configuration and media may also be delivered through Firebase-hosted services. Locally cached data remains on your device unless you choose to sign in and sync it to your account. We may disclose information if required to comply with legal obligations.

Section 5

Your Choices

You can revoke location access in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → TideWatcher.
You can manage or disable notifications in iOS Settings.
You can sign out at any time from the Settings screen in the app.
You can delete your account in-app from Settings. Deleting your account removes your cloud-synced profile data, favorites, preferences, ad-related account fields, app-open history, and app-open summary fields from our Firebase records.
If you are not signed in, uninstalling the app removes locally stored app data from your device.

Section 6

Children's Privacy

TideWatcher is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Section 7

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect changes. Continued use of the app after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Section 8

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact support@tidewatchapp.com.