Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 14, 2026

Data the app collects

None. OpenWater requires no account, has no sync service, and includes no analytics or tracking SDK of any kind. It never uploads your sessions in the background, and because there is no account and no sync service, no copy of your session history exists anywhere except on your device. The only network traffic recording generates is Apple Maps loading map tiles, which is handled by Apple's own framework and is not data we collect or can see.

Data leaves your device only when you deliberately send it: creating a share link or exporting a session, submitting a spot to the Spot Guide, or sending us feature feedback. Each is described in full below. The Apple TV app records nothing at all; what it fetches to draw the conditions is described below too.

The server behind this website

openwaterapp.com serves the Foil Spot Guide and the resources directory. Its access to that database is read-only, and enforced by the database itself rather than by our good intentions: the credentials the website uses can read published spots, regions, wind stations, cameras and directory listings, and cannot write anything anywhere. Spot data is published by a separate process using credentials the website does not have. You can read the rules that enforce this — they are in the repository as firestore.rules.

Just as importantly, that server holds nothing about you. There are no user accounts, no session records and no activity history on it, because none of that was ever sent to it. It renders public guide content and nothing else.

How the app uses device permissions

OpenWater asks for permissions solely to record your sessions, and everything it records stays on your device:

• Location — records your GPS track while a session is recording, so the app can measure your speed, distance and runs. Recording starts only when you press Record. Background location is used because sessions run for hours with your phone in a pocket and the screen off. Recording never transmits your location — it is written to your device and stays there, and the only way any of it reaches us is a share link you create yourself.
• Motion sensors — used to tell when you are flying on the foil, to count pumps, and to detect jumps.
• Health (Apple Watch) — reads your heart rate during a session so your effort appears alongside your speed, and saves each finished session to Health as a workout with its route. Declining Health permission does not prevent recording.

The Apple TV app

The Apple TV app shows conditions — wind, radar, tide, webcams and your starred spots. It records no sessions, has no account and uploads nothing.

• Location — if you allow it, the app asks tvOS once for the box's approximate location. An Apple TV has no GPS, so this is a coarse, network-derived position, used only to decide which stretch of coast the wind map opens on. You can type a place name instead and the app works the same.
• Forecasts — to draw the wind, the app sends the coordinates of the area on screen to Open-Meteo, a public weather service, as any weather app does. No account or identifier goes with the request. Tides and webcam streams load directly from the services that publish them.
• Your settings — starred spots, the place you chose and your forecast model are stored on the Apple TV itself.

Sharing and export

Export and sharing are user-initiated, every time. Nothing is shared automatically, and only the specific session you choose is involved — never your history.

• Export writes a file to wherever you point it. Nothing comes to us.
• Share links do involve an upload, and this is the one case where session data leaves your device. Creating a link uploads a snapshot of that single session — the track, and the summary figures shown on the page — so the link has something to display. Everything else stays local.

When you share a track, OpenWater trims the start and end by default, because those usually reveal where you parked or where you live. A share link is unlisted rather than private: the address contains a random 22-character code, and anyone you give it to can open it, so treat the link itself as the secret. Shared pages are excluded from search engines, both by robots.txt and by a noindex header on every share page.

One consequence worth knowing: shares are write-once. Once created, a link cannot be overwritten or altered by anyone — which is what stops a link already in someone's hands from being swapped for different content — but it also means you cannot delete one yourself from the app. If you want a share taken down, email labs@laan.com with the link and we will remove it.

Open source

Every claim on this page is checkable: the complete source code, including every analysis algorithm, is public at github.com/laanlabs/openwater. We wrote up why this matters for an app that records your location — including what open source proves and what it doesn't.

Spot Guide submissions

If you submit a spot or a correction to the Foil Spot Guide, we store what you send — the spot details, any links, an optional photo, and your email address if you choose to give one. Submissions are reviewed by a human before anything appears in the guide. Your email is used only to follow up about your submission and is never published; uploaded photos are published only if accepted, under the CC BY 4.0 license you grant when uploading.

Feature feedback

If you send a feature request or bug report through the feedback form, we store what you type — the kind of feedback, your summary and description, and optionally which device it concerns, your app version and your email address. Nothing else is attached: the form does not read anything from the app, and it has no access to your sessions or your location.

Feedback is never published. It is stored in its own collection, readable only with owner credentials, and used solely to decide what to build and to reply to you if you left an email address. If you would rather your report be public — or would rather not give us an email at all — open a GitHub issue instead.

This website

This website (openwaterapp.com) uses Google Firebase Analytics to understand aggregate visitor traffic — pages viewed, approximate region, and device type. This applies to the website only, not the app. See Google's privacy policy for how Google processes this data.

Children

OpenWater does not collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If the app ever adds a feature that involves collecting data (for example, an optional sync service), this policy will be updated before that version ships, and the change will be visible in the open-source repository.

Contact

Questions? Email labs@laan.com or open an issue on GitHub.