Privacy policy

For questions, email hello@anchorwatch.app.

Anchorwatch uses your device’s GPS and compass on the device itself to measure how far the boat has moved from the set point, to draw the radar and map, to run the drag, wind-shift, and weather alarms, and to show a Live Activity and Apple Watch complications.

If you leave wind and waves on, Anchorwatch sends your current position to Open-Meteo to fetch a wind and wave forecast. Open-Meteo sees that request. I do not. You can turn this off in Settings.

If you leave chart notes on, Anchorwatch sends your current position to the public Overpass API to look up OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap seamarks (restrictions, harbours, and soundings). Overpass operators see that request. I do not. You can turn this off in Settings. That data is crowd-sourced and incomplete; a missing note does not mean anchoring is allowed.

Watch history, depth, chain, and your settings are stored on your devices (including an App Group on the phone and Watch). The local GPS watch does not upload that data to me.

If you start a remote watch, the boat phone sends encrypted snapshots to anchorwatch.app so a shore phone can mirror the watch. The payload (position, trail, geometry, and status text) is AES-256-GCM ciphertext. I cannot read boat position. The AES key is exchanged on the phones (QR or a wrapped key). It is never sent to the server in the clear.

The server may store and see session id, a sequence number, timestamps, an alarm flag, a short status kind (safe, caution, outside, alarm, and similar), and member join or revoke events. Those exist so the shore phone can be notified and so a stale radio link can be marked. Snapshots are deleted when the watch ends, and a session is ended after 36 hours.

There is no account, email, or username. Pairing uses a one-time code. Apple App Attest proves the caller is the Anchorwatch app. Shore notifications go through Apple Push Notification service and include a category and session id — not coordinates.

I do not collect, sell, or share personal data. There is no account, no analytics SDK, and no advertising. I do not persist decrypted location. If you do not use remote watch, no snapshot is sent to my server.

If you email hello@anchorwatch.app for support, that address and whatever you write are used only to reply.

Apple may process data as part of iOS, watchOS, iCloud backup, App Attest, Push Notification service, and App Store operation under Apple’s own privacy policy. Notifications, Live Activities, and Watch connectivity use Apple’s system services on your devices.

You can deny or later change Location, Notifications, and Live Activities in iOS Settings. You can turn off forecast wind and waves, and chart notes, in the app so no position is sent to Open-Meteo or Overpass. You can end a remote watch, which deletes the relayed blobs. Deleting the app removes its local data from that device.

Anchorwatch is not directed at children. I do not knowingly collect data from children.

If this policy changes, I will update this page and the date above.