Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2 August 2026
The short version. The Tide Buddy app has no accounts, no analytics SDKs, no advertising, and no personal data collection. Your saved stations and settings live only on your device. If you use “nearby,” your location is used once, in the moment, and never stored or transmitted. There is no server that knows who you are, because there isn't one. The only personal data anywhere in this project is an email address, if you choose to type one into the launch form on the website; that is covered below.
Who this covers
This policy covers two separate things: the Tide Buddy mobile app for Android (and later iOS), published on Google Play, and the tidebuddy.app website you are reading it on. They are described separately below because they behave differently: the app collects nothing, and the website collects an email address only if you hand one over.
This page itself sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising scripts.
What the app collects
Nothing that identifies you. Tide Buddy has no login, no user profile, and no account system. The app does not collect your name, email, phone number, contacts, or any advertising identifier. There is no Tide Buddy server, so there is nowhere for personal data about you to be sent or stored. Nothing you type into the website is sent to the app, and the app never sees it.
Location
Location permission is optional and used only for the “find stations near me” feature. When you tap it, your device's approximate location is used in the moment to compute which NOAA tide stations are closest. That coordinate is not saved to disk, not attached to any identifier, and not sent to any Tide Buddy server. If you never use “nearby,” Tide Buddy never asks for location at all.
The app requests coarse location only, at low accuracy: enough to rank nearby tide stations, and deliberately not precise enough to track you.
Data that stays on your device
- Saved stations, units (ft or m), and theme preference — stored locally so the app opens to your spot. They never leave your phone.
- Cached tide predictions — downloaded NOAA prediction data, kept locally so the app works offline. This is public tidal data, not personal data.
- Tide alert settings — any alerts you schedule are stored on your device and delivered by your phone itself. They are not routed through any server, so no one else knows what you set.
- Pro purchase status — whether you've unlocked Pro is verified through Google Play billing and reflected on your device. Google processes the payment; Tide Buddy never sees your card details.
Where tide data comes from
Tide predictions are retrieved from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) CO-OPS public data services, and from the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) for stations in Canada. These requests fetch tidal predictions for stations you view; they do not send NOAA or CHS any personal information about you. Those agencies' own terms and privacy practices govern their services.
The website and the launch email
The app has not launched yet, so tidebuddy.app offers a form to be told when it does. This is the one place in the whole project where personal data is collected, and it is entirely optional: the site works, and every word on it is readable, without typing anything.
- What is collected — the email address you type, and nothing else. There is no name field, no “how did you hear about us,” and no hidden profiling. The site sets no cookies and loads no scripts, fonts, or images from any other company, so there is no analytics or advertising trail to collect in the first place.
- Where it goes — to Netlify, who host this website, and no further. It is not passed to a mailing-list provider, a CRM, an advertiser, or anyone else, and it is never sold or shared.
- What it is used for — one message, on the day Tide Buddy is published. It is not used to advertise anything else and there is no follow-up sequence.
- How long it is kept — until that launch message has been sent, after which the address is deleted. You can also have it removed at any point before then by asking.
If you would rather not use the form at all, emailing hello@tidebuddy.app reaches a person directly and does the same thing.
Third parties
- Google Play handles app distribution and, if you buy Pro, payment. Their privacy policy applies to those transactions.
- NOAA and the Canadian Hydrographic Service provide the underlying tide prediction data.
- Netlify hosts the website and stores launch-list email addresses, as described above. They have no role in the app.
- No advertising networks, no analytics SDKs, no social trackers are embedded in the app or on this website.
Children
Tide Buddy is a general-audience utility and is safe for all ages. The app collects no personal information from anyone, so it collects none from children. The launch form on the website is not directed at children, and we ask that under-13s not submit an address to it.
Your rights
The app stores no personal data on any server, so there is no account to delete and no data export to request. To remove everything it keeps locally, uninstall it or clear its storage in your device settings.
If you did give us an email address through the launch form, you can ask what we hold, ask for a copy, or ask us to erase it, and we will do it. There is only ever one record to find. Write to hello@tidebuddy.app.
Changes to this policy
If this policy ever changes, the “last updated” date above will change with it, and material changes will be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email hello@tidebuddy.app.