Privacy policy
Last updated 11 November 2026
- Primetide has no accounts. The app never asks for your name or email.
- There are no ads in the app, and we run no analytics or tracking of our own. On Android the map in the app is Google Maps, and Google collects crash logs, diagnostics and how the map is used (panning and zooming), as explained below. On iPhone the map is Apple Maps.
- The app uses your location only when you tap to use it, and only while it is open.
- To show you tides, weather and place names, the app sends the position of the place you are looking at to the services named below. They process it on our behalf to answer the request.
- We never sell your data or share it with anyone for their own use.
- Our own server passes requests on and keeps no record of them. If you buy Primetide Plus, it keeps a pseudonymous record of the purchase for two years.
Who we are
Primetide is made by Jonathan Williams, a sole trader based in the United Kingdom, trading as Primetide. For this policy we are the "controller" of your personal data under UK data protection law.
Contact: hello@primetide.app
What stays on your phone
The app keeps these on your phone only. They are not sent to us or synced anywhere:
- the place you last looked at, and any marks you have saved
- your settings: units, comfort level, when you fish, your fishing preferences, your chosen species, theme
- recently downloaded forecasts and tide times, so the app works quickly and uses less data
- a random install number (see "Our server" below)
- a count of how many forecast and tide requests the app has made each day over the last 30 days, which helps us keep costs under control. It never leaves your phone.
- whether you have Primetide Plus, so the app knows what to show
Deleting the app deletes all of this.
Your location
The app asks for permission to use your location only while you are using it. It never tracks you in the background. It takes one reading of your position when you tap to use your location, and not otherwise.
That position is treated like any other place you look at: it goes to the weather, tide and place-name services below so they can return the forecast and a name for it. You can say no to location permission and still use the app fully by searching for places by name or picking them on the map.
What leaves your phone, and why
Primetide works by asking specialist services for forecasts, tide predictions and place names. Each request carries only what that service needs, and each service processes it on our behalf to answer the request.
| Who | What they receive | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Meteo (directly, or through our server) | The position of the place you are looking at, rounded to 3 decimal places (about 100 metres) | Weather, wind, swell and sea temperature forecasts |
| WorldTides (through our server) | The position of the place, rounded to 4 decimal places (about 10 metres) | Tide times and heights |
| LocationIQ (through our server) | The words you type into the place search; and, when a place needs a name, its position rounded to 5 decimal places (about 1 metre) | Finding places by name, and naming a place you pick |
| Your phone's own place-name service (the Google Play services geocoder on Android, Apple's on iPhone) | The position of a place you pick | Showing the place's name |
| NOAA, the US government's ocean agency | The ID of the nearest US tide station and a date range. Your position is not sent: the app picks the station on your phone. | Tide times and tidal flow predictions, for places in the US only |
| Google Maps (the Maps SDK in the Android app) | The part of the map you are viewing, and crash logs, diagnostics and how you use the map, such as panning and zooming | Showing the map for picking and viewing places |
| Apple Maps (in the iPhone app) | The part of the map you are viewing | Showing the map for picking and viewing places |
| Google Play Billing (Android), the App Store (iPhone) and RevenueCat | Your purchase details, and an anonymous customer number that RevenueCat creates | Handling Primetide Plus subscriptions and restoring them on a new phone |
Like any internet service, these services can see the internet (IP) address a request comes from, except where the request goes through our server, in which case they see our server's address instead of yours. Google Maps collects its crash logs, diagnostics and map use under Google's privacy policy; Apple Maps handles map requests under Apple's privacy policy. Each other service handles data under its own privacy policy.
Our server
Some requests go through a small server we run on Cloudflare (the Primetide relay). It exists so that our keys for the data services are never stored inside the app. With each request the app sends:
- a random install number, created on your phone when the app is first used. It is not linked to your device, your app store account or you.
- the app's version number
The server uses the install number only to stop any single copy of the app making an excessive number of requests; it is counted for a minute or so and then forgotten. The server does not log requests, store positions or searches, or keep install numbers. It does not pass your IP address or install number on to the data services. Cloudflare, which runs the server's hardware, processes your IP address in order to deliver the connection.
The app also asks our server, when it starts, whether there is a notice to show, such as a message that an update is needed. That request carries only the app's version number. If you enter a partner code, the app asks our server whether the code is valid; the server answers yes or no and keeps no record of the check.
Subscriptions
If you buy Primetide Plus, the payment is handled entirely by Google Play on Android or by Apple on iPhone. We never see your card details. RevenueCat, the service we use to manage subscriptions, receives the purchase details from the store and an anonymous customer number. We do not give RevenueCat your name, email or any other details about you.
For each purchase event (a purchase, renewal, cancellation or refund), RevenueCat sends our server a record, which we keep so we can pay partners whose codes were used and keep our accounts. It holds:
- a scrambled form (a SHA-256 hash) of RevenueCat's anonymous customer number, never the number itself
- the partner code used, if any
- the product, the price, and the tax and store commission percentages
- the times of the purchase and the event
This record is pseudonymous: it holds no name, email, card details or position. We keep it for two years and then delete it. You can ask us to delete it sooner by emailing hello@primetide.app with your Google Play order number or App Store order ID, so we can find it.
Our legal basis
We use the data described here because it is needed to provide the app you have chosen to use (under UK GDPR, this is "performance of a contract"). We keep our server secure, keep our costs under control and keep purchase records for paying partners and for our accounts because these are in our legitimate interests. We use your location only when you ask the app to.
Where data goes
Some of the services above are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where data is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK's data adequacy arrangements or standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
Data kept on your phone stays until you delete it or remove the app. Our server keeps nothing after it has passed a request on, apart from the purchase records described under "Subscriptions", which are deleted after two years. Other services keep data according to their own privacy policies.
Children
Primetide is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Your rights
You have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to how we use it, and to complain. Because there are no accounts, the only records we keep from the app are the pseudonymous purchase records above. Email hello@primetide.app with any request and we will reply within one month.
You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Our launch list
If you join the launch list on primetide.app, we keep your email address, the date you joined, whether you use an iPhone and the link you came from. We use it only to email you about Primetide: when it launches, and occasional news. The legal basis is your consent. It is stored with Cloudflare, never shared or sold, and every email has an unsubscribe link. We keep it until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it, which you can do at any time at hello@primetide.app.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the app handles data, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches the app.