Privacy policy
The short version
We store first names and whose turn it is to watch the water, for one group, for a few hours. We never store anything about children, and your exact location never leaves your phone. There are no accounts, no ads, and no tracking.
What we store
| What | Why | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Your first name | So the group knows who is watching | People the host let into the group |
| Rotation order, shift times, alerts, storm holds, warnings, and the group’s “what happened” list | To run the watch | The group |
| The host’s first name | So people can check it’s the right group before asking to join | Anyone with the exact group code |
| A push address for your phone (if you turn on alerts) | To send alarms when the app is closed | The group’s alert server |
| A random ID for your phone | Sign-in without an account | Our database |
Please don’t type children’s names or any other details about them into the app. It never asks for them.
What never leaves your phone
- Your exact location. The walk-away check runs entirely on the watcher’s phone. The group only learns “walked away.”
- Motion data from your phone’s sensors.
To check the weather, the watcher’s phone sends a location rounded to about 1 km (roughly a neighborhood) to our weather server, which asks the National Weather Service and NOAA. That rounded location is not saved.
How long we keep it
A group can only be read for 8 hours. When the host taps End group, everything about it is deleted at once. If the host doesn’t, the host’s phone deletes the group the next time the app is opened after it expires. Your phone keeps your first name and current group so you don’t have to retype them; clearing the browser’s website data removes them.
Services we use
- Google Firebase: the database and anonymous sign-in. Data is stored in the United States.
- Netlify: hosts the app and runs our alert and weather servers.
- Apple, Google, Mozilla, or Microsoft push services: deliver alerts to your phone. Our alerts carry no message, so these services never see group information.
- National Weather Service and NOAA Tides & Currents: weather and tide information, using the rounded location above.
We don’t sell or share data with anyone else, and we don’t use analytics or ads.
Children
Watch Relay is meant to be used by adults supervising swimmers. It isn’t directed at children under 13, and it doesn’t collect information about the children being watched.
Your choices
- Leave a group at any time with Leave group. The host can remove anyone.
- Turn alerts off in your phone’s notification settings.
- Deny location or motion permission. The app still works, with those checks turned off.
Contact
Questions or a request to delete something: liel.wein77@gmail.com