Tideline Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 15, 2026

The short version Tideline does not collect, store, or transmit any personal information. Your location stays on your device. We don't use analytics, advertising, or tracking of any kind.

Who we are

Tideline is an iOS app that displays tide forecasts using public data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The app is developed by Alan Hubbard.

What information we collect

We do not collect any personal information. Tideline does not have user accounts, does not require sign-in, and does not transmit any data about you to our servers or any third party. We do not operate any servers that store user data.

Location data

If you choose to grant location permission, Tideline uses your location for one purpose only: to identify the nearest NOAA tide station to your current location. This calculation happens entirely on your device.

Your location is never transmitted to us or to any third party.
Your location is never stored persistently. It is used in memory only and discarded as soon as the nearest station is identified.
You can deny or revoke location permission at any time in iOS Settings. Tideline will continue to work and simply use a default station (Portland, ME) until you select another.

Tide data

Tideline retrieves tide predictions from the NOAA Tides & Currents API, a free public service operated by the U.S. government at api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov. These requests do not contain any information about you — they only specify the tide station identifier (for example, "8418150" for Portland, ME). NOAA may log standard request metadata (such as IP address) on their servers as part of normal web traffic; please refer to NOAA's privacy policy for details.

On-device storage

Tideline stores small amounts of preference data locally on your device using Apple's standard UserDefaults system. This includes:

Your selected tide station
Whether you have completed the onboarding flow
Whether you have purchased Tideline Pro

This data never leaves your device and is removed automatically when you uninstall the app.

In-app purchases

Tideline Pro is a one-time, non-renewing purchase processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive your payment information, name, email, or any other personal data from Apple — only an anonymous confirmation that a purchase was successfully verified by Apple. For information about how Apple handles payment data, please refer to Apple's privacy policy.

Analytics, advertising, and tracking

Tideline contains no analytics, no advertising, no third-party SDKs, and no tracking of any kind. We do not know how often the app is used, by whom, or in what way.

Children's privacy

Tideline does not collect personal information from anyone, including children under the age of 13.

Changes to this policy

If we ever change our data practices, we will update this page and revise the "Last updated" date above. Because Tideline currently does not collect any user data, any future change in this regard would require an app update — and any new data collection would be opt-in.

Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or Tideline's data practices, please email alh1523@gmail.com.