Privacy Policy

Data Collection

Sondewatch does not collect personal data. There is no account, registration or sign-in, and nothing you do in the app is sent to us. We run no server.

Location

Sondewatch uses your location to show the distance and direction to each balloon and its landing point. These figures are worked out on your phone from your exact position, which never leaves it.

To find balloons near you, the app asks SondeHub for those within a search area. The position it sends is rounded to a tenth of a degree, about 11 kilometres, so it marks an area rather than where you are. The Nearest Landing widget asks the same way.

Background location is used only by Chase Mode, which is off until you turn it on in Settings. It keeps the distance alerts working while you travel to a landing point, and iOS shows its location indicator while it runs.

If you do not allow location, you can set a home position by searching for a place or typing coordinates. A place search is answered by Apple’s maps service.

Reporting A Find

Reporting a find to SondeHub is optional and off unless you switch it on for that find. A report publishes, on SondeHub, the balloon’s serial number, the position and altitude where it was found, your note, and the name or callsign you entered in Settings. Your photo is never sent.

Data On Your Phone

Your finds and their photos, the balloons you watch, your settings and your home position are stored on your phone. Sondewatch also keeps a copy of the last balloon list, the launch sites, and the tracks of watched balloons, so the app works with no signal. All of it is removed when you delete the app.

Notifications

Launch reminders and landing alerts are scheduled on your phone. No notification passes through any server of ours.

Analytics And Tracking

Sondewatch contains no analytics, advertising, crash reporting or third-party tracking of any kind.

Third-Party Services

SondeHub supplies the balloon telemetry, launch sites and landing predictions, and receives any find you choose to report. Apple supplies the maps and the place search. Their handling of requests is governed by their own policies.

Children’s Privacy

Sondewatch collects no data from anyone, including children.

Changes To This Policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a revised date.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be raised as an issue on the Sondewatch GitHub repository.