Privacy Policy
Last updated: 30 July 2026
The short version. Tide Buddy 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.
Who this covers
This policy applies to the Tide Buddy mobile app for Android (and later iOS), published on Google Play. This page is a static document: it sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising scripts.
What we collect
Nothing that identifies you. Tide Buddy has no login, no user profile, and no account system. We do 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.
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. These requests fetch tidal predictions for stations you view; they do not send NOAA any personal information about you. NOAA's own terms and privacy practices govern their services.
Third parties
- Google Play handles app distribution and, if you buy Pro, payment. Their privacy policy applies to those transactions.
- NOAA provides the underlying tide prediction data.
- No advertising networks, no analytics SDKs, no social trackers are embedded in the app.
Children
Tide Buddy is a general-audience utility and is safe for all ages. Because we collect no personal information from anyone, we collect none from children.
Your rights
Since Tide Buddy stores no personal data on any server, there is no account to delete and no data export to request. To remove everything the app keeps locally, uninstall it or clear its storage in Android settings.
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.