This Privacy Policy explains how SkyDog GPS (“the app,” “we,” or “us”) handles information. SkyDog GPS is a maps and adventure-tracking app. We designed it to be simple: you do not create an account, and we never ask for your name, email, or any personal details to use it.
SkyDog GPS asks for “while using the app” location permission so it can show your position on the map, follow you while you track an adventure, and find trails, launches, and spots near you. All of this happens on your device. Your location and recorded tracks are never transmitted to our servers (we don't have any) or to third parties. Saved trips live in the app on your phone; GPX files are created only when you choose to export or share them, and go only where you send them.
The one exception is Buddy Trips, and it is entirely opt-in. If you choose to start or join a Buddy Trip, the app shares your live position (a display name you type, your latitude/longitude, a timestamp, and a dot color) with the other people in that trip so everyone appears on each other's map. This data passes through Google Firebase Realtime Database solely to relay it between trip members; it is keyed by the trip's short code and is not linked to any account or identity. Your entry is removed when you end the trip, close the app, or disconnect, and in every case the app never displays positions older than 24 hours, so a stale or leaked code cannot replay where someone was. The feature never activates unless you explicitly start or join a trip after an in-app consent notice. Buddy Trips is not an emergency, safety, or rescue service — in an emergency, call 911. Firebase's handling of relayed data is governed by Google's privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
The Emergency screen and Rescuer Link work the same opt-in way. The Emergency (🆘) screen itself is fully offline — it computes your coordinates, grid reference, and elevation on your device and sends nothing anywhere. If you choose to tap “Start Rescuer Link,” the app shares your last known position (latitude/longitude, GPS accuracy, a timestamp, and your battery level — nothing about your identity) through Google Firebase Realtime Database so that anyone you send the link to can see where you are in a plain web browser. Positions on a rescuer link are never displayed after 24 hours, and the link stops updating the moment you end it. The Emergency screen can also open your phone's own call and text apps with a pre-filled message; SkyDog never places calls or sends texts by itself. If a what3words address is shown, the coordinates (only) are sent to what3words to compute it, under their privacy policy at what3words.com/legal/privacy-policy.
The Back-by (overdue) timer keeps your emergency contacts on your phone. Names and phone numbers you enter are stored only on your device and are never uploaded, transmitted, or shared with us or anyone else. If the timer fires, the app prepares a text message on your phone — it is sent only if you tap send, by your own messaging app, to the people you chose.
Optional auto-email (off by default). If — and only if — you switch on "Auto-email my contacts if I go silent" in the Back-by timer, the app sends your trip plan, back-by time, contact email addresses, and a coarse last position (4-decimal, roughly 10 m) to our server so it can email those contacts if your phone goes silent past your back-by time. That record is used for nothing else, is never shared or sold, and self-destructs within 72 hours at most (24 hours after an alert is sent, sooner when you tap "I'm back safe" — cancelling deletes it immediately). Leave the switch off and nothing is ever uploaded, exactly as described above.
Party voice clips (opt-in, ephemeral). If your Buddy Trip crew uses push-to-talk, holding the talk button records a short voice clip on your device and uploads it to our server so the other people in your trip can hear it. Clips carry the display name you typed and nothing else about your identity, are playable only by people who have your trip code, and are automatically deleted within 24 hours — the server refuses to serve older clips even before deletion catches up. Nothing records unless you are actively holding the talk button, and the microphone permission is requested only the first time you use it. A party rally point you place (a single map location, your display name, and a timestamp) is shared with your trip members through Firebase the same way live positions are, under the same 24-hour rule. While a trip is live, the app also pings an anonymous, roughly half-mile grid cell (no trip code, no name, no exact position) so two separate crews approaching on the same trail corridor can each get a heads-up; these pings expire in minutes and identify nobody.
Footprints community layer (opt-in, anonymous, off by default). When you save a tracked trip you can tick “Add this trip to the anonymous community Footprints layer.” If — and only if — you tick it, the app reduces that track to grid cells roughly 250 ft across, removes every timestamp, removes the order the cells were visited in, drops any cell near places you have saved privately (your Spots and trail cameras), shuffles what remains, and uploads only that: a bare list of grid cells. No name, device identifier, account, time, or route shape is sent — our server refuses uploads containing anything else — and the result is stored only as an aggregate visit count per cell, mixed with everyone else's. Aggregate counts cannot be traced back to any person and are what powers the 👣 Footprints and 🤫 Solitude map layers. Leave the box unticked (the default) and nothing about your tracks ever leaves your phone.
The Night Ops aurora heads-up requests the public space-weather forecast from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (a US government service, no key or identity attached — your coordinates are not sent; the app compares the public forecast with your map region on your device). The solunar activity meter is computed on your device from astronomy math, plus the same Open-Meteo weather requests described below.
We do not ask for or store your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, or any account login. There are no accounts and no sign-ups anywhere in the app. Emergency contacts you type into the Back-by timer stay on your device, full stop.
The free iOS app displays a banner advertisement provided by Google AdMob. While a SkyDog All Access subscription is active the banner is not shown and the AdMob banner is never requested, so no advertising data is collected for it; if the subscription lapses, the banner — and this section — apply again. To serve ads, Google and its advertising partners may collect and use certain information automatically, such as a mobile advertising identifier, general (non-precise) location inferred from your IP address, and basic device and usage data. This is used to show ads and, where permitted, to make them more relevant.
On Apple devices, iOS asks for your permission before any app can track you across other companies' apps and websites (App Tracking Transparency). If you decline, ads may still appear but will be less personalized.
Google's handling of this data is governed by Google's own privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy. Learn more about how Google uses information from partner apps at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
In the iOS app, optional feature packs are unlocked by the SkyDog All Access subscription (and, for early buyers, the original one-time Fishing Pack purchase), processed entirely by Apple through the App Store — we never see or store your card number or billing details. On the web version, unlocks are sold through Stripe, a secure payment processor; Stripe handles your payment details under its own privacy policy and we never see your card number. An active All Access subscription both unlocks the feature packs and stops the ad banner from being requested at all.
To draw the map, the app requests map tiles and search results from public services (OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap, Esri, Overpass, Nominatim, and state/federal agency map servers such as state DNRs and NOAA for the fishing features). These requests include the map area you are viewing (like any maps app) and your IP address, but no identity — the app sends nothing about who you are.
Weather and drone-airspace features work the same way: the app sends the coordinates of the map area you are viewing (never your identity) to Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com) for current temperature and wind, and to the FAA's public UAS Data Delivery System (ArcGIS services) for drone airspace grids and recreational flying sites. Airspace information shown in the app is advisory only; SkyDog does not submit anything to the FAA on your behalf.
The ORV Trails feature requests trail-network data (snowmobile, ORV/ATV and motorcycle trails, and temporary closures) from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' public map servers. As with the other map services, these requests include only the map area you are viewing and your IP address — never your identity. Trail information is advisory only; always obey posted signs and local rules. Spots you save with My Spots are stored only on your device and are never sent anywhere.
The optional Property Lines layer displays parcel boundaries and the owner name, acreage, and land-use description exactly as they appear in public county assessor records, supplied by Regrid, a licensed parcel-data provider. SkyDog does not collect, add to, or resell this information, and the app deliberately has no way to search for a person by name. Boundaries are approximate and are not a survey. If you are a property owner and want your record suppressed in SkyDog (including participants in state address-confidentiality programs and persons covered by laws such as New Jersey's Daniel's Law), email us at skydog8426@gmail.com and we will act on the request promptly.
SkyDog GPS is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we will address it promptly.
Because SkyDog GPS does not collect or store personal information on our own servers, there is no personal account data for us to lose. Any advertising data is handled by Google under its own security practices.
You can limit ad personalization in your device settings (iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, and Apple Advertising). You can revoke location permission at any time in Settings, and uninstall the app at any time to stop all data use. Because there are no accounts, uninstalling removes everything. The web app sets no tracking cookies and we do not respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals (there is nothing tracking to turn off).
We may update this policy as the app evolves. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.
Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at skydog8426@gmail.com.