Privacy Policy

Bluewater IQ — published by Papagayo Labs.

Effective 5 October 2026. Changed since 28 September: the app can now record a surf session — on Apple Watch, or on your phone in a waterproof pouch — and on Apple Watch it is saved to Apple Health as a Surfing workout. A surf session stays on your devices; we do not receive it, and nothing new is collected. See “Surf sessions and Apple Health” below.

Earlier (28 September), changed since 26 September: this page now also describes three things the app already does — posting a catch to the leaderboard from the phone (a display name, a random app ID and a photo you choose), the report forms and voice notes used by invited testers, and how iPhone subscriptions are checked — and one new use: a photo you post to the leaderboard is measured by an AI service (Anthropic’s Claude) to estimate the fish’s length. Nothing new is collected.

Earlier (26 September), changed since 4 September: a contributed catch can now say whether it was caught at a buoy or FAD, and when you share a recorded trip (or log a trip where nothing was caught) its trolling effort is contributed as ~1 nm squares with minutes — never the track line itself, its times or your waypoints. Contributed catches also feed a “Reported fish” map layer that shows only coarse areas. The app will show you these terms again.

Earlier (4 September), changed since 14 August: Model Contribution is no longer off by default. Contributing logged catches is now part of the free version and cannot be switched off; Bluewater IQ Pro subscribers can turn it off at any time. Contributed catches include the exact catch position. Your tracks, waypoints and photos are still never uploaded. The app will show you these terms again rather than relying on an answer you gave to the earlier ones.

Bluewater IQ has no user accounts and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs. This policy explains exactly what the mobile app and the web app do with your data. They behave differently, so they are described separately.

The mobile app (iOS and Android)

Location

The app uses your device location to show your position on the map and to record fishing tracks. If you enable background location, recording continues while your screen is locked — only while you have a track or a surf session actively recording. Your location is used on the device and is stored on the device. Your continuous location — the track line itself, its times, your waypoints — is never transmitted to us. The position of a catch you log is contributed to model tuning, and so, when you share a trip, is its trolling effort as ~1 nm squares, as described under Model Contribution below.

Photos and camera

When you log a catch you may attach a photo from your library or take one with the camera. The app reads that photo's embedded EXIF data (GPS coordinates and capture time) so the catch can locate itself, and copies the photo into the app's private storage. That catch photo stays on your device. The only photo the app ever uploads is one you pick yourself to publish on the leaderboard — see Leaderboard below.

Catch log and tracks

Catches, tracks and waypoints are saved as files in the app's private storage on your device. They leave your device only when you choose to export or share them (for example, the "Export JSON" action or the share sheet). Deleting the app deletes this data.

Surf sessions and Apple Health

You can record a surf session on Apple Watch or on your phone (for example in a waterproof pouch). During a session the app records your GPS route and, on Apple Watch, your heart rate, and counts the waves you rode from the route. On Apple Watch the session runs as a workout and, if you allow access to Apple Health, is saved there as a Surfing workout with its route; the app also reads your heart rate during the session. Health access is asked for only when you start your first session, and you can decline. A session is stored on your devices only: we do not receive your surf sessions, your route or your Health data, and nothing from Apple Health is ever used for advertising or shared with advertisers or data brokers. A session leaves your device only when you share it yourself, for example as a GPX file you upload to another service such as Strava; it then goes where you send it, under that service’s terms.

Network activity

The app downloads public forecast files (sea-surface temperature, wind, tide, currents, marine conditions) from bluewater-iq.com. These are read-only downloads. The app never uploads your tracks or waypoints (a shared trip sends only ~1 nm squares and minutes derived from it), and it uploads a photo only when you choose one for the leaderboard. Logged catches are contributed for model tuning — see Model Contribution below.

Leaderboard (optional)

If you post a catch to the leaderboard, the entry carries the catch details you post (such as species, size and date), your display name, your home port, a random identifier the app creates the first time you use it (so one boat ranks as one row — it is not your phone's hardware or advertising ID), and a photo you choose for the board. Our server strips the photo's location and camera data before it is stored, and it is shown publicly once approved. To estimate the fish’s length, our server also sends that scrubbed photo — with no name, identifier or position attached — to Anthropic’s Claude, an AI service, which returns an estimated length; an estimated length is shown with a “~” so nobody mistakes it for a measured fish, and a length you enter yourself always takes its place. Anthropic processes the photo for us under its commercial terms, which do not allow it to train its models on it. The catch's exact position is not shown on the leaderboard. Anyone can report a photo; we review reported photos and remove those that break the rules. A display name is public — do not use your real name if you would rather stay anonymous.

Report forms and voice notes (invited testers only)

A small group of invited captains and surf reporters can file condition reports from the app; the forms stay hidden until a tester code is entered. A report contains what the tester enters (for example the break or fishing area, species seen, water, bait, notes and the observer’s name), the forecast conditions the app already had for that time, and, if location access is allowed, the position where it was filed. A tester can also attach a voice note: the app asks for microphone permission the first time, records only after the tester taps record, and uploads the clip with the report. We store voice notes on our Cloudflare server and transcribe them with Cloudflare’s speech-to-text service (Workers AI), and we read the reports and transcripts to check and improve the forecasts. Reports and voice notes are not shown publicly. If you are not an invited tester you never see these forms, and the app never uses your microphone.

Subscriptions (iPhone)

Bluewater IQ Pro is sold through Apple, and payment is handled entirely by Apple — we never see your card or your Apple ID. To confirm a subscription the app uses RevenueCat, a subscription service: RevenueCat receives Apple’s purchase receipt and a random app user ID (not your name or email) and tells the app whether Pro is active. Nothing is sold in the Android app yet.

Model Contribution

The prediction model gets better when it can be checked against what people actually caught, so logged catches are contributed towards that. What you can change depends on which version you use:

• Free version: contributing your catches is part of the free app and cannot be switched off.
• Bluewater IQ Pro: contribution is on by default and you can turn it off at any time, in one tap, without losing any other feature.

A contributed catch contains:

• the species and the date
• the exact position of the catch
• the sea-surface temperature the app already sampled there
• the size, if you recorded one
• whether it was caught at a buoy or FAD, if you said
• for a trip you recorded or logged as blank: where you trolled, as ~1 nm squares with minutes, which squares produced fish, the date, and the method you typed

These never leave your device, even with contribution turned on:

• your photos
• the recorded track line itself (every position and time), and your waypoints
• your name, email or any account identifier

Contributed catches are not linked to your name, email or any account identifier, and are used to calibrate the fishing model. If we ever change what is collected, the app will ask you again rather than relying on your earlier answer.

Reported fish layer. Contributed catches also feed a “Reported fish” map layer that shows only ~3 nm areas with at least three catches on at least two different days in the last five days, shown a day behind. No individual catch, exact position, time or angler is ever shown.

The web app (bluewater-iq.com)

Stored in your browser

Waypoints, recorded tracks, display preferences and a randomly generated device identifier are stored in your browser's local storage. Clearing your browser data removes them.

Catches you log on the web

Catches logged in the web app are uploaded to our catch server so they can be verified and used to tune the prediction model, under the same Model Contribution rules as the mobile app (free contributes; Pro can turn it off). The model contribution from the web is the same as from the app: species, the catch coordinates and date, optional length and the FAD answer, with no device identifier or name. Only if you post a catch to the leaderboard does that entry carry the random device identifier above, your display name, and any verification photos you attach.

Catch coordinates are used for model tuning and are not shown publicly on the leaderboard. A display name, if you set one, is public on the leaderboard — do not use your real name if you would rather stay anonymous.

Access

The web app is currently behind a password wall; the credentials are shared by us and are not personal to you. The public forecast data files and these support pages are served without a login.

Visits

We keep our own, cookie-free count of visits to this site: the page, the time spent on it, how far it was scrolled, which buttons were pressed, the country and the kind of device, and the site you came from. It uses a random session id that lives only in your browser tab and is gone when the tab closes, so nothing identifies you across visits. We do not store your IP address and we use no third-party analytics service. To opt out in a browser, open any page here once with ?nostats=1 on the end of the address.

Sponsorship

Bluewater IQ may carry a sponsor’s message — a marine brand paying to reach captains on this coast. If and when it does, this is how it works, and these are commitments, not intentions:

• We choose and write it. A sponsored card is authored by us and served from our own site, like any other part of the app.
• The sponsor learns nothing about you. They do not find out who saw it, where you were, what you caught, or whether you tapped it beyond a plain count of taps. No list of users goes to anyone.
• No third-party code. No ad network, no tracking pixel, no advertising SDK, nothing of theirs running on your device.
• It is never in the way of the forecast. The map, the scoring and the offline data never depend on it, and it never sits between you and a condition you went out to check.

If that ever changes — if we were to use an advertising network that profiles you — we would say so here first, and the app stores’ privacy labels would change to match. We are not doing that today.

What we never do

• We do not sell or rent your data.
• We do not use third-party analytics SDKs, and we do not let anyone else’s code run inside the app to profile you.
• We do not track you across other apps or websites.
• We do not require an account, email address, or phone number to use the app.
• We do not collect your tracks, waypoints or continuous location from the mobile app, and we receive a photo only when you choose one for the leaderboard — otherwise only the catches you log and, for trips you share, ~1 nm effort squares, as described under Model Contribution.
• We do not make a Pro subscriber’s opt-out conditional on anything else: turning contribution off costs you no other feature.
• We do not receive your surf sessions or anything from Apple Health, and we never use Health data for advertising or share it with advertisers or data brokers.

Service providers

Our website and catch server run on Cloudflare, which also stores leaderboard photos and tester voice notes and transcribes those voice notes (Workers AI). iPhone subscriptions are confirmed through RevenueCat. Leaderboard photos are measured by Anthropic (Claude) to estimate the fish’s length. App updates are distributed through Expo, Apple and Google. These providers process technical request data (such as IP address) as part of delivering the service. Forecast data is retrieved from public sources including NOAA and Open-Meteo; those requests are made by our servers, not by your device identity.

Retention and your choices

• On-device data (mobile catches, tracks, photos): delete individual items in the app, or delete the app to remove all of it.
• Uploaded web catches: email us and we will delete the catches associated with your device identifier or display name. Include your display name, or the approximate dates and species, so we can find them.
• Leaderboard entries and photos: email us with your display name and we will remove your entries and photos.
• Tester reports and voice notes: kept while the testing programme runs; email us and we will delete yours.
• Surf sessions: delete a session in the app (Surf tab, “Your surf sessions”). A Surfing workout saved in Apple Health is yours to keep or delete in the Health app.
• Permissions: you can revoke location, photo or microphone access at any time in your device settings, and Apple Health access in the Health app (Sharing → Apps). The map and forecast still work; track and surf session recording, photo-located catches and voice notes do not.

Children

Bluewater IQ is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will update the effective date above and, for significant changes, note it in the app's release notes.