Privacy Policy
Last updated October 18, 2026
This policy explains what Area Watcher collects, why, who sees it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it plainly.
The short version
- We collect what is needed to record your searches, run your account and take payment.
- Your search paths are private until you choose to share them. Sharing is off when you create an account.
- We do not sell your data or share it for advertising.
- The app has no ads, no analytics and no tracking. This website sets no cookies.
- You can delete your account and data in the app at any time.
1. Who we are
Area Watcher is an iPhone app and online service operated by Michael Scholz, an individual developer in Florida, United States ("we", "us", "our"). This policy covers the Area Watcher app, the website at areawatcher.com, and the servers behind them (together, the "Service"). The Service is offered only in the United States. Questions: support@areawatcher.com.
2. What we collect
| Category | What it includes | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Your email address and an account id. Your password is handled by our sign-in provider and is never visible to us. With Sign in with Apple we receive the email address Apple provides, which may be a private relay address. | Creating your account, signing you in, sending sign-up codes and password resets |
| Profile | A display name (required) and, if you choose, your first and last name, city, state or region, and country | Identifying your account; showing your display name with shared paths if you allow it |
| Precise location | The paths you record during a search: GPS positions with time, altitude, speed, direction and accuracy, including while the app is in the background during a search you started; and your most recent position while you use the app | Recording your searches, drawing your map and statistics, and the shared map if you opt in |
| Search details | The names you give your searches and their status (active, paused, finished) | Organizing your searches |
| Settings | Your sharing and profile-visibility choices and sharing delay | Applying your choices |
| Purchases | Your plan, the product purchased, renewal and expiry dates, and Apple's transaction ids. Apple processes payment; we never receive your card or bank details. | Knowing which plan you have paid for; handling refunds and records required by law |
| Device integrity | When you create an account with email, Apple's App Attest service confirms the request comes from the genuine app on a real Apple device. We keep a one-time ticket for a few minutes, not a device identifier. | Preventing fake and automated accounts |
| Technical logs | For each request to our servers: the time, IP address, account id (if signed in), the address requested, the result and its duration. Never the content you send, your location, or passwords. | Security, preventing abuse, and diagnosing problems |
| Agreements and choices | Which versions of the Terms of Use and this policy you accepted, when you turned sharing or profile visibility on or off, and when you deleted your account; each with the time, IP address and app version | Proving what you agreed to and chose, and defending legal claims |
| Moderation | If we warn, suspend or reinstate your account: what we did, the reason, your display name at the time, and when | Enforcing the Terms of Use fairly and consistently, and defending legal claims |
| Messages | What you send us by email | Answering you and keeping a record of support requests |
What stays on your phone: the private places you mark (home, work and others). The app uses them to trim your paths near those places before anything is uploaded; the places themselves are never sent to us. Address searches in the app are handled by Apple's map services under Apple's privacy policy.
What we do not collect: phone numbers, contacts, photos, health data, advertising identifiers, or your activity in other apps and websites.
This website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or trackers. Like any website, its hosting provider processes your IP address to deliver and protect the pages, and the Support page checks our servers' status directly from your browser.
3. Your precise location is sensitive, so it is opt-in
Several US state laws treat precise location as sensitive personal information. Area Watcher collects it only after you allow location access in iOS, and only uses it for the purposes above. Sharing your paths with other users is a separate choice, off until you turn it on. We do not use your location to profile you, target ads, or infer anything about your health, beliefs or other sensitive traits.
4. How we use information
- to provide the Service: record, store and display your searches, statistics and maps;
- to show your shared paths to other users, only if and when your settings allow it;
- to manage your account, subscription and support requests, and send messages about the Service;
- to keep the Service secure, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce our Terms of Use;
- to diagnose problems and improve the Service, using logs and aggregated statistics;
- to comply with law and respond to valid legal process.
We do not use your information for advertising or to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. We do not send marketing emails without your consent.
Improving search with machine learning. We may use search paths to develop and train our own machine-learning and artificial-intelligence models, for example to suggest areas that have not been covered yet. Before training, we remove direct identifiers (such as your name, email and account id) and use the data in de-identified or aggregated form where practical. We do not sell this data or give it to others to train their models. If we ever want to train models on information that identifies you, we will update this policy first and ask for your consent where the law requires it. Deleting your account removes your personal information, but models already trained and de-identified or aggregated data cannot be traced back to you and are not deleted.
5. Who can see your information
Other users, only if you opt in, in the app under Settings → Privacy → My Privacy:
- Share My Search Paths (off by default): your recorded paths become visible to subscribers on the Search Lead and Command plans, starting a delay you choose after each path ends (one day unless you change it; from immediately to one month).
- Show My Profile to Other Users (off by default): your display name appears with your shared paths. Otherwise shared paths are shown without a name.
- Zoomed out, the shared map shows how many searchers covered an area, not individual paths. Your email, real name, latest position and purchases are never shown to other users.
Turning sharing off hides your paths from others going forward. Someone who already viewed a shared path may remember or have recorded what they saw.
6. Who we disclose information to
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We disclose it only:
- to service providers that run parts of the Service for us under contract and only on our instructions: Amazon Web Services (hosting, database, sign-in, email), in the United States;
- to Apple, for App Store payments, Sign in with Apple, App Attest and map searches, under Apple's privacy policy;
- when required by law, such as a valid subpoena, court order or search warrant; we will tell you about a request for your data unless the law or an emergency prevents it;
- in an emergency, when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to prevent death or serious physical harm to someone;
- to protect the Service, our users or the public from fraud, abuse or security threats;
- to a successor if the Service is sold, merged or transferred, who must honor this policy for your existing data;
- with your direction or consent.
We may publish aggregated statistics that cannot identify you, such as the total distance searched by all users.
7. How long we keep information
| Information | Kept |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, settings, search paths, latest position | As long as your account exists, with no automatic expiry, including after a subscription ends, so your search history is there when you return. Deleting an item or your account removes it immediately; encrypted backups that may contain it expire within 14 days. |
| Technical logs | 30 days |
| Purchase records | As long as needed for your subscription, refunds, taxes and accounting (generally up to 7 years) |
| Support messages | Up to 3 years after the conversation ends |
| Agreements and choices | While your account exists and for 5 years after it is deleted, to prove consent and defend legal claims. They contain no search paths or location. |
| Moderation records | While your account exists and for 5 years after it is deleted |
| Records of privacy requests | 24 months, as some state laws require |
8. Your rights and choices
Wherever you live in the United States, you can ask us to:
- confirm whether we process your information and give you access to it;
- give you a copy in a portable format;
- correct inaccurate information;
- delete your information;
- stop using your precise location for anything beyond recording your own searches.
Much of this you can do yourself in the app (see Your Privacy Choices). For anything else, email support@areawatcher.com from the address on your account so we can verify it is you; an authorized agent may contact us with your written permission. We respond within 45 days, usually much sooner. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying with "Appeal" and we will answer within 60 days; if you are unhappy with the result you may contact your state attorney general. We will never treat you differently for using these rights.
9. Security
We protect information with encryption in transit and at rest, a database that is not reachable from the internet, strict access controls, and a firewall on sign-up and sign-in. No system is perfectly secure. If a security breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
10. Children
The Service is only for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
11. United States only
The Service is intended only for people in the United States, and your information is stored and processed there. It is not directed to people in other countries, and we do not knowingly offer it to them. If you use it from outside the United States, your information is still transferred to and handled in the United States under this policy and US law.
12. Changes to this policy
We will post changes here and update the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information we already have, we will notify you in the app or by email before it takes effect and, where the law requires, ask for your consent.
13. Contact
Michael Scholz, Area Watcher, Florida, United States
Email: support@areawatcher.com