1. The short version
I don't collect any of your data. Nothing you do in Mako is sent to me, and there are no accounts, ads, analytics, or tracking.
Your location is used to show the tides, weather, and hunting windows near you. If you have Mako Pro and start a hunt, it's also used to record your route until you end the hunt.
Your saved spots, your hunts, and your settings stay on your iPhone. Deleting the app removes them.
Tide predictions come from NOAA. Weather, maps, and place names come from Apple, and Apple handles Mako Pro purchases. The sections below go into more detail.
2. Your location
With your permission, Mako uses your location while you're using the app to show the tide predictions, weather, and next hunting window where you are. You don't have to share it. Without it, you can still pick a beach on the map or search for one.
The nearest tide station is worked out on your iPhone from NOAA's public list of stations, so NOAA gets a station number, not your location. Coordinates go to Apple Weather (WeatherKit) for the forecast and to Apple Maps for the map and the name of the place.
3. Hunt tracking (Mako Pro)
When you start a hunt, your route is recorded in the background until you end it, so tracking keeps working with your iPhone in your pocket. This needs location access set to Always. Your location isn't recorded in the background at any other time.
Each hunt is saved on your iPhone with its route, start and end times, distance, tooth count, rating, and notes. While a hunt is running, a Live Activity shows the time, distance, tooth count, and next tide on your Lock Screen.
If you share a hunt, the share card is made on your iPhone, with a map image from Apple Maps, and it goes only where you send it.
4. Saved spots and alerts (Mako Pro)
Your saved spots are stored on your iPhone. Alerts before a hunting window are local notifications, scheduled on your iPhone; none of them come from a server of mine.
To keep those alerts current, the tides for your saved spots are refreshed in the background from time to time. Each refresh sends a station number to NOAA, the same as when you open the app.
5. What stays on your iPhone
The following is stored only on your iPhone, in storage that belongs to Mako:
- Your saved spots and their alert settings.
- Your hunts: route, times, distance, tooth count, rating, and notes.
- Your settings, like Night Hunting.
- The tides you loaded most recently, so they stay on screen if you lose signal at the beach.
None of it is uploaded, synced, or shared. Deleting the app removes it. Device backups may keep app data according to your settings.
6. Third-party services
6.1. NOAA
Tide predictions come from NOAA's public Tides and Currents service. A request includes a station number and a range of dates, and NOAA may keep ordinary network logs. See NOAA's privacy policy for its practices.
6.2. Apple
Weather comes from Apple Weather (WeatherKit). The map, place names, beach search, and the map image on a hunt's share card come from Apple Maps. Those requests include the coordinates or the search text they need, and Apple handles them under Apple's Privacy Policy.
6.3. Nothing else
Mako has no analytics, ads, tracking, or third-party SDKs, and no account to create. I don't run a server for it.
7. Mako Pro purchases
Mako Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase, through the App Store. Apple handles the payment, and I never see your payment details. Whether you have Mako Pro is checked on your iPhone through Apple's StoreKit. You can manage or cancel a subscription in your Apple Account settings.
8. Permissions used
8.1. Location
While using the app, for the tides, weather, and hunting windows near you, as described in section 2. Always, only if you use hunt tracking, to record your route during a hunt you start, as described in section 3.
8.2. Notifications
For alerts before a hunting window at your saved spots, if you turn them on.
8.3. Everything else
Mako doesn't use your camera, photos, microphone, or contacts.
9. Children's privacy
Mako doesn't collect personal information from anyone, including children under 13. If you're a parent or guardian with a question, email me.
10. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the new version goes on this page with a new date at the top.
11. Contact
If you send feedback from Mako's Settings, the email draft includes your iPhone model, iOS version, and Mako version, so I can tell what you're running. You can delete them before you send it.
Kevin Stauss / Silicron Code
Email: kevin@silicroncode.com