Overview
CoastCast is built around one goal: helping you decide if a beach is worth the drive. To do that well, we need to know where you are. This page explains exactly what we collect, why we collect it, and what we never do with it.
Location
CoastCast requests access to your device's location. We use it to:
- Sort beaches by distance from where you are right now
- Show nearby beaches on the map when you first open it
- Power the beach scoring engine so suggestions reflect how far you'd actually have to drive
- Update your home screen widget with conditions at the beach nearest to you
Your location is used on-device to calculate distances. It is never stored on our servers, never tied to your identity, and never shared with any third party for advertising or analytics purposes.
When CoastCast fetches weather data through Apple's WeatherKit, your location is passed to Apple's servers per Apple's Privacy Policy. We do not control or store what Apple receives.
Data We Collect
CoastCast collects only what it needs to function:
- Location — used on-device to sort and suggest beaches. Never stored.
- Favorites and preferences — stored only on your device using SwiftData. We never see or sync this data.
- Notification settings — stored locally. We do not track whether you open or dismiss notifications.
Data We Do Not Collect
- We do not collect your name, email address, or any account information. CoastCast has no sign-in.
- We do not use any third-party analytics or crash reporting SDKs.
- We do not track your behavior inside the app.
- We do not sell or share your data with advertisers.
On-Device Machine Learning
Crowd level predictions are generated entirely on your device using a CoreML model. No data leaves your phone for this feature. The model runs locally, produces a result locally, and nothing is sent to our servers.
Backend and Third-Party Data Sources
CoastCast's FastAPI backend fetches live data from several public sources on your behalf: NOAA buoys, National Weather Service, water quality monitors, and TomTom traffic. When your app makes a request to our backend, we receive a standard server log entry (timestamp, request path, IP address). We use these logs only for debugging and uptime monitoring. We do not log or store your location as part of these requests.
Notifications
If you enable notifications, CoastCast can send you daily beach recommendations, score threshold alerts for your favorites, and severe weather warnings. These are generated on your device using data fetched during background refresh. We do not use a third-party push notification service and do not store a device token on our servers.
Children's Privacy
CoastCast is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes to This Policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. We encourage you to check back periodically.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Reach us through the contact page.