Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 7, 2026 / App name: TideBite

This Policy explains how TideBite (the "App") collects and uses information about its users.

1. Information We Collect

• Account information: your email address and display name. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive an identifier, email address, and name from them.
• Location information: the latitude and longitude of a catch record, taken from your device's GPS or from the location recorded in a photo you choose. We use it to look up the tides, weather, and water temperature for that spot. If you turn on "Remind me when I get home from fishing," the App decides whether you have arrived at or left one of your saved fishing spots entirely on your device. The location used for that decision, and which spot you visited, are not sent off your device. If you turn the setting off, the App stops checking and erases what it kept on your device.
• User content: information you enter, such as catch photos, species, size, and comments.
• Support messages and chats: the text and photos you send from "Contact Us" in the App, along with the App version, device model, and OS version at that time (added automatically to help us investigate problems).
• Device information for notifications: identifiers used to deliver notifications (a notification token issued by Apple, and a number the App creates for each device).
• Activity records: a record of the screens you open and the actions you take in the App, along with the display language and App version at that time. We use it to improve the App. Records of individual actions are deleted after 90 days, and records of the days you opened the App are deleted after 180 days. The time you first reached each screen and your display language setting are kept until you delete your account (and are deleted along with it). Daily totals are kept only as aggregate counts that are not tied to any person. On screens shown before you sign in, we only count the number of actions, without any information that identifies a device or person.
• Usage settings: settings inside the App, such as who can see your posts.
• Website access logs: when you open our tide table website (tsuribaka.com), the IP address, page opened, browser type, date and time, and referrer. These logs are recorded automatically by Amazon CloudFront, which delivers the site. We use them to count visits and to check for abuse. They are deleted after 90 days. The website does not use cookies or advertising trackers.

2. How We Use Information

• To provide the catch logging and sharing features
• To provide environmental data (tides, weather, sea surface temperature, and so on) for the spot you select
• To send notifications such as comments, follows, and good fishing days
• To reply to your questions and requests and to investigate bugs (support)
• To translate posted text for users who read in other languages
• To understand which screens and features are used, and to improve the App
• To prevent misuse and spam and to keep the community safe

3. Location Data and Privacy Protection

• The App uses your precise location only with your permission, which you give through the prompt from your device's operating system. You can change this at any time in your device settings.
• Your catches are not shown to other users by default. You choose whether to share a catch, and how much of its location to show when you share it. If you choose to share and to show the location, the exact location (and the water body name and spot photo, if you set them) is visible to all users. If you choose not to show the location, neither the place name nor the location is shown to other users.
• Location information that you do not make public is never shown to other users.
• Photos you upload are re-encoded on your device and do not contain location metadata (EXIF/GPS).

4. Access by the Operator

• For support (replying to questions and requests, investigating bugs) and to run the App (checking for misuse and spam, understanding usage), the operator may view your records, including records you set to private, and the content of chats.
• We view only what is needed for these purposes. We do not give what we view to third parties without your consent, except where required by law.
• The tools the operator uses can be accessed only when signed in with the operator's account.
• When a chat message arrives, a notification email is sent to the operator's email address. This email includes the beginning of each message (up to 500 characters) so that we can respond, and the operator keeps it for support.

5. Third-Party Services

The App uses the following outside services.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS): data storage and processing (Tokyo region, Japan)
• Google / Apple: sign-in. Apple is also used to deliver notifications.
• NOAA (CO-OPS): tide predictions (U.S. public data)
• National Weather Service: weather forecasts and alerts (U.S. public data)
• Open-Meteo: weather and sea surface temperature data
• OpenAI: translation of posted text (catch comments, species, place names, tackle, spot notes, bios, and so on), and translation of non-Japanese chat messages for the operator. We send only the text, and we do not send personally identifying information such as your email address.

To retrieve environmental data, the coordinates of the spot you select may be sent to the data providers above. We do not send information that identifies you.

6. Data Storage and Deletion

• Your data is stored in the AWS Tokyo region in Japan, so it is processed outside the United States.
• Chat messages (text and photos) are deleted automatically one year after they are sent. Messages sent through the Contact Us form in the App are also deleted automatically one year after we receive them.
• You can permanently delete your account and posts at any time from "Delete Account" in the App's settings.
• When you delete your account, your chat content (including our replies and photos) is deleted too, except for the notification emails already delivered to the operator.

7. California Residents

This section is provided for California residents under the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) and related California law.

• Categories of personal information we collect: identifiers and contact information (email address, display name, device and notification identifiers, IP address in website logs); user content (photos, text, chat messages); precise geolocation (with your permission); and internet or app activity (screens viewed and actions taken).
• Third parties with whom information is shared: our service providers listed in Section 5 (AWS for hosting; Google and Apple for sign-in and notifications; OpenAI for translation of text). Weather and tide providers (NOAA, the National Weather Service, and Open-Meteo) may receive the coordinates of a spot you select. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Reviewing and changing your information: you can review and edit your profile, catches, and settings in the App, and delete your account and posts yourself at any time. To request access to, correction of, or deletion of other information we hold about you, email tsuribaka.app@gmail.com. We will not treat you differently for making a request.
• Do Not Track: the App does not track users across third-party websites or apps, and it does not respond differently to Do Not Track (DNT) browser signals.
• We will post any changes to this Policy in the App and on this page.

8. Children

The App is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

9. Operator and Contact

Operator: yusuke nishijima (individual developer)
Contact: tsuribaka.app@gmail.com

10. Changes to This Policy

We may revise this Policy as needed. We will notify you in the App of important changes.