Privacy Policy

Flight Maps (“the app”) is a flight recorder, logbook and weather briefing for iPhone, made by Flight Maps LLC (“we”, “us”). There are no accounts to create. We don’t show ads, we don’t track you across apps or websites, we don’t use third-party analytics or crash-reporting tools, and we never sell your information.

What the app uses

• Precise location. Used whenever the map is open to show your position, and while you record a flight — including in the background — to log your route, speed, altitude and heading. Background location is only used while a recording is running. The app also keeps your last known position on your iPhone so the map can reopen where you were.
• Motion sensors. The barometer (for altitude changes) and accelerometer (for G-force) are read while you record and saved with each point of the flight.
• Microphone and speech — only if you use Co-Pilot by voice. When you talk to Co-Pilot (by tapping the microphone or saying “Hey Co-Pilot” while Co-Pilot is open on screen), your speech is transcribed on your iPhone and answered by Apple Intelligence on your iPhone. Recordings and transcripts aren’t saved, and they aren’t sent to us. You can turn the wake phrase off in Settings or deny microphone access in iOS Settings.
• Things you type. Flight titles and notes, waypoint names, goals and labels for Beacon codes are stored with your logbook.
• Photos — save only. If you save a share card, the app adds the image to your photo library. It never reads your library.

We don’t collect your name, email address, contacts, health data, browsing history or advertising identifier.

Where your logbook is stored

Your flights — including every recorded point — your waypoints, achievements and goals are stored on your iPhone and synced to your own private iCloud database through Apple’s CloudKit whenever you’re signed in to iCloud. Only you can access that data; we can’t see it. It’s protected by Apple’s iCloud security, but it isn’t end-to-end encrypted by Flight Maps. You can stop syncing by turning off iCloud for Flight Maps in iOS Settings.

To help fix tracking problems, the app also keeps a recording log and your most recent raw GPS traces on your iPhone. The oldest are removed automatically as new ones are written. These files are never uploaded automatically — they leave your iPhone only if you choose Settings › About › Export Diagnostics and send them somewhere yourself.

Services the app contacts

To show maps and weather, the app requests data from the services below. Each request includes your device’s IP address, as any internet request does. We never send these services your name, an account, or a device identifier, and each is governed by its own privacy policy.

• Apple Weather (WeatherKit) receives your precise location to return current conditions, forecasts and alerts — automatically once the map has your position (again as you move or the data gets older), and when you open weather features.
• Apple Maps (MapKit) provides map imagery for the area on screen, handles airport searches (your search text and your general area), and looks up a place name for a flight’s starting point when you make a share card.
• Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com) receives your location rounded to about 11 m (36 ft) to return winds aloft and forecasts — automatically while the app is open and has your position, when you open weather features, and during hot air balloon recordings for the drift forecast.
• U.S. National Weather Service (weather.gov), in the United States, receives your location rounded to about 11 m to find nearby weather stations and forecast discussions. Weather alert requests don’t include your location.
• NOAA Aviation Weather Center (aviationweather.gov) receives weather station identifiers and region codes — not your location — for METARs, TAFs, winds aloft and hazard reports.
• FAA data services (tfr.faa.gov, and FAA airspace data hosted by Esri ArcGIS) receive no location — the app downloads the full published data.
• Apple’s App Store handles your subscription. We never see your payment details.

Beacon live sharing

Beacon is off unless you start it while recording, and it needs you to be signed in to iCloud. While it’s on, the app publishes a record to Flight Maps’ public CloudKit database (hosted by Apple) about every 3 seconds, containing your Beacon code, aircraft type, live position, altitude, speed, heading, vertical speed, distance, flight time and timestamps. Anyone with your code can follow it in the Flight Maps app.

• The optional 4-digit PIN is a courtesy latch, not a lock. It’s checked inside the app, and the flight data itself isn’t encrypted, so only share your code with people you want following.
• When you stop. Stopping Beacon, stopping the recording or discarding it clears the position, motion data and PIN from the record and marks it inactive. The code, aircraft type, distance, flight time and start and last-update times stay in the database. If the app is force-quit or crashes while sharing, the last position stays until you next open the app.
• Followers. When someone follows a Beacon, the app saves a small record with the code, a random identifier for their device (not linked to who they are) and when they joined, so the pilot can see how many people are watching. It’s removed when they stop following.
• Deleting a Beacon record. Email us the code at hello@flightmaps.app and we’ll remove it.

How we use information

• To record, show and replay your flights.
• To build your logbook, charts, records, achievements and goals.
• To fetch weather, winds, airspace and hazards for where you are.
• To run the features you turn on, like Beacon and Co-Pilot.
• To answer you when you email us, using the details you send.

We don’t run our own servers for your flights, we don’t build profiles, and we don’t sell or share personal information for advertising.

Your choices and controls

• Change location, motion and microphone access anytime in iOS Settings (recording needs location).
• Export any flight as CSV, GPX, KML or IGC.
• Delete individual flights in the app. To erase everything, delete the app and its iCloud data (iOS Settings › your name › iCloud).
• Turn iCloud sync off for Flight Maps in iOS Settings.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal information. Almost everything the app stores is on your iPhone or in your own iCloud, where you control it directly. For anything we hold — Beacon records or emails you send us — contact us and we’ll help.

This website

flightmaps.app doesn’t use analytics or advertising cookies. Before launch, parts of the site are behind a preview password; if you enter it, one functional cookie remembers that for 30 days. Our host, Vercel, processes standard request information (such as IP address and browser type) to deliver the site.

Children

Flight Maps isn’t directed to children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes to this policy

We’ll update this policy as the app changes and post the new version here with a new “last updated” date. Material changes will be called out on this page.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email Flight Maps LLC at hello@flightmaps.app.