Privacy Policy

Purser stores your boat's records on your phone, and by default nothing leaves it. If you turn on backups, sharing or emailed reports, the data needed for that feature is sent to our servers in the EU and to nobody else. We do not sell data, we do not run advertising, and you can export or delete everything at any time.

Purser is operated by J/P Willy Company, registered in Sweden ("we", "us"). The app is under active development and the obligations in this policy apply in full. We are the data controller for any personal data described in sections 4 and 5.

You can reach us at hello@purser.app for anything in this document, including requests to access, correct, export or delete your data. We reply to data requests within one month, as the law requires, and usually much sooner.

Everything you record in Purser is written to a database on your phone: your vessel details, equipment list, serial numbers, part numbers, service log entries, notes, costs, locker locations, attached photographs and the documents you add. The search index that lets you find these records with no signal is built and kept on the device too.

None of this is uploaded, synchronised or read by us unless you deliberately switch on one of the online features described in the next section. There is no hidden background sync. If you never enable those features, we hold no copy of your records and could not produce one if asked.

Photographs taken through the app are stored in the app's private storage on your phone. They are not added to your public camera roll unless you export them, and they are not analysed on our servers. Plate recognition — reading a serial number from a photograph of an equipment plate — runs on the phone.

Because the data lives on your device, it is protected by whatever protects your phone: your screen lock, device encryption and your own backups of the phone. If you lose the phone without having enabled Purser backups or exported your records, we cannot recover them for you.

Backups. If you turn on cloud backup, an encrypted copy of your records and photographs is uploaded to our servers so it can be restored to a new phone. To send you a recovery link we need an email address, which is the only personal identifier we ask for. Backups are encrypted in transit and at rest.

Sharing. If you share your vessel with a co-owner or crew member, the records you choose to share are copied to our servers so the other person's phone can download them. We store the email address of each person you invite so we can deliver the invitation and revoke access when you ask.

Emailed reports. If you ask for a service summary to be emailed on a schedule — monthly, at haul-out or before a survey — we generate that summary from the copy of your records held for backup and send it to the address you gave. We keep a log of when each report was sent so we can show you the history and stop duplicates.

Waiting list. If you leave an email address to be notified about iOS, we store that address and the date you signed up, and nothing else. It is used only for that notification and is deleted after it has been sent.

In every case, the data we hold is the minimum required to provide the feature you enabled, and turning the feature off lets you delete that data from our systems (see section 7).

The app. When Purser crashes, it can send an anonymous crash report containing the app version, Android version, device model and a technical stack trace. Crash reports contain no record content. Crash reporting is off by default and is offered as a switch in Settings; you may turn it off at any time.

The website. purser.app uses a privacy-friendly analytics service that counts page views and download-button taps without cookies, without fingerprinting and without storing IP addresses. We see how many people visited and roughly which country they came from; we cannot identify you or follow you across other sites. There is no cookie banner because there are no cookies to consent to. If you use a content blocker, the analytics script is simply not loaded and the site works exactly the same.

Referral links such as purser.app/name record that the download button was tapped from that link, so we can thank the person who recommended Purser. The referral code is carried in the download URL only; it is not associated with you or your records.

Server logs. Our servers keep standard access logs (request time, path, response code and a truncated IP address) for 14 days to detect abuse and diagnose outages. They are then deleted automatically.

Where the General Data Protection Regulation applies, we process personal data on the following bases. Data needed to provide backups, sharing and emailed reports is processed to perform our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)) — you asked for the feature and we need that data to deliver it.

Optional crash reports and the waiting list are processed on the basis of your consent (Article 6(1)(a)), which you may withdraw at any time by turning the switch off or writing to us. Website analytics, which involve no personal identifiers, and short-lived server logs are processed under our legitimate interest in running a secure, working service (Article 6(1)(f)). We have assessed that this interest does not override your rights, given that no individual can be identified.

We do not process special categories of data and we do not carry out automated decision-making that produces legal effects.

Data on your phone is retained until you delete it or uninstall the app. Uninstalling removes the app's private storage, including your records and photographs, so export first if you want to keep them.

Backups are kept for as long as backup is enabled. If you turn backup off, the encrypted copy is deleted within 30 days; if you ask us by email, sooner. Shared records are removed from our servers when you stop sharing the vessel or delete the shared vessel. Report send logs are kept for 12 months. Waiting-list addresses are deleted after the notification is sent, or on request.

If an account with online features shows no activity for 24 months, we email you twice before deleting the associated backup and account data. Anonymised, aggregated statistics — such as how many boats used the app in a month — may be kept indefinitely because they contain no personal data.

We do not sell personal data, we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers, and we do not use advertising SDKs in the app. The only third parties that touch your data are processors acting on our written instructions, and only for the features you enable.

These are: a European cloud hosting provider that stores encrypted backups and shared records; a transactional email provider that sends recovery links, invitations and scheduled reports; a crash-reporting service (only if you enable crash reports); and a cookieless website analytics provider. Each is bound by a data processing agreement, and we review the list when it changes. The current list of processors is available by email on request.

We will disclose data to authorities only where legally compelled to, and we will tell you if we are allowed to.

Backups, shared records and account data are stored on servers located in the European Union. Email delivery and crash reporting may involve providers with infrastructure outside the EU; where that is the case we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision, and we limit the data sent to the minimum required (an email address and the content of the message, or an anonymous crash trace).

Records on your phone travel wherever your phone does, which is the point. When you sail from one jurisdiction to another your data goes with you and no transfer between servers takes place.

You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to restrict or object to its processing, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw any consent you have given. For records on your phone you can do all of this yourself from within the app; the export function produces CSV, PDF and plain image files.

For data held on our servers, email hello@purser.app from the address linked to your backup or sharing account and tell us what you would like. We may ask a question to confirm it is you. We respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in the EU member state where you live or work, without first contacting us, although we would rather hear from you first.

Purser is a tool for boat owners and skippers and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided an email address to us, write to us and we will delete it.

We will update this policy when the app gains features that change how data is handled — for example when iOS sync or a new export format is released. The date at the top always reflects the latest version. For changes that affect data already collected under an online feature, we will notify you in the app or by email before they take effect, and give you the opportunity to export and leave first.

For any question about this policy or to exercise your rights, email hello@purser.app with the subject line "Data request". Please include the email address you used for backups or sharing, if any, so we can find the right records.

The app records which features are opened and how often, with no identifier that ties this to you, and sends those counts so I can see what is actually used. Your equipment list, service log, photographs and searches are never included.

Android shows a system prompt about a VPN connection the first time you open the app. It is needed for the app's own operation and applies to this app only. Traffic from other apps on your phone is not captured, monitored or sent anywhere.