Privacy Policy and Information Notice
Windtrack is a decision-support application that tracks how wind forecasts change over time, for the planning of sailing passages. This notice explains which of your data is processed while using Windtrack (the web application at windtrack.tr and its mobile versions), for what purpose and how. In short: we collect only the minimum data needed to provide the service, we do not sell your data and we show no advertising in the application.
1. Data Controller
Oran Mah. Kudüs Cd. 6/1 Kat:1, 06550 Çankaya / Ankara, Türkiye
E-mail: info@windtrack.tr · Phone: +90 312 985 03 97
2. Data Collected
Account information. You sign in to Windtrack with your Google account or using Sign in with Apple. From the provider we receive only your e-mail address, your name and (where available) a link to your profile picture. Your password never reaches us and is never stored. If you choose to hide your e-mail address with Sign in with Apple, we receive the relay address generated by Apple.
Tracked points. The coordinates of the locations you choose to track on the map, together with the target date and hour, are stored in association with your account. This is the core function of the application. An important distinction: these are the points you select; the application does not track or record your device's location. The "Show My Location" feature uses your browser's location permission only when you ask it to, in order to centre the map where you are; that location is not sent to our servers and is not stored.
Notification subscription. If you enable notifications, the subscription endpoint generated by your browser's notification service and your browser/device type are stored so that notifications can be sent to you.
Mobile app notifications. If you enable notifications in the iOS app, the notification token generated by Apple for your device and the device identifier that Apple provides only for our apps (identifierForVendor) are stored. The device identifier is used solely to avoid sending duplicate notifications to the same device; it is not an advertising identifier and cannot be used by other companies' apps.
Widgets and watch app. If you use the Home Screen or Lock Screen widget or the Apple Watch / Wear OS watch app, our server issues a separate, read-only widget key linked to your account. The key itself is stored only on your device; on the server we keep only an irreversible digest of it, the device type (iOS, Android, watchOS, Wear OS) and the times it was created and last used. The key is transferred directly from the app on your phone to your watch (via Apple WatchConnectivity or the Wear OS Data Layer). So that widgets can be refreshed on iPhone and Apple Watch, the notification token that Apple issues for widgets is also stored. The widget key is not your session key and cannot change your data; when you sign out of the app, it is removed from the app and the widgets on your phone.
Technical records. For the security and sound operation of the service, session records (sign-in time, browser type) and service usage records (e.g. the number of commentaries generated) are kept.
Region and installation information. The application records, in association with your account, your device's time zone setting (e.g. Europe/Istanbul), in the mobile apps the country in which your app store account is registered (the App Store or Google Play storefront country), and in the Android app the install source, which shows through which link or campaign the app was downloaded (Google Play Install Referrer). This information is not used to determine your location; it is used to understand how our users are distributed across countries, to decide on adding new language options and on country-specific campaigns, and to measure the effect of our promotional activities. It is not shared with third parties.
Subscription and payment information. If you take out a Premium subscription, payment is collected entirely through Google Play or the App Store. Your card details never reach Windtrack and are never stored by us. From the store we receive only the information needed to verify the subscription: the transaction identifier, the product identifier (monthly/annual), the subscription status, the start and end dates, and whether automatic renewal is enabled. This information is stored in order to match your subscription to your account and to unlock the premium features. On the App Store side, a randomly generated identifier specific to your account is additionally attached to the transaction so that the purchase can be matched to the correct Windtrack account; this identifier does not reveal your identity.
Local storage. The application uses your browser's local storage to keep you signed in and to remember your preferences. No third-party tracking or advertising cookies are used.
3. Purposes of Processing
- Collecting, analysing and presenting weather forecast data for the points you have selected (the service itself),
- Showing a summary of your tracked points in widgets and the watch app, where you have requested it,
- Generating AI-assisted sailing commentary,
- Sending notifications where you have requested them,
- Verifying and maintaining the Premium subscription and unlocking the related features,
- Understanding how our users are distributed across countries in order to decide on new language options and country-specific campaigns, and measuring the effect of promotional activities,
- Security of the service, prevention of misuse of the free allowance, correction of faults and improvement,
- Fulfilment of legal obligations.
4. Sharing of Data and Service Providers
Your data is not sold to third parties and is not shared for marketing purposes. The following providers are used for the operation of the service:
- Server infrastructure: your data is stored on our servers in the data centres of Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany).
- Weather forecast providers: the coordinates of the points you select are sent to weather forecast services (e.g. Open-Meteo, HCMR/POSEIDON) in order to obtain forecast data. These requests contain no information identifying you; only the coordinate, date and hour are sent.
- AI service: the sailing commentary is generated by one of the AI services we select: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, Google (Gemini) or xAI (Grok). These requests contain only the approximate location of the point (coordinates to about 1 km), the target date and hour, and the forecast data; your name, e-mail address, the name you gave the point or any information identifying you is not sent.
- Sign-in service: authentication is performed with Google Sign-In or Sign in with Apple and is subject to the privacy policy of the relevant provider. If you delete an account that uses Sign in with Apple, Apple asks you to confirm once more and our app's connection to your Apple ID is removed through Apple; the Apple tokens used for this are not stored.
- Notification services: notifications are delivered through the Apple Push Notification service in the iOS app, and through your browser's notification service (e.g. Google Firebase Cloud Messaging) in the browser and the Android app. Only the token needed to deliver the notification and the notification content are sent to these services. iOS widgets and the Apple Watch are also refreshed through the Apple Push Notification service, using silent notifications that carry no content.
- Payment and subscription: payments are collected through Google Play Billing (Google Ireland Ltd.) or the Apple App Store (Apple Distribution International Ltd.) and are subject to those companies' own privacy policies. In order to verify the validity of your subscription, a query bearing your transaction identifier is sent to the servers of the relevant store. Billing, changes of payment method and cancellation are handled through your store account.
Where a legal obligation arises (a court order or similar), data may be shared only with the competent authorities and within legal limits.
5. Retention Period
Your data is retained for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account yourself at any time using the Delete My Account option in the app menu; when the account is deleted, all of your data not subject to a statutory retention obligation is deleted immediately. Technical records that are unlinked from your account and do not identify you (for example AI usage counters and app event records), as well as payment records subject to a statutory retention obligation, may be kept in a form that cannot be associated with your account. Copies held in encrypted backups are deleted in the normal backup cycle. Widget key digests and widget notification tokens are deleted when your account is deleted. You may also send your request to info@windtrack.tr.
If you delete a single tracked point without deleting your account, that point's data (location, target date, commentaries and forecast history) is kept for 30 days for service quality control and is then permanently deleted.
To prevent the free allowance from being misused by deleting and re-creating an account, only the number of free points and commentaries you have used and the date of deletion are kept when your account is deleted. This record does not contain your name, your e-mail address or your points, and it is deleted automatically after 90 days.
6. Your Rights
Under Article 11 of Turkish Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data, you have the right to learn whether your data is processed, to request information where it has been processed, to learn whether it is used in accordance with its purpose, to request rectification where it has been processed incompletely or incorrectly, to request its erasure or destruction, and — where processing is carried out solely by automated systems — to object to a result reached to your detriment. You may submit your requests through the contact details above.
7. Important Reminder — Responsibility
Windtrack is a decision-support tool; it is not an official navigational forecast or meteorological service. The forecasts and commentary presented are based on data from third-party weather forecast models and may be wrong. The decision to put to sea, and its consequences, always rest with the skipper.
8. Changes
This policy may be updated as necessary. Material changes are published on this page and the effective date is updated.