This Privacy Policy explains how GoCoast ("we", "us", "our") collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information when you use the GoCoast mobile apps for iOS and Android, the web app at gocoast.app, and related websites, features and services (together, the "Service").

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Where they apply to you, we also meet our obligations under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable privacy laws (see Section 23).

This policy forms part of, and should be read with, our Terms of Service. Where a feature asks for a specific permission or consent (for example location, notifications or camera access), we ask at the time you use it, and you can withdraw that permission at any time in your device settings.

GoCoast is operated by Fraser Lowe trading as GoCoast, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

What we collect depends on which features you use. Most of it comes directly from you or your device. If you don't use a feature, we don't collect its data.

3.1 Account information

• Email address and password (stored only as a salted hash; we never see your password)
• If you use Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google: the name, email address (or Apple's private relay address) and account identifier that provider shares with us. We never receive your Apple or Google password.
• If you use Tour Mode: an anonymous, device-only account with no name, email or password (see Section 11)
• Account creation date, sign-in timestamps and account status (for example Pro, verified organisation or partner staff)

3.2 Profile information

• Display name, handle, profile photo, cover banner, accent colour, bio and social media links
• Your home pin and preferred range (see Section 5)
• Craft type, vessels in your Garage, and service records you enter
• Badges, ride statistics and leaderboard standings
• Profile visibility settings

3.3 Rides and trips: recorded GPS routes, distance, duration, speed, pauses, photo stops, notes, saved trip plans, saved spots and favourites (see Section 4).

3.4 Location: see Section 5. It's the most sensitive thing we handle, so it has its own section.

3.5 Safety information: Signal help requests (including the phone number you enter), float plans (including your emergency contact's name and phone number), hazard reports and restricted-zone submissions (see Section 7).

3.6 Community and social: posts, stories, photos and videos, comments, likes and "props", follows, community memberships and chat, event listings and RSVPs, direct messages, reports and blocks (see Section 8).

3.7 Marketplace: listings, listing photos, price and currency, and messages with buyers or sellers (see Section 9).

3.8 Purchases: your subscription status, product, renewal dates, and any offer or promo code redeemed. The app store handles the payment itself (see Section 13).

3.9 Device and technical information

• Device type, operating system and app version
• Push notification tokens (see Section 12)
• IP address and request data, processed by our hosting and security providers to deliver the Service and protect against abuse
• Error and diagnostic logs
• In-app activity: which screens and features you use (for example opening the app, recording or saving a ride, viewing an event or zone, joining a crew, or tapping a notification), with a random device identifier and the time. Linked to your account when you're signed in. We use it only to understand what's working and to improve GoCoast, and keep it for 13 months.

This in-app activity stays in our own database: we do not use third-party analytics or advertising SDKs, we do not sell it, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

3.10 Information from others: other users may give us information about you, for example by tagging you, reporting your content, adding you to a Crew or messaging you. A partner operator may tell us that a ride video has been paid for (see Section 11).

3.11 Communications: emails and feedback you send us, and verified organisation applications.

We do not ask for sensitive information (as defined in the Privacy Act), such as health or racial information. Please don't include it in posts, messages or Signal requests.

• While you record: GPS points are taken from your device. To protect against battery death, crashes and lost signal, your in-progress route is backed up privately to your account about every two minutes and whenever you pause, resume or stop. Only you can see it.
• Pause, resume and "Save for Later": a paused or saved-for-later ride stays in your account so you can continue it. If an in-progress ride is abandoned, our systems delete it automatically.
• If you finish and save: the route, distance, duration, speed, photo stops and notes are stored in your account and shown in My Rides.
• If you discard: the ride, including any backed-up copy, is deleted.
• If you share a ride: the route and stats become visible to other users. To help keep your home, jetty or launch spot private, we automatically cut roughly the first and last 100 metres from any route shown publicly. Your own private copy isn't trimmed.
• Replays and ride videos are generated on your device from your ride data.

This table lists every way GoCoast uses location. If a feature isn't listed, it doesn't use your location.

Your controls. You can allow location "While Using", "Always" (needed for background ride recording and Crew sharing), or not at all, and you can change this at any time in your device settings. Without location, the map, ride recording, Crew and Signal won't work, but the rest of GoCoast still does. Use Edit Profile to change your home pin, and the Crew screen to stop sharing at any time.

Accuracy. GPS can be wrong by tens of metres or more, especially on the water. Don't rely on any position shown in GoCoast for navigation or rescue.

Crews are private, invite-only groups. Anyone with a Crew's invite link or code can join until the invite expires or the Crew is full, so only share invites with people you trust.

• Sharing is always opt-in and time-limited. You choose 1, 4 or 8 hours. It stops automatically at the end, and you can stop it early at any time. The app shows a visible indicator while you are sharing.
• What members see: your display name, photo, latest position, speed and heading, and when it was last updated.
• Background sharing: on supported devices your position keeps updating while the app is in the background or your screen is locked, until the share ends.
• Deletion: live positions are deleted once a share ends or expires. Expired invites are deleted after about seven days. Crew membership (name and role) stays until you leave, the owner removes you, or the Crew is deleted.

Crew location may be delayed, inaccurate or stop updating (for example with no signal or a flat battery). It is not a tracking or rescue service.

7.1 Signal (non-emergency help from nearby riders)

When you send a Signal request, we collect your position, the type of help you need, your description, and the contact phone number you enter. By sending it, you ask us to share this information:

• We send a notification to riders whose home pin is within the radius you choose, and to verified rescue organisations and police accounts within a wider operating area (about 250 km).
• While your request is open, any signed-in GoCoast user can view it, including your position, description, phone number and display name.
• You can see who has responded. Riders who respond can see the request.
• You can resolve or cancel the request at any time. It is then no longer shown as open.

Other riders who respond are members of the public, not screened by GoCoast, and they are not acting on our behalf. Use your judgement before sharing further details or meeting anyone.

7.2 SOS page

The SOS page gets a fresh GPS fix so you can read out or share your exact position, and shows emergency numbers for your country based on your home pin. We do not store the position it shows. It is only sent anywhere if you choose to copy or share it.

7.3 Float plan

If you file a float plan, we store your departure ramp, route, expected return time, and your emergency contact's name and phone number. If you haven't closed the plan by your return time, we email you a reminder that includes those details. GoCoast does not contact your emergency contact. You are responsible for telling them your plan. Only enter someone's details if they have agreed to be your emergency contact.

7.4 Verified organisation accounts

Volunteer marine rescue and police organisations can apply for a verified badge. When they do, we collect the organisation's name and the applicant's contact details so we can verify them.

• Posts and shared rides are visible to other GoCoast users, mainly riders near where the post was made. Your display name and photo are shown with them. Your email address is never shown.
• Stories (photos and videos) are visible to other users. As the owner, you can see who viewed and liked your story. Viewers can't see each other.
• Comments, likes, props and follows are attributed to you. Your follower and following lists can be seen by others.
• Communities and events: community chat is visible to that community's members. Event hosts can see who has RSVP'd.
• Leaderboards show your display name and ride statistics alongside other riders.
• Direct messages and marketplace messages are stored on our servers so they can be delivered to both people. They are not end-to-end encrypted. We don't read them routinely, but we may review messages that are reported to us, or where we need to for safety, security or legal reasons.
• Blocking and reporting: if you block someone, we record that so it can be enforced. If you report content or a user, we store the report and the reported content so we can review it. We don't tell the reported user who reported them.

Anything you make public can be seen, screenshotted or saved by others before you delete it. We cannot recall copies that other people have made.

Your listing details and photos are visible to other users, together with your display name. Prices are shown in your local currency based on your home pin. Any contact details you put in a listing or message are shared with whoever reads them, so don't include your home address. Use a general area instead. GoCoast is not involved in any sale (see the Terms).

• Photos (profile photos, banners, posts, stories, photo stops and listings) are re-encoded on your device before upload. This removes embedded metadata such as GPS coordinates and the camera model.
• Videos are uploaded as recorded and may keep metadata your phone embedded, which can include the location where it was filmed. If that matters to you, turn off location tagging in your camera settings before recording.
• Uploaded media is stored with Supabase and served through Cloudflare's content delivery network. Anyone with a public media link can view that media.
• When you ask for the camera, microphone or photo library, we use it only to capture or choose the media you're uploading, or to save ride images and videos to your device.

11.1 Tour Mode. If you ride with a partner tour operator (for example Jet Ski Safaris) and tap its tour button, GoCoast creates an anonymous account on that device. It has no name, email or password. We record which operator the tour belongs to. Tour accounts can record rides but can't post publicly or use community features. If you sign out, delete the app or clear its data, you may lose access to rides recorded in Tour Mode.

11.2 Ride videos. If you buy a ride video from a partner operator, you pay the operator directly at their counter. GoCoast never receives your card details. The operator's staff scan a one-time code on your phone. To confirm the sale, they see only the ride's start time, duration, number of photo stops and the price. They don't see your route or your identity. We keep a record of each sale, including the date, price, operator and staff member, for accounting. We keep it as long as tax law requires, even if you later delete your ride or account.

11.3 Partner promotions. If you open a partner's promotion page (gocoast.app/p/…) and redeem an offer code, the App Store handles the redemption. We receive your resulting subscription status. We don't give partners your personal information.

Push notifications. If you allow notifications, we store your device's push token and send notifications through Apple Push Notification service or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging. We send notifications about:

• activity on your content and account (likes, comments, follows, messages, RSVPs, stories, new rides from riders you follow)
• Signal requests near you, and responses to yours
• good riding conditions near your home pin
• reminders and tips, for example to record a first ride, or when you haven't ridden in a while

Message notifications can show a preview of the message on your lock screen. We try to send reminders and conditions alerts only during daytime hours in your time zone. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings.

Emails. We send service emails, such as account verification, password resets, welcome emails and float-plan reminders, through our email provider, Resend. We send marketing emails only with your consent, under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link. We don't share your email address with anyone for their own marketing.

GoCoast Pro is bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play, which handle payment under their own terms and privacy policies. We never receive your card or bank details. We use RevenueCat to manage subscriptions. It receives an anonymous app-user identifier and your purchase records from the app store, and tells us whether your Pro subscription is active.

GoCoast stores some information on your device (in app or browser storage) so the app works properly and quickly:

We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. Cloudflare may set strictly necessary security cookies to protect the website from bots and attacks. Clearing app or browser data removes this information from your device and signs you out. It doesn't delete what's saved in your account.

• To provide the Service: running your account and every feature described above, and showing your content to the people you've chosen.
• To personalise it locally: showing posts, events, listings, leaderboards, conditions and emergency numbers relevant to your area.
• To communicate with you: service messages, notifications, support replies, and marketing (with consent).
• For safety and integrity: delivering Signal requests, enforcing our Terms, investigating reports, blocking abuse, preventing fraud, securing our systems, and recovering data after errors.
• To improve GoCoast: diagnosing errors and understanding, mainly in aggregate, how features are used.
• For legal reasons: meeting tax and legal obligations, responding to lawful requests, and establishing or defending legal claims.

We don't sell or rent personal information. We don't use it for targeted advertising. We don't make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects. If we want to use your information for a purpose you wouldn't reasonably expect, we'll ask you first, unless the law allows or requires it.

16.1 Service providers. These providers process personal information for us. They may use it only to provide their service to GoCoast:

Weather and marine forecasts come from Open-Meteo, and tide information from the Australian Hydrographic Office. These requests contain only map coordinates, not your identity. The app also links to the Bureau of Meteorology website for official forecasts and warnings; GoCoast does not take data from it.

16.2 Other users, as described in Sections 4 to 9, according to your settings and the features you use.

16.3 Partner operators, only the limited sale details described in Section 11.

16.4 Emergency services and law enforcement. We may disclose information where the law requires or authorises it, including where we reasonably believe it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to someone's life, health or safety (for example, helping a marine rescue search), or to comply with a warrant, subpoena or other lawful request.

16.5 Business transfers. If GoCoast is sold or merged, personal information may transfer to the new owner under this policy. We'll tell you in the app and by email before that happens.

Our main providers store and process data outside Australia, mainly in the United States. Cloudflare may process network traffic in whichever of its data centres is closest to you. Before using a provider, we take reasonable steps to make sure it protects personal information in a way consistent with the APPs. This includes using providers that hold recognised security certifications (such as SOC 2) and commit to data-protection terms. We remain accountable for how these providers handle your information, as required by the Privacy Act.

You must be at least 16 to create a GoCoast account. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. A tour customer under 16 must only use Tour Mode with a parent or guardian, on a device the parent or guardian controls. If you believe a child under 16 has given us personal information, email support@gocoast.app and we will delete it. Our Child Safety Standards explain how we deal with child safety concerns.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, change or disclosure. These include:

• encrypting data in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• encryption at rest provided by our hosting provider
• database row-level security rules that limit what each account can read and change
• restricting administrative access
• rate limiting and bot protection
• keeping software up to date

No system is completely secure, and we can't guarantee that information will never be accessed without authorisation. Keep your password private. If you think your account has been compromised, tell us straight away.

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy or as the law requires. After that, we delete it or permanently de-identify it.

• Access: you can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, including in a machine-readable format.
• Correction: you can fix most information yourself in Edit Profile and Settings, or ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or misleading.
• Deletion: you can delete individual rides, posts, stories, pins and listings, or your whole account (Section 22).
• Withdrawing consent: you can turn off location, notifications, camera and photo access in your device settings; stop Crew sharing; cancel Signal requests; and unsubscribe from marketing. Withdrawing consent doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
• Anonymity: you can browse parts of GoCoast and use Tour Mode without giving us your name. Most other features need an account.

To make a request, email support@gocoast.app. We may need to verify your identity first. We respond within 30 days, and don't charge for reasonable requests. If we refuse a request, we'll tell you why in writing and how to complain.

Delete your account in the app from Profile → Settings → Delete Account, or email support@gocoast.app. When you delete your account:

• You're signed out. Your profile, rides, trips, posts, stories, comments, likes, follows, messages, listings, pins, crews, Signal requests, float plans and other account data are deleted from our live systems.
• 30-day recovery copy: to protect you from accidental deletion, we keep a restricted copy of your profile, rides, saved trips and service records for 30 days. It is not used for anything else, and only you can ask us to restore it. After 30 days it is permanently erased.
• Deleted media can take up to 30 days to disappear from storage and CDN caches.
• We keep the limited records the law requires, such as ride-video sale records (Section 11), and records needed to resolve disputes or enforce our Terms.
• Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription. Cancel it in your Apple ID or Google Play settings first.

GoCoast is used around the world and is run from Australia. If you use it from outside Australia, your information will be processed in Australia and the countries listed in Section 16.

EEA, UK and Switzerland. We process your information to perform our contract with you (to provide the Service); with your consent (for example location, notifications, Crew sharing, Signal and marketing); for our legitimate interests in keeping GoCoast safe, secure and working, where those interests aren't overridden by your rights; and to meet legal obligations. You have the rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, port and object, and to withdraw consent at any time. You can also complain to your local data protection authority. Where we transfer your data out of your region, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as our providers' Standard Contractual Clauses.

Other regions. You may have similar rights under your local law. Email us and we'll honour them where they apply. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

If we suspect a data breach, we act quickly to contain it and assess it. If it is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and tell you what happened and what you can do. Where GDPR applies, we'll also notify the relevant authority within the required time.

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, email support@gocoast.app with the subject "Privacy Complaint". We'll acknowledge it within 5 business days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the OAIC:

We'll update this policy when our features or practices change. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. If we make a significant change, for example a new use of your location or a new type of recipient, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. Where the law requires it, we'll ask for your consent again.