Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to DroneChecker. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our application available at dronechecker.co.uk and on the Google Play Store.

By using DroneChecker, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

2. Who We Are

DroneChecker is an independent application providing drone flying condition information for users worldwide, with a focus on the United Kingdom.

For any privacy-related queries, please contact us at: bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com

We have assessed our data processing activities and determined that we are not required to register with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at this time. Free users' data is stored only on their own device. Plus and Pro subscriber data (name, email, and related account data) is processed via Google Firebase, Stripe, and — for subscribers on the Android app — Google Play Billing, all of which are listed as data processors in Section 4. If you believe this assessment is incorrect, please contact us. You may also contact the ICO directly at ico.org.uk.

3. Information We Collect

DroneChecker is designed to collect as little information as possible. The sections below describe what data is used and why.

3.1 Location Data

DroneChecker requests access to your device's location (GPS) to display local weather conditions, calculate golden hour and blue hour times, and provide localised flying condition ratings.

We do not store your location data. Location is used only in real time and is never transmitted to our servers or stored permanently. Your coordinates are passed to third-party weather and map services (listed in Section 4) solely to retrieve relevant data. If our primary weather source (Open-Meteo) is temporarily unreachable, your coordinates are instead sent to our own backend (a Firebase Cloud Function), which forwards them server-side to Met.no to fetch a backup forecast. Your coordinates pass through our backend only transiently in this fallback scenario and are not logged or stored.

3.2 Search Queries

If you use the postcode or town search feature, your query is sent to Postcodes.io (for postcodes) or the Open-Meteo Geocoding API (for town and city names) solely to retrieve location coordinates. We do not store any search queries.

3.3 Analytics Data

DroneChecker uses Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymous usage data. This helps us understand how the app is used so we can improve it. Google Analytics collects:

• Pages and features visited within the app
• Session duration and frequency of use
• Device type, operating system and browser
• Approximate geographic location (city or region level — not precise GPS coordinates)
• How you arrived at the app (direct, search, referral)

No personally identifiable information is collected through Google Analytics. Google Analytics 4 anonymises IP addresses by default. Google Analytics sets cookies on your device to distinguish users and sessions (see Section 3.8 for details). Analytics are only enabled if you tick the optional "Allow anonymous usage analytics" checkbox shown when you first open the app — this is separate from the safety disclaimer and is entirely optional. You can withdraw this consent at any time using the "Reset Data" option in the app footer, which clears all stored data including the analytics consent flag. We do not share this data with any third parties beyond Google's own analytics processing. You can learn more about how Google handles this data at policies.google.com/privacy.

3.4 Free Users — No Account Required

Free users are not required to create an account. We do not collect your name, email address, or any other personal identifier. All data is stored locally on your device as described in Section 3.7.

3.5 Plus / Pro Subscriber Accounts

DroneChecker Plus and Pro require you to create an account, either by signing in with a Google account via Google Sign-In or by registering directly with an email address and password via Firebase Authentication. If you use Google Sign-In, we receive from Google your display name, email address, and profile photo URL. If you register with email and password, we collect the email address and password you provide (your password is never stored or seen by us — Firebase Authentication stores it securely as a salted hash). Either way, we also assign you a unique user ID (UID) via Firebase Authentication.

The following data is stored in Firebase Firestore (Google Cloud, EU region) and used solely to operate your Plus or Pro subscription:

• Name and/or email address — received from Google Sign-In or provided directly at registration; used to identify your account and pre-fill the Stripe checkout form
• Firebase UID — your unique account identifier, used to associate all data below with your account
• Subscription status — whether your subscription is active and which tier (Plus or Pro), plus activation and renewal timestamps
• Billing provider and subscription identifiers — depending on how you subscribed, either your Stripe customer and subscription IDs, or (Android app subscribers) your Google Play purchase token, product ID and order ID — used to manage and verify your billing (see Section 4)
• Cloud-synced flight log entries — dates, location names, drone model, duration, conditions and notes that you choose to record; synced so you can access them across devices
• Saved locations — the names and GPS coordinates of flying spots you save as favourites
• Push alert settings — the location, time window, and drone profile you configure for fly-window notifications
• FCM device token — a push notification token issued by Firebase Cloud Messaging, used to deliver flight-condition alerts to your device
• Custom wind thresholds — any drone wind threshold settings you configure beyond the defaults

You can export or delete your flight log at any time within the app. To request full account and data deletion, contact us at bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com and we will delete your Firestore data within 30 days.

3.6 Community Content (Flying Spots & Planned Flights)

Plus and Pro subscribers can optionally submit Flying Spots, visible to other Plus and Pro subscribers. Pro subscribers can additionally submit Planned Flights, visible only to other Pro subscribers:

• Flying Spots — a location write-up (title, conditions, access and legal notes) and up to 3 photos, describing a place you'd recommend for flying. Photos are stored in Firebase Storage. Submissions are reviewed by us before becoming visible to other subscribers. You can also leave a star rating and short comment (a "review") on spots submitted by others.
• Planned Flights — an approximate flying area (a circle on the map), a time window, and optionally your drone type and a note, shared so other nearby pilots can see when and where you plan to fly. These are published immediately without review and are automatically deleted approximately 24 hours after the flight's end time. You can cancel your own Planned Flight at any time.

When you submit a Flying Spot, review, or Planned Flight, other subscribers who can see that content see your first name only alongside it — we never display your full name, email address, or account ID to other users. Your submissions are associated with your Firebase UID on our servers for moderation purposes.

If you use the drive-time feature on a Flying Spot, your current GPS coordinates and the spot's coordinates are sent directly from your device to the OSRM routing service (see Section 4) to calculate an estimated driving time. This happens only when you choose to view drive time for a spot.

Flying Spots and reviews are not automatically deleted if you delete your account, since they remain visible and useful to other users. Contact us at bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com if you would like a specific submission removed. Planned Flights are different: they are automatically deleted as part of the account deletion process, in addition to expiring on their own roughly 24 hours after the flight's end time as described above.

3.7 Device Preferences and Local Data

To improve your experience, the following data is saved locally on your device using browser local storage. None of this data is transmitted to us or any third party:

• Drone profile — your selected drone model, used to personalise wind limit thresholds.
• Unit preference — whether you have selected metric (km/h, °C) or imperial (mph, °F) units.
• Pre-flight checklist state — which checklist items you have ticked, so your progress is preserved between sessions.
• Disclaimer acceptance — a flag confirming you have read and accepted the advisory disclaimer, so it is not shown on every visit.
• Onboarding state — a flag confirming you have completed the introductory onboarding screens.
• App preferences — your chosen display theme (dark or light mode), wind speed unit (km/h, mph, m/s or knots) and temperature unit preference. These are stored locally so your preferences are remembered between sessions.
• Favourite locations — location names and GPS coordinates for any flying spots you have saved as favourites. This data remains on your device only.
• Flight log entries — if you use the flight logger, your entries (including dates, location names, drone model, flight duration, conditions and any notes you add) are stored locally on your device. This data is never transmitted to us. You can delete it at any time within the app.
• Cached weather data — the most recently loaded weather conditions, stored with a timestamp to allow the app to display last known data when offline. This contains weather readings only and no personal information.
• KP index cache — the most recently fetched geomagnetic KP index value and 3-day forecast from NOAA, stored with a timestamp to allow accurate fly ratings on next load without waiting for a fresh NOAA data fetch. Contains no personal information and expires after 1 hour.
• Last used location — the name and coordinates of the last location you searched for or selected, so the app can reload it on your next visit.
• Local alert settings — the location, time window and drone profile you configure for fly-window alerts. For Plus and Pro subscribers this is also a local fallback cache of the alert settings stored in Firestore (see Section 3.5).

You can clear all locally stored data at any time by clearing your browser or app cache, or by using the "Reset Data" option in the app footer, or by uninstalling the app.

3.8 Cookies

DroneChecker itself does not set any first-party cookies. However, Google Analytics 4 — which is loaded only if you opt in via the optional "Allow anonymous usage analytics" checkbox (see Section 3.3) — sets the following cookies on your device:

• _ga — distinguishes unique users. Expires after 2 years.
• _ga_<container-id> — used to persist session state. Expires after 2 years.

These cookies are analytics cookies only. No advertising, tracking, or profiling cookies are used. You can prevent Google Analytics cookies from being set by using the "Reset Data" option in the app footer (which withdraws your consent and reloads the app), by using your browser's built-in cookie controls, or by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

4. Third-Party Services

DroneChecker uses the following third-party services to function. Each has its own privacy policy governing how they handle data. When you use features such as weather, map display or location search, your coordinates or search query may be sent to the relevant service. No personal identifying information is included in these requests.

Service	Purpose	Data shared (Plus/Pro only where noted)	Privacy Policy
Open-Meteo	Live weather, forecast data and town/city geocoding	Your GPS coordinates or search query	View
Met.no (MET Norway)	Backup weather forecast, used only when Open-Meteo is temporarily unreachable. Requests are proxied through our own Firebase Cloud Function rather than sent directly from your device.	Your GPS coordinates (passed through our backend, not stored)	View
Postcodes.io	UK postcode lookup	Your postcode search query	View
OpenStreetMap Nominatim	Reverse geocoding (place names from coordinates)	Your GPS coordinates	View
OpenFreeMap	Plus/Pro only — map tile rendering for the Wind Detail tab	Map tile requests (no personal data)	View
Rainbow.ai	Plus/Pro only — rain radar map overlay for the Wind Detail tab. Requests are proxied through our own Firebase Cloud Function rather than sent directly from your device	Map tile coordinates only (no personal data; your device never contacts Rainbow.ai directly)	View
NOAA Space Weather	KP geomagnetic index data	No personal data	View
Google Analytics 4	Anonymous usage analytics (only if you opt in)	Anonymous usage data — no personal identifiers	View
Firebase Authentication (Google Sign-In or email/password)	Plus/Pro only — sign-in and account identity	Your Google display name, email address, and profile photo URL (Google Sign-In), or the email address and password you register with (email/password sign-up)	View
Firebase Firestore (Google Cloud, EU region)	Plus/Pro only — cloud storage of subscription status, flight log, saved locations, alert settings, and community content (Flying Spots and reviews for Plus/Pro; Planned Flights for Pro only)	Name, email, UID, subscription metadata, flight log entries, saved locations, push token, alert settings, Flying Spot and Planned Flight submissions	View
Firebase Storage (Google Cloud)	Plus/Pro only — stores photos you choose to upload when submitting a Flying Spot	The photo files you upload	View
OSRM (router.project-osrm.org)	Plus/Pro only — calculates estimated driving time to a Flying Spot, only when you tap to view it	Your current GPS coordinates and the spot's coordinates, sent directly from your device	View (community-run public routing service; no dedicated privacy policy is published)
Firebase Cloud Messaging	Plus/Pro only — delivers flight-condition alert and daily conditions summary push notifications to your device	Your FCM device token	View
Stripe	Plus/Pro only — payment processing for DroneChecker Plus and Pro subscriptions on the website	Your email address (pre-filled at checkout); payment data is entered directly on Stripe's servers and never passes through DroneChecker	View
Google Play Billing	Plus/Pro only, Android app subscribers — payment processing for DroneChecker Plus or Pro when subscribed via the Google Play Store app	Your Google account's purchase token; payment data is handled entirely by Google Play and never passes through DroneChecker	View
Firebase Hosting (Google Cloud)	App hosting and delivery	Standard web server logs (IP address, browser type)	View

5. Local Storage and Offline Mode

DroneChecker uses your device's local storage in two ways:

• Service worker cache — app files (HTML, CSS, scripts) are cached locally so the app loads quickly and works offline.
• User preferences and data — your drone profile, unit preference, checklist state, favourite locations, flight log entries, and the most recent weather data are stored locally to improve your experience and enable offline use (see Section 3.7).

No personal data is transmitted to DroneChecker's servers. All stored data remains on your device.

6. Children's Privacy

DroneChecker is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com.

7. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding any personal data we hold:

• Right of access — to request a copy of any personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure — to request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Right to restriction of processing — to request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability — to receive your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format and transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.
• Right to object — to object to processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis.
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent (such as analytics), you may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing. Use the "Reset Data" option in the app footer to do this.
• Right to lodge a complaint — with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

As DroneChecker does not collect or store personal data on our own servers, most of these rights are satisfied by the nature of the app itself. For analytics data processed by Google, you may also opt out using the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Any locally stored preferences and flight log data can be cleared using the "Reset Data" option in the app footer, or by clearing your browser or app cache.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time and will indicate the date of revision at the top of this page. For material changes that affect how your data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to bring these to your attention (for example by displaying a notice within the app). Where such changes require fresh consent, we will seek that consent before the new processing begins. Continued use of the app after non-material changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact Us

Email: bbridgewater.dev@gmail.com
Website: dronechecker.co.uk