Last Updated
August 25, 2026

Downwind Crew ("we," "us," or "our") operates the…

Location & Current Conditions
Downwind Crew may request access to your device’s location when you choose to use the Current Location feature. Location access is used only while you are using the app and only to provide relevant local weather, wind, and tide conditions.
When you use Current Location, your device’s latitude and longitude are sent transiently to Downwind Crew’s backend so that current conditions can be retrieved. Exact GPS coordinates are not saved to your user profile, Availability posts, Runs, or other persistent database records.
To reduce unnecessary requests to weather and tide providers, an approximately 1-kilometer coarsened location value may be held temporarily in an in-memory cache for up to approximately 10 minutes. This cache is not a durable account record and expires automatically. Exact coordinates are not returned to the app as part of the normalized conditions response.
Depending on your location and data availability, location information may be used to request conditions from third-party services including Apple WeatherKit, the National Weather Service (NWS), the Aviation Weather Center (AWC), NOAA Tides & Currents, and WorldTides. Each provider’s handling and retention of information is governed by its own policies.
You may also choose a location manually instead of using GPS. A manually selected location is stored locally on your device and sent to the backend only when requesting conditions. It is not stored as part of your Downwind Crew account.

Availability & Paddling Areas
When you post paddling availability, Downwind Crew stores the paddling area you intentionally select, including the paddling-area identifier, display name, and local timezone.
This information represents where you intend to paddle. It is not automatically derived from your current GPS location and does not necessarily indicate where you are physically located.
Availability information may also include your chosen date and time, craft type, pace, preferred routes, driving availability, transportation notes, and other information you choose to provide. Availability posts are linked to your Downwind Crew account so they can be shown to paddlers searching for crew in the same area.

Third-Party Services
Downwind Crew uses third-party services when necessary to provide app functionality, including:
Apple WeatherKit — weather and wind conditions outside supported U.S. weather coverage.
National Weather Service (NWS) — U.S. weather observations and conditions.
Aviation Weather Center (AWC) — aviation weather observations used as a weather fallback when appropriate.
NOAA Tides & Currents — U.S. tide observations and predictions.
WorldTides — tide information where NOAA coverage is unavailable.
Downwind Crew does not use these services for advertising or behavioral tracking. The provider used for a conditions request depends on location and data availability.

Advertising, Analytics & Tracking
Downwind Crew does not currently use advertising SDKs, targeted advertising systems, third-party behavioral tracking, IDFA-based tracking, or third-party analytics SDKs such as Firebase Analytics, Mixpanel, or similar services.
Downwind Crew does not sell personal information to advertisers or data brokers.

Data Retention & Account Deletion
Account-related information is retained while your account remains active or as needed to provide Downwind Crew’s services.
Temporary weather and tide condition caches expire automatically and are not durable account records.
If you choose to delete your Downwind Crew account using the in-app account deletion feature, the associated account data is permanently deleted or anonymized as described in the app’s account deletion process.

Your Location Choices
You may use Downwind Crew without granting GPS permission.
You can:
Deny location access and choose a conditions location manually.
Change or revoke location permission at any time through your device’s iOS Settings.
Continue using other Downwind Crew features without allowing GPS access.
Change the paddling area associated with an Availability post independently of your physical location.

The audit specifically found that the previous policy needed these additional disclosures for transient GPS processing, weather/tide providers, paddling-area storage, local device storage, temporary caching, and OS-level permission revocation.