Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how the Merdvakt iOS app ("Merdvakt", "the app", "we") handles information when you use it. Merdvakt is an independent app that shows the locations of Norwegian salmon-aquaculture localities together with nearby vessel traffic (AIS), using public open data from BarentsWatch.

What we do not collect

Merdvakt does not collect:

• Your name, email, phone number, postal address, or contacts. Merdvakt has no user accounts and no sign-in.
• Your device's location. The app does not request location permission and does not use CLLocationManager; the map shows farms and vessels, not you.
• Your photos, contacts, microphone, camera, calendar, health, or motion data.
• Any cross-app tracking. The app does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission and does not use your advertising identifier (IDFA). It contains no advertising, analytics, crash-reporting, marketing, or attribution SDK.

What is stored on your device

Merdvakt stores the following on-device only, via Apple's standard UserDefaults:

• Which farms you have turned an alarm on for, and your chosen alert distance and alarm mode (on arrival / activity / on leaving).
• Your alert filters and exclusions: hidden vessel types, and any muted vessels or excluded MMSI / IMO / flag / minimum size (a Merdvakt Live feature).
• UI preferences: language, and the small "swimming salmon" toggle.

This data is removed when you delete the app.

Data sent to our server

Merdvakt fetches farm and vessel data from a proxy server we operate at api.pythonenthusiast.com, hosted on DigitalOcean in Frankfurt, Germany, which in turn fetches from BarentsWatch's public API. The data the app sends to our server is limited to:

• The map area (bounding box) and farm IDs you are viewing, and a static API key embedded in the app, so the server can return the right farms and vessels.
• Only if you enable alerts and turn on an alarm for at least one farm: your Apple Push Notification (APNs) device token, the IDs of the farms you are watching, your chosen alert distance, and your alert filters (vessel types / muted vessels). This is used solely to send you a push notification when a vessel comes near a watched farm. The APNs token is an Apple push identifier, not your identity, and is deleted from our server when it becomes invalid or when you stop watching all farms.

We do not build advertising or behavioural profiles, and we never sell, rent, or share your information with data brokers.

Push notifications

Push notifications are optional. If you grant notification permission and turn on a farm alarm, our server periodically compares live AIS positions against your watched farms and sends an alert through Apple's Push Notification service. You can turn alarms off in the app, or revoke notification permission entirely in iOS Settings, at any time.

Subscriptions

The optional "Merdvakt Live" subscription is sold and billed by Apple through the App Store using Apple's in-app purchase system (StoreKit). Merdvakt does not receive or store your payment card, billing address, or Apple Account details — Apple handles the transaction. The app only learns whether an active entitlement exists on your device, so it can unlock subscriber features.

BarentsWatch and the Norwegian Coastal Administration

The underlying farm and vessel (AIS) data is published by BarentsWatch, a Norwegian government marine open-data service, and originates with the Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket). We are not affiliated with them; their terms apply to the upstream data.

Children

Merdvakt is a general-audience information app. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect any data from children.

Your rights

Merdvakt holds no personally identifying information about you. Uninstalling the app removes the on-device preferences (iOS Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Merdvakt → Delete App) and stops any further data being sent to our server. If you had alerts enabled, deleting the app or turning off all farm alarms removes your watch configuration and push token from our server. To request deletion of any residual data, email leetsyplakov@gmail.com.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change. Material changes will be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

For privacy questions, write to leetsyplakov@gmail.com.