KookinSurf — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 October 2026

KookinSurf does not collect your data. There is no KookinSurf server, no account to create, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party tracking code in the app. Everything the app records stays on your device, in your own Apple Health store, or in your own private iCloud — places the developer cannot read. The app asks the internet for three things, each described below: the surf forecast, Apple Maps where you choose a spot on the map, and the photographs that head your trips.

Health and fitness data

KookinSurf reads surf sessions, heart rate, workout duration and calories from Apple Health in order to show you your own history, and writes sessions back to Apple Health when your Apple Watch records one or when you import a track file. On an Apple Watch with a depth sensor (Apple Watch Ultra, Series 10 or later) the Watch app also reads the water temperature during a session, which needs Motion & Fitness access, and saves one figure for the session with the workout.

• This data is read and written on your device through Apple's HealthKit framework.
• It is never transmitted to the developer or to any third party.
• It is never used for advertising or marketing, and never sold, shared or data-mined.
• You can revoke the app's access at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Health.

Location

While a session is recording, your Apple Watch collects location fixes to draw your route, count your waves, name the surf spot and work out the tide there.

• Your route is processed on your device and is never sent anywhere. Surf spot names and tide predictions are computed from datasets bundled inside the app, with no network lookup.
• Your route is stored with the session in Apple Health, under your control.
• The iPhone app may use your location to centre the map and to pick the spot its widget shows. That, too, stays on the device, except as described under Forecast and under Choosing a spot on the map: the area of map around you is what those requests carry.

Forecast

The swell, wind and temperature forecast comes from Open-Meteo, a public weather service. To fetch it, the app sends Open-Meteo the coordinates of the place the forecast is for: the part of the map you are looking at, the spot your widget shows, and the spots in your list.

• Only coordinates are sent. No name, account, identifier, session, route or health data goes with them, and the developer never receives the request or the answer.
• As with any website, Open-Meteo's servers see the IP address the request comes from. How Open-Meteo handles requests is described in its own terms and privacy policy.
• Requests are made when you open the Spots tab or the forecast, and by the medium tide widget when it refreshes. Tides, sunrise and sunset are worked out on your device and involve no request at all.

Choosing a spot on the map

The maps in the app are Apple Maps. Where you choose a spot on the map, the app also asks Apple Maps which surf breaks it knows in the area on screen, and looks up whatever you type into the search field there.

• The request carries the area of map on screen and, for a search, the words you typed. No session, route, health data or account goes with it, and the developer never receives the request or the answer.
• How Apple handles Maps requests is described in Apple Maps & Privacy.

Trip photographs

When your sessions are grouped by trip, each trip is headed by a photograph of the place: a Wikivoyage banner kept on Wikimedia Commons. The app downloads the picture from Wikimedia the first time a trip is shown, and keeps it on your device.

• The request names only the picture: one per island, region or country. No coordinates, dates, sessions, account or identifier go with it, and the developer never receives the request or the answer.
• As with any website, Wikimedia's servers see the IP address the request comes from, and so can tell that someone at that address asked for the picture of that region. How Wikimedia handles requests is described in its privacy policy.
• Nothing is requested while sessions are grouped by month, or for a trip whose picture is already on your device.

iCloud

Your surfboards (including any photos you add) and any surf spots you name yourself are stored in your private iCloud database, so they appear on your other devices. This uses Apple's CloudKit private database: it is tied to your Apple Account, and the developer has no ability to access, read or export it. Apple's handling of that data is covered by Apple's Privacy Policy.

Files you import or export

Track files you import (GPX, Garmin FIT or KookinSurf JSON) are read on your device. Files you export are written wherever you choose to save or send them. Neither passes through the developer.

Deleting your data

• Sessions: swipe to delete in KookinSurf, or delete them in the Health app.
• Boards and custom spots: delete them in the app, or remove the app's iCloud data in Settings › Apple Account › iCloud.
• Deleting the app removes everything it stored on the device.

Children

KookinSurf is not directed at children and collects no data from anyone.

Changes

If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted at this address with a new date above.

Contact

Questions about this policy: dimafern+kookinprivacy@gmail.com