Privacy Policy

Last updated 9 October 2026 (live games use your name from Settings)

In short: Guess That Plane has no ads, analytics or tracking. Your precise GPS position stays on your iPhone, while flight-data and map providers see the approximate area the map is showing. Your scores, hangar and settings stay on your iPhone unless you choose to sign in, which stores a copy on our server so it syncs across your devices. To show live aircraft, the app asks free flight-data services for the planes in the area the map is showing, which tells them roughly where the map is. If you play a live game with friends, your chosen name, your guesses and (if you host) your map area are shared with the people in that game, and deleted from our server soon after it ends.

Your location

If you allow it, the app uses your location (only while it is open) to centre the map and draw the dot and ring around you. The exact GPS fix is not saved or sent as a GPS coordinate. The map view you leave on is saved on your iPhone so it can reopen there. When centred on you, its approximate centre is sent to flight-data providers, and the map area is requested from the map provider.

You can play without location: the map starts over Heathrow in London, you can pan it anywhere, and it reopens where you left it. You can change this at any time in the iPhone’s Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Guess That Plane.

What leaves your iPhone

The app talks to these services directly. None of them receive your name or any identifier for you.

Live aircraft: adsb.lol and adsb.fi

About every 8 seconds while the app is open, it asks adsb.lol (or, if that is unavailable, adsb.fi) for aircraft around the centre of the map. The request contains the map centre, rounded to about a kilometre, and a search radius. When the map is centred on you, that is your approximate location. Like any website, these services also see your IP address. Requests stop when the app is in the background.

Map tiles: OpenFreeMap

Map images are downloaded from OpenFreeMap for the area you are viewing, as with any map app. It sees your IP address and which map areas are loaded.

Route lookups and app settings: our server

When you reveal a plane, the app sends that aircraft’s public transponder code and callsign to our small server on Cloudflare, which looks up its type and route from the public VRS standing data and ADSBdb. When a flight has no published route (common for private planes), the server fetches that aircraft’s public track for the day from adsb.lol to find where it took off. Once an hour the app also downloads a small settings file from the same server (which flight-data services to use and how often). These requests contain nothing about you. Cloudflare processes your IP address to deliver them and to limit abuse; we keep no logs of our own.

Live games with friends (optional)

A live game lets 2–4 people play together, each on their own iPhone, joining with a four-character code. No account is needed. While you are in a live game, the app sends our server (on Cloudflare):

Your name from Settings, which the others in the game see.
Your guesses, which the others see once each plane is revealed.
Which players you block in that game, so their names and guesses can be hidden from your live view.
The plane the host picks, and the scores for each plane.
If you are the host: the centre of your map rounded to two decimal places (roughly a kilometre) and a whole zoom level, so the other players’ maps can follow it. When your map is centred on you, that tells the other players roughly where you are. Exact map bounds and the GPS fix are not sent to the game room.
A random code that lets your iPhone rejoin the game if the connection drops.

This is used only to run the game and is shared only with the people in it. Our server deletes the game 10 minutes after it ends, or 2 hours after the last activity. Each player’s iPhone keeps the game’s scored planes, with everyone’s names and guesses, in its own Logbook, like any other round. You can block a player for the current game to hide their name and guesses from your live view. The host can remove a player from a game. Tap a player in the live game to report a name or guess through your email app.

A report opens a draft email containing the game code, report time, the reported player’s name and seat ID, and their revealed guess if one is available. You can edit the draft before sending. If you send it, your email provider and our support mailbox receive that information and your email address. Report emails stay in the sender’s and recipient’s mailboxes until deleted; deleting your in-app account does not delete an email already sent. Contact the support address below to request deletion of report correspondence.

While you are connected to a live game, the room on our server also holds your IP address in memory with your connection. The host’s is used only to limit how many route lookups one person can make. It is not saved with the game and is gone when you disconnect.

If you sign in (optional)

Signing in is optional and uses Sign in with Apple. We don’t ask Apple for your name or email address, so we never receive them. When you sign in we store, on our server, which runs on Cloudflare:

A random account ID, and the identifier Apple gives us for your Apple ID in this app.
Your scored rounds, hangar and settings (including the spotter names you typed), so they sync between your devices.
Sign-in sessions for your devices, stored only as a one-way hash.
A token from Apple, stored encrypted, used only to disconnect Sign in with Apple when you delete your account.
Counts of how many items your account stores and how many changes it has synced today, used only to keep any one account within the server’s limits.

This data is linked to your account, used only to sync your game, and never shared or sold. Sign out in Settings to stop syncing (your history stays on the iPhone). Delete account in Settings permanently deletes everything above from our server straight away. We also try to disconnect Sign in with Apple, and the app tells you if that could not be completed so you can disconnect it in iPhone Settings. Our database provider keeps a 7-day point-in-time recovery history, so deleted data is fully gone after 7 days. You can also stop using Sign in with Apple for this app in your iPhone’s Settings › [your name] › Sign in with Apple.

What stays on your iPhone

Scored rounds: the plane’s details, the guesses, the revealed route and the points.
Your hangar of caught aircraft.
A short list of planes you’ve recently guessed and how it went, so the map can colour them. It is never synced to your account.
Settings, including the spotter names you type in.
Where you last left the map (its centre and zoom), so it reopens there. It is never synced to your account.

If you haven’t signed in, this data is stored only in the app on your iPhone and we cannot see it. It is included in your iPhone backups like other app data. Reset all data in Settings deletes everything, as does deleting the app.

What we don’t do

No accounts unless you choose to sign in, and never any email or password. The only names are the ones you type for spotters or live games.
No advertising, analytics, tracking or third-party SDKs that collect data.
No selling or sharing of data. The app is free to download and play.

If you have chosen to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone’s settings, Apple may provide us with anonymous crash reports and usage statistics. These do not identify you.

Children

The only names the app asks for are the ones shown on scoreboards and in live games, and any nickname will do. It doesn’t ask anyone, including children, for their real name, email or other contact details. Signing in is optional.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email eastonlindsay.projects@gmail.com.