Privacy Policy

Version 2026-10-13 · iPhone, iPad and Android

In short: VesselRef collects no data. The app makes no network requests, has no account and no analytics. Everything you add stays on your phone or tablet unless you send it yourself.

Who this is from

VesselRef is made by an independent developer (the developer). This policy covers the VesselRef app on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. The same text is in the app and at vesselref.com/app/privacy.

What the app stores, and where

Everything you add or create stays on your device: manuals and other documents, scans, photos, voice notes, log entries, parts, troubleshooting sessions, how-to guides, handovers, vessels and positions, contract dates, reminders, muster station, ship map pins and the last GPS position.

• Your files are real files in the app's own folder, shown as VesselRef in the Files app, organised by vessel and equipment.
• A database and a search index next to them make search fast. They can be rebuilt from your files.
• Secrets in the vault are stored in the device's secure storage: the Keychain on iPhone and iPad, the Android Keystore on Android. They are never searched, never shown to the on-device model and never put in a handover.

The developer cannot see any of it. There is no server and no copy anywhere else.

Permissions and why

The app asks only when you use the feature, and every feature works without the others.

• Camera: to scan pages and drawings and take photos for the log and how-to guides.
• Photos: to add pictures you pick in the system photo picker. The app gets only the photos you choose, never your whole library.
• Microphone and speech recognition: to record voice notes and dictate. Speech is turned into text on the device; recordings are saved only where you keep them.
• Location (while using the app): to keep the last GPS fix for the Library card, the widget and the Mayday guide. GPS works from satellites only and the position is not sent anywhere.
• Notifications: for contract and feedback reminders you turn on.
• Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint: to unlock the vault. The app only gets yes or no from the system and never sees your biometric data.
• On Android, indexing may run as a visible background task so large imports finish; it stays on the device.

On-device answers

Where the device supports it, short answers are written on the device by the model built into the operating system: Apple Intelligence on supported iPhones and iPads, Gemini Nano through Android AICore on supported Android phones. Your question and your pages are processed on the device and are not sent to Apple, Google or the developer. The system downloads and updates that model under Apple's or Google's own terms, not through VesselRef.

What leaves the device

Nothing, unless you send it yourself. When you share a file, export a CSV or PDF, save an encrypted backup or write to the developer, you choose where it goes.

• No network: the app makes no network requests. On Android it is installed without the internet permission, so it cannot connect at all; you can check this in the app's permission list on Google Play.
• Google's ML Kit text recognition, used on Android to read scans, includes a component that would send usage statistics to Google. Without the internet permission it cannot send anything.
• Links to vesselref.com, LinkedIn or Telegram open in your browser or the Telegram app. What happens there is covered by those services' own policies.

Backups

• The app's own backup is an encrypted file you save yourself, for example to move to a new phone. It is locked with a passphrase you choose; without it nobody can open the file, the developer included.
• iPhone and iPad: the system backup (iCloud or a computer) may include the app's files, as it does for other apps. That is Apple's backup under your settings, not the app sending anything.
• Android: the app's data is excluded from Google's cloud backup and device-to-device transfer. Use the app's own backup to move it.

Diagnostic log

To help fix problems, the app keeps a small log of errors, crashes and purchase events on the device. It holds counts and states only: no document text, titles, names, log entries or secrets. It leaves the device only if you choose to attach it to an email to the developer.

Writing to the developer

If you write to the developer from About VesselRef › Write to the developer, the email goes from your own mail app. The developer then receives your email address, your message and anything you attach (for example the diagnostic log). It is used only to answer you and to improve the app, never shared or sold, and deleted on request.

Purchases and supporter perks

Support subscriptions are optional and unlock nothing in the app. Payments go through the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Google) under their own privacy policies. The developer receives no name, email or payment details from them, only anonymous sales reports. The app checks your subscription with the store on the device.

Partners and Patrons get links to the VesselRef channel and group on Telegram, and Patrons a link to message the developer there. Joining is your choice; Telegram, and the people in a group, then see your Telegram profile under Telegram's privacy policy.

Keeping and deleting your data

You can delete any file, entry or vessel in the app. Deleting the app deletes everything it stores on the device, except copies you exported yourself and, on iPhone and iPad, system backups made before. Because the developer holds none of your data, there is nothing for the developer to delete except emails you sent.

Children

VesselRef is a professional tool for seafarers and is not aimed at children.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version comes with an app update and is posted at vesselref.com/app/privacy, with a new date above. The app will not start collecting data without asking you first.

Contact

Questions about privacy: write to the developer from About VesselRef › Write to the developer, or through vesselref.com.

Or email support@vesselref.com.