Privacy Policy
Last updated October 31, 2026
AllBeaches is a beach-discovery and water-safety app made by Windward Holdings LLC, a Washington limited liability company ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the AllBeaches app collects, how we use it, and the choices you have.
Information we collect
- Account information. Your email address, used to send you a sign-in code, and the display name you choose.
- Field reports. When you submit a report about a beach, we store the beach, your note, whether you confirmed conditions, and any photo you choose to attach.
- How busy a beach is (beach check-ins). After you've been at a beach for about 5 minutes, AllBeaches may ask how busy it is (Quiet, Some people, Busy, or Packed) and, at beaches with limited parking, whether the lot is full. You can also answer "I'm not at the beach" or "Not sure," which are kept only on your phone. To check you're there, your phone's location is compared with the beach's mapped shoreline when you answer. We store your answer, the time, and how far you were from the beach, never the location itself. Other users see only the combined level, when the last report came in, and typical busy times, never who reported. Check-ins also earn leaderboard points, which other users see next to your display name. You choose how AllBeaches asks in Profile › Beach check-ins: Notify me, Only in the app, or Off (see "Location" below).
- Photo of the day. If you add a photo to a field report while you're at the beach, it may be shown as that beach's photo of the day (for beaches without another cover photo), credited to your display name, for up to 30 days. Field report photos are already visible to other users.
- Alerts (Pro). If you turn on alerts, we store which beaches you watch and which alerts you want (Go now, seasonal events). For Go now alerts we store your device's push notification token and the times we sent you one, and we send the notification through Expo's push notification service, which receives the token and the message. Seasonal event reminders (king tides, big low tides) are scheduled on your phone and aren't sent by us.
- Beach ratings. When you rate a beach, we store your 1 to 5 star rating for it. Other users see only each beach's average and number of ratings, never who rated it or how.
- Location when submitting a report. To verify that a report was made on site, the app records your device's location at the moment you submit, along with its distance from the beach. This is stored with the report.
- Activities. You can choose to note what you did at a beach in a field report (for example, swimming or crabbing). This is stored with the report and helps confirm what each beach offers.
- Corrections. When you suggest a correction to a beach listing, we store the beach, what you said is wrong, any source link or photo you add, and your device's location and distance from the beach at the moment you submit. Corrections are not shown to other users. We use them to check beach information against official sources.
- Beach questions. When a beach detail isn't confirmed yet, the app may ask you a quick question about it (for example, whether you saw signs about dogs). If you answer, we store the beach, your answer, and your device's location and distance from the beach at that moment. Your individual answers are not shown to other users; once several visitors who were at the beach give mostly the same answer, the app may show a count (for example, "7 of 9 visitors"). We use answers to check beach information against official sources.
- Beach discoveries. When you submit a beach that isn't in AllBeaches, we store its pin, your description and photo, and your device's location and its distance from the pin at the moment you submit. When you confirm someone else's discovery, we store your optional note and your device's location and distance from the pin at that moment. Your location is used to check that you were at the spot.
- Beach nicknames and purchases. If you name a beach you discovered, we store the name you propose, the result of our automatic check, and its review status. Names you try are checked automatically before you can pay, and each check is logged. Payment is handled by Apple through the App Store: we never see your card or Apple account details. We receive a transaction ID, the product, the price and currency, and whether it was a test purchase from RevenueCat, which processes App Store purchases for us, so that we can confirm your payment and handle refunds.
Information that stays on your device
If you allow location access, AllBeaches uses your location to show how far away nearby beaches are. That distance is calculated on your device and is not sent to us. If you have already allowed location access, the app also checks whether you are at a beach you are viewing, so it can ask a beach question; your location is only sent to us if you answer. Camera and photo library access are used only when you choose to attach a photo to a report, correction or discovery.
Beach check-ins while using the app. With Only in the app (the default) and location set to "While Using the App," AllBeaches checks whether you're at a beach when you open it and about every 30 minutes while it's open. Once you've been at a beach for about 5 minutes (walking along it counts), it asks at most once an hour while you stay. For that check, your current position is sent to our server to find the nearest beach; it is not saved.
Beach check-ins in the background (optional). If you choose Notify me and set AllBeaches' location access to "Always," your iPhone watches a few small areas around the beaches closest to you, even when AllBeaches is closed. That watching is done by iOS on your phone; AllBeaches is not told your location as you move around. To choose those areas, your current position is sent to our server to look up nearby beaches when you open the app or move a long way; it is not saved. When you have been at a beach for about 5 minutes (walking along it counts), your phone shows a notification asking how busy it is, then at most every 4 hours while you stay. At a different beach, the 5 minutes start again. If you leave within 5 minutes (driving along the coast, for example), no notification is shown. These notifications are created on your phone; we don't use a push notification service. You can switch to Only in the app or Off at any time in Profile, or change location and notification access in your iPhone's Settings.
Tsunami warnings (on unless you switch them off). AllBeaches sends a push notification when the National Weather Service issues a tsunami warning, advisory or watch for an area that covers a beach in your favorites or the area you're in. For the area you're in, your phone looks up which National Weather Service forecast zone and county it is in (for example, "WAZ325" and "WAC009") and sends us only those zone codes, never your exact location. They are sent when you open AllBeaches and, if you use Notify me check-ins with "Always" location, when you move a long way. We delete them after 6 hours, and right away if you turn tsunami warnings off. To send the notification we store your device's push token and use Expo's push notification service. These notifications back up, and do not replace, your phone's official Emergency Alerts. You can turn them off in Profile › Tsunami warnings.
How we use information
- To sign you in and run your account.
- To show your field reports, with your display name, to other AllBeaches users.
- To check whether reports were made at the beach and keep community information accurate.
- To check discovered beaches, show them to other users so they can confirm them, and decide whether to add them to AllBeaches.
- To check that proposed beach nicknames are appropriate, confirm payment for them, and show approved nicknames with your display name.
- To write a short automatic summary of what visitors say about each beach, shown on the beach's page. Summaries are generated from report notes and dates, without names or contact details.
- To respond when you contact us.
We do not sell your personal information, show you ads, or use third-party advertising or analytics trackers.
Service providers
We use Supabase to host our database, sign-in and photo storage. Tides, weather, water temperature and waves come from NOAA and the National Weather Service, UV forecasts from the EPA (looked up by the beach's ZIP code from the U.S. Census Bureau), beach hazard alerts from the National Weather Service, swimming water quality from the Washington State Department of Ecology and the California State Water Resources Control Board, and some beach photos come from Unsplash. These services receive beach locations, not your personal information. Maps are displayed using Apple Maps. AllBeaches Pro subscriptions and beach nickname purchases are made through Apple's App Store and processed by RevenueCat, which receives your AllBeaches account ID (a random identifier, not your email) and your App Store purchase records, so we can tell whether your subscription is active. Apple handles billing, renewals and cancellation; we never see your card or Apple account details.
To write beach summaries, the text of field report notes, along with when they were made and whether their location was verified, is sent to Anthropic, which provides the AI model. We do not send your display name, email address or location, and we remove email addresses, phone numbers and links from notes before sending them. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, this data is not used to train its models.
To check a proposed beach nickname, only the name itself is sent to Anthropic. We do not send your display name, email address, location or any other information with it.
When you use the beach finder, what you type and any trip itinerary you paste are sent to Anthropic so it can suggest beaches. If you choose to search near your location, your device's location is used by our server to find nearby beaches and is not sent to Anthropic. We don't store your request or itinerary; we keep only a usage record (how much the request cost to process) to enforce limits. Don't paste anything into an itinerary you wouldn't want shared with our AI provider, such as booking numbers or other people's personal details.
What other users can see
Field reports, including their notes, photos and your display name, are visible to other users. Your email address and the exact location recorded with a report are not shown publicly; other users can see only whether a report's location was verified.
Beach discoveries, including their pin, description, photo and your display name, are visible to other signed-in users so they can find and confirm them. The location recorded from your device is not shown. Approved beach nicknames are shown with "Named by" and your display name. Names you try that aren't approved, and your purchases, are not shown to other users.
Keeping and deleting your data
We keep your information while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time in the app: go to the Profile tab and tap Delete Account. This immediately and permanently deletes your account, display name, field reports and their photos, corrections and their photos, beach question answers, how-busy reports, beach ratings, beach discoveries and their photos, confirmations, beach nicknames and name checks, favorites, and your points and leaderboard entries. A beach that has already been added to AllBeaches from your discovery stays in the app, without your name or nickname. Records of App Store purchases are kept by Apple and RevenueCat under their own policies. Beach summaries are regenerated within a day so they no longer draw on your reports. Copies may remain in our hosting provider's encrypted backups until those backups expire on their regular schedule.
If you can't use the app, you can also email support@allbeachesapp.com from the address you sign in with, and we will delete your account within 30 days.
One account that we run ourselves for Apple's app review is reset when it is deleted rather than removed, so its sign-in keeps working for future reviews. All of its data is still deleted. This does not apply to any user's account.
Children
AllBeaches is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page.
Contact
Windward Holdings LLC, Washington, USA
support@allbeachesapp.com