Mobile App Privacy Policy

Piscatorium is a mobile app and website published to provide information about weather and sea conditions, fishing grounds, fish species and recreational fishing regulations. This policy covers the mobile app. Because the same account can be used in the app and on the site, the sections on the account, catch logs, the community, transfers, security, account deletion and rights are the same in both policies.

To use the app, you need to open an account or sign in. When you log a catch, use the community features or move to Pro membership, the data collected grows; below, it is written out separately which of these comes into play when.

2.1 App permissions

• Location permission — requested only while the app is open; your location is not tracked in the background. It is used to show the wind, waves and water temperature where you are, and nearby fishing grounds. The location sent for this purpose is not stored linked to your account; your account holds only the location of the catches you log (see 2.4).
• Camera and photo permission — to take or select catch and profile photos. The camera captures an image only when you press the shutter; only the photos you select are read from your photo library.
• Notification permission — if you grant it, your device’s notification token is stored together with your account. If you do not, the app keeps working. Technical delivery metrics on whether notifications reach the device are also kept.

All three permissions can be refused and later revoked in the device settings; if you do not grant a permission, the rest of the app keeps working.

2.2 Logs the app creates automatically

• Server access logs. For every request the app sends to our server, the IP address, client information and the requested address are kept by the hosting infrastructure. The requested address may contain a search you make or the location sent for weather information. Their purpose is debugging and abuse detection; these logs are not linked to your account.
• Crash, performance and usage logs. If the app crashes, a technical log is sent. In addition, usage events such as which screens are opened and which features are used, and performance data such as launch time and freezes, are measured. The measurement provider may derive an approximate location at country and city level from your IP address. Your account ID, name, email address or catch location are not added to these logs.

2.3 If you open an account

• Name, email address and password hash. The password itself is never kept in the clear anywhere. No verification link is sent to your email address when you sign up. Only when you link a social sign-in account to an existing account opened with the same email address, and the provider has not verified that address, is an email sent so that you can confirm linking the accounts.
• Your profile address. It is a short name derived from your name and appears in the public address of your profile.
• Your profile photo, if you upload one. It is re-encoded on upload and its embedded metadata (including GPS) is dropped. You can turn off showing it on your profile.
• The version of the text you accepted and the time of acceptance. Kept as proof of consent.
• If you signed in with Google, Facebook or Apple, the name, email address and account ID coming from that service.

Your profile is public. Your name, your profile photo and the catch logs you share publicly can be seen by everyone, including visitors who are not signed in. There is currently no setting that hides the profile completely.

2.4 If you log a catch

• Location. The location of each catch log is held at three separate levels of precision: the exact coordinates you enter, an approximate point derived from them, and the option of not being shown at all. When you share the log, you decide which one is visible; the default is hidden.
• Photos. They are re-encoded on the server and all embedded metadata is dropped — including GPS coordinates, device model and serial number. The profile photo goes through the same process.
• Date, time, species, length and weight, technique, tackle and your notes, as well as the weather, sea and moon/sun data at the moment of the log.

2.5 If you use the community features

Your comments, your likes, the people you follow, the people you block and the reports you send are recorded. Commenting and liking are only possible on catch logs shared publicly.

2.6 Advertising

Ads are shown to free users; no ads are shown with Pro membership. The ads are not personalized. We do not ask for tracking permission on iPhone and iPad, so the device’s advertising identifier is not used. The ad network sees your IP address and the approximate location it derives from it, general device information, an app-specific device identifier and a publisher ID that is valid only in our own apps. It also collects the ads shown to you, your interactions with ads, and the ads’ performance and crash logs. These are used to show the ad, to prevent the same ad from appearing over and over, for ad measurement and for fraud prevention. You can report an inappropriate ad to us via the feedback form.

2.7 Feedback form

The message you send from the app, the topic you select, the app version and the device platform are stored together with your account and email address. They are used only to reply to you and to fix the problem you report.

2.8 If you move to Pro membership

Your subscription status and your start and end dates are stored, and your user ID is sent to the subscription infrastructure. Your card details never reach us; payment is completed in the system of the store from which you downloaded the app.

2.9 Data that stays only on your device

Your recent searches, your map layer and view preferences and the offline map packs you download are kept only on your device and are not sent to us. When you delete the app, these are deleted too.

• To open your account, verify your identity and provide the service
• To run the fishing log, map, conditions and community features
• To ensure security; to detect fake entries, automated access and abuse
• To review content reports and carry out moderation
• To send notifications, if you have allowed them
• To run the Pro subscription and to show ads in free use
• To respond to support requests and feedback
• To fix errors in the app and to improve the service by measuring its performance and usage
• To fulfil legal obligations

Crash, performance and usage measurement and ad measurement are based on keeping the service working and secure and do not depend on explicit consent. To object to this processing, you can write to the address on the contact page.

Your data is not sold. Your catch logs, photos and notes are not used for advertising, marketing or profiling purposes and are not shared with third parties for these purposes.

The following services come into play as required for the app to work. The data each of them receives and its purpose are also set out in a table in the transfer section of the KVKK Data Protection Notice.

• Google Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging): usage and performance measurement, crash reports and delivery of notifications. Your account ID, name and email address are not sent.
• Google AdMob: non-personalized ads in free use (see 2.6).
• RevenueCat: verifying the subscription and matching it to your account; your user ID and subscription status are sent.
• Apple App Store and Google Play: taking payment and running the subscription.
• Sign-in with Google, Meta and Apple: if you choose this route, the name, email address and account ID coming from that service.
• Esri, EMODnet and NASA GIBS: when you turn on the satellite imagery, sea depth and chlorophyll layers, your IP address and the map tile you are viewing go to these providers. The default map base layer comes from our own server.
• Cloudflare and Mailgun: content delivery and attack protection; password reset and notification emails (Mailgun, European Union region).

Weather and sea data is not obtained directly from a third party: our server collects it and serves it to the app from our own address.

As Apple defines it, tracking means combining data collected from the app with data collected from apps and websites owned by other companies for the purpose of targeting or measuring ads, or sharing that data with data brokers. We do not do this. Only non-personalized ads are requested from the ad network; no tracking permission (App Tracking Transparency) is requested on iPhone and iPad, and the device’s advertising identifier is not used. The measurement provider’s ad personalization signals are turned off.

• Your account and content: until you delete your account.
• Catch photo files: at most thirty days after the account is deleted.
• Notification token: deleted when you sign out or delete your account.
• Feedback messages: when you delete your account, the record itself remains but its link to you is severed.
• Crash, performance and usage logs: for the retention period of the relevant provider.
• Server access logs: for the hosting infrastructure’s own cycle.

Some of the providers listed above are located abroad; the transfer is unavoidable in order to receive the service and is carried out within the scope of Article 9 of Law No. 6698. No special categories of personal data are transferred abroad. For transfers from the European Economic Area, the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission or other appropriate safeguards are relied on to the extent required.

Appropriate technical and administrative measures are taken to protect personal data: passwords are stored only as an irreversible hash, traffic is carried over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), the embedded metadata of uploaded photos is dropped, access to the data is limited to a small number of people who need it for their duties, and backups are made.

Nevertheless, no method of transmission over the internet or of electronic storage provides absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account password confidential and for the security of your device.

You can delete your account from the account screen in the mobile app; the action cannot be undone. Your account and your content are closed to access, your profile photo is removed from disk immediately and your catch photos within thirty days at the latest; your likes, follows, notifications and comments are permanently deleted. If you signed in with Apple, the app’s authorization in your Apple account is also revoked. Details are in the KVKK Data Protection Notice.

10.1 Türkiye

Your rights under Article 11 of Law No. 6698 and the application procedure are set out in detail in the KVKK Data Protection Notice. Your application is concluded within thirty days at the latest.

10.2 European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland

If you are in these countries, you have the right to access your personal data, to request its rectification, erasure or the restriction of its processing, to object to its processing and to receive your data in a portable format. Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority of the country you are in.

10.3 California residents

Under the CCPA and CPRA you may have the rights to know, to correct, to delete and to non-discrimination. We do not sell your personal information and do not share it for behavioral advertising purposes.

10.4 Other countries

If you use the service from outside Türkiye, your data may be transferred to and processed in the countries where our service providers are located, including Türkiye, the European Union and the United States of America.

Whichever country you are in, you can submit your requests by writing to the address on the contact page. So that your identity can be verified, you must send your application from the email address registered in your account.

The service is not directed at children. To open an account and share content, you must be at least 18 years old or have the consent of your parent or guardian. This rule applies even if the age limit set for consent to online services in your country is lower. When we learn that data belonging to a person under the age limit is being processed, the relevant record is deleted.

This policy may be updated in line with changes to the service or to legislation. In the case of significant changes, additional notice may be given within the app.

Versions of this text in other languages are provided for convenience only. In the event of any conflict between a translation and the Turkish text, the Turkish text prevails.