Privacy Policy

Effective 13 September 2026, updated 2 October 2026. This policy covers the Vane app for iPhone and Apple Watch, including beta versions distributed through TestFlight.

What Vane reads, and where it goes

Vane reads sensors on your device in order to show its instruments. All of it is processed on the device and stored on the device.

iCloud sync

With a Vane Pro plan, Settings, iCloud, Sync with iCloud keeps a copy of your trips, marks, survey maps and their photographs, and your units and mileage log settings, in the private database of your own iCloud account, so another iPhone or iPad signed in to it has them too. That database belongs to your Apple Account: Apple stores it under its own privacy policy, it counts against your iCloud storage, and we have no way to read it. Whatever is already in your iCloud comes back to a device signed in to it with or without Pro. Turning the switch off stops syncing and leaves the library on the device. To remove the copy from iCloud, use Settings, your name, iCloud, Manage Storage, Vane, on the iPhone.

Background location

Vane uses location in the background only while a trip is recording, or, if you turn on automatic drive recording, to notice a drive starting and ending while the app is closed. Automatic recording is optional, off until you enable it, and asks for the Always location permission when you do. The data it produces is stored on your device like everything else. You can change the permission at any time in Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services.

Raw sensor recordings

Settings, Signal loss engine, Keep raw sensor data saves the unprocessed sensor stream of each recorded trip, including its satellite positions, so the engine can be tested against it. It is off by default. The files stay on your device, are never uploaded, can be deleted from the same screen, and, like the rest of the app's data, may be included in your device backups. From version 1.1 the option is offered only in test builds, recordings are deleted automatically after 14 days, and any recordings an App Store install kept from version 1.0 are deleted.

Diagnostic reports

To find and fix problems, Vane sends anonymous diagnostic reports to our own server: crash and freeze reports, a daily performance summary, and technical measurements of how well the app is working, such as whether a recording stopped early. Each report carries a random identifier that resets if you reinstall, the app and iOS version, and the device model. It never includes your name, account, position, trips or anything you recorded, and we keep only the country your IP address resolved to, not the address.

Once a day, Vane also sends an anonymous usage summary: how many times each screen and feature was used that day, the state of its settings and permissions (for example, the units chosen, or whether location access is allowed), and the steps taken on the upgrade screen (shown, a plan chosen, purchase tapped). It carries the same random identifier and device details as a diagnostic report. It never includes your position, trips, places, marks or anything you type. It is not linked to your identity and is not used for tracking.

Reports and usage summaries are used only to fix and improve Vane. They are never sold, never used for advertising or tracking, and never shared except with our hosting provider, Vercel, which stores them for us under terms that protect them at least as well as this policy. We delete reports once they have served their purpose. You can turn them off at any time in Vane's Settings, Privacy, which also discards any report or summary not yet sent.

Terrain elevation

While the altitude screen is open and the device is online, Vane looks up the height of the ground at your position so you can compare it with the barometer. It does this by downloading a small part of the public Copernicus elevation model directly from Amazon Web Services, where the Copernicus programme publishes it. That request covers an area of roughly a quarter of a degree around you, and, like any download, it reveals your device's IP address to Amazon Web Services. It does not pass through us and we receive nothing from it. The answer is kept on your device, so the same place is not asked for twice. If you choose to keep terrain for offline use, Vane downloads whole one-degree areas the same way.

Maps and place names

Online maps, place search and the names of places shown for trips and marks come from Apple Maps (MapKit), which is part of iOS. When these are used, iOS contacts Apple. That exchange is between your device and Apple, governed by Apple's Privacy Policy, and we receive nothing from it. Vane's built-in offline map is stored inside the app and needs no network.

Purchases

Vane Pro is sold through Apple's In-App Purchase. Apple processes the transaction; we never see and never receive your payment details, card number or billing address. What we receive from Apple is aggregate sales reporting that does not identify individual customers. Refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

TestFlight beta

If you test Vane through TestFlight, Apple operates the beta programme. Feedback and screenshots you choose to send through TestFlight reach us together with the information Apple attaches to them, as described in Apple's TestFlight terms, which may include your name or email address and details of your device. We use that only to answer your feedback and fix what you report. Vane itself collects nothing more in a beta build than in the App Store version.

Files you import and export

Vane can import and export GPX files, share trips as pictures, and share its own map files. These happen only when you start them, and the files go only where you send them. Vane does not upload them anywhere.

Between your own devices

If you use the Apple Watch app, Vane passes your units, your Vane Pro status and the marks you can walk to between your iPhone and your watch. When you record a workout on the watch, the watch also sends its route and times to Vane on your own iPhone, where it is kept as a trip like one recorded on the phone. All of this uses Apple's device-to-device connection. That traffic stays between your two devices, does not pass through us, and is never sent to a server.

Apple Health on Apple Watch

If you record a workout on Apple Watch (a walk, hike, run or ride), Vane asks for permission to save workouts, workout routes, distance, heart rate and active energy to the Health app, and saves the workout there with its route when you end it. Vane does not read anything from Health. Workout data is written only to Health on your devices, is never sent to us or to anyone else, and is never used for advertising, marketing or tracking. The route and times also go to Vane on your iPhone, as described above; heart rate and energy do not. You can change the permission at any time in the Health app or in Settings, Health. While a workout records, the watch's gauges also keep reading with the screen off.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your data lives on your device for as long as you keep it there. You can delete trips, marks and raw recordings inside the app, and deleting the app removes everything it stored. Because we hold no copy, there is nothing for you to request from us and nothing for us to delete on your behalf. Diagnostic reports are kept only as long as they are useful for fixing the problem they describe, and are then deleted, and usage summaries are kept only as long as they help us decide what to improve. Since neither carries an identity, we cannot tie one to you or to a request.

This website

vanedash.com has no account, no advertising and no cookies, and it does not sell or share visitor data. Like any website, our host, Vercel, keeps standard server logs of page requests (such as the address requested, the time and the IP address) to deliver and protect the site.

The site does not currently use any analytics or tracking scripts. If we add website analytics in future, this section will say which service and what it collects before it is switched on.

The online speedometer, compass and coordinate converter run entirely in your browser. When you allow location or motion access, your position and heading are used on your device only and are never sent to us.

Children

Vane is a general-purpose instrument app. It is not directed at children, and it collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Your rights

Privacy laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA give you rights to access, correct, export and delete personal data a company holds about you. We hold none that identifies you: your data is on your device, under your control, and the app lets you view, export and delete it yourself. Diagnostic reports and usage summaries are pseudonymous at most, and the switch in Settings is your objection to them.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the effective date above changes with it, and material changes will be noted in the app's release notes. We will not retroactively reduce the protections described here.

Contact

Questions about this policy: support@vanedash.com