Privacy Policy

This section describes our apps. Most of it applies to all three; anything marked EFB, Drone app or Configurator applies to that app only. If you are looking for what happens when you order a receiver from our store, see section 08.

pilotADSB EFB also stores your aircraft, checklists, routes, weight-and-balance, documents, flight records and notes on your device. Unless you turn cloud backup off, a copy of your aircraft, checklists, weight-and-balance, notes, current flight plan and flight log, and the names and sizes of your documents, goes into your receiver's cloud backup (see Cloud Backup above). The documents themselves and your recorded flight tracks stay on your device only.

Data collected by the apps is used only to operate and improve them:

✓ Show your position, traffic and drones on the map
✓ Warn you about traffic, airspace, obstacles, terrain and weather — worked out on your device
✓ Fetch weather, lightning, TFRs and NOTAMs for the area you are in
✓ Validate your license and your subscription
✓ Detect cloned or counterfeit receiver hardware
✓ Activate or restore an EFB license on your receiver
✓ Send a Live Feed or shared recording to the people you choose
✓ Back up your app setup, so it comes back after a reinstall
✓ Show pilots where FIS-B weather coverage reaches
✓ Run Security Module events and alert the event's team
✓ Read a support report you chose to send, and reply to you

We use a limited set of trusted third-party services to operate the apps. We do not sell your data to any party. Services involved in store orders are listed separately in section 08.

Weather, radar, lightning, TFR, NOTAM, obstacle and winds-aloft data normally reaches the app through our own data server, which caches public government data so that many pilots asking the same question do not each hit the source. If our server cannot be reached, the app falls back to asking the original source directly, and in that case the request — including the area you asked about and your IP address — goes to that organization instead.

Location. Your exact position is used on your device: to draw the map, to work out traffic, airspace, terrain and weather warnings, and — in pilotADSB EFB — to record your flights. When a pilotADSB receiver is connected, that position comes from the receiver's own GPS at full precision. It stays on your device, including your flight records, which only you can export or share.

Your position leaves the device in two ways. Requests for weather, radar, lightning, TFRs and NOTAMs carry a rounded position — about six nautical miles, which is accurate enough to answer the question and no more. Requests for map tiles identify a square of the map, not a point. The only exception is a Live Feed or shared recording you choose to start (below), which sends your precise position. We do not keep a record of where you have been, apart from a recording you choose to share. The Security Module keeps the positions of drones and their pilots from an event's alerts until 7 days after the event ends (section 06). Places you save yourself, such as favorites, KML boundaries and custom map items, are included in your cloud backup. Our data server's ordinary web logs, which include the area requested and an IP address, are deleted within 30 days and are tied to no account or identity.

Live Feeds and shared recordings Drone app are off unless you use them, and they send your precise position. A Live Feed goes only to people who have its stream link (and passcode, if you set one) and stops when you stop it or it expires. A shared recording can be opened only with its link (and password, if you set one); it is deleted after 30 days, or sooner if you delete it in the app. Both carry everything your receiver picked up, which can include the operator and takeoff locations that nearby drones broadcast through Remote ID.

Diagnostic logs are written to your own device. We see one only if you send it to us with Send log to support, or share the file yourself. A log contains positions, altitudes and your receiver's identifier. Support reports can be read only by our support staff and are deleted within 12 months. If a report cannot be uploaded it waits on your device and is sent when a connection returns.

Cloud backup is on by default and runs weekly. You can change how often, or turn it off, in the app's backup settings (in Drone Pilot ADS-B: App Backup & Restore), and tap Back up now at any time. It uploads only when something has changed, and each backup replaces the last one, so there is one file per receiver. It is stored in Google Firebase under a code made from your receiver's hardware identifiers, with no name, email address or account attached, and only a phone or tablet connected to that receiver can find it. It is kept until you delete it: choose Delete cloud backup in the app's backup settings with your receiver connected, which also turns cloud backup off, or email us at support@pilotadsb.com. Delete My Data in Drone Pilot ADS-B (version 2.1.38 or later) deletes it too: it turns cloud backup off and deletes the backup of every receiver that phone or tablet has backed up to, for both apps. Your phone's own Google or iCloud backup is run by Google or Apple, not by us, and is not affected.

FIS-B coverage reports EFB are sent when your receiver picks up FIS-B weather broadcasts: the app reports which ground station it heard and how far away it was, so other pilots can see where weather coverage really reaches. It does not send your position, your route, the time, or anything that identifies you or your device. The distance is rounded to whole nautical miles, so it cannot be used to work out where you were. Each report is stored under a code made from the app's anonymous ID together with the station, so reports about different stations cannot be linked to each other. Reports are kept while they are used to build the coverage map. Reporting is on unless you turn it off: you can turn it off at any time with Share weather coverage on the More tab. Turning it off costs you nothing, and the weather towers still show on the map.

Identifiers. The installation ID, account ID and receiver details are kept for as long as the license or subscription they belong to is active, and are deleted on request.

Deleting your data. The Drone Pilot ADS-B app has a delete-my-data function built in: it removes your trial and license status, device registrations and session history from our servers, and your cloud backup, without contacting anyone. It removes your Security Module data too (section 06). pilotADSB EFB and the pilotADSB EFB Configurator do not have one yet: to have your EFB license record or a support report deleted, use our contact form and we will delete it within 30 days. Our Delete My Data page explains exactly what is removed and what is kept.

Retention of store order records is covered in section 08.

All data transmitted between the apps and our servers uses TLS encryption. Firebase data, including support reports, is stored with AES-256 encryption. Orders placed on pilotADSB.com are processed over an encrypted connection by Shopify, our store platform. We follow industry best practices to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure of your information.

The Security Module is a paid add-on to the Drone Pilot ADS-B app that warns an event's security team about drones. Its job is to reach people, so unlike the rest of the app it uses names, email addresses and phone numbers. The person who buys the license and runs events is the commander; the people the commander invites are team members. This section covers the Security Module only; the rest of this policy applies to it too.

On the commander's phone. Teams, team members (names and optional phone numbers), drone names and serial numbers with the person who flies each, the event settings and the KML perimeter file are stored on the phone. They are not part of our cloud backup (section 01). Your phone's own Google or iCloud backup may include them; that backup is yours, run by Google or Apple, and we cannot see it. On a team member's phone, only the event's name, times and their role are kept, and an alert's positions stay on the map for 10 minutes.

Invite texts are not sent by us. They open in the commander's own Messages app and go through the commander's own phone carrier. Drone alert texts, which people sign up for themselves, are a separate service described in section 07.

Who else receives it. Google Firebase stores everything in the table above, in the United States. Firebase Cloud Messaging and, for iPhones, Apple's Push Notification service deliver alerts, so they receive the notification token and each alert's text and positions. Mailgun sends sign-in links, invites, alert emails and new-device notices, so it receives the recipient's email address and the message. When someone taps a pilot's pin while online, the phone sends those coordinates to OpenStreetMap Nominatim to look up a street address. Tapping Open in Maps sends the coordinates to Google Maps. Our server logs record app and event IDs, not names or phone numbers (the tool we use to issue a license by hand records the email address it was issued to), and Google Cloud deletes them after 30 days.

If you sign up for pilotADSB Drone Alert Texts by texting JOIN to (866) 253-7815, we collect your mobile phone number and the team you joined. We use your number only to send the drone alerts you signed up for and to answer HELP and STOP replies. You can reply STOP at any time to stop receiving texts.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. Your number is shared only with the service providers that deliver our text messages, and only to send them: that is Twilio, listed in section 03.

Everything above describes our apps, which are built to collect as little as possible. Buying hardware from pilotADSB.com is different: to take an order and ship you a receiver we do need ordinary contact and delivery details. This section covers store purchases only.

We share order information only with the parties needed to complete the order: Shopify, which hosts this store and processes orders on our behalf; our payment provider, which handles the transaction; ShipStation, the shipping software we use to prepare your order and print its label; the shipping carrier delivering your package; and, if you buy a software license, Mailgun, the email service that sends you your license. Nobody else receives it.

Software licenses. App subscriptions are normally bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play, which handle that purchase themselves (see section 01). On pilotADSB.com we sell three licenses: the EFB Unlock Key, the one-year app license and the Security Module license. When you buy one, our licensing system uses your order's email address to send you your license. A one-year app license is issued for your receiver. An EFB Unlock Key comes as a code; when you enter it in the pilotADSB EFB Configurator, the license is tied to your receiver's hardware address. A Security Module license is tied to your order's email address, which is the address you sign in with (section 06).

Order records are kept for as long as we need them to honor warranties and returns and to meet tax and accounting requirements, which is typically several years. You can ask us to delete your customer account and associated personal details at any time through our contact form, and we will do so within 30 days, except where we are legally required to keep a record of the transaction itself.

Your receiver's record. When we test and prepare your receiver, we record its serial number, hardware address, firmware version and the licenses we issue for it, and link that record to your order. The same receiver details are added to your order in ShipStation and printed on your packing slip. We use the hardware address to issue the receiver's bundled app license and, if a unit comes back for warranty or return, to confirm it is the one we shipped. Because the apps check that license using the same hardware address, your order can be matched to the receiver your app connects to. We use this link only for licensing, warranty and returns.

This section covers pilotADSB.com only. None of it applies to our apps, which contain no analytics or advertising code (see section 01).

We advertise pilotADSB.com on Google and on Microsoft Bing. To learn which of our ads lead to sales, our website uses the services below. They set cookies or similar identifiers in your browser.

Like any website, these services also see your IP address and basic browser details, and they use what they receive under their own privacy policies. We do not send them your name, email address, phone number, shipping address or payment details. Google's tag may note that a browser visited our site; we do not use that to show you ads. Links to shared flight recordings and live feeds carry their access code after the # in the address; that part is never sent to them.

Our apps are not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with information, contact us through our contact form and we will delete it promptly.

Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you, whether it came from an app or from a store order. California residents have additional rights under CCPA, including the right to know what data we collect and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

To opt out of our website sharing data with Google and Microsoft for advertising, use Your Privacy Choices. To exercise any other privacy right, reach us through our contact form, or use the delete-my-data function built into the Drone Pilot ADS-B app. You may cancel your subscription at any time — on iPhone and iPad in Settings › Apple Account › Subscriptions, and on Android through the Google Play Store. Access continues until the end of the paid period.

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Changes will be reflected in the effective date above. Continued use of the apps after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Questions or data requests regarding this Privacy Policy:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 5 business days.

Apps covered by this policy. On Google Play, our apps are published under the developer name TimmyD Labs. This policy applies to each of them: