Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 12, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Sentient Things, Inc. (“Sentient Things,” “we,” “us”) collects, uses, and shares information when you use Tide Alerts — the website at tidealerts.com, the Tide Alerts iOS and Android apps, and related Tide Alerts services (together, the “service,” “app and website”).

This policy is about the software service. Hardware purchases, leases, shipping, and store checkout happen on the Sentient Things Store and are covered by that store’s own notices — see Hardware and the Sentient Things Store.

Information we collect

Account information

You can browse maps, station pages, charts, tables, and calendars without creating an account.

If you create an account, we collect:

Email address and a password, if you register with email
Sign in with Apple or Google identifiers and the profile information those providers send us (typically email; sometimes a name or profile photo). Apple may give you a Hide My Email relay address instead of your personal email
Optional display name
Optional phone number, if you add one to your account (SMS alerts are not turned on today)

We use Firebase Authentication to create and sign you in. Account data is used to keep you signed in, sync favorites and alert subscriptions, send verification and account emails, and deliver email alerts you subscribe to.

Location (optional)

Tide Alerts can use your device location to center the map when you tap the locate control, and to sort the station list by distance when you choose Near me. Both are opt-in: we request location only after that tap, not on page load.

Location is optional. You can refuse the system prompt and still browse, search, and sort stations by region or name
Coordinates used for Near me stay on the device for the current session; we do not store a location history
On iOS and Android we request when-in-use location only. The iOS “Always” usage string exists because a location library includes that API; the app never asks for Always / background location
We do not sell location, use it for advertising, or build a movement history
On the website, an approximate area from your IP address may be used to decide whether to show a cookie-consent prompt, and to choose where the map first opens when you have no favorites, have not shared your location, and have not opened a station before. Only a rounded point (about 10 km) is used to pick a nearby station. We do not store that point, and the phone apps do not do this. That is not the same as map locate or Near me

Email alerts

If you subscribe to a public alert, we use your account email (and your chosen station / alert) to send those messages. Alerts today are email only. We do not send push notifications, and SMS is not enabled.

When our email provider reports whether an alert email was delivered or could not be delivered, we keep that result with the alert's history, so we can find addresses that bounce. We do not keep whether you opened an email or clicked a link in it.

We do not use alert subscriptions for advertising.

Push notification token (phone app)

When you are signed in to the phone app and your phone allows notifications from it, the app stores a push token for that phone with your account: the token Firebase Cloud Messaging gives the app, whether the phone is iOS or Android, the time it was saved, and the app's identifier for your phone. The token lets us address an alert to that phone; it is not your phone number or advertising identifier. We do not send push notifications yet.

The app stores the token only after notifications are allowed for it, and saves it again when Firebase replaces it. Signing out removes this phone's token. Deleting your account removes all of them. We also remove a token when Firebase tells us it no longer works.

Preferences and saved content

Depending on your settings, we may store:

Favorite stations
Units, theme, and similar display choices
Notification-channel preferences (email on or off)
Alert subscriptions and related alert-profile data

Signed-in preferences are stored with your account (Firebase). Guest favorites and similar choices may be stored locally on the device or in the browser — see Cookies and similar technologies.

Preferences in the phone app

The phone app does not show the cookie prompt. When you are not signed in, the app keeps your favorite stations (up to five), your units, and your privacy choices on your phone, in the app's own storage. They stay on your phone and are not sent to us. Deleting the app removes them. When you sign in, your favorites are added to your account. On iPad, the app also keeps the sidebar width you set, whether or not you are signed in. It stays on the iPad and is not sent to us.

Feedback you send

Send feedback in the app stores a report so we can fix the product and, when you ask, reply. It does not send you a confirmation email.

We store:

Whether you marked it as an issue or a suggestion
The message you type
The page path you were on, without the query string
The app version
Your browser's user-agent string, shortened to its first 180 characters (it names your browser, its version, and your operating system)
The width and height of your browser window in pixels
Whether the app was in light or dark mode
Your account id, if you are signed in
If you are not signed in, a keyed one-way hash of your IP address, used to limit how often reports can be sent
An email address only if you are not signed in and you type one so we can reply

A guest email is stored only on that report. It is not a mailing list. We do not store your IP address itself, only that hash. We do not attach screenshots.

Deleting your account deletes your signed-in reports. A guest email is removed when that report is removed. Reports are kept while they are useful for product improvement.

Device and usage information

When you use the app or website, our servers and the WebView typically receive:

IP address, date/time, and requested pages
Browser or WebView type and basic device information
Referring page, if a browser sent one
If the browser blocks something on our pages under our security policy, it may send us a short report: the page address and the blocked address (without the parts after ? or #), what kind of content it was, and the browser type. We keep these in server logs to find broken pages and blocked attacks

When a page in the app or website hits an error, it sends us an error report: the error message and where in the page it happened, the page address without its query string, your browser's user-agent string and the app version. Reports don't include your account id, and we don't log your IP address with them. They go to our server logs, which are kept for a limited time (see Data retention).

The native apps may also keep offline pages and recently loaded map tiles on the device so the app can show a fallback when the hosted service cannot be reached. That cache is for reliability, not a separate analytics product.

App updates

The phone app's update service sends a short report each time you open or leave the app, when it checks for or installs an update, and when the app crashes, runs low on memory or a page hits an error. Error reports include the error message, where in the page it happened and the page address. Each report sends the app and phone platform, the app and system versions, an install ID created by the app, and an identifier for this app on your phone (on Android the app-specific Android ID, on iOS the identifier for vendor). The reports go only to our servers. An app build that is not set up with our update service sends no reports and does not check for updates. We use them to deliver updates, to send test versions to our own staff phones, to count update installs and failures, and to find errors in the app. The identifier is not your phone's serial number or advertising identifier.

Analytics

If you allow analytics, we use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID configured for this Tide Alerts backend) so we can improve the app and website. That is the only purpose.

When analytics is on, we measure:

Which pages are opened (automatic page views)
Whether features are used — for example search, favorites, share, station list sort/filters, Near me, map pin selection, and starting an alert subscription
Screen-size bucket using the same layout breakpoints as the app (xs / sm / md / lg / xl / 2xl, Tailwind defaults). This is the CSS viewport width, grouped — not a custom record of your exact pixel dimensions
Whether the session is the website or the native app WebView

We do not send the text you type into search, your email, account IDs, precise location, or an advertising ID.

On the website, how analytics starts depends on where you are. In the EEA and California we ask first, and analytics stays off until you allow it. Elsewhere we do not ask: preferences and analytics start on, and you can turn them off at any time. You change these choices with Your Privacy Choices in the footer.

In the phone app, analytics is off for everyone. The app does not ask, and there is no setting that turns it on.

We do not use analytics for advertising, remarketing, marketing personalization, selling data, or building advertising profiles. Ad storage / ad personalization and Google Signals are turned off in our Google Analytics configuration.

What we do not collect

Tide Alerts does not:

Access the camera, photos, microphone, or contacts
Collect an advertising ID
Take payment cards or shipping addresses inside the Tide Alerts app or tidealerts.com account

Share and calendar features use your device’s share sheet or calendar app. We do not receive a copy of who you shared with, beyond what those system apps already do.

How we use information

We use the information above to:

Operate the app and website (map, stations, charts, tables, calendars)
Create and secure your account (including Sign in with Apple and Google)
Send email verification, password reset, and email alerts you asked for
Save favorites and preferences you choose
Center the map when you allow location
Sort the station list by distance when you choose Near me
Measure feature usage and screen-size layouts when you allow analytics, so we can improve the service
Detect abuse, fix outages, and keep the service secure
Respond when you contact us

We share information with service providers who run the service for us, including:

Google Firebase (Authentication and related account / preference storage)
Apple and Google when you use their sign-in
Google Analytics 4, if you allow analytics (product improvement only; not advertising)
Map and tile providers used to draw the map
Email delivery for account and alert messages

NOAA and similar public data sources are not a “share” of your personal information; the app displays public water-level data.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect Sentient Things, our users, or the public.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising in the Tide Alerts app or website.

Cookies and similar technologies

On the website, we use cookies and similar technologies. In the native apps, the same product runs in a WebView, so you will see cookies, local storage, and Firebase session data — not a separate “cookie-only” product, and not an advertising ID.

Categories:

Essential — sign-in, security, and making the service work. Always on
Preferences — favorites, units, and display choices (optional)
Analytics — Google Analytics 4 for product improvement only (optional; not advertising)

There is no advertising-cookie category.

Details and how to change your choices: Cookies Policy. The Your Privacy Choices link opens your settings; it is not a substitute for this Privacy Policy.

Your choices

Location — allow or deny in the system prompt, and later in iOS/Android Settings
Account — update email, name, and sign-in methods under Settings → Account
Delete account — Settings → Account → Delete account. You will be asked to confirm and may need to sign in again. Deletion removes your sign-in account and the records stored with your account id (favorites, preferences, alert settings and their history, and signed-in feedback), and your alerts stop. The few records we keep are listed under Data retention. It cannot be undone
Email alerts — unsubscribe from an alert or change notification preferences in the service
Delete an alert — deleting an alert you created also removes its history and your own subscription to it. People who subscribed to it stop getting its alerts
Cookies / analytics — on the website, Your Privacy Choices in the footer, or see the Cookies Policy
Sign in with Apple — manage or revoke access in your Apple ID settings; Hide My Email is controlled by Apple

If you have questions about information we hold, email us using the contact below. We will respond as required by applicable law. This paragraph describes our practices; it is not legal advice about GDPR, CCPA, or any other statute.

Data retention

Account data is kept while the account exists, then removed when you delete the account (see Your choices). A few records that alert delivery still needs, such as the record that stops a message being sent twice, are removed within about four hours
Kept after you delete your account:
- records of consent to text-message alerts and of opting out, if you ever gave that consent. We keep them as evidence of the consent
- if you worked on Tide Alerts as staff or as a station operator, your account id on changes you made to station information or to other people's access (for example, who posted a station notice). We keep it as an audit trail of those changes
An alert you delete is removed with its history. A few records that alert delivery still needs are removed within about four hours
Email alerts stop when you unsubscribe or delete the account
Server logs are kept for a limited time for security and operations
Analytics is retained according to our Google Analytics settings
On-device cache (including offline pages) stays on the device until the app or OS clears it
Signed-in feedback is removed with the other account records when you delete the account
Feedback is kept while it is useful. A guest email lives only on that report

Children

Tide Alerts is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Hardware and the Sentient Things Store

Tide gauges and related hardware are sold or leased at store.sentientthings.com. Checkout, payment cards, billing and shipping addresses, and store analytics are handled by that store (currently Shopify) under its privacy notice:

store.sentientthings.com/policies/privacy-policy

The Tide Alerts app and website do not collect payment cards for hardware. If you buy or lease equipment, use the store policy for order information, and this policy for your Tide Alerts account and app/website use.

Hardware service terms (lease, equipment return, subscription fees, and the customer data license) are on the store, not in this privacy page:

Tide Alerts Terms and Conditions of Service (store)

Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy when our practices or the service change. The “Last updated” date at the top will change. Continued use of the app or website after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Sentient Things, Inc.
Re: Privacy
172 Daniels Island Road
Mashpee, MA 02649
United States

Email: sales@sentientthings.com

Account and alert messages may show a From name of support@sentientthings.com. For privacy questions, use sales@sentientthings.com.

Documentation: docs.tidealerts.com