GPS4Golf is an Android golf GPS app that measures distances on the course and keeps a record of your shots and scores. It has no accounts, no advertising, and no analytics. Your location and your round records are processed and stored on your phone and are not sent to us. This policy covers the app only; the website has its own privacy policy.
What We Collect
Nothing that identifies you. The app does not send us your location, your rounds, or any information about you or your phone. The only data that leaves the phone is described under What the App Sends, and Where below.
What the App Stores on Your Phone
The following stays in the app's storage on your phone. No copy is sent anywhere unless you share it yourself:
- Round records — the positions you mark, shot distances, scores and putts for each hole.
- Location track — your position about every five seconds while a round is in progress, so distances and hole changes can be worked out and reviewed later.
- Swing events — times when the phone's motion sensors detected a swing during a round, used to fill in a missed tee shot.
- Diagnostic logs — GPS signal status and app memory use during a round, to find problems.
- Courses — course maps you downloaded or imported, so they work without a signal.
- Settings — distance units, the last course used and similar preferences.
Record files are kept in the app's folder on your phone and can be read from a computer connected over USB. Uninstalling the app or clearing its data removes all of it.
What the App Sends, and Where
- Course search — when you search for a course, the app sends the text you typed, and then the ID of the course you pick, to our course data server (golfclubxy.willconia.com). Your location is not sent. Like any web server, it receives your IP address with the request; we use it only to run the service and limit abuse, and we don't link it to you or share it.
- Map imagery — map and satellite images are downloaded directly from public imagery services: the U.S. Geological Survey (nationalmap.gov) everywhere, and, for courses in 22 states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia), that state's aerial imagery service. Some state services are run for the state by a university or hosted on Esri's ArcGIS Online. As with any download, these services see your IP address and which map area is requested, under their own privacy policies. Nothing else about you is sent.
- Sharing — only when you tap a share or export button, the selected records are handed to the app you choose, such as email or a file manager. What happens there is covered by that app's own policy.
Course data comes from OpenStreetMap; the app downloads it from our server, not from OpenStreetMap directly.
Permissions
- Location (precise) — to measure distances and mark shots. Location is used only while the app is open or while a round is in progress. During a round the app keeps measuring with the screen off, and Android shows a "Round tracking" notification the whole time. The app does not request background location ("Allow all the time").
- Notifications — to show the round tracking notification.
- Motion sensors — to detect swings during a round. Sensor data is processed on the phone and not kept, except for the swing events listed above.
- Internet — for course search and map imagery, above.
- Files — only files you pick yourself, such as a course file to import, are opened. On older Android versions, storage access is used to save exported records.
Accuracy
Distances come from your phone's GPS and from course maps that may be incomplete or out of date. Phone GPS is typically accurate to several meters. Use the app as a guide, not as a measuring instrument.
Children
The app is not directed at children and is intended for adults.
Changes
If this policy changes, the revised version appears at this address with a new date above.
Contact
Questions about this policy: contact [at] willconia [dot] com