TacMap

TacticalMaps — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 July 2026
Effective: at first installation of the app

This Privacy Policy describes how the TacticalMaps mobile application (“TacticalMaps”, “the App”, “we”, “our”, “us”) handles your information. It covers both the iOS and Android editions, published by Christian Brooker.

We believe a navigation tool you take into the field should not phone home, build a profile of you, or feed an ad network. TacticalMaps does not collect, store on our servers, sell, share, or rent your personal data — at all. Everything you make stays on your device. Below we tell you exactly what that means in practice.

1. Information we do NOT collect

We want to be explicit, because the App Store “Nutrition Label” format makes this confusing for users. TacticalMaps does not:

Require you to create an account, log in, or supply an email
Use any third-party analytics SDK (no Google Analytics, no Firebase Analytics, no Mixpanel, no Amplitude, no Segment)
Use any advertising SDK or identifier (no IDFA, no AdMob, no Meta SDK)
Use any crash-reporting SDK that uploads telemetry (no Sentry, no Crashlytics; we rely only on Apple’s and Google’s built-in OS crash reporting, which is governed by their own privacy policies and which you can disable in your device settings)
Collect, store, or transmit your historical location, route, or movement (the optional Unit Sync location sharing described in §3b is real-time, ephemeral, end-to-end encrypted, and user-initiated — see that section)
Track which buttons you tap, how long you use the app, or anything else about your behaviour
Read your contacts, photos (other than via the system Files / Share pickers you explicitly invoke), microphone, camera, calendar, motion sensors, Bluetooth, or any other sensor not listed below

2. Information stored only on your device

Data	Why	Where it lives
Your live GPS position (when you grant Location permission)	To show your location on the map, compute the live MGRS readout, anchor the camera, and time-stamp drawings/waypoints	RAM only — never written to disk by us
Waypoints you create	Persist between launches	`Application Support/waypoints.json` inside the App’s sandbox
Drawings you create (lines, polygons, points) and their style	Persist between launches	`Application Support/drawings.json` inside the App’s sandbox
PDF maps you import	Render the map, parse its GeoPDF metadata, apply fiduciary calibration	`Documents/<filename>.pdf` inside the App’s sandbox (exposed to the Files app on iOS so you can manage them)
Fiduciary calibration points	Re-align imported PDFs to the satellite basemap	RAM only in v1.0; future versions may persist them per PDF
Layer visibility toggles, last camera position	UX polish so the app reopens where you left it	iOS `UserDefaults` (sandboxed)

Nothing in this table is uploaded anywhere by us. It stays on the device until you delete the app (which removes it permanently, per Apple/Google behaviour), or until you export it yourself via the Share Sheet.

3. Network requests we DO make

The App makes outbound HTTPS requests only in the following narrow cases:

When	To	What we send	Why
Every time the map camera settles on a new location (debounced to once every 400ms)	`api.open-meteo.com`	The latitude/longitude of the map centre, rounded to 4 decimal places (≈11 m)	To fetch terrain elevation for the crosshair readout
Every time you type in the Search field (debounced to 350ms after you stop typing)	Apple’s MapKit Local Search service	Your search query (e.g. “coffee”, “Holsworthy”) and your current camera region (to bias results)	To return matching place names and addresses
Every time MapKit needs satellite imagery for a tile you are viewing	Apple’s Maps service	The tile coordinate	To render the satellite basemap

We do not include any account identifier, device identifier, advertising ID, or your historical location with these requests. The request is no more identifying than typing the same query into the iOS or Android Maps app would be.

Apple’s privacy policy for MapKit: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/maps/terms-en.html

Open-Meteo’s privacy policy: https://open-meteo.com/en/privacy

Google’s privacy policy (Android edition uses Google Maps): https://policies.google.com/privacy

If you choose to use the Unit Sync feature, the App opens a WebSocket connection to our relay server at tacmap-sync.christianbrooker.workers.dev (hosted on Cloudflare Workers). This is entirely opt-in — the feature is off by default and no connection is made unless you enter a join code.

What is transmitted

Data	Encrypted?	Stored on server?
Waypoints, drawings, and layers you create while syncing	Yes — AES-256-GCM, end-to-end encrypted with a key derived from the join code. The relay never holds the key and cannot decrypt the content.	Ciphertext only, per-room, deleted when all devices disconnect or after 7 days of inactivity
Your GPS position, callsign, unit type, heading, speed (only if you enable “Share my location”)	Yes — same AES-256-GCM encryption. The relay sees only opaque ciphertext.	Not stored — relayed in-memory to connected peers and discarded
A random device identifier (UUID, not linked to your Apple/Google account)	No (used for message routing)	In-memory only while the socket is open

What is NOT transmitted

Your Apple ID, Google account, email, phone number, or any real-world identity — there are no accounts
Your location history — presence is a 5-second heartbeat, not a track; the relay does not log or store it
Any data from other apps on your device

End-to-end encryption

The relay is E2E-blind by design. The encryption key is derived on-device from the unit join code via PBKDF2 (210,000 iterations) and never leaves the device. The relay cannot read your waypoints, drawings, location, callsign, or unit composition — it only routes opaque ciphertext between devices that share the same join code.

How to disable

You can stop sharing at any time:

Location sharing: toggle “Share my location” off in the Unit Sync dialog. Your position is no longer broadcast; existing peers are notified you have left.
All sync: tap “Leave room” to disconnect entirely. No further data is sent or received.
Never used: if you never enter a join code, no sync connection is ever made and none of the above applies.

4. Permissions we request

iOS

Location — While Using the App (NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription). Required to display your live position, the live MGRS readout, and (optionally) to broadcast your position to your unit via Unit Sync. You can decline; the App still works but the “Your Location” mode shows nothing and live presence sharing is unavailable.
Location — Always (NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription) is declared so future versions can offer optional background track logging. v1.0 does not use background location. Even if you grant Always permission today, the App will not record or transmit your location in the background.
Files / Documents picker. Used only when you import a PDF map.
Share Sheet. Used when you export GeoJSON or share data.

Android

ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION / ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION. Same reasons as iOS Location — live position display, MGRS readout, and optional Unit Sync presence sharing.
INTERNET. To make the network requests listed in §3 and §3b above.

You can revoke any permission at any time via your device’s Settings.

5. Data exports you initiate

When you tap Export GeoJSON or Export All Data, the App serialises your waypoints and drawings into a .geojson file in the App’s temporary directory and presents it to the iOS / Android Share Sheet. We do not upload that file. It goes only to whichever destination you choose (Files, Mail, AirDrop, Messages, etc.). The receiving app is governed by its own privacy policy.

6. Children

TacticalMaps is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect any information from them. If you believe a child has used the App in a way that requires deletion of data, please contact us at the address below — although note that we hold no server-side data to delete.

Because we do not collect, process, or store any personal data on our servers, the standard data-subject rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction, objection) have no data to attach to. Everything you create lives on your device under your direct control and can be removed by deleting the App.

If you believe this is incorrect for your jurisdiction, contact us and we will respond within 30 days.

8. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will:

Update the Last updated date at the top
Bump the App’s version number
Publish the new policy at the same public URL the App links to

We will not silently broaden data collection.

9. Contact

For any privacy question, complaint, or request:

Email: christianbrooker@gmail.com
GitHub issues: https://github.com/JediBrooker/TacticalMaps/issues

10. Open source acknowledgement

TacticalMaps is open source under the MIT License (see LICENSE in the repository). The full source is available at https://github.com/JediBrooker/TacticalMaps. You can audit every network call, every persisted file, and every permission for yourself.

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