Privacy Policy
Effective July 26, 2026
LakeLore is a field-guide app for fish populations in publicly surveyed lakes. This policy explains what information LakeLore Co. (“LakeLore”, “we”, “our”) may collect when you use the LakeLore mobile app or visit lakeloreapp.com (the “Service”), how we use it, and what we do not do with it.
The short version
You can browse every lake, every survey, and every stocking record without an account. We don’t sell your data, we don’t share it with advertisers, and we don’t use it to build a profile of you. We collect the minimum required to keep the Service running and to make it better.
What we may collect
The categories below describe what LakeLore may collect. Items marked Currently collected are in active use today. Items marked May be collected describe categories we have reserved the right to collect, and that we may begin collecting in the future as we add features such as product analytics. We will keep this policy current as those features ship.
When the app or website talks to our API, our server temporarily records the requesting IP address, the path of the request, the timestamp, and the HTTP response code. We use this to rate-limit abuse and to debug outages. Logs are retained for up to 30 days and are not joined to any other data.
On first launch the app generates a random identifier (a UUID) and stores it on the device. Every API request and every subscription transaction is tagged with this identifier so the server can answer “is this device’s user currently subscribed?” without an account or password. The identifier is not linked to your name, email, or any personal information. Reinstalling the app generates a new identifier — you can use the in-app “Restore Purchases” button to reattach an existing subscription.
If you subscribe to LakeLore All-States, we collect the transaction identifier, the product purchased, the purchase and renewal dates, and the current subscription status — but never your payment method, card number, or billing address (Apple and Google handle billing; we never see those). We use this data to grant you access to the paid tier and to handle refunds, cancellations, and renewals correctly.
If you enter your email address in the update-signup form on lakeloreapp.com, we store it, along with where on the site you signed up, to send you occasional LakeLore updates. Signing up is entirely optional — the app and website work fully without it — and we never require an email for any feature. We don’t sell or share the list. To be removed, use the unsubscribe link in any email or write to support@lakeloreapp.com.
lakeloreapp.com uses Vercel Web Analytics to count page views and visits in aggregate. It does not use cookies and does not track you across sites or sessions.
When the app encounters an error or crashes, we collect a stack trace, device and operating-system details, the app version, and the actions immediately preceding the crash (via Sentry, which also generates its own random per-install identifier). We use this to fix bugs. Crash reports are keyed to the anonymous identifier described above, never to your identity, and network addresses in the actions trail are stripped of their query details before leaving your device.
If you use the “Report data issue” form on a lake page, we collect the message you type plus the lake, species, and app version it was about, keyed to the anonymous identifier. We use it to fix data problems. Sending feedback is entirely optional; to have a submission deleted, email us the approximate date and lake and we will remove it.
Anonymous information about how the app is used — for example, which screens are opened, how long the app is in the foreground, which species or states are searched, the app version, and the operating system version. We use this in aggregate to understand which features matter and what is broken.
Non-identifying statistics such as “the app has X monthly active users” or “the most-searched species this season was walleye”. We may publish these statistics. They cannot be used to identify any individual.
What we do not collect
LakeLore does not collect, and the app does not request permission to access:
- Your name, phone number, or postal address — and your email address only if you volunteer it via the optional update-signup form on our website
- Your contacts, photos, microphone, or camera
- Your precise or coarse location
- Your advertising identifier (Apple IDFA or Google AAID)
- Your payment method, card number, or billing address — Apple and Google handle billing; we receive only a transaction identifier and subscription status
- Any data that would let us identify you personally
How we use what we collect
- To run the Service — load filters, fetch results, render lake pages.
- To grant subscription access — checking entitlement before serving paid-tier states.
- To prevent abuse — rate-limiting and blocking automated scrapers.
- To diagnose problems — finding and fixing bugs and crashes.
- To improve the Service — understanding which features are used and which aren’t.
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, behavioral targeting, or third-party marketing.
Service providers
To deliver the Service we rely on a small number of infrastructure providers. Each processes data only as needed to provide their service, under contractual privacy commitments:
- Fly.io — hosts the LakeLore API in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Vercel — hosts lakeloreapp.com.
- Apple App Store and Google Play — distribute the LakeLore app, process subscription billing, and may collect their own diagnostics under their respective privacy policies. We never receive your payment method or billing address from them.
- RevenueCat— the subscription infrastructure provider that tells our server whether your device’s anonymous user identifier has an active LakeLore All-States subscription. RevenueCat receives the transaction identifier and subscription state from Apple/Google, never the payment method.
- Sentry — processes the diagnostic and crash reports described above on our behalf.
- Vercel Web Analytics — processes the cookie-less, aggregate website page-view analytics described above.
- Expo (EAS)— delivers app updates; devices fetch update bundles from Expo’s servers, which see the requesting IP address and app version as part of serving them.
- Backblaze — stores encrypted operational backups of our lake-data artifacts and server records (including the update-signup email list) in the United States.
- Google Workspace — hosts our support@lakeloreapp.com mailbox, so email you send us is processed by Google on our behalf.
- Other analytics or monitoring providers — we may engage comparable services to process the data described above on our behalf, and will keep this list current.
How long we keep data
Server access logs are retained for up to 30 days. Anonymous analytics and crash reports, when collected, are retained as long as they remain useful for product improvement — typically up to 24 months. In-app feedback submissions are retained while the underlying data issue is being tracked, and deleted on request. Aggregated, non-identifying statistics may be retained indefinitely.
Your choices
Because LakeLore does not require an account, there is generally no individual data tied to you that we can retrieve or delete — the two exceptions are an email address you volunteered via the update-signup form and any in-app feedback submissions you sent, both of which we will delete on request. You can stop sending data at any time by uninstalling the app.
Residents of California, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions with applicable privacy laws may have additional rights — such as access, correction, deletion, portability, and objection. To exercise any such right, or if you believe we hold data about you, contact us at support@lakeloreapp.com. We will respond within 30 days.
Children’s privacy
LakeLore is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Source data
The fish-population, survey, and stocking data displayed in the app is sourced from public records published by state and provincial fish and wildlife agencies across the United States and Canada (for example MN DNR, TX Parks & Wildlife, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources). That data is about lakes and fish, not about you, and is not affected by this policy.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Service evolves. We will revise the effective date above and, for material changes, post an in-app notice the next time you open LakeLore.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or privacy requests: support@lakeloreapp.com.