Privacy policy

Effective October 15, 2026

Lock Status is made by Andrew J. Thom ("the developer"). It doesn't collect personal information: there are no accounts, no ads, no tracking, and no third-party analytics. Nothing is sold or shared for advertising. This policy explains the little data the app does handle, and why.

What stays on your devices

Your favorite locks, trips, vessel details, settings and location stay on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

If you allow location access, the app uses your location on the device to find the closest locks and to estimate how far away the next lock on your trip is and when you'll arrive. Your location is never sent to the developer, except while you share a live trip link.

Lock data from the Corps of Engineers

Delays, queues, stoppages and other lock information come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' public Lock Performance Monitoring System.

The Lock Status server keeps a copy of the Corps' feeds that cover every lock (delays, stoppages and lock conditions), and the app loads those from it, so every device doesn't have to ask the Corps. These requests don't identify you, and the server doesn't record who made them.

Information about a single lock, such as its queue, recent traffic and cargo, is requested from the Corps directly, as are all feeds when the server can't be reached. Like any website, the Corps receives your device's IP address with each request, and its own privacy policies apply.

Alerts and Live Activities

If you turn on alerts, or keep a lock on your Lock Screen as a Live Activity, the app registers with the Lock Status server so it can notify you while the app isn't open. Only then does the server receive:

• a random identifier the app creates, which isn't linked to you, your Apple ID or your device's hardware
• the push notification tokens Apple provides for the app and for each Live Activity
• your alert settings and the locks you watch: your favorites, the next few locks on your trip, and, when notice alerts are on, the other locks left on your trip
• the river miles of your trip's locks, for notice alerts
• your language, region format and time zone, so alerts are written in your language and show your local times
• the app's version, your device type (iPhone or Mac), and whether it's a test or App Store build
• for a Live Activity, which lock it's for, and the distance and arrival time your device estimated, when that distance was estimated, how many locks are left on your trip, and a random ID for the trip, so updates keep showing them

The server also records which stoppages and notices it has already told you about, so a change is announced once. Notice alerts are at most one an hour.

This is used only to send you alerts and Live Activity updates. It's deleted when you turn off all alerts and stop tracking locks, and a Live Activity's details are deleted when it ends, or after 8 hours. If an installation isn't used for 90 days, everything about it is deleted automatically.

The server runs on Cloudflare, which handles the connection to it, including your IP address, to deliver requests. The server doesn't store IP addresses. Notifications are delivered by Apple Push Notification service.

Live trip links

If you turn on a live trip link, the app sends that trip to the Lock Status server so someone else can follow it in a browser. While the link is on, the server receives:

• the trip's name and its stops
• how many locks you have passed
• your position, about every 15 minutes and each time you pass a lock

To start a link, the app also sends your language and time zone, so times on the page match yours, and your signed Premium purchase, so the server can check it. To limit how many links one purchase starts, the server counts them per day under a scrambled form of the purchase ID, and deletes each day's count after 31 days. That count has no link ID and no time in it.

Anyone with the link can see this. The link isn't tied to your device, your purchase, or your usage counts.

Tap Stop Sharing in the app and the link is deleted right away. It is also deleted 24 hours after the trip ends, 48 hours after the last update, or 30 days after it was created, whichever comes first.

Usage and crash data

To decide what to improve, Lock Status sends the Lock Status server a short anonymous report once a day. This happens unless you turn off Share usage and crash data in Settings › Privacy. The report contains:

• how many times you used each feature that day, such as opening a lock or river, searching, viewing the map, calling a lock, planning a trip or opening a bridge, and which rivers and canals you opened. These are counts, without times.
• your boat's type (pleasure craft or commercial tow), a length range such as "40 to 49 feet", a barge-count range for tows, and whether you've entered a draft and air draft (not the values)
• the app's version, your device type (iPhone, iPad or Mac), its system version, the app's language, whether you have Premium, and whether you use alerts, Live Activities and widgets
• crash and performance reports from your device's MetricKit: where in the app a crash or hang happened, and how quickly the app launches

Reports are labeled with a random identifier the app creates. It isn't linked to you, your device, your alerts registration or your subscription, and it's replaced every month, so reports from different months can't be connected. Reports never include your location, your boat's name or measurements, or anything you type. The server doesn't store IP addresses. The developer uses reports only as totals, such as how many boats used a feature, and never to look at any one person. Usage reports are deleted after about 13 months. Crash reports are deleted after 90 days. Totals with no identifier are kept.

Turning the setting off stops reports right away and deletes any that haven't been sent.

Lock Status Premium

If you subscribe to Lock Status Premium, you pay Apple, and the developer never sees your name, Apple Account or payment details. So that the server only sends alerts and Live Activity updates to subscribers, the app sends it the subscription record Apple signed. The server checks Apple's signature and keeps only the subscription's transaction numbers and when it expires, alongside the random identifier described above. Apple tells the server when a subscription starts, renews, lapses or is refunded, identified only by those numbers. They're deleted with the rest of your registration.

So the developer can count subscribers, the server also keeps a record of each of these events from Apple: the plan, the dates, whether it was the free trial, and the transaction numbers. It has no price, country, name or Apple Account, and it's deleted after 400 days.

Maps

Maps in the app are provided by Apple Maps, under Apple's privacy policy.

Diagnostics from Apple

If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device's settings, Apple provides the developer with anonymous usage and crash information. It's used only to fix problems and plan new features. You can turn this off in Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements. This is separate from the in-app setting above.

Children

Lock Status isn't directed at children under 13 and doesn't knowingly collect information from them.

Your choices

You can turn off usage and crash data in Settings › Privacy. You can use Lock Status without alerts, Live Activities or location access. Turning off alerts and stopping all Live Activities removes your registration from the server. Deleting the app does too, after 90 days. Because nothing on the server identifies you, the developer can't look up your data by name or email. If you have a question or request, email lockstatus@andrewthom.com.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. Significant changes will also be shown in the app.