Overview
DiveCast is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information when you use our dynamic dive planning application.
The short version: DiveCast does not collect any personal information unless you choose to sign in with Google or Apple. Even then, we only store the minimum information necessary to enable cloud synchronization of your dive plans.
Account Verification for Advanced Planning
DiveCast is free to download and use without an account. Without signing in, you can plan real dives with full decompression and gas calculations up to 30 meters.
Planning beyond 30 meters — and other advanced technical-diving features — requires signing in and being reviewed as a verified technical diver. This is a safety measure, not a paywall: DiveCast is free either way, and reserves its deeper technical-planning capabilities for divers who have been reviewed, consistent with the training and certification those dives require in practice. Sign-in also unlocks optional cloud sync of your dive plans across devices, described below.
Information We Collect
Local Usage (No Sign-In)
When you use DiveCast without signing in:
- We collect no personal information
- All dive plans and data remain stored locally on your device
- Crash and diagnostic reports (via Firebase Crashlytics) are sent automatically to help us fix bugs and improve app stability — these reports are not linked to your identity and do not include your dive plan data
Cloud Sync (With Sign-In)
When you choose to sign in using Google or Apple authentication (SSO):
- Email address — used as your unique identifier
- Name — used for display purposes in the app
- Authentication tokens — securely stored to maintain your session
- Usage logs — automatically collected for debugging and stability improvements
How We Use Your Information
If you choose to sign in, we use your information to:
- Authenticate your identity
- Enable cloud synchronization of your dive plans across devices
- Display your name in the application interface
- Associate your dive plans with your account for retrieval
- Collect usage logs for debugging and improving application stability (SSO users only)
We do not:
- Share your information with third parties (with one narrow exception — see "Optional AI-Powered Analysis" below)
- Use your data for marketing purposes
- Sell or rent your personal information
Usage Logging for SSO Users
When you sign in with Google or Apple authentication, we automatically collect usage logs to help us improve DiveCast's stability and performance:
- What we collect: application logs, error reports, feature usage patterns, and debugging information
- Why we collect it: to identify and fix bugs, improve performance, and enhance application stability
- How it's used: solely for technical improvements and debugging purposes
- Who has access: only the DiveCast development team for technical support and improvement purposes
Important: this usage logging only applies to users who sign in with SSO. Users who use DiveCast without signing in have no usage data collected.
Data Storage and Security
Local data: all dive plans created without signing in are stored locally on your device. We have no access to this data.
Cloud data: if you use cloud sync, your dive plans are stored securely in Firebase (Google Cloud Platform) with industry-standard encryption. Only you can access your dive plans through your authenticated account.
Usage logs: for SSO users, usage logs are securely stored in our cloud infrastructure and are retained for debugging and stability improvement purposes.
Authentication: we use OAuth 2.0 for secure authentication through Google and Apple. We never see or store your passwords.
Optional AI-Powered Analysis
DiveCast includes an optional feature that compares your planned and actual dive profiles using OpenAI's API. This feature is off by default and only activates if you enter your own OpenAI API key in Preferences.
- If enabled, your dive profile data is sent directly from your device to OpenAI — it does not pass through or get stored on DiveCast's servers
- Your OpenAI API key is stored locally on your device only and is never included in cloud sync
- This feature works independently of signing in — it is available whether or not you have a DiveCast account
Your Rights and Choices
- Use without an account: you can use DiveCast fully without creating an account or sharing any personal information
- Data deletion (right to erasure): you can delete your account through the app settings, which immediately and completely erases your personal data — your account record, dive plans and gas configurations, portal access-request history and access grant, technical usage and diagnostic logs, and any files stored for your account. If you signed in with Apple, your Sign in with Apple token is also revoked. The only thing retained is a minimal, non-identifying deletion record (an internal reference and a timestamp, no personal information) kept for accountability. See how to delete your account for step-by-step instructions
- Data export: you can export all your dive plans in standard formats
- Sign out: you can sign out at any time, which removes all authentication data from your device
Website Access Portal
When you request access to download DiveCast through our website portal:
- We collect your name and email address for access approval
- We use Google or Apple Sign-In for secure authentication to the portal
- We may send you email notifications about new releases if you have portal access
- Your access request information is stored securely in Firebase
Children's Privacy
DiveCast is designed for certified divers and is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 years of age.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this policy.