Local Break LLC ("Local Break," "we," "us," or "our") provides the Local Break iPhone application, the localbreak.app website, and related support services (together, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we handle, why we use it, when it is shared, and the choices available to you.
The Service is offered in the United States, with forecast coverage currently focused on New Jersey. U.S. availability does not mean that every service provider processes information only in the United States. Providers may process information in other countries under their service arrangements and applicable safeguards.
1. Information we collect
Account and authentication information
When you create an account, we collect your email address, display name, account identifier, verification status, and authentication records. If you add a profile photo, we store a private image and show it to active members of your shared-break groups so they can recognize you. Authentication is provided through Supabase. Our application servers do not store readable copies of your password.
Where the app asks you to accept the Terms or provide a consent, we record the notice version, your response, and when it was recorded. An age or parental-permission declaration is a self-declaration, not identity or parental verification.
Saved breaks and location information
We store the name, exact map coordinates, source break, and related forecast configuration for a break you save. If you choose Use My Location, the app requests foreground location access to center the break picker near you. Local Break does not use that feature to continuously or secretly track your movement, and you can place a pin manually instead.
We transmit and store the coordinates you confirm when you save a break. Those coordinates may be precise and linked to your account. We use them to provide forecasts, choose relevant environmental sources, and support the sharing choices described below. We do not use location information for advertising.
Your break library can contain up to five focused breaks and ten retained breaks. Retained breaks preserve their configuration and learned forecast while remaining out of quick switching, reporting, and alerts until you focus them again.
Surf profile, equipment, Scout, and Journal information
Depending on the features you use, we collect:
- surf-comfort and condition preferences;
- board names, dimensions, type, setup, and notes;
- Scout observations such as time, wave-size band, surface, consistency, shape, crowd, optional notes, associated forecast evidence, and any photo or short video with audio that you choose to share with your break group; and
- Surf Journal information such as session times, conditions, quality, crowd, board, wave count, private notes, and a compact forecast snapshot or forecast context.
Your Journal and Scout notes are private to your account. When Crew reporting is enabled, submitting a Scout check at a shared break also shares its conditions with that crew, including checks submitted during an accuracy study. The submission button and form explain this sharing before you submit. Current group members can see the reported wave size, surface, consistency, shape, crowd, your display name, the report time, and any photo or short video you attach. They cannot see the report's free-text note. Checks at personal breaks, or while Crew reporting is disabled, are not shared with a crew. Structured physical conditions from eligible Scout or Journal activity may also be combined with other evidence to evaluate and improve break-level forecasts and shared, non-identifying context. Shared media is used to deliver and protect the group feature; it is not itself treated as a structured forecast observation.
Shared breaks, groups, and invitations
When you share or join a break, active group members can see the exact saved break, its shared forecast, member display names, profile photos, roles, membership information, and unexpired Scout reports members deliberately share. Shared-break owners can also see each active member's number of Scout forecast inputs for that break. They do not receive your account email, other saved breaks, unshared Scout answers, Scout notes, or Journal details through the group experience.
If you leave a shared break or its owner removes you, Local Break creates a private copy in your break library. The copy keeps the exact break configuration, your account-level history, and de-identified derived forecast-learning evidence available at that moment. It does not include the member roster, another member's notes or media, or future group updates. We record limited departure and copy lineage so the transition is reliable and auditable.
A shared-break owner can invite up to five friends. Invitations are bearer links: anyone who possesses a valid link can preview the inviter's display name, the break name, current friend count, and invitation expiration. An invitation is normally one-use and expires after seven days. We record invitation creation, redemption, revocation, and expiration information to operate and secure the feature.
Subscription and purchase information
If you start a trial, redeem an Apple Offer Code, or purchase a subscription, Apple processes the payment through the App Store. Local Break may receive and store the subscription product, transaction or original transaction identifier, entitlement status, offer or trial type, purchase and expiration dates, renewal status, storefront, and related verification results. We do not receive or store your full payment-card number.
Notification information
If you choose notifications, we store your notification categories, a random installation identifier, device platform and time zone, app and build version, and an Expo push token used to route notifications to that installation. We also keep limited event, delivery-attempt, and provider-response records to prevent duplicate or stale alerts and troubleshoot delivery.
Notification content may identify a saved break, summarize its forecast, or say that a member shared a crew report or joined the crew. Notification registration does not collect continuous or background location.
Device storage
The app stores account sessions, cached profile and forecast data, preferences, pending invitation information, and offline report queues on your device so the Service can work reliably in poor connectivity. Signing out or deleting an account clears or retires this information as described by the app, subject to device and network conditions.
Website, technical, and support information
Cloudflare and our service infrastructure may process ordinary request and security information such as IP address, browser or device type, requested page, date and time, network identifiers, and security signals. We also receive the content of messages you send to support, along with your contact information and any diagnostic information you choose to provide.
If you join our waitlist, we collect the name, email, state, referral answer, and optional newsletter choice you submit. We use these to administer the waitlist, notify you about availability, and understand interest in the Service. Optional Field Notes and promotional emails use your separate newsletter choice. You can withdraw that choice or leave the waitlist through Privacy choices or by emailing support@localbreak.app.
Our support and reporting forms prepare an email on your device. Entering information into those forms does not send it to Local Break. When you send the email, your email provider and ours process the message. Do not include passwords, sign-in links, private invitation links, unnecessary Journal details, or intimate images. Reports may contain content identifiers, an explanation, contact information, and statements needed to review the request. Authorized Local Break personnel may access relevant reported content to investigate support and moderation requests. We do not routinely give the reported user your identity; disclosure may be necessary for a legal process or a copyright dispute.
As of this Policy's effective date, the Local Break website does not use third-party advertising, behavioral analytics, session replay, or nonessential cookies, and the iPhone app does not include a third-party advertising or behavioral-analytics SDK. Essential network, authentication, fraud-prevention, and security mechanisms may still process technical information needed to operate the Service.
Browser signals and third-party tracking
We do not track your activities across third-party websites for advertising, or permit third parties to do so through advertising tools on our website. Because we do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it for targeted advertising, those practices remain off whether or not your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control. These signals do not disable necessary security, requested communications, or service functionality. An external link, such as Instagram or Apple's subscription page, takes you to a separate service with its own privacy practices.
2. How we use information
We use information to:
- create, authenticate, secure, and support accounts;
- provide saved breaks, forecasts, subscriptions, groups, Scout, Journal, and other requested features;
- personalize forecasts and present shared break-level forecasts without exposing private member activity;
- process subscription entitlements, trials, offers, renewals, refunds, and purchase restoration;
- deliver notifications you choose;
- preserve offline work and synchronize it when a connection returns;
- evaluate, maintain, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Service;
- prevent fraud, abuse, unauthorized access, and duplicate activity;
- respond to support, privacy, legal, and safety requests; and
- comply with law and enforce our agreements.
We do not use private Journal entries for advertising. Forecast personalization estimates surf conditions and preferences; we do not use it to make decisions about employment, credit, insurance, housing, or other decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. We do not use profile photos or shared media to identify people through facial recognition, and do not ask for medical records or government identification as part of ordinary app use.
3. Service providers and environmental data sources
We disclose information to providers only as reasonably necessary for their role, including:
- Supabase, for authentication, database storage, backend functions, and related infrastructure;
- Apple, for App Store distribution, in-app purchases, subscription administration, device services, and Apple Push Notification service delivery;
- Expo, for application build infrastructure and routing opted-in push notifications to Apple;
- Mux, for encoding, securely delivering, deleting, and performing automated visual safety checks on short Scout videos you choose to share;
- Cloudflare, for website hosting, delivery, performance, and security; and
- transactional email and support infrastructure used for verification, password recovery, and communications you request.
Forecasts use public or licensed environmental information, including data delivered through Open-Meteo and sources operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A forecast request may include a saved break's coordinates and ordinary technical request information. These sources do not need your account profile, subscription information, or Journal content to supply environmental data.
We select providers that are expected to protect personal information consistently with this Policy, applicable law, and their contractual obligations. Their own terms and privacy notices may also apply when they act independently, including when Apple processes an App Store purchase.
4. When we may disclose information
In addition to the providers and group-sharing choices above, we may disclose information:
- at your direction or with your consent;
- to investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or violations of our Terms;
- to protect the rights, safety, and integrity of users, Local Break, or others;
- when required by law, legal process, or a valid government request; or
- in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate protections.
We do not sell personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not use personal information to track you across other companies' apps or websites for advertising.
5. Retention
We retain account and product information while your account is active and afterward only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, honor your choices, resolve disputes, maintain security and integrity, comply with law, or support the specific purposes described in this Policy.
Current notification cleanup removes completed event and delivery records after 30 days, disabled installations after 30 days, and active installations that have not checked in for 90 days. Live invitation links normally expire after seven days. Limited invitation, transaction, entitlement, security, support, and legal records may be retained longer when reasonably necessary for fraud prevention, accounting, dispute resolution, or legal compliance.
Shared Scout reports disappear from the group at the saved break's local midnight. Attached media is then queued for deletion from active storage. Provider processing may take a short additional period. A member may delete a shared report sooner. If a report is flagged, it is hidden from the group immediately. Attached media may be kept in a private moderation queue for up to seven days before deletion so Local Break can review the report and protect the Service.
Profile photos remain while you keep them on your active account. Replacing or removing a profile photo queues the prior image for deletion from active storage.
When an observation or account is deleted, Local Break removes account-linked source records according to the applicable deletion flow. De-identified aggregate forecast parameters and counters may remain so that deleting one member does not erase the shared break's accumulated, non-identifying behavior. We do not use retained aggregate state to re-identify a deleted user.
Backup copies may remain for a limited period until they are overwritten under our ordinary backup cycle. Backups are not used for ordinary product access. If recovery requires restoring a backup, applicable deletion requests must be reapplied before restored personal information returns to ordinary use. Legally required preservation may override ordinary deletion periods; access is restricted to that purpose.
If you previously joined a Local Break waitlist or beta, we retain that information only while reasonably needed to administer that program, preserve required records, or communicate as you requested. You may ask us to delete it.
6. Your choices and rights
Location
You can decline location permission and select a break manually. You can change location permission in iPhone Settings.
Notifications
You can change individual notification categories in Local Break or disable notifications in iPhone Settings.
Groups and invitations
You can decline an invitation, leave a shared break if you are a friend, revoke an invitation if you are the owner, or stop sharing after resolving active memberships and invitations. Leaving or removal preserves the private copy described above. Treat invitation links as private because possession of the link permits the preview described above.
Break library and profile
You can move breaks between focused and retained status, permanently delete a retained private break, edit your display name, or replace or remove your profile photo in the app.
Subscriptions
You can restore purchases or manage and cancel an Apple subscription through your Apple Account. Deleting your Local Break account does not automatically cancel billing by Apple. Visit Apple's subscription management page to review or cancel a subscription.
Account deletion
You can initiate deletion in the app through Account → Delete Account. If you own a shared break, you must first transfer ownership or stop sharing so the other members' access can be handled safely. Account deletion removes your authentication account and account-linked personal product data, subject to the limited retention described above. It does not cancel an App Store subscription.
Privacy requests
U.S. state rights depend on where you live, the information involved, and whether a law applies to Local Break. These may include confirming processing; accessing your information and applicable recipient information; correcting inaccuracies; deleting information; obtaining a portable copy; withdrawing consent; limiting sensitive-information use; and opting out of sale, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. We do not sell information or engage in the advertising or significant-decision profiling described above. Sensitive information, including account-linked precise break coordinates, is used for the requested features, security, and other permitted purposes described here.
Use Privacy choices or email support@localbreak.app. State your request and, if relevant, your state of residence. You do not need a paid subscription to make a request. We accept reasonable access, correction, export, and deletion requests from all U.S. users, while preserving applicable statutory rights and exceptions.
We may verify account control before disclosing or deleting information. An authorized agent may contact us with evidence of permission; where law allows, we may also verify directly with you. A parent or guardian can request help for a child's information. We will not ask for your password. Avoid sending identity documents unless we explain why a proportionate verification step is necessary and provide a secure method.
We respond within the period required by applicable law, generally within 45 days for an initial state privacy request, and explain any permitted extension, denial, or fee. If you disagree with our response, reply with Privacy appeal or use the appeal option on Privacy choices. We review appeals and respond within the applicable period, generally within 60 days. A denial will explain available complaint rights, including contacting your state attorney general or privacy regulator. Shorter statutory deadlines control where they apply.
Withdrawal affects future processing and does not invalidate processing already performed lawfully. You may remove a saved personal break or delete your account to stop account-linked location processing associated with it; contact us if shared-break ownership or another control prevents your request. Withdrawing information needed for a feature may prevent that feature from working. De-identified aggregate information and records retained for a permitted legal purpose are handled as described above.
We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.
7. Security
We use access controls, encrypted network transport, database row-level security, and administrative and technical safeguards designed to protect information. No service can guarantee absolute security. Use a unique password and contact us promptly if you believe your account or an invitation link has been compromised.
8. Children and teenagers
Local Break is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Users under the age of legal majority may use the Service only with permission and supervision from a parent or legal guardian who agrees to the Terms on their behalf, and only where marketplace requirements and applicable law permit. We may limit access based on age-range or parental-authorization information supplied through the App Store or as otherwise required by law.
If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact us so we can investigate and delete it where appropriate.
9. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy as the Service or law changes. We will post the revised version, update its effective date, and provide additional notice or request renewed consent when required.
10. Contact
Local Break LLC
Privacy and support: support@localbreak.app
Content reports: moderation@localbreak.app. See Report content for the removal process.