Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is available in several languages. In case of discrepancies, the German version prevails.

1. Controller

Controller within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 7 GDPR for the Starpath app and this website:

Alf Hellmund
Ehrensteinstr. 17
04105 Leipzig
Germany
Email: alf.hellmund@gmx.de

For any privacy question and to exercise your rights, an email to this address is sufficient. No data protection officer has been appointed; there is no obligation to do so (Art. 37 GDPR, Section 38 BDSG).

2. Summary

Starpath is an app for iPad, iPhone and Mac that reproduces the nautical almanac and supports celestial navigation. All calculations run on your device.

• Starpath transmits no data. The app itself opens no network connection; there is no server, no account and no iCloud sync.
• There is no tracking, no advertising, no profiling and no third-party analytics or advertising SDK.
• Data leaves the device only when you pass it on yourself: as a diagnostics report, a PDF export or a support email.

Section 3 describes what the app stores on the device and why. Section 4 covers what Apple processes as distribution platform; section 5 covers this website.

3. Data in the app

Starpath processes the following data exclusively on your device. We as provider receive none of it unless you send it to us.

3.1 Location (GPS)

Starpath asks for “While Using the App” location access as soon as you switch on GPS in celestial navigation. Without permission, the app works with your own entries.

Purpose: The GPS position is shown on the chart as a marker and a dotted track, course and speed over ground are displayed, you can adopt the GPS position as departure position, and the GPS check compares it with the observed position computed from your sights (protection against jammed or spoofed GPS).

Legal basis: Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR; the app uses location only with your location permission (see section 6).

Storage:

• The history of GPS positions of the last 24 hours is held in memory only and discarded when the app quits.
• When a sight is saved, the GPS position at the time of the sight (latitude, longitude, time, accuracy) is stored with the sight.
• If you adopt the GPS position as departure position, it is recorded in the logbook with the origin “GPS”.
• The app remembers that GPS was on, so it resumes after a restart (only if permission is still granted).

You can change or revoke permission at any time in system settings under Privacy & Security → Location Services → Starpath.

3.2 Air pressure (barometer)

If you choose “Device” under Pressure Source in Settings, Starpath reads the air pressure from the barometer of your iPad or iPhone. The system then asks for “Motion & Fitness” access. The default is “Fixed”; then no sensor is read.

Purpose: refraction correction of the sextant altitude.

Storage: each new sight takes the latest reading with its time and origin. This feature does not exist on the Mac.

Legal basis: Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR; the app reads the sensor only with your “Motion & Fitness” permission (see section 6).

3.3 Navigation data: sights, rounds of sights, observed positions, logbook, voyages

What you enter or compute in celestial navigation is stored in a database in the app's container on the device (sessions.sqlite):

• Rounds of sights with name, creation and modification time, temperature, air pressure and the computed observed position (latitude, longitude, time, accuracy).
• Sights with time, body, sextant reading, corrections and your overrides, height of eye, reference position, temperature, air pressure and, if available, the GPS position at the time of the sight (3.1).
• Logbook with departure positions (latitude, longitude, time, origin: manual, GPS or observed), course and speed entries, and voyage start (with voyage name and point of departure) and voyage end.

Before an app update changes the database format, Starpath creates a one-time backup copy of this database in the same container.

This data shows where and when your vessel was. It stays on the device.

Purpose: compute lines of position and the observed position, keep the dead-reckoning track and logbook, and recall your rounds of sights and voyages after a restart. The backup copy before a format change serves to return to the previous state after an error.

Legal basis: Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (see section 6).

3.4 Settings

Settings such as units, language, appearance, font size, height of eye, temperature, air pressure, pressure source, instrument error, star chart and chart layer display are stored in the app's settings on the device. In addition there are technical counters that never leave the device: the number of app launches (to time the rating request, 4.3), the time of Apple's last performance data delivery and the number of diagnostic messages in it (4.2), and the display state of the in-app tips.

Purpose: apply your preferences at every launch; the counters time the rating request (4.3) or appear in the diagnostics report (3.6), and tips already shown are not repeated.

Legal basis: Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (see section 6).

3.5 Calculation cache

Starpath stores computed almanac values in a cache (almanac.sqlite). It contains astronomical values only, nothing about you, and is recomputed as needed.

Purpose: display pages faster without computing the same values again.

Legal basis: The cache contains no personal data; storing it on the device is based on Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG (see section 6).

3.6 Diagnostics report (only at your request)

Under About → Support → Send Diagnostics Report, Starpath creates a text report so an error can be traced. You see all of it before you pass it on. Only after your approval does the system share sheet open; there you choose recipient and channel yourself (e.g. email to us). There is no automatic sending.

The report contains:

• app version, build, calculation and database version, device model identifier (e.g. “iPad14,1”), operating system version, platform, creation time;
• current view and selected date, time zone, language and region;
• the current position with course, speed, origin and time, the logbook entries (including voyage names), location permission state and GPS reception;
• the app's settings (values of the app's own settings; entries written by Apple system components by name only, without value);
• the current round of sights with all sights, corrections, GPS positions at sight time and observed positions; for other rounds only name, creation date and number of sights;
• storage statistics and error states.

The report contains no device name, no device or advertising identifier and no account. For sharing, it is written as a file to the app's temporary directory.

Purpose: to trace and fix a calculation or display error. If you send the report to us, we use it exclusively to handle your request (see 3.7).

Legal basis: for creating it on the device at your request Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG; for handling it with us Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, alternatively (f) (see section 6).

3.7 Support email

About → Support → Contact opens an empty email to alf.hellmund@gmx.de without attachment. If you write to us — from the app or directly — we process your email address, your name if given, the content and any attached diagnostics report to answer your request. The mailbox is hosted by the email service GMX, a service of 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH, Montabaur, Germany.

Purpose: to answer your request.

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, alternatively (f) (see section 6).

3.8 PDF export

Starpath creates PDF files on the device: the ephemerides of the daily page or of the full year, correction tables, a blank form for reduction by hand, and the round of sights from celestial navigation. The round of sights contains your sights and positions; the correction tables contain the configured height of eye, temperature and air pressure. The file only goes where you send or save it via Save, Share or Print.

Purpose: to print, save or pass on almanac pages, tables, the blank form and the round of sights.

Legal basis: Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (see section 6).

4. Apple platform services

Apple performs the following processing as an independent controller; we have no influence on it. Apple's privacy policy applies: apple.com/legal/privacy. We receive personal data only with the crash and performance data (4.2); purpose and legal basis are stated there.

4.1 App Store

Starpath is distributed via the App Store. Apple handles purchase, download and updates. We receive only aggregated statistics from Apple without personal reference.

4.2 Crash and performance data via Apple

If you have switched on “Share With App Developers” in system settings under Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements, Apple provides us with crash reports and aggregated performance data of the app. Without this consent we receive nothing. You can withdraw consent there at any time.

Starpath itself does not evaluate the performance data delivered by Apple; the app only records time and count (3.4).

Purpose: to detect and fix crashes and performance problems of the app.

Legal basis: your consent given to Apple, Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR (see section 6).

4.3 Rating request

After several launches, Starpath may show the system's rating dialog. Whether and how you rate is processed by Apple only.

4.4 Device backup

If an iCloud backup or a backup to a computer is enabled on your device, the app's data stored on the device — like that of other apps — is part of this device backup. The operating system sets up this backup according to your setting, not Starpath.

5. This website

This website is served via GitHub Pages (GitHub, Inc., 88 Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA). When you open a page, GitHub processes technically necessary connection data, including your IP address; according to GitHub, every visitor's IP address is logged and stored for security purposes, even without signing in to GitHub. GitHub processes this data as an independent controller under its privacy statement and states no fixed retention period for these logs; we have no influence on this.

The links in the app under About → Legal open this website in the browser; this section applies to that.

The website sets no cookies, contains no tracking and loads no fonts, scripts or other content from third parties.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is a secure, free and reliable provision of the mandatory information about the app. GitHub is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision of the European Commission, Art. 45 GDPR). GitHub's privacy statement: docs.github.com.

6. Legal bases

• On-device processing (3.1–3.4, 3.8 and creating the diagnostics report in 3.6): the data does not reach us. The app stores and accesses it on the device because this is strictly necessary for the features you expressly use (Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG); insofar as personal data is processed, this is necessary for using the app (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR). The app reads location (3.1) and air pressure (3.2) only with your permission in the system.
• Calculation cache (3.5): no personal data; stored on the device under Section 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG.
• Diagnostics report and support email with us (3.6, 3.7): Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (handling your request about the app), alternatively (f) (legitimate interest in answering requests and fixing errors).
• Crash and performance data via Apple (4.2): your consent given to Apple, Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.
• Website (5): Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

7. Recipients and transfers to third countries

We do not pass data on to third parties and do not sell data. The only recipients are:

• the recipients you choose yourself when sharing a diagnostics report or PDF;
• our email service GMX (1&1 Mail & Media GmbH, Germany) for support emails;
• GitHub, Inc. (USA) when you open this website (section 5);
• Apple as independent controller for the services in section 4.

A transfer to a third country takes place only when you open this website (GitHub, USA, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework) and within Apple's services.

8. Retention and deletion

• GPS history: in memory only, at most 24 hours, ends when the app quits.
• Navigation data and settings: until you delete them. You can delete rounds of sights, sights and logbook entries individually in the app. “Reset App” in Settings resets the settings and empties the calculation cache; saved rounds of sights and the logbook are kept. Deleting the app removes all of its data from the device.
• Diagnostics report and PDF files for sharing: in the app's temporary directory, which the system cleans up itself; what you passed on is with the recipient you chose.
• Support emails and diagnostics reports with us: until the request is closed, then deleted no later than 12 months afterwards.
• Website logs: according to GitHub's rules (section 5).

9. Obligation to provide data

You are under no legal or contractual obligation to provide data. Without location permission there is no GPS display and no GPS check; without motion permission no measured air pressure; all other features work with your entries. Without a diagnostics report, an error may be harder for us to trace.

10. No automated decision-making

There is no automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR.

11. Your rights

To the extent we process personal data about you (usually only for support requests), you have the right to:

• access (Art. 15 GDPR)
• rectification (Art. 16 GDPR)
• erasure (Art. 17 GDPR)
• restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
• object to processing based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (Art. 21 GDPR)

Withdrawal of consent (Art. 7 (3) GDPR): you can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future — location and motion permission in system settings, sharing of analytics data under Analytics & Improvements. The lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal remains unaffected.

You manage the data on your device yourself: you can view, change and delete it in the app. Since we do not hold it, we cannot provide information about it or delete it for you.

An email to alf.hellmund@gmx.de is sufficient for any request.

12. Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), in particular in the member state of your habitual residence. The authority responsible for us is:

Sächsische Datenschutz- und Transparenzbeauftragte
Maternistraße 17, 01067 Dresden, Germany
Postal address: Postfach 11 01 32, 01330 Dresden
Email: post@sdtb.sachsen.de
www.datenschutz.sachsen.de

13. Children

Starpath is not directed at children and collects no age information.

14. Changes

We update this privacy policy when app features or legal requirements change. The current version is available at this address and is linked in the app.

Version 1.4, as of 30 October 2026.