Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

This policy explains how ZEF (“the app”, “we”, “us”) handles information when you use it on iPhone or Android. The app is developed by Nurcihan Fakioglu, who is responsible for the processing described here (the “data controller” under the EU and UK GDPR and Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law, KVKK).

ZEF shows the weather along your driving route, colors the route by risk, shows weather radar and official weather alerts, and can read alerts aloud while you drive.

2. Information the app uses

2.1 Your location

With your permission, the app uses your device's precise location to:

• start routes from “Current Location” and show the weather near you;
• follow your progress during a drive, so it can warn you before you reach a weather hazard;
• notice when you leave the route and calculate a new one.

During a drive. While a drive is in progress, the app keeps receiving your location when it's in the background or the screen is off, so alerts keep working. On iPhone, iOS shows the location indicator during this time; on Android, a “driving” notification stays visible for as long as the drive lasts. When the drive ends, background location use stops. The Android app does not request the “Allow all the time” location permission.

What leaves your device. Your location is processed on your device. Only the following is sent elsewhere:

• points along your route, rounded to a grid of about 5 km (3 mi), to our weather server (see 2.3);
• your route's start point and destination, to the map provider that calculates the route (see 2.2);
• your approximate location, to the map provider, to show the map and rank nearby search results.

We don't store your location on our servers and we don't build a location history.

2.2 Searches, routes and places

• When you search for a place, the text you type and your approximate location are sent to the map provider (Apple on iPhone, Google on Android) to suggest places.
• When you plan a route, its start point and destination are sent to the same provider to calculate the route and its alternatives.
• Saved routes, favorite places (such as Home and Work) and a short list of your recent searches are stored only on your device.

2.3 Weather requests to our server

Our server provides the app with forecasts, official weather alerts, radar images and app settings. Its requests contain:

• points along your route, rounded to a grid of about 5 km (3 mi), and the approximate time you'll pass each one (rounded to 15 minutes);
• the map area you're looking at (for radar images), and the area around your route with its country code (for official alerts);
• technical information that comes with any internet request, such as your IP address.

No account, device or advertising identifier is sent to our server.

2.4 Purchases (PRO)

• Subscriptions are processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play. We never see your payment details.
• We use RevenueCat to check your subscription status and restore purchases. RevenueCat receives a random, anonymous identifier created on your device, your purchase and subscription history in this app, and basic device information (such as platform, operating system and app version, and store country). This identifier isn't linked to your name or email address.
• The app remembers your last known subscription status on your device, so it opens with the right features even when you're offline.

2.5 Settings and other data on your device

The app stores the following in its private storage on your device. It isn't sent to us.

• your settings: vehicle profile, alert sensitivity, units and voice alerts;
• recently downloaded weather (expires automatically within about a day), the route plan you're working on (kept for a few hours so it survives an app restart) and summaries shown in widgets;
• a counter used to decide when to show the upgrade screen.

Depending on your device settings, this data may be included in your iCloud or Google device backup.

2.6 Notifications, voice alerts and car screens

• Drive notifications, Live Activities and alerts are created on your device. We don't use push notification servers or push tokens.
• Voice alerts are spoken by your device's built-in text-to-speech. The app doesn't use the microphone.
• On CarPlay and Android Auto, the app shows the same information on your car's display. We don't collect any data from your vehicle. If you ask your car's voice assistant to navigate somewhere, the assistant passes only the destination to the app.

2.7 Crash reports (Android)

If the Android app crashes or runs into a serious error, it sends a crash report to Firebase Crashlytics, a Google service. A report contains:

• technical details of the error, such as the stack trace and which part of the app was running;
• device and app information, such as device model, Android version, app version, free memory and storage, and screen orientation;
• a random identifier for this installation of the app, so we can tell how many devices a problem affects.

Crash reports don't include your location, routes, searches, saved places or purchase details, and they aren't linked to your Google account or used for advertising. The iPhone app doesn't use a crash-reporting service.

2.8 Usage statistics (Android)

The Android app records which screens you open, such as the map, search, settings, the subscription screen, a step of the welcome tour or a screen on Android Auto, and sends these events to Mixpanel and Google Analytics for Firebase. An event contains:

• the screen's name and, for a few screens, simple context: which welcome step it is, whether a search is for a start, a destination or a favorite, and which PRO feature opened the subscription screen;
• whether you have PRO, and subscription purchases (product and price), which Google Analytics records automatically;
• device and app information, such as device model, Android version, app version and language, and an approximate country or region that Google derives from your IP address (Mixpanel doesn't use your IP address to estimate location);
• random identifiers for this installation of the app, so we can count screens per device.

Usage statistics don't include your precise location, routes, searches or place names. They aren't linked to your Google account, and they aren't used for advertising: collection of the advertising identifier and ad personalization signals is turned off. The iPhone app doesn't collect usage statistics.

2.9 What we don't collect

• Your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos or microphone audio.
• Advertising identifiers. The app contains no advertising SDKs and doesn't track you across apps or websites owned by other companies.

If you've chosen to share diagnostics in your device settings, Apple or Google may give us anonymous crash and performance reports. These don't identify you.

3. How we use information

We use the information described above only to:

• provide the app's features: routes, route weather, radar, official alerts, voice alerts, widgets and car screens;
• keep the service reliable and secure, for example by limiting excessive requests and diagnosing errors;
• understand which screens and features are used, so we can improve the app (Android usage statistics in 2.8);
• manage your subscription and restore purchases;
• comply with legal obligations.

We don't use your information for advertising or profiling, and we don't sell it.

Legal bases (EEA, UK, Turkey). We process information because it's necessary to provide the app you asked for; with your consent, which you give through your device's location and notification permissions and can withdraw at any time in Settings; and for our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working and in improving it.

4. Service providers

We rely on the following providers. Each one handles data under its own privacy policy.

5. Sharing

We don't sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share information only with the providers above, so the app can work; when required by law or to protect the rights and safety of users and others; or, if the app is ever transferred to a new owner, with that owner, who must continue to follow this policy.

6. How long data is kept

• On your device: until you delete it or uninstall the app. Downloaded weather and the current route plan expire automatically.
• On our server: there's no user database. Weather is stored by location only, so every user asking about the same area gets the same answer. Our hosting provider keeps operational logs (time, requested address including the rounded coordinates, and errors) for a few days, then deletes them automatically. Your IP address is used to limit excessive requests but isn't written to our logs.
• Crash reports: kept by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days, then deleted automatically.
• Usage statistics: Google Analytics keeps device-level data for 2 months; Mixpanel keeps events for as long as we need them to understand how the app is used, and no longer than 2 years. Totals that can't identify a device may be kept longer.
• RevenueCat and the app stores: for as long as needed to manage your subscription and meet legal and tax obligations.

7. Your choices

• Location: change the permission at any time in your device settings. Without it, you can still browse the map, radar and places; planning from your current location and driving alerts need it.
• Notifications: turn them off in your device settings.
• Voice alerts: turn them on or off in the app.
• Saved data: uninstalling the app removes everything it stored on your device. On Android, you can also clear the app's storage in your device settings.
• Subscriptions: manage or cancel them in the App Store or Google Play.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example the EEA, the UK, Turkey, California or other US states), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal data, to object to or restrict its processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to your data protection authority.

Because the app has no accounts and we don't keep personal data on our servers, most of your data exists only on your device, where you control it directly. For anything else, including purchase records held by RevenueCat, contact us at [email protected]. We'll respond within 30 days and won't treat you differently for exercising your rights.

9. International transfers

Our providers may process information in the United States and other countries outside your own. Where the law requires it, they use recognized safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

10. Security

All connections between the app and our server use encryption (HTTPS). We keep the data we handle to a minimum, and data on your device stays in the app's private storage, protected by your operating system. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect the information the app uses.

11. Children

ZEF is a driving app and isn't directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we'll help delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version on this page and update the effective date at the top. Where the law requires it, we'll also notify you in the app.

13. Contact

Questions or requests about privacy:
Nurcihan Fakioglu
[email protected]