SMART SEAMEN
Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 13, 2026
Last updated
This policy applies from the date this version was published in the app, and describes what SMART SEAMEN does with your information.
1. Who is responsible
SMART SEAMEN is operated privately by its owner. Questions, corrections and deletion requests can be sent through the contact details in the About section.
2. The short version
Almost everything you create stays in this browser on this device. Information leaves the device only for the features that cannot work without it - signing in, member features, posts, AI Assistance, live vessel data and position sharing - and only the minimum those features need. Your seafarer document number, your local backup files and everything held only on the device are never uploaded.
3. What stays on your device
Held in this browser, on this device, and not sent anywhere by the app: ship particulars and hydrostatic tables, draft surveys, stability and cargo work, compass error and navigation calculations, ETA, passage and consumption records, saved reports, certificate records and their reminder dates, imported documents, images and spreadsheets, your app settings, theme and language, your App Lock code, and every backup file you export.
Browser storage is not permanent. It can be cleared by you, by the browser or by the device, and it is lost if the device is reset, replaced or damaged. Export a backup from Settings and keep it safe.
4. What is held on the cloud
Held on the cloud service the app uses, so that your account works and shared features are possible: your email address, name and rank; your membership status, member identifier and approval date; whether AI Assistance is enabled for you and how much of your allowance you have used; posts, comments and images you publish to the shared feed; notifications addressed to you; a technical record of any error the app hits on your device; and, only while you have it switched on, your shared position.
Where you use the app's optional record sync, the records you have chosen to sync are also held there so they can be recovered or opened on another of your devices.
5. Service providers and where information goes
SMART SEAMEN does not run its own data centre. To provide the account, the shared features and AI Assistance it relies on a small number of specialist providers, described here by role rather than by name: a cloud database and hosting provider, which holds the account and shared-feature information described above; an external AI service, which processes only what you send to AI Assistance; a public vessel-tracking service, which receives technical requests only; and a push notification service operated by your own browser or device maker. Error reports are not sent to any outside service - they are held on the same cloud service as the rest of your account information.
These providers act only on the owner's instructions and under contract, and are not permitted to use your information for their own purposes.
SMART SEAMEN is used by seafarers worldwide, so these providers may store or process information in a country other than your own, including outside the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom. Where that happens, the transfer is made under the safeguards recognised for such transfers, such as standard contractual clauses, and the protections described in this policy continue to apply.
The current list of providers in use is available from the owner on request.
6. Your seafarer document number
Your CDC number is used once, at sign-up, to confirm you are a seafarer. It is converted into an irreversible hash and stored in that form together with the last four digits. The full number is never stored, is never displayed to you or to anyone else, cannot be recovered from what is stored, and is never visible to other members.
7. What is deliberately never uploaded
The app does not upload your local backup files, your App Lock code, your imported documents and images, or your calculations and reports unless you have switched on record sync for them. An error report carries only the technical description of the fault, where in the app it happened, and which app version you were running - never the contents of your records. It does not read your device's photo library, contacts, files or other apps. It does not track you across other websites, and it contains no advertising or advertising trackers.
8. Location
Location is used in two separate ways, and both are off until you turn them on.
The GPS switch on the map reads your device's position and shows it to you on your own screen. That position is not sent anywhere.
Position sharing is a separate switch. When it is on, your position is sent to the app's server and shown to members who are also sharing and are within the published radius. A shared position is stored briefly, expires automatically after a short period, and is deleted when you switch sharing off, sign out or close the app. Members who are not sharing see nothing and are seen by no one. You can turn it off at any time, and your device's own location permission can be withdrawn in your browser or system settings.
9. Vessel tracking
When you view live vessel movements, a request is sent through the app's server to a public vessel-tracking service. That service receives the technical request only. Your name, email, membership details and position are not sent to it.
10. AI Assistance
AI Assistance is off unless the owner has enabled it for your account. When you send a message, the text of your message, any file or image you attach, and the conversation context needed to answer are sent through the app's server to an external AI service, which returns the answer.
That means anything you type or attach leaves the device. Do not put company confidential material, crew personal data or anything your employer restricts into AI Assistance. The app records how many requests you have made, so that your allowance can be applied.
11. Notifications
If you allow notifications, your browser gives the app a delivery token, which is stored so that reminders and post alerts can reach you. A notification carries only a short title and message. You can withdraw notification permission at any time in your browser or system settings.
12. Who can see what
Other approved members can see your name, rank, member identifier, anything you post to the shared feed, and - only while you and they are both sharing - your position. They cannot see your calculations, reports, certificates, documents, email address, seafarer document number or backups.
The owner can additionally see the account information needed to run the app: your email address, membership and approval status, AI Assistance setting and usage count, and the posts and comments in the feed. The owner cannot see your on-device records, and cannot recover your seafarer document number.
13. How long it is kept
Account information is kept while your account exists. Posts and comments are kept until you or the owner remove them. A shared position is kept only for the short period it stays live. AI usage counters are kept for the current allowance period. Records on your device stay until you delete them or clear browser storage. When an account is removed, the cloud information associated with it is deleted, and records already deleted cannot be recovered.
14. Your choices
You can review what is stored and export a full local backup from Settings, and clear local data from the same place. You can turn the GPS switch, position sharing and notifications on and off individually. You can delete your own posts and comments. You can ask the owner to correct your account details, to tell you which service providers are currently in use, or to close your account and delete its cloud information.
15. Security
Connections between the app and the server are encrypted in transit. Account access is protected by sign-in, and access to member data is limited to what your own account is entitled to. Your seafarer document number is stored only as an irreversible hash. App Lock adds a local lock on this device.
No system is completely secure. Protecting your device, your password and your exported backups is an essential part of keeping this information private.
16. Children
The app is intended for working seafarers and is not directed at children.
17. Changes
This policy may be updated as features change. The current version is always the one shown in the app.