Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 1, 2026

What we collect

Location. We ask for your location to find flights near you, draw nearby airspace, and pull airport weather. It goes straight from your phone to the data providers listed below at the moment you ask for something. It never reaches our servers, and we never store it on them. Your phone keeps your last known location on the device only, so the map can start in the right place.

Anonymous analytics. On by default, and you can turn it off any time: Settings → data & privacy → analytics → enable anonymous analytics. We use Aptabase. When analytics is on, we get events such as: app opens, onboarding and app tour progress, which settings screens you open, which flights you open or follow with a Live Activity (the flight number and route), which airport boards you open, the app icon and layout you choose, which alert types you switch on or off, the type and urgency of feedback you send (never what you wrote), and errors when loading flight data. Aptabase also records basic session information, such as how long a session lasts. Every event is tied to a random ID created on your phone, and to your anonymous RevenueCat customer ID. Neither contains your name, email or any account, because Takeoff has no accounts.

Flight alerts and Live Activities. If you turn on alerts for a flight or start a Live Activity, we have to store your device's push token and that flight number on our server — otherwise we have nowhere to send the update to. That's it: a token, a flight number, and which alerts you asked for. Turn the alert off or let the flight finish and the row is deleted.

App announcements. On by default. If you leave this on, we store your device's push token on our server so we can send you occasional app updates or known-issue alerts — nothing else is tied to it, just the token. Turn it off in Settings → notifications & announcements and the row is deleted immediately, same as flight alerts.

Feedback you send us. If you use the feedback form, we store what you wrote and your email if you chose to include one. "Attach logs" is off by default; switch it on and we also get your app version, iOS version, device model, locale, timezone, a snapshot of a few app settings, your anonymous analytics ID, and your RevenueCat customer ID. Leave it off and none of that is sent.

Purchases. Takeoff Pro is handled by RevenueCat and the App Store. RevenueCat sees your purchase, your subscription status, and which App Store country you're in. We never see your payment details — Apple doesn't give them to us.

Camera and motion sensors. Takeoff Vision uses your camera to overlay planes on the real sky, and your phone's motion and compass sensors to work out where you're pointing. The camera view is only shown on your screen. It is never recorded, saved, or uploaded, and the sensor readings stay on your device.

Security. When you install Takeoff, your phone creates a key with Apple's App Attest and registers it with our server. This lets our server check that requests come from a genuine copy of Takeoff, to help stop other people from using Takeoff's data without our permission. The key identifies that install of the app. It isn't linked to your name, email or any account. Before a request, the app gets a short-lived, one-time code from our server, which expires after a few minutes. If a request fails this check, we log the reason and which part of our service it hit, but no personal information.

For the techy Takeoff users, this is Apple's App Attest.

IP addresses. To limit abuse, our servers briefly keep a count of requests per IP address in memory. We don't save IP addresses in our database or link them to anything. Our hosting provider, Supabase, may keep its own standard server logs, which can include IP addresses, for a limited time for security and reliability.

What we don't do

• No location on our servers. We use servers to help us provide data to you, and to protect our data. Your location never touches them. We use Supabase for our data services — what's stored there is push tokens for flight alerts, Live Activities, and app announcements, feedback submissions, the anonymous App Attest keys and short-lived codes described above, and a shared 10-minute cache of flight data that isn't tied to anyone.
• No accounts. There's nothing to sign up for. We have no name, no password, no profile for you.
• No sharing for ads. We have no ads and don't share your information for advertising.
• No selling data. We don't sell or share your personal information with anyone.
• No knowingly collecting data from under-13s. We like everybody using our app, but we do not knowingly collect data from anybody under 13.

What stays on your phone

Your app settings and some data are saved locally only:

• Dark mode or light mode preference, accent color and app icon
• Map style, unit system, language, and other display preferences
• Haptics and status pill preferences
• Which flight alerts you want (takeoff, landed, arrived, delayed)
• Which announcements you've dismissed, and whether you've finished onboarding
• The name you enter for the home screen greeting, if you add one
• Your recent flights list
• Your last known location, used to center the map
• The random ID used for analytics

If you uninstall Takeoff or switch phones, these reset. We can't restore them because they never leave your device.

Third-party APIs we use

Takeoff pulls flight data from public sources. Some of these receive your location — only when you ask for something that needs it — and some only ever see an airport code or an aircraft ID:

• adsb.lol — Real-time flight tracking. Receives your location when you look for nearby flights.
• FAA (via ArcGIS) — Airspace boundaries and airport data. Receives your location when the map draws airspace around you.
• NOAA National Weather Service and Apple WeatherKit — Airport weather. Receive coordinates — the airport's, or yours for local conditions.
• hexdb.io — Aircraft registration and route information. Receives an aircraft hex code or callsign.
• opensky-network.org — Arrival and departure counts for airport boards. Receives an airport code only.
• planespotters.net — Aircraft photos. Receives an aircraft hex code or registration.
• AeroDataBox — Improved and reliable times, routes, and gates. Requests go through our servers, so AeroDataBox never sees your device or your location at all.
• RevenueCat — Subscription management for Takeoff Pro.
• Aptabase — Anonymous analytics, if you've left them on.
• Apple Push Notification service — Delivers flight alerts, Live Activity, and app announcement updates.

Each provider may log requests for their own server health and usage analytics. See their privacy practices below.

What third-party providers do

HexDB.io

• Logs requests to understand server load and popular queries
• Does not retain logs long-term or use them for marketing
• Could theoretically identify you based on what aircraft you search (e.g., looking up the same plane 100+ times/hour), but this is unlikely and they don't do this

adsb.lol & OpenSky

• Public flight data providers; their terms apply when you use their services through Takeoff

RevenueCat & Aptabase

• RevenueCat processes subscriptions on our behalf and keeps a purchase record tied to an anonymous customer ID. This is how we keep track of your purchase, and make sure you don't lose access to your plan.
• Aptabase is privacy-first analytics: no cookies, no device fingerprinting, no cross-app tracking. Takeoff sends it the events described above, plus your anonymous RevenueCat customer ID.

One thing worth knowing

If you send us feedback with "attach logs" switched on and include your email, that one record links your email to your anonymous analytics ID and RevenueCat customer ID. It's the only place we ever hold your email next to those IDs. Leave the toggle off — as it is by default — or leave the email blank, and they stay separate.

Important note

Flight data comes from public ADS-B sources. Some flights may be missing data, have delayed information, or show incorrect routes. Takeoff is for fun tracking only — not for flight planning, navigation, or anything safety-critical.

Questions?

Contact us at [email protected].

Made with love in Boston.