Privacy Policy

1. Scope and controller

This policy applies to the SpotAhead iPhone app, the SpotAhead website, and support communications. It does not govern Apple, a navigation provider, or another service acting under its own privacy policy.

Under GDPR and Türkiye's Law No. 6698, location and online identifiers can be personal data even when SpotAhead does not know your name. Local-only processing is still processing, but it substantially limits what the controller can access.

SpotAhead works without an account. Core road matching and stop search happen on your iPhone. The app also automatically sends limited usage events for aggregate reporting. Read about app usage analytics and your privacy choices below.

2. Data we process

App usage analytics

SpotAhead automatically sends limited app interactions to our self-hosted Umami service at izci.spotahead.app/api/send. There is no analytics switch. Collection can start during setup. Choosing a country manually or denying location permission does not disable app usage analytics. We use the events to count first use, first later-day use, navigation requests, setup completion, Demo Drive starts, screen use and stop-detail opens, category and brand-filter changes, pack choices and download outcomes, and empty results in aggregate. The server stores individual event records for these reports; the app does not send an installation identifier that links different events.

We record the first qualifying use in the local measurement state, the first qualifying use on a later UTC calendar day only once, and each navigation handoff request outside Demo Drive. Qualifying use means viewing fresh, usable live stop results on the foreground driving overview or map, or requesting a navigation handoff. Records include the event name, original UTC event date at midnight rather than the exact time, app version, event-format version, and a random event identifier used only to recognize retries of that event. First-use and first-return events also include the week of first qualifying use. Local milestones prevent repeated first-use and first-return events. A later-day event is not evidence of another journey or a stop visit.

Feature events can include bounded labels for the screen, the setup/settings/Explore source, a fuel, food, or EV-charging category, selected or unselected state, and install or update operation. Pack events include the public catalogue pack identifier. A pack identifier can reveal a country or region of interest; it is not a GPS coordinate or a record of where you travelled. We record pack selection, download starts, completed installs and updates, failures, cancellations, and removals. Brand names, brand identifiers, and detailed error messages are not sent. Counts describe actions, not unique users or the proportion of users who prefer a category or region.

The analytics payload contains no GPS coordinates, road or route identifiers, stop names, destinations, or drive history. Native analytics uses no cookies, cached session identifiers, account IDs, advertising IDs, or device fingerprints. It supplies fixed, generic network/device values to Umami to prevent its default IP-based location and device-session derivation. Umami does not store the raw source IP as a native event field. The receiving server and its hosting/proxy infrastructure still receive your source IP address and HTTP request headers. Separate access/security-log handling and retention have not been verified; receiving a connection does not itself establish that these values are stored. We do not claim complete anonymity. We do not use the records for advertising, combine them with other companies' data for advertising, or share them with data brokers.

The app keeps at most 100 queued events for retries. Queued events expire after 30 days, based on an exact creation time retained only on the device. Expired events are removed the next time the app maintains the queue, before a send attempt; they can remain on a device while the app is inactive. Retries retain the original event date and event identifier. The local queue limit does not govern server retention. Updating from the earlier linked analytics design removes its local identifier, queued events, and preference and starts a new measurement period; records already received by the server are not deleted by that migration. Contact privacy@spotahead.app for questions about records already sent or a deletion request.

What SpotAhead does not do

• SpotAhead does not require a SpotAhead account.
• It does not persist raw location fixes or build a drive history.
• The iPhone app has no advertising, cross-company advertising tracking, or crash-reporting SDK.
• Its app analytics uses native app code rather than an embedded third-party analytics SDK and does not send an installation identifier or exact event time.
• It does not sell personal data or share it with data brokers.
• It does not receive payment-card details or your Apple Account email.

3. When data leaves the device

SpotAhead does not send a live drive stream to a SpotAhead server. The following limited transfers can still occur when you use the relevant feature:

• Apple services. Apple may process a coordinate for country resolution during setup and Live Drive, the area needed for MapKit, and information for app distribution and platform services.
• Website hosting and pack delivery. Cloudflare hosts and delivers the SpotAhead website through Cloudflare Workers, handles DNS and security, and delivers the pack catalogue and downloads. SpotAhead checks its catalogue at launch and may perform a small background check. The CDN receives ordinary request data. A requested path can reveal the regional pack you selected, but the app adds no account ID, advertising ID, or raw location to that request.
• App analytics. The controller's self-hosted Umami service automatically receives the interaction records described above. Its hosting/network providers also process request metadata.
• Navigation. When you tap Navigate, the selected destination is passed to Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze, depending on your choice. If the selected navigation app cannot open the request, SpotAhead falls back to Apple Maps. The provider handling the request may use your current location to route.
• Legal disclosures. Information may be disclosed when required by applicable law or necessary to protect people, rights, or service security.

4. Purposes and legal bases

GDPR

• Your consent, Article 6(1)(a). We use this for optional setup location and country recommendation. You can choose a region manually and withdraw permission at any time.
• Contract and requested steps, Article 6(1)(b). We use this for Live Drive, local preferences, pack delivery, and navigation handoffs you request.
• Legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f). We use proportionate web and CDN request data to deliver and secure the service, prevent abuse, diagnose failures, and answer support. The interests are reliable service and protection of users and infrastructure. You may object as explained below.
• Legal obligation, Article 6(1)(c). We may keep or disclose limited records where applicable law requires it.

iOS permission is a device-level control. Denying or withdrawing precise location prevents Live Drive from identifying your current road, but Demo Drive and manual pack selection remain available.

Türkiye Law No. 6698

When Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 applies, personal data is obtained automatically through app operations, provider requests, and messages you choose to send. The processing grounds are:

• Article 5(2)(c), contract. Processing directly related to and necessary for the SpotAhead service you request, including Live Drive, local preferences, pack delivery, and navigation handoff.
• Article 5(2)(f), legitimate interests. Proportionate website and CDN delivery, security, abuse prevention, failure diagnosis, and support, provided that the processing does not violate your fundamental rights and freedoms.
• Article 5(2)(ç), legal obligation. Limited retention or disclosure required by applicable law.
• Article 5(1), explicit consent. Optional processing where consent is required, such as the optional setup location recommendation. You may refuse or withdraw consent without affecting earlier lawful processing.

5. Retention and deletion

• Live location: the active fix is held temporarily in memory while needed, then cleared or replaced. A recent country-resolution coordinate and timestamp may remain in process memory until replaced or the app process ends so SpotAhead can limit repeat geocoding. Raw coordinates are not written as a persistent trip or route history.
• Drive display snapshot: each update replaces the previous snapshot. Stop details are cleared when the drive ends; minimal session-status metadata remains to prevent an old update from reappearing. iOS controls when cached widget and Live Activity displays refresh or disappear.
• Local choices and derived country: retained until you change or reset them or delete the app, subject to copies in an iOS device backup that the controller cannot access.
• Road packs: retained until you remove the pack or delete the app.
• App analytics: queued events expire after 30 days. Expired events are removed on the next queue maintenance, before a send attempt. Local first-use and first-return milestones remain with the app's measurement state. Events and network logs already sent have separate server retention, which depends on analytics hosting, access-log, and backup configuration. The local 30-day limit is not a server-retention promise. Device backups may contain earlier local analytics state. Migration or app deletion does not erase existing backups or received records. Contact us for current server retention and deletion information.
• Apple transactions: retained by Apple under its own legal and operational requirements.
• Website and CDN logs: SpotAhead uses self-hosted Umami for website analytics. You may contact us for current analytics retention information. Cloudflare Workers and Cloudflare's network process ordinary request and security metadata to host, deliver, cache, protect, and operate the website and pack downloads. Cloudflare retains personal data according to the applicable agreement, Data Processing Addendum, enabled products, account plan, and configuration. If SpotAhead exports or creates incident-specific records, it keeps them only while needed to investigate, protect the service, establish or defend legal claims, or comply with law. You may contact us for current provider-specific retention information.
• Support correspondence: Cloudflare Email Routing forwards messages to the controller's destination mailbox. Messages are retained while the request is active and afterward only as needed for follow-up, legal duties, or the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims. Mailbox-provider backups may remain for a limited period under that provider's retention practices.

Deleting SpotAhead removes its active local sandbox. It does not delete Apple transaction records, a provider log already retained under its policy, a support message already sent, analytics events already received, or a device backup.

6. Your privacy choices

• Choose a country or pack manually instead of using setup location.
• Change SpotAhead location access and Precise Location in iOS Settings.
• Live Activities are on by default. Automatic starts require the driving screen to be open and a confirmed motorway or expressway, after setup and access checks. Tap Start drive while parked to prepare a session. End drive stops the current session and its background location updates. Turning off Live Activities also prevents further starts, including after app relaunch, until you enable it again. Without an active drive session, moving the app to the background stops foreground location use. You can also revoke location access in iOS Settings.
• Install, update, and remove road packs inside SpotAhead.
• Change saved categories, brands, country, appearance, and navigator in Settings.
• Choose whether to hand a destination to a navigation provider.
• App usage analytics is automatic and has no in-app opt-out. Location and Live Activity controls do not turn it off. To ask about or request deletion of data already received, email privacy@spotahead.app. The identification limits and applicable rights are explained below; sending a request does not change collection settings on your device.
• Delete local app data by removing SpotAhead, subject to the limits above.

7. Your privacy rights

GDPR rights

Depending on the law that applies, you may request access, correction, erasure, restriction, or portability of personal data; object to processing based on legitimate interests; and withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing. You may also complain to the supervisory authority where you live, work, or believe an infringement occurred.

Send a request to privacy@spotahead.app. GDPR requests are normally answered within one month. We may need information sufficient to verify a request, but SpotAhead has no user account and most app data is available only on your device. Current app analytics records have per-event identifiers and no installation identifier. We may be unable to associate individual events with you. If we hold no server record that can be associated with you, we will explain that rather than collecting extra data solely to create a new identity link.

Rights under Türkiye Law No. 6698

Under Article 11, you may ask whether personal data is processed; request information about processing; learn its purpose and whether it is used consistently with that purpose; learn the recipients in Türkiye or abroad; request correction, erasure, or destruction where the legal conditions apply; request notice of correction, erasure, or destruction to recipients; object to a result against you produced solely by automated analysis; and claim compensation for damage from unlawful processing. Requests under Law No. 6698 are answered as soon as possible and no later than 30 days, subject to the procedure and permitted charges set by law.

SpotAhead does not use your personal data for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects, and it does not profile you for advertising.

8. International transfers, security, and children

Apple, Cloudflare, our analytics hosting/network providers, the destination mailbox provider, and navigation services may process data in countries outside yours. Cloudflare hosts and delivers the website through Cloudflare Workers and processes website delivery, pack-download, DNS, and email-routing data under the applicable Cloudflare Data Processing Addendum. Where required for transfers from the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK, Cloudflare's DPA provides for adequacy decisions, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, and the UK Addendum. Apple and navigation providers may act as independent controllers under their own privacy terms. For personal data subject to Türkiye's Law No. 6698, a transfer abroad must also satisfy Article 9. Depending on the transfer, this requires an applicable adequacy decision, an appropriate safeguard such as the Board's standard contract, or one of the limited incidental-transfer exceptions specified by law. The EU Standard Contractual Clauses and UK Addendum described above do not by themselves replace these Türkiye requirements. You may contact us to request information about the mechanism relied on for a specific transfer. You can request information about the relevant provider and safeguard using the privacy contact above, including the current analytics hosting location and transfer safeguards.

We use data minimization, no installation identifier in current app analytics, day-level event dates, a bounded local analytics queue, a persistent Live Activities off switch, foreground-started drive sessions with stop controls, iOS sandboxing, encrypted HTTPS requests, integrity checks for downloaded packs, and limited provider access. No system is completely secure, so we review controls and respond to incidents in proportion to the risk.

SpotAhead is not directed to children. It is designed as a road-stop companion for a driver or a passenger acting consistently with local safety and age rules. We do not knowingly create profiles of children. A parent or guardian can contact us about a concern.

9. Website data and cookies

The SpotAhead website uses self-hosted Umami analytics at izci.spotahead.app to measure website visits. The tracker sends the page URL, page title, referrer, screen size, and browser language. It does not set cookies or save visitor identifiers in browser storage. Website analytics does not receive location or drive data from the SpotAhead iPhone app.

The website has no account, contact form, advertising, or social-media pixel. Hosting, analytics, and security servers also receive normal HTTP information, such as IP address, user agent, requested path, and time. A hosting or security provider may use strictly necessary routing or security mechanisms. Contact us for current analytics retention information.

10. Contact and policy changes

Contact Resul Aybar Yazılım at privacy@spotahead.app for privacy questions or rights requests. General product help is available on the Support page.

We may update this policy when SpotAhead, its providers, or legal requirements change. The date above will change, and material changes will be brought to your attention in the app or by another appropriate method before they take effect when required.