Lighthouse Guide (U.S. Lighthouse Guide & Canadian Lighthouse Guide)
Last updated: September 6, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how the Lighthouse Guide mobile apps (published as U.S. Lighthouse Guide and Canadian Lighthouse Guide by lighthousefriends.com LLC, the “App”) handle your information. We have designed the App to keep your data on your device, and in your own hands where it leaves it.
The App lets you keep a personal journal about lighthouses (for example: whether you have visited, favorited, or collected a stamp, plus ratings, dates, and free-form notes). This information is stored in the App’s local database on your device. On iPhone and iPad it is also synced through your own iCloud account, as described in the next section. We do not have access to it in either place, and it is never transmitted to us.
On iPhone and iPad, the App keeps your journal in step across the devices signed in to your Apple Account, using Apple’s iCloud (CloudKit). This is on by default. There is no account of ours and nothing to sign in to — the App uses the iCloud account already on the device.
Your entries are stored in the private part of your iCloud account, which belongs to you. We cannot read it, we never receive a copy, and nothing about your journal reaches a server of ours. That storage is provided by Apple and governed by Apple’s privacy policy, not by us.
You can turn sync off at any time in the App under More → Settings → Sync → iCloud Sync. Turning it off stops any further syncing and leaves your journal on the device. Entries already stored in your iCloud account can be removed from your device’s iCloud storage settings, the same way as for any other app.
Sync is iOS-only. On Android, your journal stays on the device except through Google’s own backup, described next.
Your in-App journal may also leave your device through a backup you enable yourself — for example Apple iCloud Backup or Google’s Android backup. Those backups are controlled by you and governed by Apple’s and Google’s privacy policies, not by us. We never receive a copy.
Besides the iCloud sync described above, which talks only to your own iCloud account, the App loads two kinds of content over the internet: lighthouse photos from lighthousefriends.com and map tiles from OpenStreetMap. Like any web request, fetching this content tells the server that hosts it your device’s IP address and basic technical details (such as device or browser type) so it can return the image. These are requests for static images and maps only — the App does not attach your journal entries, your identity, or any usage tracking to them.
The App can help you report a problem with the lighthouse directory — the “Suggest a correction” badge on a lighthouse, and “Suggest an update” in the More menu. Both do the same thing: they open a pre-filled draft in your own mail app, addressed to app@lighthousefriends.com. The App itself transmits nothing. You can read and edit the entire draft, and it is sent only if you send it.
If you do send it, we receive what any email gives us: your email address, your message, and the short footer the draft adds — the lighthouse the report is about, the App version, which edition you are using (U.S. or Canadian), and your platform. All of that is visible to you in the draft before you send it.
We use that correspondence only to act on your report and to reply to you. It is not added to any mailing list, not shared or sold. To ask what we hold about you, or to have your correspondence deleted, write to kraig@lighthousefriends.com.
If you would rather not share your email address with us, the report sheet offers Copy report instead, which puts the report on your clipboard so you can send it however you prefer.
The map has a “my location” button that centers the map on where you are. It works only when you tap it and grant the App permission to use your location; the first tap asks your device for that permission. Your location is read on your device and used only to move the map — it is never stored, logged, or transmitted to us or anyone else. You can deny or revoke the permission at any time in your device settings, and the rest of the App keeps working without it.
The Browse screen also shows a Nearby region: the lighthouses within a distance you choose, ordered by how far away they are. If you have already granted permission, your location is read when you open Browse; if you have not, nothing is requested until you tap the Nearby tile, which is what asks your device for permission. Your position is used on your device to measure distances to the bundled lighthouse coordinates — it is never stored, logged, or transmitted. The App does not track you: it takes a single reading, and updates it only when you pull to refresh or return to the App after a while.
The lighthouse coordinates shown on maps are part of the bundled directory data, not your position.
When you download the App from the Apple App Store or Google Play, the platform may collect diagnostic and crash information (such as crash logs, device model, and operating-system version) to help us understand and fix problems. This is handled by Apple and Google under their own policies. Where the platform allows, this data is aggregated and not used to identify you personally.
The App does not currently include any third-party analytics or advertising software. If we add crash-reporting or basic, aggregate usage analytics in the future, it will be limited to diagnostic and aggregated usage data, and we will update this policy to describe it before doing so.
The App may link to external websites. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their content or practices.
The App is a general-audience reference and is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Continued use of the App after an update means you accept the revised policy.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us at kraig@lighthousefriends.com.