Privacy policy
OutFour is a fishing map for Minnesota lakes, on the web at outfour.net and as an app for Android phones. It is run by StormsData L.L.C. (“we”). This policy says what the app does with your data. Questions go to support@outfour.net.
Effective date: November 3, 2026
1. The short version
- OutFour has no ads, and accounts are optional (section 12). The app and the website contain no analytics or tracking code. Without an account, we keep only daily totals of file requests (section 5). We don't sell your data.
- Your saved spots, your lakes, your settings and your trips are kept on your device. If you create an account and turn on sync, we also store your spots and My lakes in your account (section 12).
- Your location is used on your device. If you turn on sync, each saved spot's coordinates are uploaded to your account, so a spot saved from your location includes where you were. If you share a trip with Include my position on, the app sends one point rounded to about 150 m, every 10 minutes, when you check in or change the share, and when you tap Send update. That point is encrypted on your phone before it is sent, and it is deleted when the link ends (section 7).
- Android's own backup can copy your data to your Google account (section 8), and anything you export or share goes where you send it (section 7).
- To show the map, your device downloads map and lake files from our servers, as it would for any website.
2. What stays on your device
The app keeps these on your device:
- Saved spots: each spot's position, name, note and icon, when you saved it, and, for a spot saved from your location, how accurate that reading was.
- My lakes and your settings.
- Offline maps you choose to save, and the forecasts saved with them.
- Trips you record: the points along the trip, its times and figures, and its name. They are stored on your phone until you delete them, and they are never uploaded to your account.
On an Android phone they are in the app's private storage. On the web they are in your browser's storage for outfour.net. Clearing the site's data in your browser removes them, and Safari can clear a site's storage after 7 days without a visit. They leave the device only through Android's backup (section 8), when you export or share them (section 7), or, if you have an account and turn on sync, to your account (section 12).
3. Your location
- OutFour reads your location when you tap Show my location or Save my location, and while you record a trip, including when the screen is off. A trip records only after you tap Track trip and stops when you stop it.
- Your position is used on your device: to show where you are, to save a spot, to record a trip, and to show distances. It reaches us only as the coordinates of a spot you save and sync (section 12), or as a trip link's rounded point when you share a trip with Include my position on (section 7).
- After Show my location, the map moves to your area and downloads the map files for that area, like any map (section 4).
4. What our servers receive
When the app loads, your device requests files:
- Map and lake files come from our data host, tiles.outfour.net. Cloudflare answers each request, from its own copy when it has one; only a file it doesn't have yet is fetched from our server at OVHcloud. When on-demand aerial photos are on, some come from the U.S. Geological Survey: the first time anyone views an area, our server fetches its photo from USGS and keeps a copy. USGS sees only which map area our server asks for and when, never your IP address or who you are.
- On the web, the app's own files come from outfour.net.
Like any web request, each one carries your device's IP address and ordinary browser details, such as the browser or app version and your language. A request names the map tile or lake file wanted. These requests carry no account, no device ID, no cookie we set, and never your GPS position. When you look at an area, including your own after Show my location, the map files for that area are requested.
When you share a trip (section 7):
- The app sends the trip link's updates to our account service. With Include my position on, each update holds one point, rounded to about 150 m, sent every 10 minutes, when you check in or change the share, and when you tap Send update. It is encrypted on your phone before it is sent, and it is deleted when the link ends.
- People you send the link to load the trip page from trip.outfour.net. Their device asks our account service for the trip's latest update, which only the link can open, and requests map files from our data host, through Cloudflare, like any map: for the lake you named, or, when there is no lake or your position is away from it, for a wide area around the shared position, many miles across.
5. What we keep
- Without an account, we don't keep IP addresses, device IDs or browsing histories.
- If you use your account or ask for a one-time code, we keep a coded form of your email address, if your account has one, and of your IP address for up to 32 days, only to limit attempts. Your account itself holds no IP address (section 12).
- If you share a trip, we keep the trip link's record while the link works: your account, when the link started, was last updated and ends, and the trip details, encrypted on your phone so we can't read them. We delete it within 15 minutes of the link ending (section 7). Our database's own 7-day recovery copy holds it with the trip details still encrypted, and other backup copies are gone within 35 days.
- We read Cloudflare's aggregate request counts (requests per file per day, with no address and no device ID) to see how much the app is used. We keep those daily counts.
- The app and the website contain no analytics or crash-reporting code. The daily request totals above are our only usage figures.
6. Our service providers
Two companies run the servers that deliver OutFour's files. They process requests on our behalf:
- Cloudflare delivers the files and protects the servers from abuse: it limits how fast one address can request files, and it blocks requests from some large cloud and hosting networks. Cloudflare keeps records of requests and of blocked requests for a limited time (about a month), under its own privacy policy.
- OVHcloud hosts our server, in the United States, which stores the public map and lake files and sends Cloudflare any file it doesn't have yet. Our server's access log records only which file was asked for, the answer, its size and the time, never an IP address or other request details, and is kept for 7 days. OVHcloud works under its own privacy policy.
If you create an account, these companies also act for us:
- Cloudflare runs our account service and stores your account's data, including a trip link's record while it exists.
- Supabase verifies sign-ins. It receives your email address, the ID Google gives you if you use Google, the ID Facebook gives you if you use Facebook, and, when you use your Google account on the web or your Facebook account, your IP address. We request deletion of its profile of you after verification and retry if that fails; for a code you ask for and never use, its profile is deleted within 2 days. Its authentication logs are kept for 1 hour and its request logs for 1 day. Supabase works under its own privacy policy.
- SMTP2GO sends the one-time codes we email you. It receives your email address and the message, which holds only your code. Its record of each message, which may include the subject and the message text, is kept for up to 35 days. SMTP2GO works under its own privacy policy.
- Google, if you use your Google account, tells us your email address and an ID for you, under Google's own privacy policy.
- Facebook, if you use your Facebook account, tells Supabase your name, picture and email address and an ID for you, under Facebook's own privacy policy. We keep only the ID.
7. Sharing, exports and links
Your saved spots, lakes, settings and trips leave your device only when you choose to send them, or through Android's backup (section 8). The map's own file requests are in section 4.
- Exports and backups: when you export your spots (GPX, CSV or a backup file) or a trip (GPX), the app hands the file to your device's share sheet or saves it where you choose.
- Sharing a spot sends its position, name, note and icon, and nothing else. Your backup export keeps the full record (section 2).
- Live trip link: you can share a trip you are recording while you are signed in to your account. People with the link see the lake's name if you include it, your trip status and times, your back-by time and, if you turn on Include my position, one point rounded to about 150 m with its time, with or without a lake. This is encrypted on your phone; the key is only in the link, so we store it but can't read it. When you stop sharing or the trip ends, the link shows only that, with its time, for 2 hours, and then it ends. It ends 24 hours after it starts at the latest, and we delete it within 15 minutes of its end. Signing out of every device or deleting your account ends it at once. We never sell or pass on what you share.
- Anyone who has a trip link can see the trip, so send it only to people you trust. Stop sharing ends the updates and removes your position from the link at once.
- While a trip link works, it shows that you are away, and where if you include the lake or your position.
- When the shared position is beyond our map, the trip page shows an Open in Google Maps link for that point. Nothing goes to Google unless the person viewing taps it; then Google receives the point, under Google's own privacy policy.
- What people see or save on their own devices, such as a screenshot, is outside our reach.
- Links: directions open your maps app (Google Maps or Apple Maps) at the public access point's position, never yours. Links to agency websites (the Minnesota DNR, the National Weather Service) open those sites. Their own privacy policies apply there.
8. Android backup
If Android backup is on for your phone, Android copies your spots, My lakes and settings into your own Google account backup, so they can come back on a new phone or after a reinstall. Offline maps and recorded trips are not in that backup. The backup is Android's and Google's, under your Google account; we can't see it. You can turn backup off in your phone's settings.
9. Deleting your data
- Your account: in the app, Settings › Account › Delete account, or on the web at www.outfour.net/account/delete. This deletes your account and all data associated with it at once: your email address, your synced spots and My lakes, their earlier versions, your signed-in sessions, the email, Google or Facebook identity linked to it and any trip link you share. If you use Facebook, removing OutFour in Facebook's settings (Apps and websites) also deletes your account; that request is answered with a confirmation code and a page that shows its status. Copies in our backups are gone within 35 days. For security we keep only a record that an account was deleted (a coded ID and the date, no email address), and records of account events under that coded ID for up to 90 days. Coded rate-limit records expire within 32 days, and our providers keep their records as section 6 says. If you can't get into your account, write to support@outfour.net, and we reply to the account's address, if it has one, to confirm before anything is deleted.
- A live trip link: tap Stop sharing in the app or in the sharing notification. The link shows that sharing stopped for 2 hours, and we delete it within 15 minutes after that. Signing out of every device or deleting your account deletes it at once.
- A spot: delete it in My spots. After the few minutes in which you can undo it, the app keeps only what it needs to know that the spot was deleted, not where it was. If you sync, your account keeps the same, and the earlier copy stays in your account's history for 30 days; we delete older copies every day.
- A trip: delete it in Trips. Trips are only on your device.
- Everything on this device: Settings › Delete all my data removes everything the app keeps on your device: spots, My lakes, settings, trips, offline maps and saved exports, and it ends a trip link you are sharing. It doesn't delete your account; use Delete account.
- Uninstalling the app from an Android phone removes its data from the phone. A copy in your Google account backup (section 8) can come back if you reinstall with the same Google account.
- Copies you exported or shared are outside the app. Delete all my data doesn't reach them: they stay with whoever or wherever you sent them.
- Without an account, we keep no data about you in our own systems (section 5). Our providers keep their own request records for a limited time (section 6). You can write to us with any question.
10. Security
- Connections to our services use HTTPS.
- The app talks to our own servers, to Google only when you use your Google account, and to Facebook only when you use your Facebook account. It contains no analytics, advertising or tracking code.
- Without an account, nothing you create in the app is stored on our servers. With one, your synced data is stored in your account. Session tokens and codes are kept only in coded form, and your email address is stored encrypted. A shared trip is encrypted on your phone, and only the link holds the key.
11. Children
OutFour is meant for adults and isn't directed to children under 13. You must be 18 or older to create an account. Without an account, the app collects no personal information; sections 4 to 6 say what our servers and providers receive. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we delete it.
12. Accounts
An account is optional. You can use OutFour without one. You can open an account with your Google account or a code sent to your email, and later with your Facebook account. We don't keep the name or picture Google or Facebook sends. Your account holds:
- your email address (stored encrypted) if you use one, an account ID, the ID Google gives you if you use Google, and the ID Facebook gives you if you use Facebook;
- if you turn on sync: your saved spots (the details in section 2) and My lakes, and the earlier version of a spot you changed or deleted, for 30 days. Trips are never synced;
- records of your signed-in sessions: the kind (web or Android), when the session started and the day you last used it. A session ends after 180 days without use and after 1 year at most, and its record goes within two days;
- while you share a trip: the trip link's record (when it started, was last updated and ends, and the trip details, encrypted on your phone), until we delete it (section 7);
- a record of account events, such as sign-ins and deletions, for 90 days.
You must be 18 or older to create an account. To delete your account, see section 9.
13. Changes
When this policy changes, we post the new version here with its effective date.
14. Contact
StormsData L.L.C., support@outfour.net