Privacy Policy

1. The short version

      Tether's privacy story in plain English: We collect your precise location and a minimal identity (a display name and, optionally, a phone number) only while an event you joined is active. We share that data only with the other members of that specific event. We never use it for advertising. We never sell it. We delete it automatically when your event ends.
    

Tether is a location-sharing utility app for short-lived group events — gamedays, concerts, field trips, nights out. It is not a social network, and we have no commercial interest in your location history.

This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, who can see it, and when it is deleted. If you have questions, write to us at privacy@tether-safety.com.

2. What we collect

We collect the minimum data necessary to provide the app's core function: letting members of a group see each other on a shared map during an active event.

Data type	Why we collect it	Linked to you?	Used for tracking?
Precise location	Powers the shared map and geofence alerts during an active event	No — only an event-scoped pseudonymous ID	No
Display name	Shown to other members of your event so they can identify you on the map	Yes — visible to event members only	No
Phone number (optional)	Used only for SOS alerts if a member cannot be reached through the app	Yes — visible to the event host only	No

We do not collect your Apple or Google account details, contacts, photos, microphone, or any other sensor data beyond location and camera (used only for QR code scanning).

"Used for tracking" has a specific legal meaning under Apple's App Store guidelines: linking data from your use of Tether with data collected from other apps or websites for advertising or data-broker purposes. We never do this.

3. How we use it

We use the data we collect solely to operate Tether's core features:

Displaying your position on the group's shared map during an active event
Detecting when you cross the event's geofence boundary and sending alerts to your buddy and/or the group
Sending SOS notifications if your battery reaches a critical level during an active event
Enabling P2P in-app navigation ("find your way back to the group")

We do not use your location for marketing, analytics profiling, aggregated advertising datasets, or any purpose beyond operating the event you are currently participating in.

4. Who we share it with

Your location is shared only with the other members of your active Tether event — the people who joined via the same QR code or invite link as you. It is never shared with:

Advertisers or advertising networks
Data brokers or analytics companies
Other Tether users outside your event
Any third-party service for commercial purposes

We may share data if required by law (such as a valid court order), but we will notify you unless legally prohibited from doing so. We will never voluntarily cooperate with government surveillance requests beyond what is legally compelled.

Third-party infrastructure: Tether uses Firebase (Google) for real-time event state and cloud infrastructure. Firebase processes event data on our behalf under a data-processing agreement. Firebase does not receive your location data for its own commercial use.

5. How long we keep it

Location data and event state are deleted automatically when your event's timer expires. A Firebase Cloud Function runs on the expiry timestamp and scrubs all coordinates and session data associated with that event from our servers.

Display names and phone numbers provided during an event are deleted at the same time as location data.

We retain anonymized crash logs and app-performance metrics for up to 30 days to diagnose bugs. These logs do not contain location data or personally identifiable information.

      Privacy by design: We built the auto-wipe as a core architectural feature, not an optional setting. There is no way for a Tether employee to retrieve a past event's location history after the expiry timestamp, because the data no longer exists on our servers.
    

6. Your rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights under applicable privacy law (including the California Consumer Privacy Act and similar regulations):

Right to know — what data we hold about you
Right to delete — request deletion of your data (note: event data is deleted automatically; we can confirm this for you)
Right to opt out — of sale of your personal information (we do not sell personal information)
Right to non-discrimination — we will not treat you differently for exercising privacy rights

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@tether-safety.com. We will respond within 45 days.

7. Children's privacy

Tether is rated 12+ on the Apple App Store. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@tether-safety.com and we will delete it promptly.

For users between 13 and 17, we recommend that a parent or guardian review this policy and consent to the use of the app.

8. Security

All data transmitted between Tether and our servers is encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher. Event state stored in Firebase is encrypted at rest. Access to our backend systems is restricted to authorized Tether-safety LLC personnel only.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If you discover a security vulnerability, please report it responsibly to security@tether-safety.com before public disclosure.

9. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you through the app before the changes take effect. Your continued use of Tether after the notification constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

The current effective date is always shown at the top of this page. You can request past versions by emailing privacy@tether-safety.com.

10. Contact us

Questions about this policy or how we handle data:

Email: privacy@tether-safety.com
Mail: Tether-safety LLC, Huntsville, Alabama 35801
Support: tether-safety.com/support

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 5 business days.