Privacy Policy

Boat & RV Guardian (“Guardian”) is made by SC4 Technologies LLC (“we”, “us”), the developer listed on the app stores at sc4tech.com. This policy covers the Guardian apps, the hosted cloud at api.boatrvguardian.com, and this website. Questions: support@boatrvguardian.com.

How Guardian works

Guardian needs an account. You sign in, and the app talks both directly to your sensors and valve gateway on the vehicle’s own network and to our hosted cloud at api.boatrvguardian.com, which is what makes remote access, alerts, and sharing possible.

Much of the work still happens on the vehicle’s own network rather than through us — the app reads your sensors and commands your valve over the LAN when it can, and keeps its own on-device history regardless of your plan. What we store on the server is listed below, and it is limited to what the features you turn on actually require.

What the hosted cloud stores

• Account. Your email address and optional display name, via Firebase Authentication (Google). We use your account email to deliver alerts you enable and support replies — nothing else.
• Vehicle configuration. Your vehicles, their device setup, and settings, so they sync across your devices.
• Last-known sensor state. The most recent readings from your sensors (water flow, flood alarms, battery voltage, shore power), so the app can show status from anywhere.
• Sensor history — only if you opt in. Hosted history is off unless you turn it on, and it is kept only for your plan’s retention window (Free: none — on-device only; Basic: about 1 month; Premium: about 3 years). Older history is pruned automatically every day.
• Notification addresses. A push token for your devices (Firebase Cloud Messaging), and — on paid tiers, if you set them up — a mobile number or WhatsApp number for escalation. Each address is verified with a code before anything is sent to it.
• Valve credentials. If you connect a LinkTap valve, the LinkTap API credential you provide, used solely to command your valve (including the automatic flood shutoff).
• Vehicle position. Each vehicle can have one last-known position, so the app can show you where it is: latitude, longitude, its accuracy radius, when it was taken, and where it came from. Each new fix replaces the last, and you can clear it at any time. There are two ways it gets set, and you choose which:
  • By hand (the default). Nothing is recorded until you tap to use your device’s GPS or type coordinates yourself. If you never add a location source, this is the only way a position is ever stored.
  • From a location source you add. If you set one up — your phone’s GPS, a supported router’s GPS, or an NMEA feed aboard — the app reads it automatically while the app is open, either on a schedule or as a continuous feed, so features like the anchor alarm and the theft security zone can work. Fixes from a location source are also sent to our servers as sensor readings, which means they are kept as history for your plan’s retention window (see “Sensor history” above), not just as a single latest position. Turning the source off stops both.
  Guardian never reads your device’s location while the app is closed. There is no background location service: when you close the app, position reading stops. The away-from-boat anchor and security-zone watches run on our servers against positions your app already reported — they cannot reach your phone.
• Sharing. If you share a vehicle, the invited account and its role on that vehicle.
• Support tickets. If you email support, the email address and message content, kept as a ticket thread so we can reply.

What we don’t do

• No location tracking with the app closed, and none at all unless you set up a location source. Guardian has no background location service: it reads your device’s GPS when you tap to pin a position, and — only if you add your phone as a location source — automatically while the app is open. Close the app and it stops.
• No analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs in the app; no analytics or tracking cookies on this website.
• No selling or renting of your data, and no sharing with third parties or affiliates for their marketing. Ever.

SMS and mobile information

If you add a mobile number for SMS alerts, we use it solely to send the verification code you request and the alert texts you opted into (see the Terms of Service, “SMS text alerts”).

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. Information sharing with subcontractors in support services, such as customer service and message delivery, is permitted — Telnyx, the SMS and WhatsApp delivery provider listed under Service providers below, processes your number and opt-in status strictly on our behalf to deliver the messages you signed up for, never for its own purposes.

Alerts to other people

If you add an email address that isn’t your own account’s to a vehicle’s alerts, that person must confirm first (double opt-in) — nothing is delivered until they click the confirmation link. Every alert email carries an unsubscribe link that can stop just that kind of alert, all alerts for that vehicle, or all email from us, permanently.

Service providers

The hosted cloud runs on a small set of infrastructure providers, each used only for the purpose listed:

Your data, your controls

• Delete everything. Full account deletion is built into the app — it removes your account and your hosted data.
• Export. On-device history is always yours, on every tier; hosted history adds CSV export on Premium.
• Turn off what you don’t want. Hosted history is off until you switch it on, a vehicle’s position is stored only if you set one, and SMS and WhatsApp destinations exist only if you add and verify them. Each can be removed in the app.
• Unsubscribe. Every alert email includes an unsubscribe link; verified SMS and WhatsApp numbers can be removed in the app at any time.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional legal rights over your personal data (such as access, correction, or deletion). Email support@boatrvguardian.com and we’ll honor them.

Payments

Paid plans are not yet billable. When they are, payment will be handled by Stripe or by your app store (Google Play / Apple In-App Purchase) — your card details will go to the processor and will never touch our servers. This policy will be updated before we take the first payment.

Children

Guardian is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, we’ll update the date at the top and note it in the release notes. The current version always lives at this address.