Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 1, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Elements Technologies LLC ("we", "us") collects, uses, and shares information when you use Tail ID ("the app").
TL;DR
| Do we show ads? | No |
|---|---|
| Do we sell your data? | No |
| Do we track you across other apps? | No |
| Do we need an account to identify aircraft? | No |
| Where's the data hosted? | Hetzner (EU) + Supabase (US) |
1. What we collect
1.1. Information you give us
- Aircraft photos and (optional) videos you capture in the app. We send these to our identification backend so our AI vision system can identify the aircraft.
- Manual registration entries when you type a tail number.
- Email address (only if you choose to sign in to use the logbook / achievement features). We use a passwordless OTP login.
- Approximate location at capture time (only if you grant location permission). Used to suggest the most likely aircraft by nearby airport. Coordinates are kept at airport-level precision (~5 km).
1.2. Information collected automatically
- Device language — read locally from your OS, used to render the UI. Not sent to our servers.
- App version, OS version, device model — included with crash reports.
- Anonymous crash and error reports — stack traces, no PII.
1.3. Information we do NOT collect
- Contacts, photo library (only photos you explicitly capture), microphone (except during video recording), background data.
- Advertising identifiers.
- Cross-app tracking signals.
2. How we use it
- To identify the aircraft in your photo (AI vision).
- To return aircraft data sourced from public registries (FAA et al.) and our own platform.
- To attribute captures to your account — your personal aviation logbook.
- To award achievements for first captures, rare aircraft, etc.
- To improve identification accuracy via anonymized capture metadata. Opt out in Settings.
3. How we share it
We share data only with:
- OpenAI — your captured photo is sent to OpenAI's API for vision-based identification. Per OpenAI's API policy, inputs are not used to train their models. Photos are not retained after processing.
- Supabase (database) and Hetzner (file storage) — infrastructure that hosts our backend and your captured photos.
- Sister Tail properties (TailPhotos, TailVideos, TailExchange) — captures you choose to contribute become part of the public aircraft media record on those properties, always under your username and attribution.
We do NOT sell your data, share it with advertisers, or provide it to data brokers.
4. Where data lives
- Database — Supabase (US region).
- Captured photos and videos — Hetzner Object Storage in Nuremberg, Germany.
- Served via Cloudflare CDN for delivery.
Data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256).
5. Retention
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Captured photos / videos | Indefinitely, unless you delete them |
| Logbook entries | Indefinitely, unless you delete your account |
| Crash reports | 90 days |
| Anonymous identification telemetry | 12 months |
6. Your rights
You can:
- See everything we have on you — email support@tailid.app.
- Delete your account and all associated data — in app: Settings → Account → Delete, or email us. We respond within 30 days.
- Opt out of identification telemetry — Settings → Privacy.
- Withdraw location permission at any time via your OS settings. The app still works without it.
EU residents have GDPR rights including portability, correction, and erasure. California residents have CCPA / CPRA rights including knowing what's collected and requesting deletion.
7. Children
Tail ID is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.
8. Changes to this policy
We'll post changes here with an updated date. Material changes that reduce your privacy rights will be announced in-app at least 30 days before they take effect.
9. Contact
Elements Technologies LLC
support@tailid.app