VesselFlow

Privacy Policy

Effective October 11, 2026

This policy explains what the VesselFlow website at vesselflows.com (the “Site”) collects and why. The Site is operated by Caseadri LLC (“we”, “us”).

It covers the Site only. The VesselFlow iPhone app works differently and has its own privacy policy, linked at the end of this page.

The short version

What we collect automatically

Usage analytics. Through Google Analytics for Firebase we record which pages and features are used, such as opening a vessel, opening a port, running a search or saving a ship, along with your unit setting, how many ships you have saved, your browser and device type, and the approximate region Google derives from your IP address. A search is recorded as how long the query was and how many results it found, not what you typed.

Error reports. If the Site fails, a short description of the error and the Site’s version are sent through the same analytics service.

Security checks. To protect our servers from automated abuse, the Site uses Firebase App Check with Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise. reCAPTCHA collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data, and sends it to Google, whose Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply to it.

Network information. Like any website, the services that deliver the Site, its map tiles and its vessel photographs receive your IP address, browser type and the addresses requested, and may keep them in their logs.

Cookies and browser storage

Google Analytics can set first-party cookies (named _ga and _ga_ followed by an ID) that hold a random identifier, so visits from the same browser can be counted together.

If your browser’s time zone is in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, we ask before these cookies are set, and none are set unless you accept. Everywhere else they are on by default. Anyone can turn them on or off at any time under Analytics cookies in the site menu; turning them off deletes the ones already set. While they are off, Google Analytics still receives cookieless signals, such as that a page was viewed, without any identifier that links your visits together.

Some storage is needed for the Site to work and is not optional: Firebase keeps its security token in your browser’s storage, and reCAPTCHA may set its own cookie to tell people from automated traffic. Neither is used for analytics or advertising.

The Site itself stores the following in your browser, and none of it leaves your browser unless stated:

You can remove all of this by clearing the Site’s data in your browser settings. Blocking cookies or storage does not stop the Site working; it just forgets your saved ships and settings.

Your location

When you press Locate, your browser asks for permission to share your position. If you allow it, your position is used in your browser to centre the map and mark where you are. It is not sent to us, not stored, and not included in analytics, which record only that the button was pressed. As with any area you look at, the map then loads tiles and ships for that area. You can withdraw permission at any time in your browser settings.

Messages you send us

The contact form sends your message, the email address you give (if any), the Site’s version and your browser’s user agent. We use them to answer you and to fix what you report.

Photographs you submit or report

Submitting a photograph of a vessel, or reporting one, is optional. If you never do either, this section does not apply to you.

What is sent. When you submit a photograph, the Site sends the image, the credit name you typed, the vessel it relates to and this browser’s random identifier. The image is re-encoded in your browser before it is sent, which removes the metadata a camera writes into a photo file, including GPS coordinates, the date and time, and the camera or phone model. When you report a photograph, the Site sends the photograph’s identifier, the reason you chose, any note you wrote and the same browser identifier.

What is published. Nothing is published automatically. Every submission is held privately and reviewed by a person first. If it is published, the photograph and its credit name appear publicly on the Site and in the VesselFlow app, where anyone can see and save them. Nothing else about you is published.

Review. Submissions and credit names are placed in a private review queue hosted by GitHub, Inc. A submission may also be screened automatically by Replicate, Inc., running Google’s Gemini models, to check that it is a suitable photograph of a ship and that the credit name is publishable. Screening only removes clearly unsuitable submissions; a person makes every decision to publish, and neither Replicate nor Google uses the photograph to train models.

How long it is kept. A rejected photograph is deleted. A published one is kept while it is shown, and deleted, including from the delivery network’s cache, when it is withdrawn. A reported photograph is hidden at once, before anyone reviews it.

Removal. You can ask for a photograph you submitted to be removed at any time: Use Contact us in the site menu, or email support@vesselflows.com.

Please submit photographs of vessels only, and never photographs of children. Submissions that show identifiable people are rejected.

Service providers

These companies process information on our behalf, under their own privacy policies and our agreements with them:

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to protect our rights, your safety or the safety of others, or to investigate fraud.

How long we keep it

Analytics data is kept for the retention period set in Google Analytics and then deleted by Google. Contact messages and photograph records are kept only as long as reasonably needed to answer you, run the Site, keep it secure and meet legal obligations. Logs kept by our providers follow their own policies.

Your choices and rights

Analytics data is tied to a random cookie identifier, not to your name or email, so we usually cannot find it from a request; clearing your cookies ends the link between your past and future visits. Depending on where you live, for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or California, you may have further rights over your information, and we will honour them as the law requires. We may ask for details needed to find and verify the records involved.

Where it is processed

We and our providers are based in, or process data in, the United States and other countries. Information you send through the Site may be processed outside the country where you live.

Children

The Site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

The Site is served only over HTTPS, and we use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards to protect the information we hold. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date, and continuing to use the Site after that means you accept it.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about your information: Use Contact us in the site menu, or email support@vesselflows.com.

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