Privacy policy

Who we are

LineRef is an app for finding your Engineer's Line Reference (ELR), track and mileage on the Great Britain rail network. It is made by Surveyor.DEV Ltd ("we", "us"), a company registered in England and Wales (number 15601753) and the developer named on Google Play. We are responsible for the personal data described here. This policy covers the LineRef app and this website. Our contact address is at the foot of this page.

In short

• No account: the app doesn't ask for your name or email address.
• Your location is used on your phone and is not sent to us.
• Your notes, photos and saved places stay on your phone unless you share them.
• No advertising, no analytics or tracking tools, and we never sell data.

What stays on your phone

• Your location. The app uses your phone's GPS while it is open, to work out where you are on the railway. It doesn't keep a history of where you have been, and doesn't use your location in the background.
• Camera and photos. The camera is used only when you take a photo for a site note or a photo set. Photos are kept in the app's own storage. Photos and files you pick (such as map layers to import) are read only when you choose them.
• Your work. Worksites, site notes, photos, saved locations, map layers, chainage datums and settings stay on your phone. They leave it only when you share or export them, to wherever you choose.
• Offline maps and track data you download are kept on your phone until you delete them.

Uninstalling the app removes everything it kept on your phone.

What reaches our server

The app connects to our server to:

• download track data;
• show Ordnance Survey maps, and download them for offline use. Map requests show which area of the map is being looked at, not who is looking;
• check, when it starts and when you come back to it, which app versions are still supported, and for any notice from us. Nothing about you is sent to do this.

Like any web server, ours sees your device's internet (IP) address and the address of what was asked for. These go in its access logs, kept for up to six weeks for security and to fix problems, then deleted. We count how often track data is downloaded, without IP addresses.

LineRef Pro and the 30 days. To keep Pro working, the app must reach our server at least once every 30 days. It also notes on your phone the latest time it has seen, so that a clock set back can't stretch a subscription that has ended. Both are kept on your phone only.

Other services the app uses

• OpenStreetMap. If you choose the OpenStreetMap map, its pictures come straight from OpenStreetMap's servers, which see your IP address and the area viewed. See the OpenStreetMap Foundation's privacy policy.
• Google Play handles buying LineRef Pro and takes the payment. We never see your card details. See Google's privacy policy.
• RevenueCat checks Pro subscriptions for us. It receives the purchase details from Google Play, a random ID the app makes (not your name or email address) and basic details of the app and device (such as app version, Android version and country), so the app knows whether Pro is on. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
• Sharing. When you share a location, note, photo or export, it goes to the app you pick, under that app's own terms.

Google and RevenueCat are based in the United States, so some of this data is processed there, under safeguards recognised by UK data protection law.

This website and the test programme

• Asking to test. If you ask for test access, we keep the name, email address, company and use case you give us, to decide who to invite and to send the invitation.
• Tester accounts. If you are invited, you get an account here. We keep your name, email address, password (stored scrambled, so we can't read it), when you agreed to the test's terms and last signed in, and the feedback and screenshots you send.
• Email. We send emails about your request and your account through our email provider. We don't send marketing emails.
• Cookies. The website sets only the cookies it needs to work: one for your visit (which keeps you signed in, if you have an account) and one that protects its forms; both end a couple of hours after you leave. If you tick "Remember me" when signing in, another keeps you signed in on that browser until you sign out. Your light or dark choice is kept in your browser. There are no advertising or analytics cookies.

We keep test programme details while the test runs and delete them when it ends, or at any time you ask. Deleted details can remain in our backups for up to 14 days.

Why we use your data

• To provide the app and website you ask for, including track data, maps and Pro.
• To keep them secure and working, through server logs and the 30-day check (our legitimate interests).
• To run the test programme you asked to join.

Keeping it safe

Connections to our server are encrypted (HTTPS), and access to the server and its admin is limited to us. What the app keeps on your phone is in its own storage, which other apps can't read.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to correct it, delete it, or stop using it. Contact us at the address below. Most of what LineRef uses never reaches us: it is on your phone, where you control it.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

LineRef is meant for people working on or around the railway and enthusiasts. It is not aimed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has sent us their details, contact us and we will delete them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with its date. If a change affects what the app does with your data, we will also say so in the app.

A contact address is coming soon.