Privacy Policy
Guardian collects only what the features you turn on actually need. This policy lists every category we store, who we send it to, and how to get rid of it.
Last updated: August 5, 2026
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: [email protected].
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, WhatsApp, or Telegram address 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 — only when you set it. Each vehicle can have one last-known position, so the app can show you where it is. You set it explicitly, either by tapping to use your device’s GPS or by typing coordinates in yourself; nothing is recorded until you do. We store just that single most recent fix — latitude, longitude, its accuracy radius, when it was taken, and whether it came from GPS or from you — and each new one replaces the last. Guardian never tracks you in the background and keeps no location history: it asks your device for a position only at the moment you tap the button, never while the app is closed. You can clear the position at any time.
- 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 background or continuous location tracking. Guardian reads your device’s GPS only in the moment you ask it to pin a vehicle’s position, never on a schedule and never while the app is closed — and it keeps no trail of past positions.
- 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 for their marketing. Ever.
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:
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google Firebase | Sign-in (Firebase Auth), data storage (Firestore), push notifications (FCM) |
| Cloudflare | Hosting the cloud service and this website; inbound support-email routing |
| Resend | Sending alert and support emails |
| Twilio | SMS alerts (paid tiers, only if you add a mobile number) |
| Meta (WhatsApp) / Telegram | WhatsApp or Telegram alerts (paid tiers, only if you add one) |
| Google Workspace | Support mailbox |
| OpenStreetMap | Map tiles for the dashboard mini-map — loading them tells OpenStreetMap’s tile servers roughly where the pinned position is. Shown only once a vehicle has a position set. |
| LinkTap | Valve commands are relayed through LinkTap’s cloud, under your own LinkTap account and its terms |
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, WhatsApp, and Telegram 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/WhatsApp/Telegram addresses 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 [email protected] 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.