Privacy Policy
Effective October 26, 2026 · Published by Upriver Innovations, LLC
This policy explains how GaugeCast, an app by Upriver Innovations, LLC ("we"), handles your information.
At a glance
- GaugeCast has no accounts, ads, analytics, or tracking.
- We don't collect your name, email, contacts, or location.
- Your favorites and watch levels stay on your device.
- Alerts are free and don't use your iCloud storage. Apple delivers them using an anonymous identifier it creates for the app.
- River and weather data comes directly from NOAA and the National Weather Service.
Information stored on your device
GaugeCast keeps these settings on your iPhone only. They are not sent to us:
- Your favorite gauges and the gauge you viewed last
- Watch levels you set on a gauge
- Display preferences, such as Flow or Stage
- A cached copy of the public gauge list
Deleting the app removes them.
Location
If you allow it, GaugeCast uses your location while the app is open to center the gauge map near you. Your location is not stored and is not sent to us or to anyone else by GaugeCast. You can turn location access off at any time in Settings, and the map still works.
Alerts and iCloud
Alerts are free. Turning one on doesn't sign you up for anything, make a purchase, or use your iCloud storage.
To deliver an alert, GaugeCast saves two small items in the app's own database on Apple's iCloud servers (Apple CloudKit):
- Your alert setting: the gauge ID, the level you chose, and the alert text.
- A note of the gauge ID, so our service knows which gauges to check.
Both are linked to an anonymous identifier that Apple creates for GaugeCast. It does not include your name, email address, or Apple Account, and we cannot use it to identify you. Other GaugeCast users cannot see your alerts. Apple delivers the notifications to your devices. Turning an alert off deletes it, and turning off a gauge's last alert deletes that gauge's note.
Alerts work only when you're signed in to iCloud. If you're not, the rest of the app works normally.
Our service
A small service we run on Cloudflare checks NOAA every 15 minutes for the gauges people have alerts on, and publishes the latest readings to the app's iCloud database. It only reads gauge IDs and the anonymous identifiers attached to them. It never receives your name, location, or device information, and it is not contacted by the app.
Data from NOAA, the National Weather Service, and USGS
The app requests river data from api.water.noaa.gov, snow-level forecasts from api.weather.gov, and crest history from the U.S. Geological Survey at api.waterdata.usgs.gov. These requests include gauge IDs and the gauge's map coordinates, never your location. Like any website, these U.S. government services receive your device's IP address when the app contacts them, and their own privacy policies apply.
Apple services
GaugeCast relies on Apple for iCloud (CloudKit), push notifications, and maps. If you test the app through TestFlight, Apple may share crash reports and any feedback you choose to send with us. Apple's handling of this data is covered by Apple's Privacy Policy.
Children
GaugeCast is not directed to children under 13, and it does not knowingly collect information from anyone.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we'll update it here and change the effective date above.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Contact Upriver Innovations, LLC at support@upriverinnovations.com.