Legal information
Privacy Policy
Last updated
Your surveys belong to you. SpeleoX works on your devices and can synchronise through your Apple Account. This policy explains what is processed, where it goes and the choices you have.
Who is responsible
This policy covers the SpeleoX app for iPhone, iPad and Mac, this website and support communications. “We” refers to Stefano Novelli, the app developer and the controller of personal information handled for website operation and support. VAT number: IT01865280679.
For privacy questions or requests, contact us at the email address below. You do not need a SpeleoX account to use the app. Your Apple Account, iCloud, App Store and any services you choose for sharing files are governed by their own providers as explained below.
Surveys and information stored by the app
SpeleoX processes the surveys you create or import: cave and station names, measurements, survey legs and splays, drawings, notes, survey dates, entrance coordinates and elevation, and any surveyor names, initials or group you enter. Station photos and panoramas you capture or select are saved with the survey. These fields may contain personal information if you choose to include it.
This information is used to record, calculate, display, edit and export your surveys. It is stored in the app’s local database and files, and may synchronise through iCloud. We do not operate a separate SpeleoX server that receives your survey library, and the app does not publish it to a public database.
Settings and technical identifiers used to keep records and devices in sync are also stored locally or in your iCloud data. They are not advertising identifiers. SpeleoX does not create a behavioural profile, sell your information, use it for advertising, or make automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on you.
iCloud synchronisation and device backups
When iCloud is available and enabled for SpeleoX in your Apple Account settings, the app can synchronise its survey library automatically using a private CloudKit database associated with that account. This includes survey records, notes, drawings, entrance coordinates, surveyor details saved in surveys, and station image data. It is not a public or shared community database.
Selected preferences, such as measurement units and export settings, synchronise through Apple’s iCloud key-value storage. The surveyor profile you enter in Settings uses synchronisable Apple Keychain storage. Copies of that profile already included in individual surveys are part of those survey records.
Apple provides these services. You can manage their availability through your device’s Apple Account and iCloud settings. Disabling synchronisation does not itself erase existing cloud copies. SpeleoX does not receive your Apple Account password. Local survey work does not require a continuous internet connection; synchronisation requires connectivity and a working iCloud account.
Your operating system may also include app data in a device backup, depending on your backup settings. A device backup is separate from the app’s live iCloud synchronisation. Apple’s terms explain its storage, security, retention and account controls; we do not promise a particular iCloud storage country or level of encryption for every data category.
Camera, photos, location, motion and Bluetooth
Features and permissions vary by device. The operating system asks for permission where required. You can refuse or revoke access in the device’s privacy settings; the feature that needs it will be limited. Manual survey entry remains available.
- Camera and selected photos
- The camera supports measurement assistance, station photographs and panorama capture. The system photo picker gives the app the images you select for a station, rather than continuous access to your entire library. Image processing, including panorama stitching with OpenCV, runs on your device; saved images may then synchronise with the survey through iCloud.
- Location and compass
- When you request an entrance fix, SpeleoX uses location and heading information to record coordinates, elevation, date and, where available, magnetic declination. The app does not continuously track your route in the background. You can also enter survey information manually.
- Motion sensors
- Motion and orientation readings support camera-based inclination measurements and guidance during panorama capture. The app processes these readings on the device for those features.
- Bluetooth
- Bluetooth connects to supported surveying instruments and receives their measurements and connection information. An active surveying connection may continue in the background where the operating system permits it. This is a connection to your instrument, not a location-tracking or advertising service.
Apple Maps and diagnostics
Surface maps use Apple MapKit. Loading map content contacts Apple and discloses the requested map area and technical information needed to provide that service. Denying location permission does not prevent requests for map areas you view. Apple handles its mapping data under its own privacy terms.
SpeleoX does not include advertising, third-party usage analytics or a third-party crash-reporting service. Apple may process App Store usage information, diagnostics or TestFlight feedback under your Apple settings and its own terms, and may make reports available to the developer. We use reports made available to us to understand faults and improve reliability, not for advertising or tracking.
Importing and sharing files
SpeleoX reads project files you explicitly open or select and writes files you choose to export. Exported projects or documents can contain surveyor names, notes, location details and images, depending on the format and options you choose.
When you share or save a file, you choose its destination in the system interface. The selected recipient, app or storage provider then handles that copy under its own terms. Review files before sharing, particularly if they contain personal information or sensitive cave locations. Deleting the original survey does not delete files you exported or copies held by recipients.
This website and your language preference
This is a static website delivered through Cloudflare. Requests necessarily include technical information such as your IP address, requested URL, date and time, browser information and request headers. Cloudflare processes this information to deliver and secure the site, and may retain technical or security logs under its service policies. We do not add advertising pixels, tracking cookies or a visitor analytics script.
On the home page, browser language preferences are read locally to suggest the appropriate translated URL. If you explicitly select a language, the website stores only that language code in your browser’s local storage under “speleox-language”. It is used to remember your choice, not to identify you or follow you across websites. The selected language is also visible in the page URL and therefore in normal website requests.
The language preference remains until you change it or clear this site’s browser data. Browser settings can block local storage; translated pages and language links remain usable. Fonts are served from this site, so viewing a page does not require a request to Google Fonts.
Support messages
If you email us, we receive your email address, any name you provide, your message and attachments, together with normal email delivery metadata. We use them to answer you, investigate the issue and maintain the relevant support history. Our email service provider processes these messages to deliver and store them. Sending a message is optional and is not required to use the app.
Send only the information needed for your request. In particular, remove personal details or confidential cave locations from project files unless they are necessary to explain a problem. We do not add support contacts to a marketing mailing list.
Purposes, legal bases and recipients
Where the GDPR applies to information we handle, we process support information to respond to your request or provide a requested service (Article 6(1)(b)); technical website data and necessary support records on the basis of our legitimate interests in operating a secure, reliable service and resolving issues (Article 6(1)(f)); and records required by law to meet those obligations (Article 6(1)(c)). If a particular optional processing activity relies on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.
Information is disclosed only as needed to the infrastructure and email providers supporting these purposes, to services you choose, or where required by law. Providers acting on our behalf must protect the information and use it only for the contracted purposes. Apple provides the device, iCloud, mapping and store services described above under its applicable terms. We do not sell or rent personal information.
Apple, Cloudflare, email infrastructure or a service you choose may process information outside your country, including outside the European Economic Area. Applicable provider terms describe their locations and transfer safeguards. Where a transfer is made on our behalf, applicable data-protection law requires an appropriate safeguard, such as an adequacy decision or Standard Contractual Clauses. Contact us for information about safeguards relevant to your request.
Retention and deletion
Survey records remain on your devices and in the associated iCloud storage until you remove them. End any active recording session, then delete the survey from the app’s library. Individual station photos can be deleted from the station photo interface. Deletions in a synchronised library propagate when iCloud synchronisation succeeds; an offline device may retain its previous copy until it reconnects.
You can clear your surveyor name, initials and group in the app’s Settings. This does not rewrite surveyor details already saved in surveys or exported files; edit or delete those separately. For cloud data and backups, also review the storage and backup controls in your Apple Account settings. Removing the app alone should not be treated as erasing iCloud data, Keychain entries, other devices, backups or exported copies.
We retain support messages only for as long as needed to resolve and follow up on your request, address related disputes or meet legal obligations. The criteria are the status of the request, any ongoing issue and applicable legal retention duties. Technical website data follows the hosting provider’s service and security retention rules. We do not maintain an additional visitor-profile database.
To request deletion of information you sent us, email the contact below. We can act on information we hold; we cannot directly erase a survey library stored only on your devices or in your private Apple Account. We will explain any retention required by law rather than promise that every record can be erased immediately.
Your rights and choices
Depending on applicable law and the basis for processing, you may request access, correction, erasure, restriction or a portable copy of your personal information, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. You may withdraw consent where consent is the basis for processing. Contact us to exercise these rights; we may need proportionate information to verify the request.
You can complain to your local data-protection authority. In Italy, this is the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali. You do not need to contact us before making a complaint.
SpeleoX is not designed to solicit personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information through support, contact us so we can address the request under applicable law.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when the app or our handling of information changes, and revise the date above. Material changes will be communicated where required by law. The privacy, licence and credits pages are maintained in English, independently of the language chosen for the home page.