01
Overview
Morston (“the App”) is a tides, weather and Cockle racing helper for Blakeney Harbour and nearby quays. It is provided free of charge, without warranty. The App is not intended for navigation.
02
Data we collect
Morston does not require an account. We do not operate a server that stores your personal profile.
Optional location — harbour alerts
If you turn on Pit alerts, the App uses your device’s location to detect when you enter or leave a defined harbour area (Morston Creek, Blakeney Pit, Quay, and Bar). Location is used only for optional harbour alerts and is not stored or shared by us. Enter/exit detection and notification scheduling happen on your iPhone.
Optional location — Race Mode
If you use Cockle Race Mode, the App uses your GPS position and compass heading to show live distance, bearing and rounding guidance to racing marks, including while your phone is locked or in your pocket during an active race (iOS shows an indicator while this is happening). Background location runs only while a race or start countdown is active and stops when it ends. Your position and route are processed on your devices only — they are never stored, uploaded or shared by us.
Boat profile and race log
Your boat’s name, sail number and strake colour, and your recorded race results (date, course, laps, elapsed time), are stored locally on your device. They are shared only if you choose to publish a result to Club Results.
App preferences
Settings such as harbour choice, tender timing, and units are stored locally on your device (and in the App Group shared with the home-screen widget).
Feedback
If you email a suggestion, you choose what to send; we do not collect feedback automatically.
03
Club Results sharing (iCloud)
Publishing a race result to Club Results is entirely optional and happens only when you tap Publish. A published result contains your boat name, sail number, course, laps, elapsed time and race date, and is stored in a shared Apple iCloud (CloudKit) public database where other users of the App can see it.
You can unpublish your own results at any time from the Race Log, which removes them from the shared database. Sharing uses your device’s iCloud account; we do not receive your Apple ID or personal iCloud data.
04
Apple Watch
If you use the companion Apple Watch app, harbour and race information is synced between your iPhone and Watch using Apple’s device-to-device connection. During a race the Watch runs a sailing workout session solely to keep the display and alerts available on your wrist.
No health or fitness data is read, recorded or saved — the session exists only so the Watch stays awake; watchOS asks for Health permission once because Apple requires it for any workout session.
05
Third-party services
To show forecasts and tides, the App requests data from third parties. Those services receive coordinates for your selected harbour (or fixed marine grid points), not a continuous track of your movement.
- Apple WeatherKit Weather forecasts, subject to Apple’s terms and privacy policy.
- Met Office Weather DataHub Global Spot Forecasts (powered by Met Office data)
- WorldTides Tide times and heights.
- Tempest, Holfuy & Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme Live wind, wave and weather data from three different harbour stations.
- Open-Meteo NOAA GFS atmospheric forecasts and marine wave/swell model data (DWD ICON Wave; see open-meteo.com).
- Apple iCloud / CloudKit Optional Club Results sharing, subject to Apple’s terms and privacy policy.
Each provider has its own privacy policy. Morston does not control how they process data.
06
Notifications & calendar
Local notifications — optional
Great Tides alerts, Pit high-tide alerts, and similar reminders are scheduled on your device. No push notification server operated by us is required for these features.
Calendar — optional
If you add events to your calendar, the App accesses the calendar only with your permission to create those entries.
07
Location permission
You can use most of Morston without location access. If you enable Pit alerts or Race Mode, iOS will ask for location permission. “Always” is optional but helps detect harbour entry when the App is in the background. You can revoke permission, disable Pit alerts, or end a race at any time in iOS Settings or in the App.
08
Children
Morston is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
09
Changes
We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date above will change when we do. Continued use of the App after changes means you accept the updated policy.
10
A question?
Write to us. We’ll answer. Email