Privacy at HydroSewer

1. What HydroSewer collects

Transparent Blue Water does not receive your data. HydroSewer has no user account and no ads, we receive no analytics, telemetry or crash reports from the app, and we run no server that the app talks to. When you turn on the optional map background, Google Maps receives the map area you view. On Android, Google Play’s billing service sends Google its own diagnostics when the app checks your purchase, shows the Pro offer or exports. Both are described under Third-party services below.

2. Your project data

All networks, models, results, field notes (including where each note was taken), photos and map settings you create or import stay on your device, in local files (.inp, .hydrosewer) and the app’s local storage. They are never uploaded to us or to any third party. Sharing or exporting a file is always initiated by you, through your device’s own share and file features.

3. Internet access

Modeling, simulation, saving and field notes work without internet. The optional map background needs a connection and is turned on by you (see below). Purchases, if you make one, are handled by the App Store or Google Play. Tapping an external link (for example, “Open FlowAnalyzer on the web”) opens that address in your device’s web browser, outside HydroSewer; that website’s own privacy policy applies there.

4. Third-party services

HydroSewer uses no third-party analytics, advertising, cloud storage or external APIs that process your data, except the two components described below. They send data directly to Google, or to Apple or Google depending on the store, which handle it under their own privacy policies. Transparent Blue Water does not receive that data.

• Map background (optional). HydroSewer includes the Google Maps SDK. When you turn the map background on, the SDK downloads map images for the area you are viewing. Google documents that its Maps SDK may receive your device’s IP address, the map area and how you pan and zoom it, device and app information (such as operating system and model), a pseudonymous identifier, performance data and, if the SDK crashes, crash reports. The area you view is usually where your network is located; when you use your location on the map (see below), it is where you are. Google Maps features and content are subject to the then-current Google Maps End User Additional Terms of Service (https://maps.google.com/help/terms_maps/) and the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy). HydroSewer does not send Google your GPS reading, your files, or your network’s data, notes or photos.
• Purchases. Purchases are processed by Apple’s App Store or Google Play under their own policies; we never see your payment details. On Android, Google Play’s billing library also sends Google technical information about how it is used and about its connection to Google Play, when the app checks your purchase, shows the Pro offer or exports.

The app shows the Google Maps notice, with links to the Google Maps terms and the Google Privacy Policy, the first time you turn the map background on.

Google Privacy Policy → · Google Maps terms →

5. Your location

HydroSewer uses your location only to center the map background, show where you are, and tag your field notes with where they were taken, and only if you allow it, while you use the app (never in the background). Your GPS reading stays on your device unless you share a project or report: HydroSewer reads it from the device’s own location service (on Android, the GPS only, not Google Play services), draws the “you are here” dot itself, and never sends your GPS reading to us, to Google or anyone else. When the map is centered on you, Google receives the map area around you, as described above. Your location never creates or moves an element of your network.

When you add a field note with location allowed, the note keeps where your phone was (latitude, longitude, accuracy and time), saved inside your .hydrosewer project file and printed in the field notes PDF. It leaves your device only if you share that file or that PDF yourself. To stop tagging notes, turn off Field Notes › ⋮ › Tag notes with my location. The position of the map and of the “you are here” dot is never saved. If you don’t allow location, everything else works as before. You can turn location off at any time in your device’s Settings › HydroSewer.

6. Permissions

Internet and network state (Android): used only by the optional map background and by the store’s purchase library. Camera and photo library: used only when you attach a photo to a field note; photos stay on your device. Location (while using the app, precise): asked for only when you tap “Use my location”, “Center on my location” or “Allow” on the offer to tag your notes, and used only for the purposes above; your GPS reading stays on your device unless you share a project or report. No background location. You can turn it off at any time in your device’s Settings › HydroSewer.

7. Deleting your data

Everything HydroSewer stores is on your device: deleting the app or its files removes it. Data the Google components send to Google is handled under the Google Privacy Policy, which explains how to manage it.

8. Other software in the app

HydroSewer uses the EPA SWMM 5 engine (whose source code EPA releases into the public domain) and open-source libraries listed in the app under About > View licenses. The engine and those libraries run locally on your device and do not transmit your data.

9. Children

HydroSewer is a professional engineering tool and is not directed to children.

10. Changes

We may update this policy; the “Last updated” date will reflect changes.