Privacy Policy

Last updated 10 July 2026

The short version. Along Cast has no accounts, no ads, and no tracking. We don’t use third-party analytics, we don’t build a profile of you, and we never sell your data. Weather and road data are fetched through our own backend, anonymously, and the little we log for troubleshooting is anonymized and deleted after 7 days.

The one time we store a drive is when you choose to share it as a web link — then that one drive is kept so the link works, with your start and end blurred, an expiry, and a one-tap revoke. Details below.

What stays on your device

Your trips. Planned routes, trip history, recent places, and stops are stored only on your device. We have no copy.
Your settings. Theme, units, travel mode (car or bike), and feature toggles are stored locally.
Caches. Forecasts and road data are cached on device so the app uses less network and keeps working on the road.
Driving pace. Live ETA refinement learns how your pace compares with typical speeds during a drive. That happens on device and stays there.

What goes through our backend

To show weather and road conditions along your route, the app talks to the Along Cast backend (api.alongcast.com), which we operate. This is what those requests contain and how we handle them:

Coordinates and times, not identities. Requests carry your current position and points along your planned route with the relevant times — that’s what a route forecast is. They don’t carry your name, email, phone number, or any account identifier, because none exist.
Anonymous device check. The app proves it’s a genuine copy of Along Cast using Apple’s App Attest, and gets a random device credential. This lets us stop abuse and rate-limit fairly without knowing who you are. The credential is not linked to your Apple ID or any personal detail.
Licensed sources, server-side keys. The backend fetches forecasts and Swedish road data from our providers (Open-Meteo weather, SMHI official weather warnings, Trafikverket road events and cameras) and returns them to the app. Your requests to those providers are made by our server, not from your phone, and shared caching means many requests never leave our server at all.
Logs: anonymized, gone in 7 days. We keep short-lived operational logs to troubleshoot problems (things like timestamps, response codes, and coarse request shapes). They are anonymized — not tied to a persistent identity — and automatically deleted after 7 days. We keep no long-term record of where you’ve been or what routes you’ve planned.
Alerts are off until you enable or schedule them. Along Cast asks for notification permission in context: when you enable Route Pulse alerts or schedule a departure reminder. Route Pulse posts only for a high-priority change while a trip is active and the app is in the background; a departure reminder is scheduled only for the trip and time you chose. Separately, after an anonymous device credential is available, the app registers an Apple Push Notification service token with our backend so future server-delivered alerts can reach that app installation. Token registration does not grant alert permission or turn alerts on, and the current beta’s Route Pulse and departure alerts are created on your device. You can disable Route Pulse in Along Cast or revoke notification permission in iOS Settings. Permission, a scheduled request, and actual delivery are separate states, so the app does not promise that every alert will arrive.

Sharing a drive

Along Cast can turn a drive into a web page at a short link (on share.alongcast.com) that anyone can open without the app. Sharing is always your choice — nothing is shared automatically, and each link is for one specific drive. This is the one case where a drive is stored on our backend, so the link has something to show.

What the page contains. The route on a map, the weather along it (forecast, warnings, Swedish road hazards and cameras), the drive verdict, and the times — all baked in when you share, in your units and language. A live share also carries your position while you’re moving.
Your start and end are blurred. Before anything is uploaded, the exact origin and destination are snapped to a coarse grid (about 500 m), and the drawn route is trimmed so it can’t trace back to your precise home or destination. The page never shows your speed.
The link is unlisted and expiring, not access-controlled. Each link carries a long, unguessable id, is marked never-index so search engines skip it, and stops working after 7 days. Anyone who receives the URL can open it. You can revoke any link at any time in Settings → Shared drives, and it immediately stops serving.
Live sharing is separate and explicit. It asks for its own confirmation, shows an always-visible “sharing live” indicator, and stops with one tap. It keeps sharing while you drive, even with the screen off, and shows your street-level position only while you’re moving, never your speed. It stops on its own when you arrive (short of your exact destination), when you stop it, when updates stop for a while (you park, lose signal, or close the app), or after a hard time limit — so it can’t become a silent, always-on tracker.
What we store, and for how long. While a link is active, our backend stores the shared page’s data and a cached map image. Revoking a link scrubs its location-bearing payload, route fingerprint, cached map, and active departure data; a minimal non-location lifecycle record may remain so revocation stays idempotent and we can operate and protect the service. Expired records are deleted by service maintenance. When a live drive finishes, precise position frames are dropped from the stored record. We keep no browsable list or gallery of shared drives.

What goes to Apple and other services

Apple Maps. Maps, routing, place search, and Look Around imagery come from Apple’s MapKit on your device. When you choose the Apple Maps handoff, Along Cast passes the endpoints and travel mode and Apple Maps recalculates its own route. Apple handles that activity under Apple’s privacy policy.
Apple Weather. Outside Sweden, official severe-weather warnings come from Apple Weather via Apple’s on-device framework.
Trafikverket camera photos. Roadside camera images are public photos loaded directly from Trafikverket when you view them.
Your location. With your permission, iOS provides your location to the app to show weather where you are, plan routes, and follow a drive. You can change or revoke this anytime in iOS Settings.

Swedish road data is on by default

The Swedish road layer — accidents, closures, road ice, roadworks, measured traffic, and road cameras — is on by default and applies only to the parts of a route that pass through Sweden; routes that never enter Sweden never trigger these lookups. You can turn it off in Settings anytime, and the requests stop.

What we don’t do

No account or sign-in.
No advertising and no ad identifiers.
No third-party analytics, tracking, or marketing SDKs.
No selling of your data and no disclosure for advertising or marketing.
No browsable server-side history of your routes or places. If you explicitly share a drive, that drive is stored while its link is active. Revocation scrubs its location-bearing content and may leave only a minimal non-location lifecycle record; expired records are deleted by service maintenance.

TestFlight beta

Along Cast is currently distributed through Apple TestFlight. When you use a TestFlight build, Apple collects standard installation, crash, and basic usage diagnostics under Apple’s privacy policy and the TestFlight terms, and shares this with us to help fix bugs. Any feedback you choose to send through TestFlight (a note and optional screenshot) is shared with us so we can investigate.

Children

Along Cast is a general-audience app and is not directed at children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy? See our Support page, or send a note through TestFlight Beta Feedback in the app.