PWC Lab (“the app”) is built by GT40 Marine for personal-watercraft riders. This policy explains what the app collects, why, and your choices. Questions: support@gt40marine.com.
What we collect
- Optional PWC Lab account. If you set up an account, Supabase processes your email, email verification, and password authentication so you can recover the same identity, open completed signed runs in Engine Studio, and keep ride backups. Linking an email keeps the identity already attached to this phone's uploads. With an account, Ride backup copies your ride logs to it unless you turn Ride backup off; without one, ride logs stay on this phone. Backups open in Engine Studio and are not restored to a phone. Account sign-in does not restore photos or Garage settings; retain a phone backup for those records.
- Optional ride backup (account). Ride backup turns on when you set up or sign in to a PWC Lab account, unless you turned it off for that account. While it is on, each completed Ride Data log on your phone, including logs recorded before you had the account, is copied to private storage in your PWC Lab account when you have internet, so you can open it in Engine Studio on a computer. A backup includes RPM, throttle, AFR, oil pressure, temperatures, voltages, speed, CAN frames, faults, Link and recording-health details, ride timing, your ski’s name, make, model and year, your Link’s hardware ID and firmware version, your phone’s platform and system version, and the app’s version and update identifiers. With Include GPS route on (the default), a backup also includes the ride’s precise GPS route (latitude and longitude), so Engine Studio can map it. This precise location is linked to your account, used only to provide the backup and its ride map, not shared with other riders or third parties, and deleted with the backup. Turn Include GPS route off to remove exact GPS position before upload; GPS speed, heading and altitude remain either way. Backups are linked to your account email and stored by Supabase. Only your signed-in account can list or open them; PWC Lab staff access a backup only when you ask for support or when security or the law requires it. Each account can keep up to 2 GB of backups. You can turn Ride backup off at any time; it is separate from research sharing.
- Public and crew location (~1 km). When you choose “I’m Riding” or temporarily share with a joined ride or crew, your location is rounded to roughly 1 km before it leaves your device. This presence feature does not publish exact coordinates. Publishing a run replay is a separate choice described below. Sharing is off by default, foreground-only, and expires automatically.
- Private GPS ride and run data. When an eligible recorded ride is synced, GPS samples can be sent privately to our backend so speed, distance, time, acceleration, route quality, and signal integrity can be calculated. Raw GPS samples are not available through public leaderboard APIs. Optional private research uploads exclude exact GPS unless you turn on the separate “Include exact GPS” control.
- Weather and water-condition area. To load conditions, the app sends latitude and longitude rounded to two decimal places (roughly a 1 km area) to Open-Meteo. This can be the selected riding area’s center or, when that area has no map point, an approximate area derived from the phone’s last-known location. It is used for the conditions request and is not sent with your rider handle.
- Optional private field-research data. If you opt in, completed ride telemetry, Link diagnostics, proof logs, and available vehicle data can upload when internet is available. This can include RPM, throttle, boost, load, temperatures, voltage, AFR, oil pressure, CAN/BLE frames, faults, firmware and connection events, timestamps, ski/build/sensor configuration, app version, phone platform, firmware, dongle, and update identifiers.
- Rider handle (display name). Optional. Shown on leaderboards and ride/meetup rosters.
- Local and community photos. Ski photos, Home backgrounds, and share cards stay on your device or go to the destination you choose. If you deliberately submit a rider-profile or lake photo for community use, the image and its display-name or lake context upload privately to Supabase moderation storage with submission status and review metadata. Only a PWC Lab-approved copy becomes public.
- Optional community content. Direct, group, and ride messages, public board posts, check-ins, lake reports, and photos you choose to submit are sent to and stored by the app’s infrastructure so those features work. Direct messages do not attach your riding area or location metadata. Research packages do not intentionally include community messages or photos.
- Push notifications. If you allow notifications, PWC Lab stores an Expo push token, pseudonymous device ID, authenticated installation owner, platform, enabled state, and your notification preferences in Supabase so Expo can deliver the notices you request.
- Android map-service data. When a map is used on Android, Google Maps SDK may automatically collect device and request metadata, network address, a pseudonymous Maps SDK identifier, SDK crash metrics, and map interactions such as panning and zooming to operate, measure, secure, and improve Google Maps services.
- Pseudonymous device identifier. A random ID used to protect private access, prevent duplicates, associate consent with submitted packages, and diagnose recordings without requiring your legal name, email, or phone number.
- Passwordless installation identity. The app initially creates a pseudonymous Supabase identity on your device so only you can manage rides you host and so invite-only rides and crew spaces can enforce access. Before you choose to link an email account, it contains no email, password, name, or phone number.
- Ride & performance data. GPS-derived stats from your runs (ride count, time, distance, waterbody, top speed, and acceleration) and the ski/build details you enter.
- Ordinary service metadata. Our infrastructure may receive normal operational data such as request time, network address, platform, error, security, and delivery logs.
- Automatic app-screen error reports. If you enable optional error reporting, a caught React screen/render failure can queue and send a bounded support report through Supabase, associated with the pseudonymous device and installation identity used for private app access. It includes a reference and time, build/runtime identity, error type, a message sanitized for recognized identifiers and credentials, and top component names. The app does not attach raw stacks, GPS, telemetry, Link or vehicle records, contacts, access tokens, or photos. An unsent report remains on the device for retry.
No sign-in required. An email account is optional. You can use the app without entering an email, password, legal name, or phone number. Research packages are designed to exclude direct identifiers such as your name, email, phone number, contacts, photos, messages, and payment information. Pseudonymous identifiers and precise location can still be personal data under some laws, so we disclose and protect them accordingly.
How we use it
We use data to provide recorded rides, verified GPS results, leaderboards, temporary on-water presence, group rides, your garage/build tracking, diagnostics, and support. If you opt into research sharing, GT40 Marine and PWC Lab may retain, analyze, compare, combine, reproduce, and use submitted raw data and derived results to validate gauges and decodes, troubleshoot failures, improve compatibility and calibration, build aggregated research datasets, study safety and reliability, and improve existing or future free and commercial products. Submitted research data is not used for targeted advertising. Ride backups are stored only so you can retrieve and analyse your own rides; we do not use them for research or product development.
Speed Runs and published replays
Every Speed Run automatically uploads a signed run and available engine telemetry when internet is available, including for guests. This includes RPM, intake pressure and temperature, engine and exhaust temperatures, battery voltage, fuel, GPS speed and distance, a hashed Link identifier and app version. This upload provides run verification and access to your runs in Engine Studio; it is separate from optional research sharing and Ride backup.
Publishing a run replay is optional for each run. If you publish one, its selected route is precise (about 1 metre) and can be read without signing in by anyone with the link. It may reveal where you started or finished. Review the route and use the option to hide the first 150 metres before publishing if needed; that option is not on by default. A shared replay can also include the engine data you choose to share. Unpublishing stops access through the app, but cannot recall copies others already saved.
Optional AI ride explanations
When you choose “Explain this ride” in Engine Studio, PWC Lab sends a structured findings report through Supabase to Anthropic to generate an explanation. The report includes ride duration, sample count, RPM and available speed summaries, engine family, measured findings, data-quality notes, and assumptions. If you ask a follow-up question, your question and the conversation history included with that request are also sent. This request does not attach the raw ride recording, account email, or GPS route. Information you type in a question is part of the request, so avoid including personal information. This processing is separate from storing your private ride backup and occurs when you request an AI explanation or answer.
What we share
- The public leaderboards may show your handle, ski/build, verified ride count, aggregate time and distance, waterbodies visited, and verified top speed. The leaderboard rows do not expose raw GPS samples or exact coordinates; a replay you choose to publish is available separately.
- Public presence and planned rides may show your handle, selected waterbody, the public meeting point you type, and a coarse approximate area. This presence feature does not show exact coordinates. A published run replay can show an exact route.
- Invite-only rides, crew rosters, crew chat, and temporary rough-zone presence are limited to the host and riders who join that ride or crew. Public presence and joined-ride/crew sharing are separate controls; both are foreground-only and expire after 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or Today.
- Community content is visible only to the audience shown in the feature: for example, a direct-message participant, joined ride or crew, or a public lake board when you choose a public post.
- Approved rider-profile and lake photos are public community content. Unapproved submissions remain in private moderation storage and are not shown to other riders.
- Private app and research data is processed by service providers that operate the app’s infrastructure, including Supabase, which also stores ride backups. Data is encrypted in transit and access to private research storage and ride backups is restricted.
- Expo receives the push token and ordinary delivery metadata needed to deliver notifications you enable.
- Google Maps Platform receives the limited Android map-service data described above. PWC Lab does not sell that data or use it for targeted advertising.
- Open-Meteo receives the approximate area and ordinary network request data needed to return weather and marine conditions. PWC Lab does not send your rider handle, contacts, messages, or Link telemetry with that request.
- We do not sell personal data, and we do not share research packages for third-party advertising.
Your choices and deleting data
- Research sharing is optional and off until you affirmatively choose it. Declining does not block the app’s basic features.
- Research sharing and ride backup are separate choices; turning one on or off never changes the other.
- Exact GPS in research packages is a separate control and is off by default. Include GPS route for ride backup is its own switch; neither changes the other.
- Turn research sharing off in Settings → Privacy & data to stop future submissions and remove pending uploads from that device.
- Decline or revoke the location permission at any time in your device settings (some features will be limited).
- Decline or revoke notification permission in device settings and turn individual notification preferences off in PWC Lab.
- Use Settings → Data & Privacy → Delete My PWC Lab Data to remove local data and request deletion of the app’s registered identity, including an optional email account, ride backups, signed runs, push registrations, feedback/error reports, and submitted community photos. The app verifies the supported server deletion before replacing that identity.
- Request deletion of server-stored data by emailing support@gt40marine.com.
Ride backup choices and retention
- Ride backup turns on when you set up or sign in to a PWC Lab account and also backs up the ride logs already on your phone, unless you turned it off for that account. Turn it off or back on in Settings → PWC Lab Account; when you turn it back on you choose whether to include the rides already on your phone.
- Turning Ride backup off stops new backups and removes backups still waiting on your phone. It stays off until you turn it back on. Rides already in your account stay there until you delete them.
- Include GPS route is on by default. Turning it off applies to every ride backed up afterwards, including rides still waiting on your phone: they are rebuilt without location and never uploaded with it, and a waiting ride that is no longer on your phone is held, not uploaded, until you turn the route back on or turn Ride backup off. Rides already in your account keep their route until you delete them.
- Backups stay until you delete them: one ride on your phone (Ride History, or Data Logs with “Delete from phone and account”) or in Engine Studio, all of them with Delete all backups from my account, or everything with Delete My PWC Lab Data. A ride you remove from your account is not uploaded again unless you choose Back up again.
- Each account can keep up to 2 GB of ride backups (up to 1,000 rides). Backups are not pruned automatically and are not restored to a phone.
- Research sharing and ride backup are separate choices; turning one on or off never changes the other.
Research permission and retention
Choosing to share gives GT40 Marine and PWC Lab permission to store and use submitted data and derived results for the purposes described above without payment to you. It does not transfer ownership of your phone or watercraft. Previously submitted raw data, de-identified data, derived measurements, and aggregate results may be retained for research, engineering, security, support, and legal purposes. Some derived or de-identified results may not be reasonably reversible or attributable to one device.
Children
PWC Lab is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their data.
Changes
We may update this policy; material changes will be noted in the app and dated above.