Privacy policy

Summary

Beacon 73 has no advertising or third-party analytics. Demo Mode uses simulated data and does not request location. Live operation uses the callsign, location, and APRS-IS credentials you provide to receive or transmit APRS data. APRS transmissions are public by design.

Information handled by the app

Location

Beacon 73 uses precise location to center maps, calculate nearby-station distances, and create position packets when you enable beaconing or choose Send Beacon Now. When auto-beaconing is enabled, location may be used in the background. Location is not used in Demo Mode.

Amateur-radio identity

You may provide a callsign, SSID, APRS symbol, beacon comment, and APRS-IS passcode. The passcode is stored in the iOS Keychain on your device and is not included in app diagnostics. Other settings are stored locally on your device.

Public APRS transmissions

When you transmit, your callsign, position, symbol, beacon comment, and related packet information are sent to APRS-IS. APRS is a public network. Independent APRS servers, internet services, radio gateways, and other operators may receive, relay, display, log, or retain transmitted packets. Do not transmit information you do not intend to make public.

Callsign lookup and passcode requests

Beacon 73 can check a callsign against public FCC licensing data and can calculate an APRS-IS passcode after you attest that you are authorized to use the callsign.

• Callsign lookups use a privacy-minimized index derived from public FCC records. Postal addresses and FCC contact details are not returned to the app.
• An accepted passcode request stores the normalized callsign, time, attestation version, and keyed hashes derived from the source IP address and user-agent value.
• The raw source IP, raw user agent, and generated passcode are not stored in the attestation record.
• Attestation records are scheduled to expire after 90 days. Rate-limit records expire after the applicable rate-limit window plus a short cleanup period. Deletion by the storage service may not be immediate.
• Operational API logs are retained for up to 30 days and are configured not to contain request bodies, raw IP addresses, callsigns, or passcodes.

Services involved

Beacon 73 relies on services that process information under their own terms and privacy practices:

• APRS-IS servers receive live login and packet traffic.
• Apple provides iOS location services, MapKit, the App Store, and device Keychain storage.
• Amazon Web Services hosts Beacon 73’s callsign lookup, passcode-request service, and website.
• The United States Federal Communications Commission provides the public amateur-radio licensing dataset used for U.S. callsign information.

Website privacy

This website does not use advertising, analytics, tracking pixels, or nonessential cookies. Hosting providers necessarily process network requests to deliver the site. Beacon 73 does not enable website access logging for behavioral analytics.

Your choices

• Use Demo Mode without providing a callsign or location permission.
• Turn auto-beaconing off to stop background location activity and automatic position transmissions.
• Change or revoke location permission in iOS Settings.
• Clear the APRS-IS passcode field in Beacon 73 Settings to delete it from the device Keychain.
• Contact support to ask a privacy question or request deletion of an identifiable passcode attestation record. We may need information sufficient to locate and verify the record.

Security and retention

Beacon 73 limits retained service data, encrypts managed storage, rate-limits passcode requests, and avoids placing sensitive request contents in application logs. No system can guarantee absolute security. Public APRS packets cannot be recalled by Beacon 73 after they are transmitted to independent networks.

Children

Beacon 73 is a technical amateur-radio application and is not directed to children under 13.

Changes

This policy may be updated as Beacon 73 changes. The effective date at the top of this page will identify the current version.