Yard Buddy has no account, no sign-up, and no profile of you. We receive nothing from the app unless you report a problem, search for a course we do not have yet, or open the app where we do not have full yardages yet. The satellite map comes from Google. All three are explained below.
The app reads your GPS location to measure the distance from where you stand to the green. We never receive, store, or share your exact location. (The satellite picture of the hole is fetched from Google. See Maps below.)
The one exception: if you send a problem report, the spot you were standing on is included so we can check the hole you were playing. That happens only when you tap Send.
You can deny location access and still browse courses — you simply won't get live yardages.
The satellite picture is provided by Google Maps. To show it, your phone asks Google for pictures of the area on the screen. Google receives what any map request carries, such as your IP address and the area being viewed. The Google Maps software may also collect device identifiers, diagnostics and how the map is used. Google handles that information under the Google Privacy Policy. We do not receive it. Without a signal the picture does not load. Yardages still work.
Course maps are downloaded to your phone so the app works without a signal. Downloading a course tells us nothing about who you are; the files are public and identical for everyone.
If you tap Report a problem, we receive what you chose, anything you typed, and the course, hole, and yardages on your screen at that moment, plus the spot you were standing on and your device type. We use it to fix the course and nothing else. Nothing is sent unless you tap Send.
If you search for a course and nothing matches, the app sends us what you typed, along with a rough area (rounded to about six miles) so we know which region to look in. That is how we decide which courses to add next. We do not send your exact location, and we do not keep a history of your searches.
The same goes for places we do not cover well yet. If you open the app and there is no course with full yardages within about ten miles, or you open a course we only have as a map while you are standing at it, the app sends us that rough area once, so we can build the courses there first. It is never your exact spot, and it is not tied to you.
If you subscribe, Apple handles the payment. We never receive your card number, billing address, or Apple ID. Apple provides us only an anonymous receipt confirming the subscription is active.
The app has no accounts and asks for no personal details from anyone, including children under 13.
If this policy ever changes, the date above changes with it. If a future version of the app collects anything at all, we will say so here before it ships.
Questions about privacy: reach us here.