Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2026-06-13
App: RailChase
Operator: Ascend Performance Nutrition / Sutton Huggins
1. What we collect and why
1.1 Approximate location (coarsened to ~110 m)
When you submit a train sighting, the app reads your device GPS and rounds the
latitude and longitude to three decimal places (approximately 110 m) before
the coordinates leave your device or are stored. We never store or serve your
precise GPS position. We use the coarsened coordinate to place your pin on the
community map and to label your sighting with a nearby city name.
1.2 Photos (EXIF stripped)
If you attach a photo, the server strips all image metadata (Exif, GPS tags,
XMP, IPTC) before the bytes are stored. The photo bytes (without metadata) are
stored on Vercel Blob and served publicly so other users can see the train.
1.3 IP address (rate-limiting and report dedup)
Your IP address is used to enforce rate limits (too many requests in a short
window). For rate-limiting it is held in process memory for the duration of the
rate-limit window only and the raw address is never written to disk.
If you *report* a sighting, we store a salted, one-way cryptographic hash derived
from your IP (not the IP itself) alongside that sighting so that one person cannot
hide a post by reporting it repeatedly. The hash cannot be reversed to your IP,
is used only for this anti-abuse deduplication, and is deleted with the sighting
(within ~48 hours). The raw IP address is never written to disk or a database.
1.4 Sighting content
The label, operator, note text, and coarsened coordinates you submit become
part of the public community sightings board. Do not include personal
information in these fields.
1.5 No accounts
RailChase has no user accounts, no email collection, and no persistent
user-level identifiers. There is no login.
2. How we use your information
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Coarsened coordinates | Map pin, city label | 48 hours on the public board |
| EXIF-stripped photo | Community board display | 48 hours on the public board |
| IP address | Rate limiting (memory only) | Duration of rate-limit window |
| Sighting text | Community board | 48 hours |
3. Sharing
We do not sell, rent, or trade your data. Photos and sighting text are shared
publicly on the community board by design. Coarsened coordinates are included
in the public board response.
We use the following sub-processors:
when you tap "Identify" and only for the duration of that call
4. UGC reporting and moderation
Any user can flag a sighting using the report button. After a threshold of
reports (currently 3), a sighting is automatically hidden from the public
board pending review. The AI moderation system also screens photos at
submission time; a moderation error causes the post to be held for review
rather than published.
5. Data retention
Community sightings (coordinates, text, photos) are removed from the public
board after 48 hours. See our Data Retention Policy for details.
6. Your rights
Because we collect no accounts and no persistent identifiers, we cannot link
a stored sighting back to an individual after the submission session ends. If
you believe a sighting you submitted contains personal information and you want
it removed, contact us at the address below and describe the sighting
(approximate time, location, and content). We will remove it manually.
7. Children
RailChase is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect
data from children.
8. Changes
We will update the effective date at the top when this policy changes. For
material changes, we will post a notice in the app.
9. Contact
sutton.huggins@ascendperformancenutrition.com