Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 14, 2026

Fish Swami values the privacy of the anglers that visit and use Fish Swami for storing their fishing logs. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how long we keep it, and how you can delete it. It applies to the Fish Swami web site at www.fishswami.com and to the Fish Swami mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Data retention · How to delete your data · App-specific privacy information


Information We Collect

We collect only what is needed to run a fishing log. Specifically:

  • Account information you provide when you register: your name, e-mail address, and password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way cryptographic hash, never as readable text.
  • Optional profile information: your city, state, country, zip code, profile photo, and display preferences such as metric or imperial units.
  • Fishing log content you enter: dates, waters, species, catches, patterns and flies, gear, conditions, notes, photos, waypoints, tracks, and goals.
  • Location data, described in the Location Data section below.
  • Technical information collected automatically: IP address, browser or device type, and the pages you visit. Comments you post record the IP address they were sent from, to help us respond to spam and abuse.

If you sign in with Facebook, we receive your name and e-mail address from Facebook to create or match your account. We do not receive your Facebook password, and we do not post to Facebook on your behalf.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information to operate the service: to store and display your fishing logs, to show weather and conditions for your logs, to connect you with fishing partners, to send the service-related messages described below, and to keep the site secure and working. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your fishing logs or location data for advertising.

Personal Profile Information

The personal profile information you provide when you register is not sold or provided externally to companies or individuals. Some of the information is available internally to other Fish Swami users if you have added them as a fishing partner, or if they have added you as a fishing partner.

Fishing Partners

If you request someone to be your fishing partner, or accept someone's request to add you as a fishing partner, your name and e-mail address is visible to that user. Their name and e-mail address is visible to you.

Fishing Logs

When you save fishing logs at Fish Swami, you have the option to make the log public, protected, or private. If you mark the log as public, all data stored with that fishing log (including photos) is viewable by the public, including non-registered visitors of Fish Swami. If you mark the log as protected, the fishing log is not visible to the public. It is visible by any of your fishing partners, however. If you mark the log as private, you are the only user that can see any of the fishing log information.

Site-Generated E-mails

Fish Swami may send you service-related announcements from time to time through the general operation of the service. For instance, if a fishing partner sends you a new message or enters in a fishing log, or someone posts a comment on your fishing log, you may receive an email alerting you to that fact.

You can control which notifications and newsletters you receive from your account's subscription settings, or by using the unsubscribe link in any newsletter we send.

Service Providers

We use a small number of third-party providers to operate Fish Swami. They receive only the information needed to perform their function, and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes:

  • Amazon Web Services — hosting and storage of photos you upload.
  • Mailgun — delivery of e-mail notifications and newsletters.
  • OneSignal — delivery of mobile push notifications.
  • Apple WeatherKit — weather and conditions for your fishing logs. Retrieving a forecast sends the location and date of the log to Apple.
  • Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager — aggregate web site usage statistics.
  • Facebook — optional sign-in, and social sharing features on the web site.
  • New Relic — application performance and error monitoring.

Cookies

With respect to cookies: We use cookies to store visitors preferences and record session information. Analytics cookies set by the providers listed above help us understand which pages are used. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though doing so may prevent you from staying signed in.

Data Retention

We keep your account information and fishing logs for as long as your account is active, so that your fishing history remains available to you. We do not automatically expire or delete your logs.

When you delete your account, your profile, fishing logs, photos, patterns, waters, waypoints, tracks, goals, comments, and saved preferences are permanently deleted from our live systems immediately. We delete accounts rather than deactivating or freezing them.

After deletion, limited copies may remain for a short time in the ordinary course of operating the service:

  • Encrypted database backups are retained for up to 30 days before being overwritten in the normal backup rotation. We do not restore deleted accounts from backup.
  • Server and error logs, which may contain an IP address, are rotated by size and are retained for up to 90 days, then discarded.
  • Newsletter suppression records: if you unsubscribe, we keep a record of your e-mail address so that we do not contact you again.
  • Content shared with other users: comments you posted on another angler's fishing log, and logs you shared with fishing partners, are deleted along with your account. However, as described under Limitations, we cannot recall copies that other users have already saved, exported, or printed.

How to Delete Your Data

You can delete your Fish Swami account and all of the data associated with it at any time, yourself. You do not need to contact us or wait for us to act on a request.

In the Fish Swami mobile app: sign in, open your profile, and choose “Delete Account,” then confirm.

On the web site: sign in, click “Edit your profile,” click the “Delete Account” button at the bottom of the page, and confirm.

Step-by-step instructions are also available on our account deletion page.

Deleting your account removes your profile, fishing logs and photos, location and track data, patterns, waters, waypoints, goals, comments, and mailing list subscriptions, and instructs our notification providers to delete their records for you. This cannot be undone, so please export or save anything you want to keep before you delete. Backups and logs are handled as described under Data Retention above.

If you cannot sign in to your account, please contact us and we will delete the account for you. We may ask you to verify the e-mail address on the account before we do so, to make sure the request is genuine. We will complete verified requests within 30 days.

Your Privacy Choices

You can review and correct your profile information at any time from your account's profile page, and you can change your notification and newsletter preferences from your subscription settings. You control who can see each fishing log using the public, protected, and private settings described above. You can delete your account and data as described in the previous section. If you would like a copy of the information we hold about you, or you have a privacy request we have not covered here, please contact us.

Children's Privacy

Fish Swami is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.

Security

Traffic to Fish Swami is encrypted in transit, passwords are stored only as one-way hashes, and access to production data is limited to the people who operate the service.

Limitations

You post user content on Fish Swami at your own risk. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other Users with whom you may choose to share your pages and information. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that User Content you post on Fish Swami will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on Fish Swami. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other Users have copied or stored your User Content.

Links

Fish Swami may contain links to other websites. We are of course not responsible for the privacy practices of other web sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Fish Swami.

Privacy Policy Revision

We may update this privacy policy from time to time as Fish Swami changes. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and post the updated policy here. If we make a material change to how we handle your information, we will give you notice through the service or by e-mail before the change takes effect. Your continued use of Fish Swami after an update takes effect means you accept the revised policy.


Fish Swami App

Location Data

The Fish Swami App collects location data in the background while you are fishing. This data is used to track where you fish and where you catch fish. The data is then presented to you in various maps inside the app and on the web site. This location data follows the same visibility rules as discussed in the fishing logs section. Summarily: if the fishing log is marked as public, the fishing log and associated location data is visible to the Internet. If it is marked as protected, any of your fishing friends can see the log, but the general Internet cannot. If it is marked as private, only you can see the fishing log and location data.

Background location collection happens only while you are recording a fishing trip. You can decline or revoke the location permission at any time in your device settings; the rest of the app will continue to work, and you can still enter waters and catches by hand. We do not sell your location data and we do not use it for advertising. Location data is deleted with your fishing logs when you delete your account, as described under How to Delete Your Data.

Push Notifications

If you allow push notifications, your device registers a notification token with OneSignal, our push delivery provider, so that we can alert you when a fishing partner posts a log, comments on your log, or sends you a partner request. You can turn push notifications off in your device settings or in the app. When you delete your account, we instruct OneSignal to delete their record of your device.



Contacting Fish Swami

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, or a request regarding your data, please contact the site here.