Privacy policy
Last updated November 8, 2026. This covers the WhatPlane app and this website.
WhatPlane is published by Valkynox. Questions about this policy or your data: support@valkynox.ai.
The short version
- There are no accounts, no ads and no analytics, and we don't sell data.
- Your catches, settings and collection live on your phone.
- Your position is never sent to our server. It is used on your phone to find nearby aircraft.
- Our server is used only if you add friends or join the leaderboard. Both are optional.
Location
WhatPlane asks for your location while the app is open (never in the background). It uses it to find aircraft near you and to work out how far away each one is. To get nearby aircraft, the app sends the position of the area it is searching to public aircraft-tracking services (adsb.lol and, as a backup, adsb.fi). Looking up the weather at an airport, a plane's photo or its route sends the airport code, aircraft registration, or flight number to aviationweather.gov, Planespotters.net, adsbdb.com and adsb.lol. The map downloads picture tiles for the area you are viewing from OpenStreetMap or Esri. These services also see your device's IP address, as any website does, and have their own privacy policies. We do not receive this information and have no access to it.
What stays on your phone
Your catches, throws, achievements, settings, trainer name and the signing key that identifies you to friends are stored on your phone. If you export your Hangar to a file, the file contains that key, so keep it private. Android may back this data up to your Google account if you have Android backup turned on.
What our server holds, and only if you use it
| When you… | We keep | For how long |
|---|---|---|
| send or receive a friend message (a friend card, a request, or a trade) | The sender and receiver's WhatPlane IDs and the signed message. Messages describe planes (type, registration, flight, route, grade) and never where they were caught. | Until the receiver collects it, or 14 days |
| block or report a player | The IDs involved, the reason, and a short note you add | Until you delete your data |
| join the leaderboard | Your display name, points, catches, aircraft types, rank title, and week and month starting points | Until you leave the leaderboard or delete your data |
| use any online feature | Your WhatPlane ID (a public signing key, not your name) and the date you last used it | Until you delete your data, or 12 months after you last used it |
We don't ask for your name, email, phone number, contacts, advertising ID or location, and we don't store IP addresses. Our host, Cloudflare, handles each request on our behalf to deliver the service and keeps security logs under its own privacy policy.
The leaderboard is public and optional
It is off until you turn it on. If you join, your display name, points, catches, types, rank title and short ID
(like 7K2M-93FA) can be seen by anyone, in the app and on this website. Don't use your real name or
anything private as a display name. Leave the leaderboard in the app to remove your entry at once.
Deleting your data
In the app, open Friends, then ONLINE, and choose Delete online data. That erases everything in the table above from our server immediately. You can also request deletion on the web. Data on your phone is removed by clearing the app's storage or uninstalling it.
Who we share data with
Nobody, except Cloudflare as our hosting provider, and when the law requires it. The services listed under Location are contacted directly by your phone. We don't use advertising or analytics companies.
Children
WhatPlane is not directed to children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has joined the leaderboard, contact us and we will delete the entry.
Security
All traffic uses HTTPS. Requests to our server are signed with your key; we can't read your key and no one else can act as you. Messages between friends are signed, but not secret from our server. They hold plane details only.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or the CCPA) you may have the right to see, correct or delete your data. Because we hold nothing that names you, deleting by ID is the way to do all three; see above or email us. You may also complain to your data protection authority.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date above changes and, for anything that collects more, the app will ask again.