Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 14, 2026

This policy explains what STEM Maritime Systems LLC collects, how we use it, and your choices. In short: we collect the minimum needed to run your account, we never store your card details, and your vessel data is yours. We do not sell, rent, or share your information, and we never use it for marketing. See Section 5 for your opt-out rights.

1.Information We Collect

Account information: your email address, name, and a securely hashed password (we can never see your actual password).
Subscription information: your plan and status, plus identifiers from our payment processor (Stripe). See Section 3.
Content you provide: data you enter into the Service, such as logbooks, voyage plans, vessel particulars, and any documents you upload.
Location: if you switch location on, CHIEFMATE uses your device's position to show your vessel on the chart. On the online chart that position is saved to your account so your tide, weather and emergency pages know where your vessel is. On charts you downloaded to your phone, your position stays on the phone. Location is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time in the app or in your phone's settings.
Basic technical data: limited information needed to operate and secure the Service (e.g., session and login activity).

2.What We Do NOT Collect

We do not collect or store your full payment-card details. All card data is entered on our payment processor's secure pages and is handled entirely by them. It never touches our servers.

3.Payment Processing

Payments are processed by Stripe. When you subscribe, Stripe collects and processes your payment information under its own privacy policy. We receive only a customer identifier and your subscription status so we can manage your access.

4.How We Use Your Information

To provide, maintain, and secure the Service and your account.
To process subscriptions and manage billing through Stripe.
To respond to support requests.
To send essential account and service notices.

A small number of companies process data for us so the Service can run. Each one receives only what its job needs:

Stripe: payments. See Section 3.
Apple: subscriptions bought inside the iPhone app. Apple takes the payment under its own privacy policy and sends us a receipt that confirms the subscription. We never see your card.
DigitalOcean: hosting. The Service, its database and its backups run on DigitalOcean servers, so everything you store in your account lives there.
Anthropic: the AI features. When you ask the AI assistant a question, or have CHIEFMATE read a document, a photo or a stability booklet, that question or file is sent to Anthropic, along with the vessel details needed to answer it.
Resend: email delivery. It receives your email address and the content of each message we send you, such as a password reset or a report you asked CHIEFMATE to email.
Sentry: error monitoring. When the Service hits a software fault, a technical error report is sent so we can fix it. Those reports are set up to leave out your email address and your IP address.

Sub processor list

These are the companies that handle customer data on our behalf, what each one receives, and where it runs. We update this list before a new provider touches customer data. Last reviewed October 14, 2026.

DigitalOcean (New York, United States): hosting, the database, nightly backups and the off server backup copy. Receives everything stored in your account.
Stripe (United States): subscription payments and invoices. Receives your name, email address and the card details you type into its form.
Apple (United States): subscriptions bought inside the iPhone app. Receives the purchase; we receive a receipt.
Anthropic (United States): the AI assistant and document reading. Receives the questions you ask, the files you have it read, and the vessel details needed to answer.
Resend (United States): email delivery. Receives your email address and the content of each message we send you.
Sentry (United States): error monitoring. Receives technical fault reports without your email address or IP address.

We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with third parties for their own purposes. We do not use your account content or vessel data (logbooks, voyage plans, vessel particulars, position, uploaded documents) for advertising, marketing profiling, behavioral tracking, or to train any product or model. Your data is used only to operate the Service for you.

5.Marketing & Your Right to Opt Out

We will not use your information for marketing, and you do not have to do anything to prevent it. It is off by default. We do not run advertising, we do not build marketing profiles, and we do not share your information with advertisers or data brokers. Ever.

The only email we send is essential account and service messaging (e.g., receipts, security, and changes that affect your account). If we ever offer optional product updates or announcements, they will be opt-in, and every such message will include a one-click unsubscribe.

You may, at any time, opt out of any use of your information beyond operating your account, and request that we restrict, export, or delete your data, including any non-essential communications. Just email support@stemmaritimesystems.com and we will honor it.

6.How Your Data Is Protected

Passwords are stored only as salted, hashed values. Each account's data is isolated so that one user cannot access another user's information. We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your data, though no system can be guaranteed 100% secure. How the service is hosted, how accounts and records are protected and how backups are kept is set out on the Security Summary.

7.Data Retention & Your Data

We retain your account and content while your account is active. You own the data you enter and can request a copy or deletion. If you close your account, we delete or anonymize your personal data except where we must retain it to comply with law or resolve disputes.

You can download a full copy of your data as one JSON file from the Account page at any time (Your Data, then Download my data), and you can delete the account yourself from the same page. The steps are on Delete Your Account.

8.Cookies

We use a single essential session cookie to keep you logged in securely. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

9.Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to or opt out of certain processing. Export and deletion are self serve on the Account page; for anything else, contact us at the address below. We do not require you to create any additional account or pay any fee to do so.

10.Children

The Service is intended for adults (18+) and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

11.Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with a new effective date.

12.Contact

Privacy questions? Email support@stemmaritimesystems.com.