Privacy Policy

Big Bear Marine Monitoring · Big Bear Marine Services LLC · Effective September 2026

This explains what the Big Bear Marine Monitoring app collects, why, who else sees it, and how to get rid of it. It's written in plain language on purpose. If anything here is unclear, email us and we'll explain it.

The short version: this is a workplace tool for marine crews. It collects what it needs to keep your vessel records and nothing else. We don't sell your information, we don't advertise, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.

1. Who we are

Big Bear Marine Services LLC operates the app and the service behind it. For privacy questions, contact info@bigbearmarineservices.com.

You use the app as a member of an organization — your employer or the operator you work for. Your organization decides who is approved, what vessels you're assigned to, and what happens to its records. We hold that data on their behalf.

2. What the app collects

Your account. Your name, work email address, role, and which organization and vessels you're assigned to. Passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication — we never see or store your password.
Work you record in the app. Operations logs, engine hours, trips and hours worked, daily reports, rounds, maintenance and inventory entries, safety management records, orders, and the notes and photos attached to any of them. These entries are stamped with who made them and when, the same way a signed paper logbook is.
Photos you take or choose. Log sheet photos, equipment photos, and inventory barcode scans. The camera and photo library are only used when you open them.
Crew chat messages. Messages, photos, and GIFs you send in fleet, vessel, or direct conversations.
Vessel position. When the position relay is turned on, the app reads the boat's GPS position from the vessel's onboard navigation PC over the local network and sends it to the fleet map. The app does not use your phone's location and never asks for location permission — the position is the vessel's, not yours.
Sensor readings. Bilge, temperature, power, and similar readings pulled from Sensaphone monitoring hardware installed on your vessels.
Notification registration. A push token identifying this device, so alerts and reminders can reach it, plus your notification preferences.
Basic diagnostics. Error and performance logs that help us fix problems. These are not used to build a profile of you.

The app has no advertising, no analytics SDKs, and no third-party trackers in it. (This website does use Google Analytics — the app does not.)

3. What we do with it

Run the service: show your fleet's records to the people approved to see them.
Send the alerts, reminders, and reports you and your organization have set up.
Keep your organization's operating records accurate and available over time.
Support you when something breaks, and improve the app.
Bill your organization for its subscription.

We do not sell your information, rent it, share it with advertisers, or use it to train anyone's AI models.

4. Who else sees it

Inside your organization: approved members see the records for the vessels they're assigned to. Admins and managers see more; scientists and observers see less and are excluded from operational records. Direct messages in crew chat stay between the people in the conversation.

Outside your organization, we use these service providers, and only for the job listed:

Google (Firebase). Hosting, sign-in, the database, file storage, and push notification delivery. Your fleet's data lives here.
Anthropic (Claude). Three optional convenience features — reading photographed paper log sheets into the record, writing trip summaries, and answering questions about vessel equipment. Only the content those features need is sent. On request we will turn these features off for your organization, and everything else works the same.
Giphy. GIF search in crew chat, when someone opens the GIF picker.
Sensaphone. The monitoring hardware whose readings the app displays.
AfterShip. Shipment tracking for parts orders you've entered a tracking number for.
Stripe. Subscription invoicing. This involves your organization's billing contact, not crew accounts.
Our email provider. Delivering notification, approval, and password reset emails.

We'll also disclose information if the law requires it, or if it's necessary to investigate a safety or security problem. If our business is ever sold, your organization's data would transfer with the service, and we'd tell you first.

5. How long it's kept

Your account details are kept while your account is active, and are deleted when you or your organization delete it.
Vessel operating records — logs, hours, trips, daily reports, maintenance, safety records — are your organization's business records and are kept for as long as they need them, the same as a paper logbook. Deleting your account does not erase the work recorded under it.
Diagnostic logs are kept for a short period and then discarded.
If your organization leaves the service, we'll provide an export of its records on request and then delete them.

6. Deleting your account

You can delete your account from inside the app at any time. Open Settings → Delete Account, confirm with your password, and the account is removed. If your account is still waiting on approval and you can't get past the sign-in screen, use Delete my account on that screen instead.

Deleting removes:

your sign-in and password
your profile, name, and role
your membership in every organization
your private hours and personal notes
your notification settings and this device's push registration

It does not remove the vessel operating records described above, because those belong to your organization and are kept for safety and legal reasons. They're no longer linked to an account you control.

If you'd rather we did it for you, or you want a copy of your data first, email info@bigbearmarineservices.com and we'll handle it.

7. Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Depending on where you live you may have additional rights — for example under California law or the GDPR — including the right to object to certain processing and to complain to a data protection authority. Email us and we'll respond within 30 days. We won't treat you differently for asking.

Because you use the app through your employer, some requests are theirs to decide — we'll tell you when that's the case and put you in touch.

8. Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest on Google's cloud platform. Access is denied by default and granted only to approved members of an organization, scoped to the vessels they're assigned to. No system is perfect, but if a breach affects your information, we'll tell you and your organization promptly.

9. Where data is stored

Data is stored on Google Cloud servers in the United States. If you're using the app from outside the US, your information is transferred there.

10. Children

This is a workplace tool. It isn't for children, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has an account, tell us and we'll delete it.

11. Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top and tell your organization. Continuing to use the app after that means the updated policy applies.

12. Contact

Big Bear Marine Services LLC · info@bigbearmarineservices.com