Privacy

PaddleMate Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2 August 2026

PaddleMate is a Garmin Connect IQ application for kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding, open-water swimming, and boating. This policy explains what information PaddleMate accesses, how it is used, and when limited information is sent to external services.

Information PaddleMate accesses

PaddleMate may access the following information when you use features that require it:

• GPS location, speed, direction, distance, and movement data;
• heart-rate data made available by the Garmin device;
• activity time and other workout statistics;
• device connection and battery status; and
• preferences such as sport profile, units, hydration interval, drift-alarm distance, sunset warning, and dashboard order.

Garmin requests the relevant device permissions when required. You can decline those permissions, although related features may then be unavailable.

How the information is used

PaddleMate uses this information to provide activity recording, live metrics, return-to-launch navigation, anchor and drift alerts, hydration and sunset alerts, saved-session summaries, tide predictions, wind and gust information, and modelled water-current information.

Workout and heart-rate information is processed on the watch and may be included in the Garmin activity file that you choose to save. Saved Garmin activity data is handled by your Garmin device and Garmin services according to your Garmin account settings and Garmin's privacy policy. PaddleMate does not send workout or heart-rate data to a server operated by the PaddleMate developer.

Location and external environmental-data services

When tide, wind, gust, or water-current features are used, geographic coordinates derived from the watch's current GPS position pass through the PaddleMate server. The server uses those coordinates only to request environmental data for the surrounding area from:

• Open-Meteo, for modelled wind, gust, and ocean-current data; and
• WorldTides, for worldwide high- and low-tide predictions.

The PaddleMate server may receive ordinary connection information, such as an IP address, while processing a request. Open-Meteo and WorldTides receive the requested coordinates and the PaddleMate server's network information; they do not receive your name, email address, Garmin account identifier, heart rate, or saved workout history from PaddleMate.

These providers process requests under their own terms and privacy policies:

• Open-Meteo Terms and Privacy
• WorldTides Privacy Policy
• WorldTides Terms

Server-side caching and retention

The PaddleMate server temporarily caches provider responses to reduce repeated requests, improve reliability, and control API costs. Wind, gust, and current responses have an active cache lifetime of up to three hours. Tide predictions have an active cache lifetime of up to six hours. A cache entry contains rounded coordinates, the normalized provider response, and timestamps; it is not used to build a route history.

Expired environmental cache entries are removed during routine cleanup and are retained for no longer than 24 hours. Subscription, billing-status, and device-activation records are stored separately for as long as needed to provide Marine Pro, meet accounting or legal obligations, prevent fraud, and resolve support requests. Device activation uses Garmin's app-specific device identifier, which remains stable if PaddleMate is uninstalled and reinstalled on the same watch. PaddleMate stores this identifier with the subscription record so paid access can be restored without another purchase. PaddleMate does not store workout tracks or heart-rate history on its server.

Local storage and retention

PaddleMate stores preferences and recently received tide, wind, gust, and current values locally on the watch. This local cache allows the most recent environmental information to remain visible temporarily when the phone connection is unavailable.

Local PaddleMate settings and cached data can be removed by uninstalling the application from the Garmin device. The app-specific device identifier and subscription record remain on the PaddleMate server for entitlement restoration and can be removed by contacting PaddleMate support. Saved activities managed by Garmin must be removed through the relevant Garmin device or Garmin service.

Sharing, sale, and advertising

The PaddleMate developer does not sell personal data, use it for advertising, or share it with data brokers. Information is disclosed only as described above to provide features requested by the user, or when required by law.

Children's privacy

PaddleMate is not directed to children under the age at which parental consent is required by applicable law. The developer does not knowingly collect personal information from children through a developer-operated service.

Security

PaddleMate minimizes data use, keeps provider API credentials on the PaddleMate server, and does not store user activity or location history there. Internet requests depend on Garmin's Connect IQ communications system, the PaddleMate server, and the security practices of the external services identified above.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated when PaddleMate's features or data practices change. The effective date at the top of this page will be revised when an update is published.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, open an issue in the PaddleMate GitHub repository.

Garmin notice

Any data submitted to PaddleMate is submitted to the PaddleMate developer and the application, not to Garmin. Garmin has no responsibility or liability for that data or for PaddleMate's handling of it.

Safety notice

Environmental and navigation information in PaddleMate is informational and may be modelled, delayed, unavailable, or inaccurate. PaddleMate is not a substitute for official tide tables, weather forecasts, marine charts, navigation equipment, or emergency services.

Environmental-data attribution

Weather and marine model data is provided by Open-Meteo under CC BY 4.0. Tidal data is retrieved from WorldTides. Copyright © 2014-2026 Brainware LLC. Licensed for use of individual spatial coordinates by an end user. No guarantees are made about the correctness of tidal data. See the WorldTides copyright notice for details.