CloudLink Locator privacy policy

CloudLink Communications Limited
Last updated: 2 November 2026

This policy explains how CloudLink Communications Limited ("CloudLink", "we", "us") handles personal information in CloudLink Locator, our family location sharing app for iPhone and Android, and the CloudLink Locator web app at locator.cloudlink.nz. We follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and its Information Privacy Principles.

The short version

• CloudLink Locator shares your location only with the people in the circles you join. Nobody else can see it.
• To do that, it collects your phone's precise location, including in the background when the app is closed.
• You can pause sharing at any time in Settings > Share My Location, and delete your account and its data in Settings > Delete Account.
• Location history, trips and alerts are deleted after 30 days.
• No advertising, no analytics, no tracking. We never sell your information or use it for marketing.
• Your information is stored on CloudLink's own servers in New Zealand.

Who we are

CloudLink Communications Limited, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Email adam@cloudlink.nz · Phone 0508 CLOUD 4U · cloudlink.nz

Our privacy officer is the Director, Adam Shaw, at adam@cloudlink.nz.

What CloudLink Locator collects, and why

Your account

• Name, email address and password. You give us these to create an account. We email you a 6-digit code to confirm your address, and again if you ask to reset your password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way hash.
• Age confirmation. You must confirm you're 16 or older to create an account.
• Sign-in sessions. When you sign in we issue a session token, stored in your phone's secure storage (iOS Keychain or Android Keystore). We record the type of app or browser it was issued to so you can stay signed in.

Your location

• Precise location. While sharing is on, the app sends your phone's location to our server: latitude and longitude, accuracy, speed, direction, altitude and the time. It does this in the background, including when the app is closed or not in use, because that's what lets your circle see where you are and get arrival, departure and drive alerts.
• Location history. We keep your recent locations so your circle can see how long you've been somewhere and play back where you've been.
• Trips and alerts. From your locations our server works out drives (distance, time, top speed, start and end points), flights, and when you arrive at or leave places your circle has saved. It sends short notifications about these to the people in your circles.
• Directions. If you ask for directions to a circle member, we use your location and theirs to work out a road route on our own servers. The route is shown only to you.
• Web app. If you use the web app and ask for directions, your browser may ask to share its location once. It's used only for that route and isn't kept.

We use our own map-matching and routing servers (based on OpenStreetMap data) for trails and directions, so your locations aren't sent to an outside routing company.

Motion and crash detection

• Motion activity. The app uses your phone's motion sensors (Motion & Fitness on iPhone, Physical Activity on Android) to tell whether you're still, walking or driving. This lets it turn GPS down when you aren't moving to save battery, and decide when a drive has ended. The raw sensor readings stay on your phone; only the result (for example "driving" or "still") is sent with your location.
• Crash detection. While you're driving, the app watches the motion sensors for a hard impact followed by a sudden stop and asks "Are You OK?". If you don't answer, it sends your location, the time, your speed and the size of the impact to our server, which alerts your circles. You can turn crash detection off in Settings. CloudLink Locator is not an emergency service and doesn't contact 111.

Your phone

• Battery. Your battery level and whether it's charging, shown to your circle next to your location.
• Phone details. Make, model, operating system and version, and the CloudLink Locator version, so your circle can see what phone you use and we can fix problems.
• Push token. A notification address from Apple (iPhone) or from Google through Expo (Android), used only to send you CloudLink Locator notifications and to wake the app so your location stays up to date.
• Permission status. Whether CloudLink Locator has the access it needs (location, motion, notifications, Low Power Mode, Background App Refresh, battery optimisation) so the app can tell you, and your circle, if sharing has stopped working.

Photos

If you or a circle admin choose a profile photo for a member, the app resizes the photo you pick and uploads it to our server, where it's shown to that member's circles. CloudLink Locator only receives the photo you choose. It doesn't upload anything else from your photo library and doesn't use the camera.

Circles and places

Your circles' names and members, who invited whom, invite codes, and the names, locations and sizes of places your circle saves (for example "Home").

Diagnostics and security

• Diagnostics. To find and fix problems with background location, the app sends us records of how the location tracker behaves (for example when it starts and stops) and, from time to time, the tracker's own log, which includes recent locations. These are linked to your account, used only to fix faults, and never shown to anyone else.
• Security records. The network (IP) address of failed sign-in attempts, so we can block password guessing. Our web servers also keep standard access logs (IP address, time and page or API requested) for security and troubleshooting.

What we don't collect

CloudLink Locator doesn't access your contacts, camera, microphone, health data or files. It contains no advertising, analytics, crash-reporting or tracking software, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.

Who can see your information

• People in your circles see your name, photo, current location, location history (only from the time they joined the circle), trips, places you arrive at and leave, battery level, phone type and whether sharing is working. They get notifications when you arrive at or leave a saved place, finish a drive or flight, may have been in a crash, or join or leave the circle. Only people who join with an invite code are in a circle. You can leave a circle, or remove people from a circle you run, at any time.
• You decide who's in your circles. Before you invite someone, make sure they're happy to share their location with the circle. Only add a photo of someone with their agreement.

Who we share information with

We don't sell, rent or trade your information, and we don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. We share only what's needed to run CloudLink Locator:

• Apple (Apple Push Notification service) delivers notifications to iPhones.
• Expo (650 Industries, Inc., USA) and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) deliver notifications to Android phones. A notification contains the text shown on your lock screen, such as "Sam Smith" with "Sam arrived at Work", and may include the member's photo.
• Map providers. The map is drawn by Apple Maps on iPhone, OpenStreetMap's tile servers (OpenStreetMap Foundation, UK) on Android, and our own map server in the web app. Satellite view loads aerial imagery from LINZ Basemaps (Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand). These providers receive the normal details any map request includes, such as your network address and the area of map on screen. They don't receive your account details or your location history.
• Others, when the law requires it, or where it's needed to prevent or lessen a serious threat to someone's life, health or safety.

We share information with these providers only so they can provide their service to us. They're bound by their own privacy and security obligations, which we've checked give protection comparable to this policy and the New Zealand Privacy Act. Some of them (Apple, Expo, Google and the OpenStreetMap Foundation) may process information outside New Zealand, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How we keep it safe

Everything sent between CloudLink Locator and our servers is encrypted (HTTPS). Session tokens are kept in your phone's secure storage. Passwords are stored only as one-way hashes. Our servers are in New Zealand, run by CloudLink, and protected by firewalls, restricted administrator access, sign-in rate limiting and access checks so each person sees only the circles they belong to. If a privacy breach is likely to cause serious harm, we'll tell you and the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.

How long we keep it

• Detailed location history (every location point): 30 days, then deleted automatically. Your current location is the most recent of these.
• Trip summaries and alerts (drives, flights, arrivals and departures, crash alerts, including their start and end points): 30 days, then deleted automatically.
• Diagnostic records and logs (tracker event records and the tracker logs your phone sends us): 30 days, then deleted automatically.
• Places, circles and photos: while the circle or your account exists.
• Sign-in sessions: until you sign out, or after 180 days without use.
• Invite codes: expire after 7 days and are deleted 7 days after that.
• Accounts that never confirm their email: deleted after 7 days.
• Backups: our database is backed up every 6 hours, and each backup is kept for 14 days, so deleted information can remain in a backup for up to 14 days before it's overwritten.
• Web server logs (IP address, time and page or API requested): up to 15 days.
• Server activity logs (for example your account number, app version, or that you arrived at a saved place; they don't include your location coordinates): overwritten as space is needed, usually within a few weeks.

Your choices and rights

• Pause sharing at any time in Settings > Share My Location. While paused, the app doesn't collect or send your location.
• Turn off access to location, motion or notifications in your phone's settings. CloudLink Locator can't share your location without location access, but you can still see your circles.
• Turn off crash detection in Settings.
• Leave a circle in Settings, and everyone in it stops seeing your location.
• Delete your account in the app (Settings > Delete Account) or the web app. This immediately deletes your account, location history, trips and alerts, photo, devices, sessions and diagnostics. Circles you run pass to another member, or are deleted if you're the only one. Copies in backups are overwritten within 14 days.
• See or correct your information. Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can ask to see the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct it. Email adam@cloudlink.nz. We'll respond within 20 working days and don't charge for this. You can change your photo yourself in the app.

Children

CloudLink Locator accounts are for people aged 16 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 16. If you think a child under 16 has an account, email adam@cloudlink.nz and we'll delete it.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we've handled your information, please contact us first at adam@cloudlink.nz so we can put it right. If you're not happy with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz or on 0800 803 909.

Changes to this policy

We'll update this page if CloudLink Locator or how we handle information changes, and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.