Privacy Policy

Gate Code stores the codes that get you through gates, doors, storage units and safes, and shows the right one when you arrive. This policy says what the app collects, where it goes, who else sees it and how to get rid of it. It is written to match what the app does, in plain language, and it applies to the Gate Code apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, CarPlay, Android, Wear OS and Android Auto, and to the website at gatecode.app.

Gate Code is made by bretep, llc (“we”). We are the data controller for the information described here.

Effective: 4 October 2026. This version replaces the policy of 29 April 2021.

The short version

• Your codes are stored in your account so they sync between your devices and can be shared with people you choose. They are encrypted in transit and at rest, and we access them only to operate and support the service.
• Location is used for two things: to place a gate on the map, and to notice when you arrive at one. Arrival detection runs on your phone. We do not record where you go, and we do not keep a location history.
• We do not sell personal information, we do not show ads, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
• You can delete your account from inside the app. No email required.

What we collect

Your account

You sign in with Apple, Google or an email address and password. We keep an account identifier, your email address and, if your sign-in provider supplies one, your name. Sign in with Apple may give us a relay address instead of your real one; that is fine with us.

Authentication is handled by Firebase Authentication, a Google service. Google processes your sign-in credentials on our behalf; we never see your password.

Your codes

Each code you save can hold a name, the code itself, a category, the kind of lock, notes, a label, a nearby landmark, a location and an alert radius, plus who it is shared with and when it was created and changed. This is the content the app exists to keep, and we store it in Cloud Firestore, a Google database hosted in the United States.

Codes are stored encrypted at rest by Google and are sent over encrypted connections. They are not end-to-end encrypted: a code must be readable by our systems to be shown on your watch, in your car and on an invite page, so it is readable in our database. Access to that database is limited to the account that owns a code, the accounts it is shared with, our automated functions, and bretep staff when needed to operate the service, support you or investigate abuse.

Location

Placing a gate. When you add a location to a code, the app uses your current position or a map search to find the spot. Only the coordinates and address you save are stored, as part of that code.

Arrival alerts. If you allow it, the app asks the operating system to watch a small circle around each gate you saved a location for, so it can show the code as you pull up. This runs on your device, including in the background and when the app is closed. Your position is compared against your own saved gates on the phone and is not sent to us. We keep no record of where you have been.

The map. Map tiles, search results and the small map images on each code come from Mapbox. To draw a map, your device sends Mapbox the area being viewed and your IP address, as any map service requires. Mapbox also offers usage telemetry for its own product analytics. In Gate Code for iOS it is switched off; you can turn it on from the map’s attribution menu if you want to contribute. On Android it can be turned off from the same menu.

You can refuse or revoke location permission at any time in your device settings. The app still works for storing and sharing codes; it just cannot place gates or alert you on arrival.

Sharing and invites

When you share a code with someone, that person’s account is added to the code’s access list and they can read it, including its location, until you remove them.

An invite is a short link or nine-character code. Anyone who opens the link sees the gate’s name and a map image of its location on gatecode.app before they sign in, so treat an invite like the key it is. Invites expire, and you can revoke one from the app. An invite record holds the token, the code it points to, who created it and when it expires, and is stored with your codes. Lookups go through a small service we run on Cloudflare, which sees the token and returns the gate’s name and location.

Purchases

Gate Code Pro is sold through the Apple App Store and Google Play, and subscriptions are managed by RevenueCat. We receive the purchase status, the product bought, the price, the store country and the dates, tied to your account identifier. We never see your card number or billing address; the stores keep those.

Diagnostics

When the app crashes, hangs or hits an error, a report goes to Sentry, an error-reporting service. A report contains the device model, operating system version, app version, the state of the app when it failed, your IP address, and your account identifier and email address so that we can answer you when you write in about the problem. Code values are stripped from reports before they leave the device.

The Android app and older iOS versions also use Firebase Crashlytics for crash reports and Firebase Analytics for anonymous usage statistics such as which screens are opened. Gate Code 3.0 for iOS contains no analytics library at all.

Devices and installs

So that the app can clean up after an uninstall and tell your devices apart, your account keeps a short list of installs: a random install identifier, the platform (iOS or Android) and when it was first and last seen.

Feedback

If you send ideas or feedback from inside the app, the text you write is stored with your account identifier so we can follow up.

Notifications

Arrival alerts are generated on your phone and never pass through a server. On Android, the app registers with Firebase Cloud Messaging so the system can deliver notifications; that registration token is held by Google.

Where your codes also live

To show a code quickly, the app keeps a copy on each device you sign in on and shares it with its own widgets, your Apple Watch or Wear OS watch, CarPlay or Android Auto, and, on iPhone, the Live Activity that shows a code on the Lock Screen when you arrive. Anyone who can see your phone’s lock screen at that moment can see that code. You can hide the code on any gate, or mute its alerts, from the code’s own screen. Signing out removes the local copies.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal information.
• We do not show advertising or use advertising identifiers.
• We do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites, and the app does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission because it has nothing to ask for.
• We do not read your contacts, photos, calendar or health data.
• We do not record your location history.

Who else processes your data

Each of these processes data under its own agreement with us and its own privacy policy. All of them store data in the United States or in regions they operate; see International transfers below.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to establish or defend legal claims, or as part of a sale or merger of bretep, llc, in which case this policy continues to apply to it.

How long we keep it

• Account and codes: for as long as your account exists.
• Diagnostics in Sentry: 90 days, then deleted automatically.
• Purchase records: for as long as your account exists, plus what tax and accounting law requires.
• Feedback: until it has been acted on, and no longer than two years.
• Invites: until they expire or you revoke them.

Deleting your account

Open Settings, then Account, then Delete Account. You will be asked to sign in again first. Deletion runs immediately and does the following:

• Your sign-in, email address and name are removed, and the account can no longer be used.
• Your account record and the data stored under it, such as your preferences and the list of your installs, are deleted.
• You are removed from every code someone else shared with you.
• Your identity is removed from the codes and invites you created, so anything you shared keeps working for the people you shared it with.
• Your subscription is cancelled through the App Store or Google Play, not by us; cancel it there if you do not want it to renew.

Residual copies in service-provider backups and in diagnostic reports age out within 90 days. If you want anything else removed, or you cannot sign in to delete the account yourself, write to privacy@gatecode.app from the account’s email address.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to tell you what we hold about you, correct it, give you a copy of it in a machine-readable form, restrict or object to how we use it, or delete it. Most of this you can do yourself inside the app: every code is editable, sharing can be revoked, and the account can be deleted. For anything else, email privacy@gatecode.app. We answer within 30 days and we never charge for it. We will not treat you differently for exercising a right.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, our legal bases are: performance of our contract with you, for storing and syncing your codes, sharing, purchases and account management; your consent, for location access and notifications, which you can withdraw in your device settings at any time; and our legitimate interest in keeping the app working, for diagnostics and security. You can complain to your local data protection authority.

If you are in California, the categories we collect are identifiers, account and contact details, commercial information, geolocation data you choose to save, and diagnostic information, as described above. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we have not done so in the past twelve months. You may request to know, correct or delete through the app or by email, and an authorised agent may act for you with your written permission.

International transfers

bretep, llc is in the United States and the services above store data there. If you use Gate Code from elsewhere, your information is transferred to the United States. Where European law requires it, those transfers rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, as held by each provider.

Children

Gate Code is not for children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, tell us at privacy@gatecode.app and we will delete it.

Security

Data moves over TLS and is stored encrypted at rest. Database rules restrict every code to the accounts allowed to read it, and deletion and clean-up run as server-side functions that clients cannot bypass. Codes stay out of diagnostic reports. No system is perfect; if we learn of a breach that affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

Changes

When this policy changes, we update the date at the top and keep the previous version available on request. For a change that affects what we collect or how we use it, the app will tell you before it takes effect.

Contact

bretep, llc privacy@gatecode.app for privacy requests support@gatecode.app for everything else