1. Controller
Alexander Stolte
Mansfelder Straße 1, 06108 Halle (Saale)
Germany
Email: privacy@mode1090.com
2. Hosting and technical access data
This website is delivered by a self-hosted Appwrite installation on a virtual server operated by Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestraße 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany, in a Nuremberg data centre. When you access the website, technically necessary connection data is processed. This can include your IP address, date and time, requested path, referrer, user agent, HTTP status and the amount of data transferred.
We process this data to deliver the website securely and reliably, diagnose errors and prevent abuse. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the secure and reliable operation of the website. We do not use this information to build usage profiles. Technical logs are retained only for as long as necessary for operations, security or investigation of a specific incident and are then deleted or overwritten. Hetzner processes data on our behalf. See the Hetzner privacy policy for further information.
3. DNS through Cloudflare
We use services from Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, as the authoritative DNS provider for mode1090.com, mode1090.de, mode1090.app and associated www addresses. A DNS lookup may involve the requested hostname, request time, DNS metadata and the address of the requesting recursive DNS resolver. Website content and redirects are served by our server without Cloudflare's HTTP proxy. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is reliable DNS resolution and protection of the domains.
Processing outside the European Economic Area cannot be ruled out. Cloudflare identifies the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses as safeguards. Details are available in the Cloudflare Data Processing Addendum and the Cloudflare privacy policy.
4. Optional MODE 1090 account
You can voluntarily create an account in the MODE 1090 app. The app remains usable locally without an account. For registration, sign-in, email verification and password recovery, we process data including your name, email address, verification status, session data and security data in our self-hosted Appwrite installation. Passwords are encrypted in transit and stored only as hashes.
You can alternatively use Sign in with Apple. Apple provides Appwrite with an account-specific identifier and, when you choose to share them, your name and either your real email address or an Apple relay address. We use this data only to create and sign in to your account; Sign in with Apple is not used for advertising or tracking.
If your app version offers Google sign-in and you choose it, Google provides Appwrite with your Google account identifier, name and email address. We use this data only to create and sign in to your account; Google sign-in is not used for advertising or tracking.
Processing is necessary to provide and secure the account you choose to create. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR; abuse prevention and technical security are additionally based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Account emails are sent through our separately self-hosted mail server. Without an account, you can continue using the app locally.
After you sign in, free collection sync starts automatically in the background. We store a privacy-reduced record for each synchronized sighting in Appwrite: the aircraft identity, observation and source time, confidence, optional human-readable place label, a pseudonymous account identifier and technical schema/conflict metadata. Exact coordinates, camera or compass evidence, pointing geometry, raw tracks and private sighting notes and photos remain on your device. A profile photo that you separately choose to share is described below. The purpose of collection sync is to make the same compact collection available on your signed-in Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac devices. Processing is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. You can pause sync for your account on an individual device; this choice is retained after restarting the app. Pausing does not delete the separate local guest collection or your account collection.
Friends, profile photos and shared updates
Friends is optional. Accepting an invitation connects two accounts and lets the signed-in friends compare collection totals, recent activity counts and aircraft types. Your display name is shown to accepted, signed-in friends. Opening an invitation link provides a neutral preview and does not grant access to your profile photo or private collection. A shared sighting or monthly recap contains only the selected summary, such as the aircraft type, observation day and counts. It does not contain your exact coordinates, private notes, collection photos or raw flight tracks. Access to friends' comparisons and shared updates is checked against the current connection.
If you choose a profile photo, the app uploads the square 512 by 512 pixel crop you confirm. Embedded image metadata is removed before the profile image is saved. The server stores that crop, your account identifier and an image revision so it can be shown to you and your accepted, signed-in friends. This separate profile feature does not upload your camera stream, original source photo or collection photos. You can replace or remove the profile photo.
Display names pass a rule-based text filter. Shared aircraft labels come from a server-controlled catalog; shared summaries contain fixed fields and statistics rather than freely written posts. Authorized staff manually review each submitted profile crop before friends can see that revision. While review is pending, or if the crop is rejected, only you can preview it; friends continue to see your previously approved photo or a neutral avatar. Review records identify the submitted crop, its revision and the review decision. No AI service is used for these checks. Your private collection, notes, original photos and camera stream are outside this process.
You can block a person and report a profile, profile photo or shared update. A report stores the reporter and subject account identifiers, target identifier, selected reason, submission time, processing status and the relevant evidence visible to the reporter. Evidence may include the displayed name, a shared summary or the reported profile crop and its revision. It does not include the person's private collection. Reports and their evidence are restricted to authorized staff for reviewing the reported material and handling abuse; filing a report does not grant staff a general review of private notes or photos. Blocking ends access through the friendship, but cannot remove copies a recipient has already saved.
We process these sharing features to provide the connection and content you request under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Safety checks, block records and report handling serve our legitimate interest in protecting users and preventing abuse under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Profile images and shared updates remain until they are removed or account deletion applies. Open reports are kept while they are investigated. Resolved reports, their evidence and reviewer account identifiers become eligible for automatic deletion 30 days after the decision and are removed by a subsequent successful maintenance run. Separate minimal records of confirmed content restrictions remain while necessary to prevent the same content from reappearing; they do not contain the report evidence. Account deletion also removes related report data from the active system. Backups may retain older copies until the regular backup rotation removes them.
You can permanently delete the account at any time from the app settings. This removes the Appwrite account and the Appwrite data currently supported by the deletion process – profile data, sightings, saved places, alert rules, friendships, shared updates, profile crops and related review/report records – from the active system. Backup copies may remain until they are removed during the regular backup rotation. Sightings and settings stored separately on your device remain local and can be managed or deleted independently.
5. Verification and recovery links
Email-verification and password-recovery links lead to dedicated pages on this website. The link contains a time-limited user identifier and secret Appwrite token. These values are used only to send the verification or password change you initiated to api.mode1090.com. After reading them, the page removes them from the visible browser address, does not share them with third parties, and contains no analytics or advertising scripts. The originally requested URL is nevertheless transmitted to our hosting infrastructure when the page is first requested.
6. Local preferences
If you select light or dark appearance, your browser stores the choice under the key mode1090-themein local storage. This setting remains on your device and is not transmitted to us for profiling or advertising. If you dismiss a website announcement, a technically necessary cookie records only that announcement's identifier for up to 30 days so it does not immediately reappear.
7. Support and feature requests
If you contact us by email or through the support form, we process your email address, selected topic, message and the device, operating system and app-version details you choose to provide. Optional screenshots and diagnostic files are stored in a private, access-restricted bucket. Feature requests also contain the title, description and contact email you submit. These records are handled in the self-hosted MODE 1090 system and through our separately operated mail server; no external form provider receives them.
Processing is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR where your request concerns a contract or pre-contractual steps, and otherwise on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is answering support requests and improving the product. Messages and attachments are deleted when the matter has been resolved unless legal retention duties or a documented legitimate interest require continued storage.
8. Website statistics and cookie preferences
On public website pages, we count basic page views even while the banner is open or rejected. A first-party count request sends only an approved page group. Our server directly increments a shared daily counter (UTC) for that group. These counters store no visitor identifier, IP address, IP hash, device information, referring website or query parameters; they create no individual view events or visitor profiles. Repeat views and undetected bots may be included. These counts cannot establish unique visitors or sessions. Technically necessary server and security logs are separate. Where connection data must be processed technically, we rely on our legitimate interest in minimal audience measurement (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR); you may object to that processing.
Only after voluntary consent do we store a random browser identifier for up to 30 days and additionally record public page paths without query parameters, time, language, referring domain, broad device type and country where supplied by the server. Browser and operating system are also stored in broad categories. Analytics records store no complete IP address or full referrer URL. The legal bases are section 25(1) TDDDG and Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. Inactivity or scrolling does not provide consent. The choice itself contains no individual identifier and is saved in a necessary cookie for 180 days. Cookie settings in the footer lets you accept, reject or withdraw consent at any time for the future; withdrawal removes the browser identifier and prevents further detailed measurement. It does not retroactively delete previous measurements. Both forms of measurement run only on our own infrastructure. Basic counts are not added to consent-based page views.
9. Mapbox airport detail maps in the app
The MODE 1090 app uses Mapbox to display detailed airport maps. No connection to Mapbox is made merely because you open an airport's information. Only when you choose to open the detailed map does the app connect directly to Mapbox services to retrieve the map style, fonts and vector map data needed for that view.
Mapbox may receive technically necessary connection and usage data, including your IP address, device and app information, identifiers, requested map resources, interaction and diagnostic data. The Mapbox Maps SDK can also send de-identified location and usage telemetry when the app causes such data to be gathered. This processing is necessary to provide the map you request and is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Processing in the United States cannot be ruled out. Details about Mapbox's processing and safeguards are available in the Mapbox privacy policy.
The Mapbox attribution control remains visible on the map. It gives you access to Mapbox's telemetry setting, where you can opt out of Mapbox telemetry for your device.
10. Your rights
Subject to the applicable legal requirements, you have rights including access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. You may object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Please use the privacy contact above to exercise your rights.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. In particular, you may contact the State Commissioner for Data Protection of Saxony-Anhalt, Otto-von-Guericke-Straße 34a, 39104 Magdeburg, Germany.
Last updated: 18 October 2026