Legal
This describes what GroundNav collects across the desktop app, groundnav.app, GN Live (live.groundnav.app), and the mobile companion app, and why. We’ve written it to match exactly what the code actually does, not a generic template.
Last updated August 17, 2026
On this page
01
GroundNav is currently operated by Kanegedeh Benedict, an individual based in Italy, acting as the data controller for the personal data described below. Contact: support@groundnav.app.
Imperium Studios, the company GroundNav will operate under, is in the process of being formally registered as a legal entity. This is a temporary arrangement. Once registration is complete, this page and the Terms of Service will be updated to name Imperium Studios as the operator instead.
02
Email address, username, a hashed password (we never see or store it in plain text), and an optional avatar. If you sign in with a third-party provider, we receive the basic profile info that provider shares.
While you’re subscribed to Live Network and connected to a running sim, GroundNav sends your position, altitude, speed, heading, aircraft type/registration, flight phase, gear/flap state, autopilot targets, and callsign to our servers: this is what makes multiplayer traffic, the live map, and mobile remote control work. It’s sent roughly twice a minute to the database and, at a higher rate, over a real-time channel to nearby pilots so their view of you moves smoothly. This data is deleted the moment you disconnect, sign out, or close the app, and an automated job also purges any row that goes stale for more than two minutes so nothing lingers from a crash.
The Flight-Ops Suite records your flights locally on your own PC by default: that data never leaves your machine unless you explicitly publish it (see below). Career Mode additionally stores your roster, schedule, aircraft, and airline finances on our servers, since that’s a persistent simulation tied to your account rather than a local file.
If you allow notifications on the mobile app, we store a device push token (issued by Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging) so a new chat message can reach you even when the app isn’t open. It identifies your device for notification delivery only, and you can remove it at any time by disabling notifications in your device settings.
Looking up METARs, TAFs, NOTAMs, airport/runway data, or a SimBrief flight plan sends the relevant airport codes or flight-plan ID to the third-party provider that answers that lookup (see Section 8), not your account identity.
03
Direct messages between friends are stored on our servers, not only on your device: we keep them so your conversation history syncs across desktop and mobile. A copy is also cached locally on each device for fast loading. If that’s not what you expected: we wanted this page to say so plainly rather than imply everything is local-only when it isn’t.
Your online/offline status in GroundNav is shared with your friends via a presence signal while the app is open. Friend requests and your friends list are stored so the feature works.
04
Live Network’s shared-frequency voice radio relays audio in real time through LiveKit, a third-party voice infrastructure provider. Audio is not recorded or stored by GroundNav. LiveKit processes the audio stream only to route it between pilots on the same frequency; see their own privacy policy for how they handle it in transit.
05
Publishing a replay clip or a screenshot is opt-in: you choose to share it. Flight path tracks upload automatically for each flight so a 2D replay can show on GN Live and mobile, but only the track (a compressed list of positions) is stored, and only a reference to it lives in our database: the file itself is stored with Cloudflare R2, our storage provider, not directly in our database.
06
All payment processing is handled by Stripe. We never receive or store your card number: we only keep the Stripe customer ID, subscription ID, and plan status needed to know what you’re entitled to.
07
If you’re in the EU/UK, here’s the legal basis for each category above:
08
We don’t sell your data. We share it only with the sub-processors that make the service work, each only receiving what their feature needs:
We’d disclose data beyond this if legally required to, for example, in response to a valid court order.
09
Our primary database runs on Supabase infrastructure in Ireland (EU). Stripe, Cloudflare, and LiveKit may process data outside the EU as part of their own global infrastructure; each maintains its own compliance mechanism (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses) for that transfer.
10
11
If you’re in the EU/UK, you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or export your personal data, and to object to or withdraw consent for processing based on consent. Email support@groundnav.app to exercise any of these. We’ll respond within the timeframe the law requires. If you’re not satisfied with how we’ve handled a request, you can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in Italy, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali).
12
GroundNav isn’t directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect data from anyone below the age their country sets for consenting to this kind of service without a parent or guardian.
13
We use encryption in transit (TLS) for all traffic, hashed passwords, and row-level database access rules that restrict each account to its own data. No system is perfectly secure, and we can’t guarantee absolute protection against a determined attacker, but we treat a breach affecting your data as something we’d disclose to you promptly.
14
If we materially change what we collect or why, we’ll update the date at the top of this page and surface the change somewhere you’ll see it, not bury it.
15
Questions or requests about your data: support@groundnav.app.
See also our Terms of Service. Questions? Reach out via Support.