Privacy policy
Subterra Vector privacy policy
Effective November 2, 2026
In short
Subterra Vector doesn’t collect, send, sell, or share any of your information. It has no accounts, no advertising, no analytics, and no automatic crash reporting. A crash report stays on your device unless you choose to email it.
Everything you enter is saved on your device. The app has no internet access: it doesn’t ask Android for permission to use the internet, so it can’t send anything anywhere itself. Copies leave the device only when you choose: a file you share, a backup you save, the cloud copy if you turn it on, or feedback you send from your own email.
Your surveys are yours. Subterra Ops doesn’t own, see, or receive the data you put in the app.
Who we are
Subterra Vector is a cave survey app made by Subterra Ops. This policy explains how the app handles information. It applies to the app on every store and device it’s offered on.
What the app saves, and where
The app saves what you enter so you can use it again:
- caves and their details, including names, descriptions, entrance coordinates, and elevation
- survey days, team names, and notes
- shots, stations, sketches, photos you add, and symbols you add
- your settings, such as light or dark mode, text size, sound and vibration for shots, back sight check allowances, pen colors, and the name and Bluetooth address of the survey device you chose
Entrance coordinates and elevation are what you type, or what Use this tablet’s location (Use this phone’s location on a phone) fills in when you create a cave. They’re saved only when you save the cave.
All of it is kept in the app’s private storage on your device, which other apps can’t read. None of it is sent to Subterra Ops or to anyone else. We can’t see it.
Once a day the app keeps a copy of everything in its private storage (the last five copies), so you can recover from a mistake. Before a backup is restored, it also keeps a copy of what the restore replaces (the last five). These copies stay on your device too.
Android’s cloud backup is turned off for this app, so your data isn’t copied to Google’s or anyone else’s cloud.
Photos you add are saved again by the app without their location and camera details.
If the app crashes, it keeps a short crash report on your device. It also notes problems it recovered from, such as an export that didn’t finish. These hold the time, the app version, your tablet or phone model and Android version, and where in the app’s code the problem happened, with Bluetooth addresses hidden. They never hold your caves, shots, or locations. The next time the app opens after a crash, it suggests sending the report with Send feedback. Nothing is sent unless you send it.
Permissions
| Permission | What the app uses it for |
|---|---|
| Bluetooth | Finding and connecting to your survey device and receiving its measurements. The app recognizes supported survey devices by the name they broadcast. Measurements go from the device to the app only. |
| Location | Only when you select Use this tablet’s location (Use this phone’s location on a phone) while creating a new cave. The app asks Android once for the device’s position and fills in the entrance coordinates and elevation. Android stops reporting as soon as a good position is found, or after about a minute and a half. The position is kept only if you save the cave. On Android 11 and older, Android also requires this permission before an app can search for Bluetooth devices; the app doesn’t read your location for that. |
| Camera and photos | None. Take a photo opens your camera app and returns only that photo. Choose a photo, Choose SVG file, Import cave, and Import cave file use Android’s own picker, which gives the app only the file you pick. Save to Files uses Android’s own Save dialog, which writes only where you choose. |
| Sound, vibration, and keeping the screen on | No permission needed. |
| Internet | None. The app can’t go online. |
The app never reads your location in the background, never tracks where you go, and never sends your location anywhere.
You can refuse or remove any permission in Android’s settings. The app still works without them: hand entry needs no permission, and entrance coordinates can always be typed.
When information leaves your device
Only when you choose to send it. From then on, how it’s handled is up to you and whoever receives it.
- Exports. When you export a survey or sketch and share it, the file goes where you send it: another app, a person, a memory card, or a computer. Exports leave out entrance coordinates unless you choose Include. Sketch exports (SVG and PNG) carry a short information section: the declination, the team names from your survey days, the surveyed length, the deepest point, and the average temperature. The spreadsheet export includes survey days with team names and notes.
- Backups. A backup you save goes where you put it. It holds entrance coordinates, elevation, and access notes only if you choose Include when you save it. Backups aren’t encrypted, so keep them somewhere safe, especially for caves whose locations are sensitive.
- Cloud copy. If you turn it on in Backup and restore, the app keeps a backup up to date in a file you saved in a cloud storage app, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. That app, not Subterra Vector, uploads it to its service, under its own privacy policy. The cloud copy follows the same Include or Leave out choice, set when you turn it on. You can stop it any time; the file already in the cloud stays there until you delete it.
- Cave files. Share cave file makes a file with one whole cave, for another tablet or phone or another Subterra Vector user: its details and photo, survey, sketches, photos on the sketch, and survey days with team names and notes. It holds the entrance location and access notes only if you choose Include.
- Feedback. Send feedback writes an email for you to send from your own email app to info@subterraops.com. You see all of it before you send it, and you can leave out the app’s details. If you include them, they’re the app version, your tablet or phone model and Android version, the last lines of the survey device log (survey device names and readings, with Bluetooth addresses hidden), and the last crash report if it’s under 30 days old. They never include your caves, shots, or locations. A message you start but don’t send is kept in the app’s memory for five minutes, then forgotten. It’s never saved to storage.
Sharing and selling
Subterra Ops receives nothing from the app except feedback you choose to email us. We keep that feedback to answer you and improve the app, and we don’t share or sell it. The app contains no advertising or tracking code from other companies.
Keeping and deleting your information
Your information stays on your device until you delete it.
- Deleting a cave removes it with all of its survey days, shots, sketches, and photos. It goes to the trash, in Settings, for 30 days, where you can restore it or delete it for good at once. After 30 days the app deletes it for good.
- Uninstalling the app removes everything it saved, including its daily copies.
- Files you exported and backups you saved elsewhere aren’t removed by the app. Delete those where you saved them.
- Feedback you emailed us: ask us at info@subterraops.com and we’ll delete it.
Your rights
Privacy laws in many places, such as the GDPR in the European Union and the United Kingdom and the CCPA in California, give you rights to see, correct, or delete personal information a company holds about you, and to stop its sale. Subterra Ops holds no information about you from this app, apart from feedback you emailed us, which we’ll show you or delete if you ask. Everything the app saves is on your device, under your control.
Children
The app is made for cave surveyors and isn’t directed at children under 13. It collects no information from anyone, children included.
Security
Your information is protected by your device: the app’s storage is private to the app. Use a screen lock on your device, and keep exported files and backups safe.
Changes to this policy
If the app ever handles information differently, this policy will be updated first, with a new effective date. The current policy is always in the app, under Privacy policy in Settings.
Contact
Questions about this policy or the app: email Subterra Ops at info@subterraops.com, or use Send feedback in the app (the speech bubble at the top of every screen). Website: subterraops.com.
Website privacy policy
Effective November 3, 2026
In short
This website doesn’t collect your information. There are no accounts, no forms, no cookies, no analytics, no advertising, and no tracking of any kind. We hear from you only if you choose to email us.
Who we are
Subterra Ops makes Subterra Datum and Subterra Vector. This policy covers subterraops.com and the website for Subterra Vector, subterravector.com. The Subterra Vector app has its own privacy policy, and subterradatum.com has its own as well.
What this website collects
Nothing. You can read every page without telling us who you are. The site has no sign-in, no forms, and no scripts that track you, and it sets no cookies.
Like every website, our pages are delivered by a hosting company, Cloudflare. To send you a page and keep the site safe from attacks, Cloudflare handles the technical details your browser sends with each visit, such as your IP address and browser type. We don’t use that information to identify you, we don’t combine it with anything else, and we don’t sell it.
When you email us
The Get updates button opens an email in your own email app, addressed to info@subterraops.com. If you send it, or email us for any other reason, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to write.
- We use it only to answer you, and to send the launch news you asked for.
- We never sell it, rent it, or share it with anyone for their own use.
- To stop launch emails, reply and say so. We’ll take you off the list.
- To have us delete your emails and your address, ask at info@subterraops.com.
Links to other sites
Our pages link to our product websites and may link to other sites. Each of those has its own privacy practices.
Children
This website isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone, children included.
Changes to this policy
If we ever change how this website handles information, we’ll update this page first and change the effective date at the top.
Contact
Questions about this policy: email us at info@subterraops.com.