Terms of Service

Tailspot is a free plane-spotting game made by one person. These terms are honest about what the app is, what it isn't, and what you agree to by using it.

1. What Tailspot is (and what it isn't)

Tailspot is a game. It uses publicly broadcast ADS-B radio signals, aggregated by community networks, to show you aircraft flying overhead. You point your phone at a plane, the app identifies it, and you collect it.

The aircraft data is community-sourced and may be wrong. Positions, altitudes, callsigns, and identifications can be delayed, inaccurate, spoofed, or absent. Tailspot makes no warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any flight data shown in the app.

Never use Tailspot for navigation, flight safety, or any safety-critical purpose. It is a game — not a flight-tracking service, an air-traffic tool, or an instrument of any kind.

2. The service — what we provide and don't promise

Tailspot is provided free of charge, as-is, with no warranty of any kind. We do not promise:

• That the app or backend will be available at any particular time.
• That flight data will be accurate or current.
• That your collection, score, or handle will be preserved indefinitely. Catch records are stored on our server and can usually be restored after a reinstall, but restore is best-effort, not a guarantee — and catch photos exist only on your phone and are never recoverable once the app is deleted.
• That the app will work on every device or iOS version.

This is a hobby project. It may go down, change substantially, or be discontinued. We'll try to give notice before major changes, but can't promise to.

3. Your handle

If you claim a public handle (the display name on the leaderboard), you agree:

• No impersonation of any person, organization, or brand.
• No offensive content. Handles containing slurs, threats, or targeted harassment will be reset without warning.
• No reserved terms. We may reserve names (e.g., "Tailspot," "Admin") and deny or reset claims on them.

Handle uniqueness is enforced server-side. We may reset a handle that violates these rules; your catches and score are unaffected by a handle reset.

4. Things you may not do

• Manipulate catch validation — false GPS coordinates, replayed positions, fabricated sensor data, or systematically guessing the bonus round with outside automation.
• Reverse-engineer, scrape, or bulk-download data from the Tailspot backend for any purpose outside normal app use.
• Use the app in any way that violates applicable law.

Catch validation is not yet fully automated — we record enough to check catches against real flight tracks, and we may retroactively remove catches or block device IDs that were plainly fabricated. Fake catches undermine a game everyone else plays honestly.

5. Intellectual property and third-party content

The Tailspot app, its visual design, and original content are owned by Noah Landesberg. Third-party content shown in the app remains its owners':

• Flight data comes from community sources under their licenses — see Attributions.
• Stock aircraft photos are provided by Planespotters.net and are the copyright of the credited photographer; the photo and the credit line under it link to the original. They are displayed under Planespotters' terms, not licensed to you for reuse.

You own the photos you take. The app generates catch records from public flight data — you don't own the underlying flight data, but the record of your catch is yours.

6. Termination

We can stop providing the service at any time. If you violate these terms (particularly §4), we may block your device ID from the backend — which also disables leaderboard participation and server-side restore. Your local collection on your device is always yours to keep; we cannot delete it remotely.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Noah Landesberg is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of Tailspot — including any reliance on flight data displayed in the app. Use of flight data in any safety-critical, navigational, or emergency context is entirely at your own risk and is explicitly disclaimed.

8. Governing law and disputes

California law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Disputes that can't be resolved informally belong in a court of competent jurisdiction in California.

9. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes get an updated effective date and, for significant changes, an in-app notice. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

10. Contact

Questions about these terms: privacy@tailspot.app