Privacy policy

1Bar is made by Steamboat Software LLC ("we", "us"). This policy says what 1Bar does with your information. Effective October 14, 2026.

The short version

  • The app does not send us your information. 1Bar has no accounts, no sign-in, and no servers that receive your messages. We cannot read your messages. (If you join the launch list on this website, we hold the email address you give us; see below.)
  • No ads. No tracking. No selling or sharing your data. There are no advertising, analytics or tracking tools in the app or on this website.
  • Your messages go from phone to phone over Bluetooth, encrypted, to the people in your Crew.
  • Your data lives on your phone. You can remove it with Leave and forget in Settings.

What 1Bar does

1Bar lets a group of people (a "Crew") message, send short voice clips, check in and send an SOS card, even where there is no cell signal or internet, by passing encrypted messages between nearby phones over Bluetooth.

Information on your phone

1Bar keeps the following on your phone only:

  • Your name, the name you chose to go by in a Crew.
  • Your Crews' details: each Crew's name and color, and the names and public keys of its members.
  • Your messages and voice clips, the cards you send or receive (check-ins and SOS cards), and the marks (a Base or pins) that you or your Crew place.
  • Encryption keys. Your identity keys and a key that protects the data above are held in your phone's secure storage (the iPhone Keychain or the Android Keystore), on that phone only.
  • Your settings, and any place packs you chose to download.

Your messages, voice clips, Crew details, name and keys are stored encrypted. A few display preferences, such as text size, are stored plainly; they identify nothing. We never receive any of this. It does not leave your phone except as described next.

Information that leaves your phone

  • To your Crew. Messages, voice clips, check-ins, SOS cards and marks are sent to the other people in your Crew, over Bluetooth. They are encrypted so that only your Crew can read them, and they are signed so the Crew knows who sent them. People in your Crew can see what you send them, your name and your public keys, and they can see when your phone has received a message (a delivery notice, not a read receipt). They can keep copies on their phones; leaving a Crew or deleting the app does not remove copies they already have.
  • Through other people's phones. To reach people who are out of direct range, your encrypted messages can pass through other phones running 1Bar, and your phone does the same for others, automatically. There is no setting in the app to turn this off. To save battery, a phone relays everything while its battery is above 30%, relays only its own Crews' traffic and alerts at 30% or below, and relays nothing at 15% or below. A phone that carries a message cannot read what is inside it. It can observe that a message of a certain size passed by and when, what kind of message it is (for example, that it is an alert) and how many hops it has made, along with random identifiers that are not linked to anyone's name.
  • Marks. When you place a mark (a Base or a pin), your Crew receives its kind, its position (latitude and longitude), its height if your phone knew it, and a short note. It is encrypted for your Crew, and only members of the Crew can read it. Your position is shared only when you place a mark.
  • Height sharing (optional). If "Share my height with the Crew" is on, your phone sends its air-pressure reading to your Crew about every 30 seconds while the Crew screen is open, so the app can show who is higher or lower. It never includes your position. The Ghost setting, which applies to each Crew separately, stops your phone sending its air pressure to that Crew. You still receive other members' readings, and messages work as usual.
  • When a Crew is open for joining. While you have a Crew open, your phone broadcasts a short Bluetooth signal so people nearby can find it. It contains a temporary opening number, how many people are in the Crew, and its color. It does not contain names. A person nearby who chooses to join sees the Crew's name and color before joining. When someone joins, they send you their name and public keys, and your phone sends them the Crew's member list and keys, encrypted to them.

Bluetooth is a radio: anyone nearby with the right equipment can see that a Bluetooth device is transmitting, and when. We cannot hide that.

Permissions

  • Bluetooth (and "Nearby devices" on Android): to find, join and talk to your Crew. This is essential.
  • Microphone: only to record a voice clip when you ask. 1Bar does not listen in the background.
  • Notifications: to tell you when your Crew writes.
  • Motion & Fitness (iPhone): 1Bar reads your phone's air-pressure sensor so it can show height, and its motion sensors to keep the compass steady. Readings stay on your phone, and the motion readings are never sent anywhere. Only the air-pressure number is ever shared, never your position, and only with your Crew and only if height sharing is on.
  • Location: 1Bar reads your phone's location, direction and height only while the app is open, and only on your phone: to name a new Crew after where it starts, to show where your marked places are and which way, and to put a Base or pin where you stand when you mark one. Your position is not shared continuously and nobody can see where you are. A position leaves your phone only when you mark a spot, and then only to your Crew, encrypted. (Android 11 and earlier also require a location permission before any app can scan for Bluetooth; that is the operating system's rule.)

You can turn any of these off in your phone's settings; parts of 1Bar will stop working without Bluetooth.

Offline places

If you choose to download place names for a country (Settings, Offline places), your phone fetches a file from a public storage bucket run by Oracle Cloud (US West). It is a plain download: no cookies, no account, no identifier, and nothing about you or your position is sent. The file name shows which country you chose. As with any download, the host can see your internet address, and may keep standard access logs. Place data comes from GeoNames, OpenStreetMap and USGS; credits are under Settings, Open source licences.

This website and the launch list

This website uses no analytics, advertising or tracking tools and sets no cookies. If you join the launch list, we store the email address you type (and the phone type you choose, if you choose one) with our hosting provider, Google Firebase, only so we can email you when 1Bar is ready. We do not share or sell it. To have it removed, email us and we will delete it.

Other companies

  • Apple and Google run the app stores and your phone's operating system. They collect their own information about downloads and, if you allow it, about crashes and usage, under their own policies. We receive only the aggregate figures they give app developers.
  • Oracle Cloud hosts the optional place downloads described above. Google Firebase hosts this website and the launch list.
  • 1Bar uses no analytics, advertising, crash-reporting or login companies. Open source libraries it is built with are listed under Settings, Open source licences.

How long we keep it

On your phone, data stays until you remove it. Leave and forget in Settings makes you leave your Crews and deletes everything 1Bar keeps on your phone, for all Crews on that phone: your messages, keys, name, settings and downloaded place packs. Messages already sent stay on other people's phones. How to delete your data.

A Crew you have not opened for 7 days asks "Still using this Crew?". A Crew not opened for 14 days is forgotten by your phone, with its keys, messages and marks, unless you choose Keep always.

We keep the email address of anyone who joined the launch list until we have emailed them about launch, or until they ask us to delete it.

Security

Messages are encrypted from your phone to your Crew members' phones, and your keys stay in your phone's secure storage. No system is perfectly secure, and anyone who can unlock your phone can read what is on it. If you find a security problem, please email us.

Children

1Bar is not directed to children under 13. The app does not send us personal information, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children on this website.

Your choices and rights

The app does not send us your information, so there is nothing in the app for us to access, correct, export or delete; you control your data on your phone. If you joined the launch list, you can ask us at any time to show you, correct or delete your email address. Email us and we will act on it.

Changes

If 1Bar changes what it does with information (for example, if internet calling is added), we will update this policy before the change and say so in the app. The date at the top shows when it last changed.

Contact

Steamboat Software LLC. Email us or visit get1bar.com.