Privacy

Updated October 23, 2026

CardBoarding has no account, no server, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. Nothing you put in it is sent to the developer, and the developer runs no service it could be sent to.

What stays with you

Your logbook — flights, trips, seats, aircraft, the paths flown, the cards you have earned — is stored on your iPhone and synced to your own iCloud account through Apple's private CloudKit database. Only you can read it.

From a boarding pass the app keeps the carrier, flight number, airports, day, seat and class. It never stores your name, your confirmation code (record locator) or the barcode itself; they are read past and discarded. A confirmation code you type is checked for its shape and then thrown away.

Location

Location is optional and used only during your own flights: when you turn on flight tracking, the app records your phone's position from boarding until you arrive, so the map can show the taxi and route you actually flew. iOS shows the blue location indicator while it runs. Those positions are stored with the flight, in your logbook and your iCloud.

One case sends a position off the device. At an airport, when your airplane's own transponder is not being heard, the app asks a public ADS-B service (adsb.lol or adsb.fi) for the traffic around your phone's position, rounded to about 11 metres. That request carries no identifier for you or your device. To keep your position on the phone, turn off Use My Position for Nearby Traffic in Settings; the traffic is then asked for around the airport instead.

Services the app talks to

The app contacts these directly from your iPhone. Like any web request, each sees your IP address; none receives your name or anything from your logbook beyond what is listed.

• adsb.lol, adsb.fi, adsb.im (public ADS-B, no key) — a flight's callsign, tail number or transponder address; an airplane's reported position; and the airport-area queries described above.
• FAA NAS Status — airport delay programmes; the app sends nothing.
• US DOT (BTS) — monthly on-time files, downloaded only when you ask to fill in old flights.
• Apple — maps, iCloud, Game Center and the App Store.
• With your own keys, only if you add them: FlightAware AeroAPI, AeroDataBox and the OpenSky Network receive the flight number, tail number, airports and date being looked up. Your keys are stored on your device and sent only to the service they belong to.

Permissions

• Camera — to scan a boarding pass's barcode, read on the device.
• Photos — only the images you pick, read on the device for a pass or an itinerary.
• Calendar — optional: to find flights already in your calendar, and to keep a CardBoarding Flights calendar if you turn that on.
• Notifications — local reminders scheduled on your iPhone; nothing is pushed from a server.
• Game Center — if you are signed in, your achievements and your scores on four boards (flights and miles, ever and in one day).

Tips

Tips are App Store purchases. Apple handles the payment; the developer is told only that a tip was bought.

Shared flight links

Share Live Link puts a flight's public facts — number, airports, times, gates and aircraft — into a link, never your seat, class or confirmation code. Whoever you send it to can follow that flight. In a link the flight sits after the #, which browsers never send to a server, so this site never receives it.

This website

cardboard.ing is static pages with no cookies, no analytics and no third-party scripts. Its host keeps ordinary request logs (address and page requested).

Deleting your data

Settings › Data › Delete All Flights removes your logbook from the app and from iCloud. To remove everything, delete the app, then remove CardBoarding's data in the Settings app under your name › iCloud › Manage Storage.