Snel over de Schelde — Privacy Policy

Effective date: 7 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the "Snel over de Schelde" mobile app ("the App") handles information when you use it. It applies to the iOS and Android versions of the App (iOS bundle identifier be.smds.snelOverDeSchelde, Android application ID be.smds.snel_over_de_schelde).

The App was built to help people in Antwerp find the fastest way to cross the river Schelde (ferry, De Waterbus, the bike tunnel, or the pedestrian tunnel) based on their current location and the current time. It is a small, independently developed app with no user accounts, no advertising, and no analytics or tracking software of any kind.

1. Who is responsible for your data (the controller)

The App is developed and published by:

SMDS Solutions — a subsidiary of 10000 Suns bv
Registered office at Sanderusstraat 9, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
hello (at) smds.be
Enterprise number: BE 0788.948.312
VAT Identification Number: BE 0788.948.312

For any question, request, or concern about this Privacy Policy or about how the App handles information, please contact us at the address above.

2. The short version

The App does not require you to create an account and does not know who you are.
Your location is used only to work out which crossing is nearest and fastest for you. It is processed on your device and is never sent to, or stored on, any server we operate.
Anything you save in the App — your address book entries, saved trips, and settings — is stored only on your own device. We never see it, and it is never uploaded anywhere by us.
The App does not use advertising, does not use analytics or tracking SDKs, and does not sell or share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
To do its job, the App does talk to a small number of external services over the internet (live crossing status, timetable updates, live bike-share availability, address search, and your phone's own Maps app). Section 5 below explains exactly what each one sees.

3. Information the App uses

3.1 Location

If you allow it, the App uses your device's GPS location ("while using the app" / "when in use" — the App never asks for, and does not need, background or "Always" location access) to:

work out how far you are from each crossing point (ferry dock, waterbus stop, tunnel portal);
rank the available crossings by how quickly you could reach and use each one;
show a warning if you appear to be far from Antwerp, or an informational note if you appear to already be on the water (for example, aboard the ferry).

This calculation happens entirely on your device. Your GPS coordinates are not transmitted to us, are not stored by us, and are not sent to any of the third-party services described in Section 5 (those services never receive your location — see below for exactly what each one does receive).

If you deny location access, the App will ask you to enable it, since it cannot suggest a crossing without knowing where you are. You can grant or revoke this permission at any time from your device's system settings.

Test mode. The App includes an optional, hidden "Test mode" (off by default) that lets you type in a location manually instead of using GPS, for testing purposes. A manually entered location is handled exactly like a GPS location — used only on your device, never transmitted anywhere.

3.2 Saved addresses and trips

If you choose to save an address (for example, "Home" or "Work") or plan and save a future trip, that information — the label you gave it, the address text, its coordinates, and any reminder you set — is stored locally in the App's own storage on your device (using your operating system's standard app-storage mechanism). It is not uploaded to us or to any third party, is not backed up to any cloud service by the App itself, and is not accessible to us in any way. If your device backs up app data to iCloud or a Google account as part of its normal operating-system backup feature, that backup is controlled by Apple or Google under their own privacy terms, not by us.

Deleting an address or trip within the App removes it from your device immediately. Uninstalling the App removes all of this data.

3.3 App settings

Your chosen language, theme (light/dark/system), default travel mode, and similar preferences are likewise stored only on your device and are never transmitted to us.

3.4 Notifications

If you set a reminder for a planned trip (the "Remind me" option), the reminder is scheduled locally on your device using your operating system's own notification system. No trip or reminder data leaves your device to make this work. You can allow or deny notification permission from your device's system settings at any time.

3.5 Information we do not collect

We do not ask you to create an account, and we do not collect your name, email address, or any other identifying information. The App contains no advertising, no analytics software, no crash-reporting software, and no third-party tracking code. We do not sell, rent, or share your information with anyone for marketing or advertising purposes, because we do not collect it in the first place.

4. Permissions the App requests, and why

Location (while using the app)	To find the crossing nearest and fastest for you. Never "Always"/background.
Notifications	Only if you choose to set a reminder for a planned trip.
Internet access	To fetch the live information described in Section 5 below (crossing status, timetable updates, bike-share availability, address search results).

5. Services the App connects to over the internet

To function, the App fetches a small number of things live from the internet, directly from your device. None of these requests include your identity, your saved addresses, or your account information (since the App has none of those). What each service does receive is described below. With the exception of the timetable data we publish ourselves, each of these services is operated independently of us and has its own privacy policy, which we encourage you to review if you want more detail.

Live crossing status — the App checks the official real-time status of the tunnels, the Sint-Anna ferry, and De Waterbus (open / disrupted / closed) from the public "Slim over de Schelde" status service operated by the Flemish government's road and traffic agency. This is a simple request for public status information; your location is not part of it.
Timetable and fare updates — so that a changed ferry or De Waterbus timetable reaches you without an app update, the App downloads the current timetable and fare files in the background from a small public data site that we publish ourselves. That site is hosted on GitHub Pages (GitHub, Inc., a Microsoft company based in the United States). The request is a plain download of the same public files for everyone: it contains no location, no saved address or trip, and no identifier from the App. As with any website, the host can see the technical details of the request, such as your IP address.
Antwerp Velo bike-share availability — if you use "Velo" mode, the App fetches live bike and dock availability for Antwerp's public bike-share stations from the operator's public data feed (GBFS, a standard, open, no-login format used by bike-share systems worldwide, operated for Antwerp Velo by SmartBike/Clear Channel). This is a general request for the full list of stations and their availability; your location is not sent to obtain it.
Address search — when you type an address into the address book or trip planner, the text you type is sent to a third-party address-search service (Photon, operated by Komoot, based in Germany) to look up matching street addresses. Only the text you actually type is sent — not your GPS location, and not any other address already saved in your address book.
Maps and directions — when you tap a "directions" link, the App opens your device's Google Maps app (or, if it is not installed, a Google Maps web page) with the relevant coordinates, so Google Maps can show you the route. This hands the request off to the Google Maps app itself and is governed by Google's own privacy policy; we do not see or record that you tapped the link.

None of the above services are used for advertising, profiling, or tracking; each is used solely to provide the specific piece of live information the App's core feature needs at that moment.

6. Data retention

Because the App does not transmit your personal data to us or store it on any server we control, there is nothing for us to retain or delete on your behalf. Everything the App remembers about you (saved addresses, trips, and settings) stays on your device for as long as the App remains installed, and is deleted the moment you uninstall the App or clear its storage from your device's settings.

7. Children's privacy

The App is a general-purpose transport tool and is not directed at children. It does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, of any age, since it does not collect personal information at all in the sense described above.

8. Your rights

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Belgian data protection law, you have rights that include access, correction, deletion, restriction, and portability of your personal data, and the right to object to its processing. Because the App does not transmit your location, address book, trips, or settings to us or store them anywhere outside your own device, we hold no personal data about you to act on such a request — you already have full and immediate control over that information yourself, directly on your device (view, edit, or delete it within the App, or remove it entirely by uninstalling the App).

If you contact us directly (for example, by emailing the address in Section 1), we will of course hold and use that correspondence — your email address and message — only to respond to you, and you may ask us to delete it at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. In Belgium, this is the Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit / Autorité de protection des données (APD/GBA), www.gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be.

9. International data transfers

Because your location, address book, and trip data are never sent off your device by the App, no international transfer of that information takes place. Where the App contacts a third-party service described in Section 5 (for example, Komoot for address search, based in Germany, or GitHub for timetable updates, based in the United States), that request is subject to that service's own data-handling practices and location, which may be outside your own country.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time — for example, if we add a new feature that changes what information the App uses. If we make a material change, we will update the "Effective date" above and, where appropriate, note the change in the App's release notes. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

11. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about the App, please contact:

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