ShadetreeShadetree Privacy Policy
The short version
Shadetree has no ads, no trackers, and no account to sign up for. Nobody buys your data, because there is nothing to sell. Your drives, diagnostics, locations, service history, and notes stay on your phone or in your own private iCloud. The sections below say exactly what leaves your phone, and when.
Looking up your maintenance guide
Once Shadetree knows what you drive, it works out a catalog ID for your car right here on the phone. That ID is the only thing it sends when it fetches your maintenance guide. It does not send your VIN, your name, your diagnostics, your drives, your location, your service records, or your notes. If that service is ever down, your live readings keep working.
Helping other owners
Cars differ in which readings they will answer, and nobody publishes a list. When the coverage switch in Settings is on, Shadetree reports the list of readings your car says it can give, which of them actually answered on your year, make, and model, one sample value so the number can be checked for sanity, and how long each reply was. The list of what your car supports is sent even when Shadetree cannot work out which car it is, because those are the ones it understands least. That list says what your car is capable of, never what it was doing. Your car shows up as a random token, never a VIN. It never sends your location, your drives, or your notes. Shadetree only ever asks your car questions. It never writes anything to it. Turn the switch off and nothing goes out.
Recording the weather on a drive
When a drive ends, Shadetree asks the National Weather Service, a public US government service, how warm it was outside, so a hot drive can be read as a hot day instead of a fault. It sends one rounded location, accurate to about a mile, and nothing else. No VIN, no readings, no trouble codes, no name, no ID. It asks once per drive and never while you are driving. If you say no to location, or the weather service has no station nearby, the drive simply carries no temperature and everything else works the same.
Notes after a drive
When a drive ends, Shadetree compares it with your earlier drives and may tell you what changed, as a notification and on the car page: a new trouble code, a battery getting weak, a charging problem, fuel trim drifting. While the car is parked and the adapter stays plugged in, Shadetree reads the battery voltage at the OBD port through the adapter, which is how it judges battery health. All of this is worked out and stored on your phone. Nothing about it is sent anywhere. Notifications are local, and you can limit them to changes or turn them off in Settings.
Ask
Tapping Ask about this car gathers what your car has reported and opens your default AI with it: Google unless you chose ChatGPT or Claude in Settings. Nothing else ever triggers it; data goes out only when you tap. Shadetree has no AI of its own and never sees your question or the answer, because the conversation happens in their app, not here. Once it is sent, your car data is in their hands and their privacy policy governs it, not this one. What goes across: year, make, model, engine, trouble codes, live readings, recorded drive readings and their recent trends, and where you stand on maintenance. The exact text is also copied to your clipboard on every send, so you can read every word of what went. Your VIN, chassis number, location, and notes are never included. Treat what any of them says as a place to start, not a diagnosis.
What stays on your phone
Shadetree keeps these in its own protected storage, which no other app can read: your VIN or Japanese chassis number, what car it is, your readings, your trouble code history, your drive samples and the GPS points that go with them, your maintenance state, which adapter you use, and the technical logs. Detailed drive samples are thrown out after 90 days. The summaries built from them stay until you delete the app’s data.
Scanning your VIN
The scanner reads your VIN using Apple’s on-device text and barcode recognition. The camera view is read as you point it. No photo is saved, and nothing goes to Shadetree or to an outside recognition service. You can skip the camera and type the VIN instead, or just the year, make, and model.
What syncs through iCloud
If you use iCloud, four things sync to your own private iCloud storage so they turn up on your other devices: saved places, the Nearby categories you picked recently, tire sizes you confirmed, and service records. The category history is only the categories. It does not include what you typed, where you were, or which businesses came back. Records tied to a car use a random ID instead of your VIN. To recognize the same car on your other devices, Shadetree may keep a scrambled, one-way version of the VIN in your iCloud Keychain, which cannot be turned back into the VIN. If you switch Apple Accounts, syncing pauses until you confirm the new account is yours.
On Android
Shadetree for Android follows this policy, with a few differences because Android works differently. There is no iCloud: everything stays in the app’s private storage on your phone. Android’s own backup may copy your settings, like units and your preferred AI, but never the vehicle database with your diagnostics, drives, GPS points, and service history. A direct transfer to a new phone can move everything. To record drives with the app closed, Shadetree runs a connection service while your adapter is connected and shows a quiet notification with a Stop button. If you allow automatic recording, Android’s companion device feature wakes Shadetree when your adapter comes into Bluetooth range; Android does the listening, and nothing is sent anywhere. Location is used only while Shadetree is open on screen, for road grade and elevation, plus the one rounded weather lookup at the end of a drive. The VIN scanner uses Google’s on-device ML Kit text and barcode recognition; no photo is saved and no camera frame leaves the phone. When you use the scanner, ML Kit sends Google basic diagnostics (phone model, Android version, app version, an install ID that does not identify you, and how fast the scan ran), as Google describes in its ML Kit data disclosure. Nearby opens your own maps app with the category you tapped, and that app’s privacy policy applies to the search.
Finding shops and parts
Nearby searches send the category you tapped and the area or city you are searching to Apple Maps. Shadetree does not file those searches in your car’s history. When you head to Amazon for a part, Amazon gets the search words you can see on screen, things like year, make, model, engine, trim, and the kind of part. It does not get your VIN, chassis number, diagnostics, location, or any Shadetree ID.
Australian vehicle lookup
If you tell Shadetree a car was originally sold in Australia, it can send that VIN to the Australian Government’s public Register of Approved Vehicles to pull up the public approval record. That is one lookup for that one car. Shadetree does not use the register to go fishing for other vehicles, and it does not put the web address holding your VIN into any log of its own. New Zealand identifiers are never sent to Motochek.
Sending your data somewhere else
Nothing is exported unless you ask for it. When you tap Export vehicle data, Shadetree asks first whether to include your VIN and your exact GPS points. You choose before the share sheet opens.
Turning things off
You can say no to location and still use diagnostics and all your readings. You can turn coverage reporting off in Settings whenever you like, and everything else works the same. Saved places, tire profiles, and service records can be deleted from the screens they live on. Settings has a Delete my iCloud copy button that removes everything Shadetree put in your iCloud and stops syncing until you turn it back on. Deleting the app wipes everything it stored on this phone, but not the iCloud copy, so use that button first if you do not want your data coming back on another device.
Deleting your data
Shadetree has no accounts, so there is nothing to sign out of or close. Your vehicle data lives on your phone. On Android, uninstall Shadetree, or go to Settings, Apps, Shadetree, Storage, and tap Clear storage; either one deletes everything it stored. On iPhone, use Delete my iCloud copy in Settings first, then delete the app. The only thing Shadetree ever sends to its own servers is optional coverage reporting: which standard readings a model of car answers, tagged with a one-way code that cannot be traced to you, your phone, or your VIN. Turn it off in Settings to stop it. Because it cannot be linked to you, it cannot be looked up and deleted for a person, but you can email hello@1732studios.com with any request and we will answer it.
What this app is not
Shadetree adds to your car’s warning lights, your owner’s manual, safe driving, and a real mechanic. It does not replace any of them. Do not go digging through screens while you are driving. And a trouble code tells you what the car noticed, not which part to buy.
Contact
Shadetree is made by 1732 Studios LLC. Questions about this policy or the app can be sent to hello@1732studios.com.