Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 November 2026

TankMate is an app for people who share a car. It helps them book the car, log journeys and split fuel costs fairly. This policy explains what information the app uses and where it goes. The short version: TankMate keeps your data on your own device and, if you turn on sharing, in your own iCloud. It has no TankMate accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no third-party tracking, and the developer cannot see the information you enter.

1. Information stored on your device

Everything you enter, such as bookings, journeys, fill-ups, payments between the people on the car, car details, receipt or odometer photos, and the names of the people you share the car with, is stored on your device. If you turn on syncing or share a car, a copy is also stored in iCloud, as described in section 2. TankMate has no accounts or sign-in of its own, and the developer does not run any server that receives this information. Names you add for other people are just text you type in; they are not accounts.

If you delete the app, the information on this device is deleted with it, unless it is included in a device backup (see section 11).

2. Syncing and sharing a car through iCloud

Syncing is optional and off until you turn it on.

• Where your data goes. When you turn on syncing, TankMate stores a copy of your car's information (bookings, journeys including start and end places and route maps, fill-ups, payments, balances, the names of the people on the car, and your insurance, MOT and service details) in your own iCloud account, using Apple's iCloud service. It uses your iCloud storage. The developer cannot see it.
• Sharing a car. If you share your car, you create an invite link. Anyone with the link can join, so only send it to people you want to share with. People who join can see and change everything on the car listed above. Their changes are stored in the iCloud account of the person who shared it. You can see who has joined and remove people at any time, or stop sharing altogether.
• What stays on your phone. Receipt and odometer photos, your Home layout, your notification settings, which person you are on this phone, your pay-me link, and the fuel price list are not synced or shared.
• Leaving. If you leave a shared car or are removed, you keep a copy of its history on your phone, but you stop receiving changes.
• Apple's role. Storage and sharing are provided by Apple under Apple's privacy policy and the iCloud terms. iCloud data is encrypted by Apple in transit and on its servers.
• Turning it off. You can stop syncing or sharing in the app. Data already in iCloud can be removed by stopping sharing, by Delete All My Data (section 15), or from your iCloud settings (Settings → your name → iCloud → Manage Storage → TankMate).

3. Location

If you allow it, TankMate uses your device's location while the app is open to set a journey's starting point and to help find places. Location access is optional and controlled by iOS: you can refuse it or change it at any time in Settings, and you can still enter journeys by hand. TankMate keeps the resulting addresses and distances on your device only. It does not save your current position: that is held only while the app is open and is forgotten when the app closes.

4. Apple Maps

Place search, address suggestions, route and mileage calculation, maps, and turning your location into a readable address are provided by Apple Maps. To do this, the addresses you type, your approximate location, and the start and end points of a journey are sent to Apple. If you use "Check somewhere else" on the Fuel tab, the place you search for is sent to Apple in the same way. This is handled by Apple under Apple's privacy policy. TankMate does not send this information anywhere else.

5. Fuel prices

TankMate shows nearby fuel prices using the UK government's Fuel Finder data. The app downloads the national price list through a small server run by the developer, which passes the request on to the government service. The app sends only a page number, the time of its last update, and a key identifying the app. It sends nothing about you, your location, your car, or your bookings and journeys. The comparison of "cheapest near me" is done on your device, and the app fetches prices at most once a day.

To avoid asking the government service for the same prices again and again, the server keeps a shared copy of the national price list for up to half an hour and gives it to every TankMate user. That copy contains only public fuel station data and nothing about anyone who asked for it.

As with any internet request, the hosting provider for this small server (Cloudflare) may see technical details such as your device's IP address when the request is made. We do not use this to identify or track you. To prevent misuse, the server limits how many requests it accepts from one internet address in a short period. It does not log or store your requests.

6. Looking up your car by registration

If you type your car's registration number and choose to look it up, TankMate asks the UK government's MOT history service, run by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), for that car's public details: make, model, colour, fuel type, engine size, when it was first used, when its MOT is due, and the mileage recorded at past MOT tests.

• The request goes through the same small developer-run server described in section 5, which passes it to the DVSA and hands the answer back to your phone. The server does not log or store the registration or the answer. As in section 5, Cloudflare may see your device's IP address when the request is made.
• Only the registration is sent. Nothing about you, your location, your journeys or the people on the car is sent with it.
• The details that come back are saved with your car on your device, and in iCloud if you sync or share the car (section 2).
• Looking up is optional. You can always type your car's details yourself.
• The DVSA handles the request under its own privacy notice.

7. Notifications

If you allow them, TankMate sends reminders such as MOT, insurance, service and fill-up reminders. These are scheduled on your device by the app itself, and no notification data leaves your device. You can turn them off in iOS Settings. If you share a car, iCloud may send your phone a silent signal that something changed, so the app can fetch it; this carries none of your information.

8. Calendar

If you choose to export a booking, TankMate adds it to your calendar. It has write-only access, so it can add events but cannot read your existing ones. The event includes the person's name, the car, the times and the planned destination. If your calendar syncs to iCloud, Google or another service, that service will hold the event under its own policy.

9. Photos, the camera and saving images

If you attach a receipt or odometer photo, TankMate uses the iOS photo picker, which gives the app only the photo you choose. It does not have access to the rest of your photo library. Photos are stored on your device and are never synced or shared.

Scanning a receipt. If you use Scan receipt, TankMate uses your camera (with your permission) or a photo you choose. The text on the receipt is read on your iPhone by Apple's built-in text recognition. Nothing from the receipt is uploaded or sent anywhere. You check what was read before anything is saved, and the photo is kept on your device as the fill-up's receipt photo.

Saving an image. If you share your "Year in the car" card or a monthly summary and choose Save Image, iOS asks your permission to add that image to your photo library. This permission only lets TankMate add images. It cannot see your library. Nothing is saved unless you tap Save Image.

10. Home Screen widget

If you add the TankMate widget, it shows balances and upcoming bookings on your Home Screen. To do this, the app saves a small summary (names, balances and the next few bookings) in a storage area on your device that only TankMate and its widget can read. Nothing is sent off your device. Anyone who can see your Home Screen can see the widget; amounts are hidden where iOS hides widget content on a locked device. You can remove the widget at any time.

11. Sharing, exporting and backups

TankMate sends your information nowhere by itself. If you tap Share on a trip card or monthly summary, or send a nudge to someone who owes you, the text is created on your device and passed to whichever app or person you choose, and what happens next is up to you. A nudge includes the amount, the car's registration and, if you have added one, your pay-me link.

You can also create a backup file of your TankMate data from Settings. It contains your personal data, including place names and addresses (and route maps if you choose to include them). It is created on your device and only goes where you choose to send it. You can also export a spreadsheet (CSV) of your journeys and fill-ups, including business mileage. Like the backup file, it is created on your device and only goes where you choose to send it.

Your device's normal iCloud or computer backup may include TankMate's data, depending on your own iOS settings.

If you use Send Feedback, TankMate opens an email to us that already contains the app version, iOS version and phone model, so we can look into problems. You can read and change it before sending, and nothing is sent unless you send it.

12. TankMate Plus

TankMate Plus is optional. It unlocks extra features for everyone on a car, and can be bought monthly, yearly, or once for life.

• Apple handles payment. You buy through your Apple ID, and Apple processes the payment. TankMate never sees your payment details, your Apple ID or your receipt. The app only learns from Apple whether you have Plus and, for a subscription, when it ends.
• Shared across the car. If you share a car, TankMate saves a small record in the car's iCloud storage (section 2) so everyone on the car gets Plus. It holds only when Plus ends (or that it's for life), which plan was bought, which person on the car bought it, and who the buyer chose to share the cost with. It holds nothing about your Apple ID or payment.
• The cost splits itself. Each payment is added to the car's balances as a cost paid by the buyer, split between the people the buyer chooses: everyone on the car, some of them, or nobody. A Lifetime purchase is split once, when it's bought. This is only a note in the balances. TankMate does not take money from anyone.

13. Third parties

We do not sell, rent or share your information. TankMate contains no third-party code for analytics, crash reporting or advertising. The only outside services involved are Apple (Maps, iOS, iCloud if you turn on syncing, the App Store if you buy TankMate Plus, and your calendar or backups if you use them), the UK government fuel price data described in section 5, and the DVSA's MOT history service if you look up your car (section 6).

If you have chosen in iOS Settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple may give the developer anonymous crash and usage statistics. These never include the information you enter in TankMate.

14. Children

TankMate is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone.

15. Your rights

Because your data stays on your device and in your own iCloud, you have full control: you can view, edit and delete it inside the app. Delete All My Data in Settings removes everything TankMate holds on this phone and, if you shared the car, its copy in your iCloud. If you have questions about your rights under UK GDPR, or anything in this policy, contact us using the details below.

If you share a car, the information on it is also held in the sharer's iCloud and on the phones of the people who joined. Removing someone stops them receiving changes but cannot delete the copy already on their phone.

16. Changes

TankMate is still being developed. If future features change what information is handled, this policy will be updated before they are released and the "Last updated" date will change.

17. Contact

TankMate support: tankmate@icloud.com