SimUnion Privacy Policy
Last updated 21/OCT/2026. A passion project, not a business.
1No commercial use
SimUnion doesn't make any money from this project. It's purely a passion project run by a bunch of nerds with an interest in aviation. There are no ads, no sponsorships, and nothing here is monetised.
2Our websites
Our websites don't collect anything about you apart from your public IP address, along with whatever information comes with it, like your approximate location or network provider. That gets handled by Cloudflare and whichever hosting and URL-shortening services we use to run the sites. We don't run any tracking or analytics of our own. Some pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so Google sees your IP address when they do. The live flights map on our homepage loads its map from Esri and OpenStreetMap and its map library from cdnjs, so they see your IP address too. If you switch on "AI flights" on the live map, it also shows flights by SimUnion's AI pilots. Those are simulated, and their names aren't real people.
SimUnion News
Reading SimUnion News (news.simunion.org) works the same way: no cookies, no tracking and no analytics, and its fonts come from our own server. When someone shares an article link in Discord, Discord fetches the page to show a preview.
The Newsroom (newsroom.simunion.org) is where airline owners and SimUnion admins write articles. You sign in with your SimUnion account (section 4) or an airline owner PIN. For each article we store what you write, the account name of the person who created it, when it was sent for approval and published, and any note an admin adds when sending it back. Photos you upload are shrunk in your browser before they're sent, which removes camera and location data (EXIF / GPS), and our server strips anything left over. Your browser keeps your Newsroom sign-in until you sign out (an owner PIN is only kept until you close the tab).
A published article is public, together with its photos and its byline. The byline is whatever is in the article's "Byline" box, which starts as your account name, so you can change it to your airline's name if you'd rather not be named. Only upload photos you took yourself (like sim screenshots) or have permission to use.
3Discord
If you join our Discord server, whatever's on your public Discord profile isn't managed by us. That's between you and Discord. By joining, you're agreeing to read and follow our server rules, along with Discord's own Terms of Service.
4SimUnion accounts
Accounts are made by a SimUnion admin (we're invite-only for now). We never ask for an email address or a password. Your account holds:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your name and username | So people know who flew what |
| The airlines you fly for or own | To decide what you can see and manage |
| Your PIN, scrambled (see below) | So you can sign in |
| Account status, when it was made and approved, and your last sign-in time | Running the platform |
| A count of wrong PIN attempts | After 5 wrong tries, the account locks for 15 minutes to stop guessing |
| Where you are: the airport you last landed at or teleported to, and where each aircraft last landed | So the network knows where you and the aircraft are |
Your PIN
Your PIN is shown to you once, when your account is made or reset. After that it's only kept as a
one-way scrambled code (salted scrypt plus a server-side secret). That means nobody can turn it back into
your PIN: not SimUnion staff, not admins, and not anyone who got hold of the database. If you forget it,
an admin gives you a new one. Nobody can look up your old one.
Staying signed in
When you sign in, you get a sign-in token. Our server only keeps a scrambled copy of it. On your PC, the ACARS app keeps it encrypted with Windows, so only your Windows account can read it. On our Ops and admin websites it's kept in that browser: until you close the tab, or, if you tick "Remember me", until you sign out. It expires after 30 days without use. Signing out, or an admin choosing "sign out everywhere", ends it straight away. Your PIN itself is never stored anywhere on your device.
Who can see your account: SimUnion admins can see your name, username, airlines, status and last sign-in time. Nobody can see your PIN.
5SimUnion ACARS
SimUnion ACARS is our flight tracking app. It reads your simulator while it's open, but nothing about your flying is sent to us until you start a flight. After that, it only sends what's needed to log it.
When you start a flight, we get
- The route and aircraft you picked
- Which simulator you're using, the name of the aircraft loaded in it, and the app version
- Your plan's numbers from the OFP: block fuel, zero fuel weight, cruise altitude, route, alternate, passengers, cargo, estimated block time and aircraft type (more on SimBrief below)
During the flight
- Your aircraft's position every 10 to 30 seconds: latitude, longitude, altitude, height above ground, speeds, vertical speed, heading, flight phase and fuel on board
- Flight events like block off, take-off, landing, bounces and block on
- Flags for staff to look at: pausing, time acceleration, slew mode, position jumps, fuel added in flight, changing aircraft mid-flight, or parking somewhere other than your destination
When you file
A summary: block and flight times, landing rate and G, fuel used, distance, highest altitude, where you parked, the flight log and any flags.
Teleporting
If you use "Teleport to Airport" on the map, the airport you picked is saved as your location. Nothing else is sent.
Cabin announcements and boarding
When you start a flight, the app downloads that flight's cabin announcements and passenger sounds from our server. Our server picks them from details it already has about the flight: the airline, the aircraft type and its registration. Nothing extra about you is sent for this. The boarding countdown, your boarding setting and your sound volumes all stay in the app on your PC. It reads whether the aircraft's beacon and doors are on or open from your simulator to time the announcements, and that isn't sent anywhere either.
Shared flights
If you fly with a friend (for example in shared cockpit), the pilot who started the flight can invite you by your SimUnion username. You'll see their username and first name in the invite, and they'll see yours if you join. Once you join, the two of you share the flight: you both see its route, aircraft, flight plan (OFP), flight log and summary, and you both see who's PF and who's PM. To make that work, the inviting pilot's app sends a copy of their OFP to our server for the other pilot. That copy has no SimBrief details in it, and it's deleted from our server as soon as the flight ends. Both of you are credited with the flight. Both apps send positions, but our server only keeps one set. You can leave a shared flight at any time, and the pilot who started it can take you off it.
What the app keeps on your PC
- Your settings: username, the encrypted sign-in token, your SimBrief Pilot ID, simulator choice, boarding setting and sound volumes
- The flight in progress, so it isn't lost if the app or your PC restarts
- Downloaded announcement sounds, which are deleted automatically once they haven't been used for 60 days
- The EFB's own browser storage (see section 7)
- The app's log files and any crash reports, which are deleted automatically after 14 days
These live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimUnion\ACARS. The app also checks our server for updates
when it starts.
6SimBrief
- You plan your flight in your own SimBrief account, either in ACARS's flight planning window or in your own browser. The planning window is a browser built into the app: your SimBrief / Navigraph sign-in is kept by that window on your PC only, ACARS doesn't read it, and it's never sent to SimUnion. The page opens filled in with the flight's route, callsign, aircraft, your name, a departure time and a remark with the airline's radio callsign.
- In the ACARS app (including its EFB), your SimBrief Pilot ID (or username) is only stored on your PC. The app uses it to fetch your latest OFP straight from SimBrief. It's never sent to SimUnion.
- In the EFB on our website (for example on an iPad), you type your SimBrief username or Pilot ID yourself. Browsers can't fetch from SimBrief directly, so it goes through our relay on Cloudflare, which passes it to SimBrief and hands back your OFP. The relay doesn't keep it. If you tick "Remember me", it's saved in that browser only, and unticking it removes it.
- The only thing from your OFP that reaches us through ACARS is the list of plan numbers in section 5. The full OFP stays on your device, unless you invite another pilot onto a shared flight (section 5). In that case a copy goes to them through our server, without any SimBrief details, and it's deleted when the flight ends.
7The EFB (pilot tools)
The EFB is our pilot tools page, with checklists, FCOMs, charts, weather, your OFP and the defects / faults report. It's built into the ACARS app and is also on our website. It has no account and doesn't send us anything about you, apart from your SimBrief details on the website version (section 6) and any defects report you choose to send (section 8).
- Weather (METAR / TAF) comes from AVWX. It sees the airports you look up and your IP address.
- Images come from Cloudinary, fonts from Google Fonts, and the checklist PDF viewer from cdnjs. They see your IP address when the page loads them.
- Links to ChartFox, ATIS Guru, BLACKBOX711, VATSIM, TFDi and the FCOMs on Dropbox (section 11) open in your normal browser, under those sites' own privacy policies.
8Defects & faults reports
When you press "Submit report" in the EFB, the report is sent to our Discord server through our relay on Cloudflare. Nothing is sent until you press the button.
A report contains exactly what you type:
- The name you enter
- The aircraft registration
- The date and time of the fault (UTC)
- The delay information and your description of the fault
It's posted in our Discord server, where anyone who can see that channel can read it. It's only used to keep track of faults, defects and delays on our aircraft.
9Crash reports & logs
If the app crashes, it asks whether you want to send a crash report. If you press "Send logs to SimUnion" in Settings, it sends the last two days of its log. Neither happens unless you say so.
A report contains:
- The error, and what the app was doing just before it (from its log)
- The app version, your Windows version and which simulator was connected
- Your username, if you were signed in
PINs, sign-in tokens and SimBrief IDs are stripped out before anything is sent. Only SimUnion admins can read reports, and they're only used to fix problems.
10What other people can see
| Where | What's shown |
|---|---|
| The live flights map (in ACARS and on our homepage) | Callsign, flight number, airline, route, aircraft type and registration, flight phase, position, altitude, speed and heading. The map's flight logs also show the pilot's name. Flights drop off the live map 10 minutes after their last update. |
| Our Discord dispatch channel | When you start a flight: your first name and username, callsign, flight number, route, passengers and cargo type. When you file: landing rate, flight time, fuel used and distance. On a shared flight, both pilots' first names and usernames and who was PF / PM. |
| The other pilot on a shared flight | Your username, first name and role (PF / PM), and the shared flight itself: route, aircraft, OFP, flight log and summary (section 5). |
| Our Discord flight tracker | When you take off and when you land: your first name and username, callsign, flight number, the departure and arrival airports, and the aircraft and its registration. |
| Our Discord defects channel | Any defects / faults report you send (section 8). |
| SimUnion News | Published articles: headline, text, photos, airline, date and the byline (section 2). |
| Our Discord news channels | When an article is published: its headline, summary, airline and cover photo. When an owner sends an article for approval: the headline, airline and the sender's account name, in a staff-only channel. |
| Airline owners | Their own airline's flights, including the pilot's name, and their airline's articles in the Newsroom. |
| SimUnion admins | All flights, including the flags above. |
11Other services
These see your IP address when the ACARS app or our sites talk to them:
- Cloudflare, which carries all traffic to our server and runs our relays. Our own server doesn't store your IP address with your account, flights or reports.
- SimBrief, when the app fetches your OFP or you plan a flight in it
- Hoppie's ACARS network, which carries the TELEX messages our server sends to your flight's callsign
(dispatch, loadsheet, weather, arrival and PIREP messages) and any you send us, like
.METAR. It sees the callsign and the message text, not your name. - VATSIM, if you press "Prefile on VATSIM": it opens VATSIM's own site in your browser with the flight plan filled in, under VATSIM's privacy policy
- Esri and OpenStreetMap, for the map tiles in the app
- cdnjs, for the map library and the EFB's PDF viewer
- AVWX, Cloudinary and Google Fonts, in the EFB (section 7)
- Dropbox, which hosts some of our PDFs, like the FCOMs linked from the EFB. When you open one, Dropbox sees your IP address and handles it under its own privacy policy.
12vAMSYS
SimUnion doesn't use vAMSYS any more. Our vAMSYS subscription has ended and SimUnion's vAMSYS site has been closed. Nothing from the ACARS app, the EFB, our websites or your SimUnion account is sent to it. If you had an account on SimUnion's vAMSYS in the past, we no longer have access to it, and anything still stored there is held by vAMSYS under its own privacy policy, so please contact vAMSYS directly about it.
13How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account | Until you ask us to delete it. We then delete it within 30 days. |
| Your flights (summary, flight log, positions and flags) | As long as you have an account, as part of the airline's history. When your account is deleted, your flights are deleted or have your name taken off them, so they can't be linked back to you. |
| Sign-in tokens | Until you sign out, or 30 days without use. |
| Shared flights | The OFP copy for the other pilot: deleted when the flight ends. Invites: they expire after 10 minutes. Who flew the flight and as what (PF / PM) is kept with the flight (above). |
| Crash reports and logs you send us | Until the problem is fixed, and no longer than 90 days. |
| SimUnion News articles and photos | Published articles stay up until the airline or SimUnion takes them down. Drafts stay until they're deleted. If your account is deleted, we take your name off your articles (they can stay up under the airline's name), or remove them if you ask. |
| The live flights map | Live positions: 10 minutes after a flight's last update. Flight logs: as long as your flights are kept (above). |
| Discord posts (dispatch, flight tracker, defects, news) | They stay in the channel until staff delete them. Open a ticket and we'll remove yours. |
| On your PC (ACARS) | Logs and crash reports: 14 days. Announcement sounds: 60 days unused. Settings: until you delete them (section 16). |
14Keeping it safe
- Everything between you and our server is encrypted (HTTPS, through Cloudflare).
- PINs and sign-in tokens are only stored scrambled (section 4), so a leak of our database wouldn't give them away.
- We don't hold email addresses, passwords, payment details or SimBrief logins, so they can't leak from us.
- Only SimUnion admins can get into the admin side of the platform.
- If something ever went wrong and your data was exposed, we'd tell you, and we'd report it to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 72 hours when the law says we have to.
15Your rights & the law
SimUnion is run from the UK, so we follow the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. For members in the EU or EEA, we follow the EU GDPR as well. This policy is how we tell you what we collect, why, and for how long, as those laws ask us to.
Who's responsible
SimUnion's founder runs SimUnion and is responsible for your data (in legal terms, the "controller"). You can reach us by opening a ticket in our Discord server (section 17).
Why we're allowed to use your data
- Legitimate interests: running the virtual airline you joined. That's your account, logging your flights, the live map, Discord posts, defects reports and keeping the platform safe. We only use what we need for that, and it's all listed in this policy.
- Your choice (consent): crash reports and logs you choose to send, and "Remember me" on our websites. You can stop at any time.
We don't sell your data, we don't use it for advertising, and no decision about you is made by a computer alone. Flight flags are only there for staff to look at.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the data we hold about you (access)
- fix anything that's wrong (rectification)
- delete it (erasure)
- stop or limit how we use it (restriction and objection)
- give it to you in a file you can take elsewhere (portability)
Just open a ticket in our Discord server. It's free, and we'll reply within one month. If you're not happy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to the ICO, the UK's data protection regulator, or, if you live in the EU or EEA, to the data protection authority in your country.
Services outside the UK
Some of the services in section 11 (for example Cloudflare, Discord and Google) are based in the United States. When your data goes to them, they use the legal safeguards for it, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension, or standard contractual clauses.
Age
SimUnion is for people aged 13 and over, the same as Discord. If you're under 13, please don't sign up. If we find out an account belongs to someone under 13, we'll delete it.
United States
The US doesn't have one national privacy law. Its state privacy laws mostly cover businesses, and SimUnion isn't one: we don't make money and we don't sell or share your data for advertising. We follow COPPA by not allowing under-13s (see "Age" above).
Find out more
- Data protection in the EU (European Commission)
- Data protection in the UK (GOV.UK)
- Data protection laws in the United States (DLA Piper)
16Deleting your data
Want your SimUnion account gone? Open a ticket in our Discord server and we'll delete it within 30 days (section 13). Want an article or photo taken down that names you or shows something of yours? Open a ticket and we'll remove it. Uninstalling SimUnion ACARS removes the app.
Your settings, downloaded sounds and logs are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimUnion\ACARS if you want to delete
them too. On the EFB website, unticking "Remember me" or clearing that site's data in your browser removes your
saved SimBrief details. If any of this doesn't sit right with you, or you don't agree with our server rules,
you're welcome to leave our Discord server and the virtual airline whenever you like.
17Contact
Got questions about any of this, or want to use any of your rights in section 15? Open a ticket in our Discord server and SimUnion staff will help you. We'll reply within one month.