Terms of use

These terms govern your use of DeckVakt: the website at deckvakt.com, the optional desk chart table, and the DeckVakt iPhone and Android apps when they are available. By using any of those, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

Who these terms are with

These terms are between you and the operator of DeckVakt (trading as DeckVakt), established and operated from Estonia. Contact: everything@deckvakt.com.

If you use DeckVakt for a company or vessel under someone else’s authority, you confirm you are allowed to bind that person or organisation, or you use it only in a personal capacity.

Skippers and crew use the same free features. Crew who join a passage by code or file do not need a DeckVakt account, Apple ID or Google account for that join (they may need a store account to install the app itself).

The services

“DeckVakt” in these terms means:

• the website and guides at deckvakt.com;
• the optional desk chart table web application;
• the DeckVakt mobile applications for iPhone and Android, including related widgets or extensions we publish;
• waitlist and contact mechanisms on the site.

Features, availability and store presence may change as the product develops. Pre-release or password-gated access does not guarantee continued access or a particular launch date.

App Store and Google Play

If you download the iPhone app from the App Store, your use is also subject to Apple’s terms, including the Apple Licensed Application End User Licence Agreement (Standard EULA) and Apple Media Services terms, to the extent they apply. If you download from Google Play, Google’s terms for that store apply as well.

In case of conflict between store rules that Apple or Google require us to include and these terms, the store-required rules prevail for that store’s distribution. For the desk web app and the website, these terms apply.

Apple and Google are not parties to these terms between you and DeckVakt, except where their own terms say otherwise. They are not responsible for support of DeckVakt beyond what their store policies require.

Licence

DeckVakt is licensed, not sold. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the apps and desk chart table for lawful watch-planning and watch-keeping aboard vessels you are entitled to operate or assist, in accordance with these terms.

You must not copy, modify, distribute, reverse engineer, or create derivative works from the software except to the extent mandatory law allows (for example interoperability rights that cannot be waived). You must not remove proprietary notices.

What DeckVakt is and is not

DeckVakt helps you plan a watch rota, show a board, schedule alarms on the device that holds the passage, write a deck log, and export records from what you entered. It is a decision-support and organisational aid.

It does not:

• keep a lookout, stand a watch, or take command of the vessel;
• replace charts, instruments, AIS, radar, or a competent human watch;
• guarantee fairness, rest, or compliance with any flag state, MLC, STCW, MCA or similar regime — it models and displays numbers from your inputs;
• provide professional navigation, legal, medical or employment advice.

Navigation helpers in the app (dead reckoning, compass checks, anchor watch inputs, sight planning and similar) are approximate tools for convenience. Positions, tides, celestial data and derived values can be wrong. You remain responsible for the vessel, the crew, safe navigation and compliance with the law that applies to you.

Alarms and notifications

Watch alarms are scheduled on the device using the operating system’s notification facilities (including Critical Alerts where the platform and user settings allow). They are intended to sound through Silent and Do Not Disturb when those permissions are granted and the OS permits it.

Test alarms on the phones that will be below before you leave the dock. OS updates, battery settings, Focus modes, revoked permissions, force-quit apps, or full storage can prevent delivery. A missed alarm remains your operational problem. The desk chart table does not replace phone alarms for a live passage.

Free use and optional support

Core DeckVakt features — passages, crew tools, rotas, exports, board, log and related tools we describe as free — work without payment.

Optional one-time contributions may be offered:

• on iPhone via Apple In-App Purchase at prices shown by Apple;
• on Android via Google Play Billing at prices shown by Google;
• on the desk via card payment when that path is enabled (until then, tiers may appear as Coming soon).

A contribution is a voluntary tip. It unlocks no feature, entitlement, service level, digital content or support SLA. It is not a subscription and does not auto-renew. You may contribute again if the store allows.

Payment is taken by Apple, Google or the card processor. Refunds follow that party’s rules. Declining or cancelling a contribution never reduces the free features. Store purchases on one platform do not automatically transfer to another.

Your data and backups

Passage, crew, rota and log data live on the devices that hold them. Sharing is by code, file, desk beam or local saloon session — not by upload to a DeckVakt cloud of passages. How personal data is treated is set out in the privacy policy, which forms part of how we describe the service.

You are responsible for exporting and safeguarding your own copies. We cannot restore data we never received. If you share a passage file or invite crew, you are responsible for what you share and for telling crew what you record about them.

Acceptable use

You must not:

• use DeckVakt unlawfully or to endanger life, property or the marine environment;
• attempt to break into, overload, scrape abusively, or disrupt the website or apps;
• misrepresent DeckVakt as certified equipment, a class-approved system, or a substitute for required manning or lookout;
• use waitlist or contact forms to spam or send unlawful content;
• circumvent technical limits, development gates or store licensing.

We may suspend access to website features or revoke licences where reasonably necessary to protect the service or other users, or where you breach these terms.

Intellectual property

We and our licensors own the DeckVakt software, branding, site design and documentation. Your passage content remains yours (or your organisation’s). You grant us no licence to that content beyond what is needed if you voluntarily send us a copy (for example attaching an export when asking for help).

Guides and marketing copy on the site are for general information. They are not a warranty that any particular watch system suits your vessel or crew.

Disclaimer

To the fullest extent permitted by law, DeckVakt is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of uninterrupted availability, accuracy, fitness for a particular passage, or error-free operation. We do not warrant that alarms will always fire, that fairness or rest calculations will match any regulation as applied to your case, or that exports will be accepted by any authority.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any warranty or right that cannot be excluded under applicable law — including mandatory EU and Estonian consumer protections for digital content and digital services where they apply to what you receive from us.

Liability

You use DeckVakt at your own operational risk at sea. We are not liable for decisions you take about routing, manning, lookout, rest, or weather based on the software.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profits, loss of data (including passage files you failed to export), or loss arising from reliance on the aid as if it were a lookout or certified navigation system.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be limited under Estonian or applicable EU law. For consumers, we do not exclude liability where it would be unfair or unlawful to do so under mandatory consumer law of your country of residence.

Subject to the paragraph above, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with your use of DeckVakt in any twelve-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the total optional support contributions you paid to us or through the stores for DeckVakt in that period, and (b) fifty euros (€50).

Changes and availability

We may update these terms by posting a new version on this page with a new “Last updated” date. Continued use after the update means you accept the revised terms, except where mandatory law requires a different process. Material changes will be dated here.

We may modify, suspend or discontinue parts of the service (including pre-release access). We are not obliged to provide perpetual hosting of the desk app or website in any particular form.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Estonia. Subject to mandatory consumer rules, the courts of Estonia have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another EU/EEA country (or another country whose mandatory law protects you), you may also bring proceedings in the courts of your place of residence, and you retain any non-excludable consumer protections of that place.

Contact

Questions about these terms: everything@deckvakt.com.

Related: Privacy policy.

These are the official terms of use of DeckVakt. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in effect. Mandatory law that cannot be excluded still applies.