What Windrift knows about you
Written from the code, not from a template. Last checked 2026-09-27.
If you never sign in
Nothing about you is stored on our side beyond the web server's access log: the time, the page, your IP address and your browser's user-agent string. Those logs roll over and are deleted after 30 days.
Your browser keeps a few small settings of its own, which never leave it
and which we cannot read remotely: the spots you have starred
(wr_follow), the map look and the panels you left open or
closed, and whether you have answered the first-run questions (names
starting ow_ or ow.). Clearing your site data
removes them.
Counting visits
We count visits in two ways. Our server keeps daily totals from its own access log (pages opened, referring sites, countries, and a count of distinct visitors made from a hash that is never stored). That needs no cookie and happens whatever you choose below.
We also use Google Analytics: the pages you open, how you arrived,
rough location, device and browser. Google keeps this under cookies whose
names start with _ga, for up to 14 months. Google signals and ad
personalisation are switched off, and it is not used for advertising.
In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, or if your browser does not tell us a usable
time zone, Google Analytics loads only if you press Accept. Elsewhere it loads
by default. Wherever you are, Privacy choices at the bottom of each page
(in the map: under your account) changes your answer. Your answer is kept in
your browser as windrift_consent for 12 months; Reject deletes any
_ga cookies.
If you sign in
We store your email address, the name and profile you give (sports, level, home spot), the spots you follow, your alert settings and, if you buy Pro, your Stripe customer reference and when Pro runs out. You sign in with a password, stored only as a salted scrypt hash that cannot be turned back into the password, or with an emailed link that works once and expires in twenty minutes.
A session cookie named ow_session keeps you signed in for
90 days. It is HTTP-only, so scripts on the page cannot read it.
Your email is used to send the sign-in link and, if you ask for them, alerts about spots you follow. It is not sold, rented or shared, and every alert carries a way to stop it.
If you suggest a fix or report a problem, we keep what you sent (the spot, the position or words you gave, and the page and map view you were on) with your account, so we can review it and show you the outcome under Your suggestions. An approved fix changes the spot for everyone; your name is not shown with it.
Who else sees anything
- Brevo delivers the sign-in links and alert emails, so it receives your email address. Nothing else about you goes to it.
- OpenFreeMap serves the basemap tiles. Your browser fetches those directly, which means it sees your IP address and roughly where on the map you are looking. We do not send it anything else.
- Stripe takes Pro payments on its own pages. Your card details go to Stripe and never reach us; we receive your email address, what you bought and whether it was paid.
- Google Analytics receives the pages you open and details about your device: after you press Accept in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, and by default elsewhere. See Counting visits.
- Forecast data is served from our own machine. Nothing about you reaches a weather provider.
Rate limiting
To stop somebody using the sign-in form to mailbomb strangers, we count requests per IP address for one hour. That count is held in memory only and is never written to a database.
Who is responsible
Windrift is operated by NEXTIN Media Limited, Grafton Building, 34 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, Ireland (company number 554885, VAT number IE3329768FH), which is the controller of the personal data described on this page. Write to hello@windrift.net; we don't publish a separate company address for mail.
The launch list
If you leave your email on the coming-soon page, we keep it for one thing: a single email on the day Windrift opens. We store the address, when you left it, and your browser's language and time zone (so the email arrives at a sensible hour). Once that email has gone out we delete the list. To be taken off sooner, write to hello@windrift.net.
Asking for your data, or its deletion
Write to hello@windrift.net from the address on the account.
Advertising
Windrift shows ads for its sister sites (Aursee, Spillpoint, Wanderwort). They are served from windrift.net itself, set no cookie and load no third-party code. To measure them we record which ad was shown, whether it was seen or clicked, and time spent on the next site. We don't store your IP address or any identifier. If an ad blocker is on, we'll ask you to turn it off for this site. Pro members never see ads.