Terms and conditions

Embarca is an advisory aid to navigation. It does not replace official nautical charts, notices to mariners, the official weather forecast or the judgement of the skipper, who is always the one who decides and is responsible for the navigation. Its SOS alerts your contacts: it does not replace 112, Salvamento Marítimo (Spanish Maritime Rescue) or VHF channel 16.

1. Who provides Embarca

Embarca is an app by Codelabs Studio S.L., with CIF B88708797 and registered address at Pasaje Federico García Lorca, 6, 3º E, 29130 Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga), Spain. You can write to us at [email protected]. By downloading and using the app you accept these terms; if you do not agree with them, do not use it.

2. Advisory use

• Routes, depths, distances to the coast, forecasts, fuel ranges, cetacean areas and the other data in the app come from open sources and approximate calculations. They may be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, and may fail without coverage or without GPS.
• Do not use Embarca as your only means of navigation. Carry on board the documentation and equipment required by the regulations, check the official chart and forecast before you leave and always keep watch over the sea.
• The distance line for your qualification and the notices about length or power are an advisory summary of Spanish regulations. They are not legal advice: if in doubt, consult the Capitanía Marítima (Spanish maritime authority) or the official text. Outside Spain, local rules apply.

3. SOS and route sharing

The SOS sends an SMS alert to the emergency contacts you choose, with your position and a link to follow you. It depends on there being coverage, on the third-party operators and services that carry it working, and on your contacts reading it and acting. That is why it never replaces 112, your country's emergency number, Salvamento Marítimo (900 202 202, in Spain) or the distress call on VHF channel 16: if life is in danger, call them first. Do not use the SOS for tests or jokes: it alarms real people.

4. Route community and user content

• The routes, texts and photos you publish are yours, and you give us permission to host them and show them to other users of the app for as long as they remain published. You can delete them whenever you like from the app.
• Publish only what you have the right to publish. Illegal or offensive content, content that endangers other boaters, invades the privacy of third parties or is advertising is not allowed. We may hide or remove content that breaks these rules and suspend the account that published it.
• Reports and blocking. Any user can report a route from its card in the app (“Report this route”) and block its author (“Block”). Texts go through an automatic offensive-content filter before being published, and a route with several reports is hidden automatically until it is reviewed. We undertake to review each report within 24 hours at most and, if the content breaks these rules, to remove it and to suspend or expel whoever published it. You can also let us know of any inappropriate content or conduct by writing to [email protected].
• Other boaters' routes are their own experiences, not recommendations from us: before repeating them check the chart, the forecast and whether they suit your boat and your qualification.

5. Purchase of Embarca Pro

Embarca is free to download. Embarca Pro is a one-time payment, not a subscription: it is bought and managed through Apple's App Store, under its terms, and is shared through Family Sharing. Refunds are requested from Apple. The SOS is free for everyone and does not depend on Pro.

6. Liability

We take care that the app works well and that its data is correct, but we cannot guarantee that it is always available or free of errors. To the extent permitted by law, Codelabs Studio S.L. is not liable for damages arising from navigation decisions made with the app, from lack of coverage or GPS, or from failures of third-party services. Nothing above limits the rights that consumer law gives you or any liability that cannot be legally excluded.

7. Data and sources

How we handle your data is in the privacy policy. Third-party mapping and data (OpenStreetMap, OpenSeaMap, EMODnet, GEBCO, Open-Meteo, GBIF and others) are used under their licences, and their attributions are in the app, under Settings, “Legal information”, “Data sources”.

8. Changes

If we change these terms, the date above will change with them, and if the change is important we will tell you in the app.

9. Governing law

These terms are governed by Spanish law. For any dispute, the parties submit to the courts of Málaga, without prejudice to the rights that applicable regulations grant to consumers, including that of going to the courts of their place of residence.