Terms of Use

Last updated May 15, 2026

By installing or using GhostFingers Fish, you agree to these terms. Please read them.

The app, plainly

GhostFingers Fish is an iOS app that reads public weather, ocean, and regulatory data and displays a daily fishing intel verdict for spots in California. It has two tiers: Free (supported by ads and sponsorships, with a 5-spot cap) and Pro ($19.99 per year, no ads, unlimited spots, advanced features). Public data sources remain free on both tiers.

Not for navigation, not for safety-of-life

Wave height, wind, tide, pressure, sea-surface temperature, current, and any rating value shown in GhostFingers Fish are model output or station observations. They are estimates and predictions, not real-time measurements of the water in front of you. Conditions on the ocean and inland waters change quickly. Do not use this app for marine navigation, search and rescue, commercial fishing decisions, charter operations, or any other use where being wrong about the water could hurt you or someone else.

Fish at your own risk

Fishing is a risk activity, particularly from a boat, kayak, paddleboard, or while wading or shore-casting in surf. The information in this app is provided to help you decide where and when to fish. It does not replace your own judgment, local knowledge, lifeguard advice, harbor patrol guidance, or first-hand observation of conditions at the spot. You alone are responsible for your decisions in and around the water, including assessment of marine hazards, weather, swell, currents, wildlife, and your own physical capability.

Follow the law

You agree to fish in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. This includes:

• Holding a current California sport fishing license (anglers 16 or older) and any required report cards, stamps, or special-area permits.
• Respecting CDFW size limits, bag limits, season closures, gear restrictions, and Marine Protected Area boundaries.
• Not entering private property without permission.
• Following local rules at piers, harbors, parks, and reserves.

The regulation overlay in the app is a paraphrased summary of CDFW rules, provided for convenience. The official source is wildlife.ca.gov/Regulations. Where the app and the CDFW source disagree, the CDFW source wins. Email hello@ghostfingers.app to flag any discrepancy.

Pro tier and auto-renew

Pro is an auto-renewing subscription at $19.99 per year, billed through your Apple ID. Subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple ID will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscription, cancel auto-renew, or request a refund through your Apple ID settings (Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions). We do not process refunds directly; Apple does. Apple's standard subscription policies apply.

Free tier carries ads + sponsorships

The Free tier is supported by programmatic display ads, direct brand sponsorships, named-source sponsored content, event-card sponsors, and affiliate gear recommendations. By using the Free tier you accept that some surfaces are sponsored. Sponsored surfaces are always clearly attributed. Sponsorships are editorial-attribution only and never bias the rating engine, the spot recommender, or the tackle recommender. The Pro tier at $19.99 per year removes all of the above.

No warranty

GhostFingers Fish is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. The app's data sources may change, fail, return inaccurate values, or become unavailable. The forecast may be wrong. The regulation overlay may be out of date between CDFW publication cycles.

Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law, Ghost Fingers and its developers are not liable for any damages, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive, arising from your use of the app. This includes physical injury, property loss, lost catch opportunity, citations for fishing-rule violations, equipment loss, or any other harm related to fishing decisions made using the app.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Reverse-engineer the app for the purpose of building a competing product.
• Misuse public data sources by routing them through the app to bypass their rate limits.
• Scrape or republish the spot, species, landing, or regulation pages on this website without permission.
• Use the app to broadcast or publish catch locations of other anglers.
• Use the app in any way that violates the laws of your jurisdiction.

Third-party data

The app fetches publicly available data from NOAA, NDBC, CDIP, SCCOOS, UCSD HF Radar, USGS, CDFW, Open-Meteo, and various RSS feeds. Those services have their own terms and acceptable-use policies. By using the app you also accept the public-data terms of those services as they apply to you. The app does not control or endorse the accuracy of third-party data.

Catch Trophy image generation

The Punk Trophy variant of Catch Trophy uses the FLUX AI image model via Black Forest Labs / Replicate. When you generate a Punk Trophy, your catch photo is transmitted to the third-party image API along with a generation prompt. The result is returned and saved to your device. The Vanilla Trophy variant uses Apple's on-device Vision framework and does not transmit any data. See the Privacy page for full detail.

Changes

If these terms change, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a new revision date. Continued use of the app after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising from these terms or your use of the app shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Santa Barbara County, California.

Contact

Questions about these terms: terms@ghostfingers.app