Privacy
Last updated 6 November 2026.
What the app keeps
The app talks to your car over your adapter's Wi-Fi. What it reads stays on your phone: your VIN, modules, faults, live values, service and mileage records, track sessions, and a log of every message to and from the car.
What leaves your phone
Your purchases, as described under Purchases, and usage counts while Share anonymous usage is on, as described under Usage counts. Anything else leaves only when you share it or open a link, such as looking up a fault code on the web. If you tap Share on a session log or a drive, it goes where you send it. A session log includes your VIN.
Purchases
Apple takes the payment when you buy Pro. To know that your phone has Pro, the app sends your purchase history, a random ID and basic facts about the phone and app (model, iOS and app version, language and store country) to the company that keeps our purchase records. Neither is tied to your name or email, and neither is used for ads or tracking. We keep these records while you use Pro, and delete them when you ask, unless tax or accounting law says we must keep them.
Microphone
Listen uses the microphone to find the beat of music playing nearby. The sound is analysed on your phone and is never saved or sent anywhere. The app only asks for it when you tap Listen.
Location
The app uses your location for the lap timer, for drive logs and to keep a light show running when you leave the app. On a moving car it also holds the limits on the lights. It stays on your phone, and the app only asks when you start one of these.
Bluetooth
If you use a Bluetooth adapter, the app uses Bluetooth only to reach it.
Camera and photos
The camera films a light show, takes a photo of your lamps or of a service record, or reads the code of a group show. Films and photos stay on your phone, in your photo library when you save them. A photo you add to a service record stays in the app.
Notifications
Service reminders and drive alerts are set on your phone.
Files
A song you pick is read on your phone to find its beats. It isn't uploaded.
Local network
The app needs local network access to reach your adapter. It isn't used for anything else.
Usage counts
While Share anonymous usage is on in Settings, which it is at first, the app sends counts that show whether the app works: which screens opened and how many of their frames were slow, whether a connection, scan, erase, light show or purchase worked and how long it took, the kind of error and where in the app it happened, and your answer if you reply to “How did that go?”.
Each count also carries the app and iOS version, whether you have Pro, whether it was the demo car, and the car’s model code, such as F87. Counts never include your VIN, mileage, location, Wi-Fi name, your car’s settings or your name. A random number made on your phone ties one phone’s counts together. It is deleted when you turn sharing off, and a new one is made if you turn it on again.
The counts go to our own server, which does not keep the address they were sent from. They are not linked to you, not sold and not used for advertising, and they are deleted after 24 months. Turning the switch off stops them at once.
Accounts and tracking
There are no accounts, and the app has no advertising or tracking.
This website
The site sets no cookies. It counts visits with our own analytics, which keeps no personal profile and respects Do Not Track. Our server keeps ordinary access logs, such as IP address and pages requested, to keep the site running and secure.
Early list
If you joined the early list before the app came out, we keep your email address and the car you picked, to tell you the app is out. They stay on our own server and are not sold or given to anyone. To be removed, write to support@bimmerbuddy.com. We delete the list by 31 December 2026.
If you write to us, we keep your message and address to answer you, and delete them on request.
Your rights
You can delete everything the app keeps by deleting the app. You can ask us what we hold about you, or to correct or delete it, at support@bimmerbuddy.com. If you're in the EU or UK, you can also complain to your data protection authority.