What the Seayora apps tell us about themselves

The one line every request from the iPhone and Android apps carries, what it contains, what it is used for, and why it is not gated on the privacy switches.

Seayora is one product on three surfaces — a website, an iPhone app and an Android app — and for a long time we could not tell them apart. Every request from a phone looked, to our own systems, like a script rather than a person: a browser announces itself with a string beginning "Mozilla/", and a phone app does not. So both apps were quietly counted as automated traffic and left out of every usage figure we had. This page says what we changed and exactly what each app now sends.

What the apps send

One short line on each request, saying which app it is, its version and build number, the version of the operating system, and the device model. It looks like this:

ios; app=1.5.3; build=1.5.9092606; os=18.6; device=iPhone17,2

The device model is the hardware generation, which millions of handsets share — it is not your handset. There is no name, no serial number, no advertising identifier and no account in it, and it says nothing about what you did.

What it is for

Knowing which release you are actually running when you report a problem. The App Store and Google Play can tell us what we published; only this tells us what is installed.
Seeing whether a fix we just shipped has reached anybody, or whether most people are still on the version with the bug in it.
Knowing how many people would lose the app if we stopped supporting an older iPhone or Android version — so that decision is made with a number rather than a guess.
Keeping the apps out of the automated-traffic bucket, which is what made this necessary in the first place.

Why it is not behind the privacy switches

The first time you open a Seayora app it asks two things: whether to send crash reports, and whether to link your activity to your account. Both are real switches, both are off until you agree, and both take effect the moment you change them. This line is not one of them, and we would rather say so plainly than bury it.

It describes the software, not the person. It is the same category of fact as the line every web browser on earth sends about itself on every page you open — which is precisely what we were previously having to guess at, badly. It carries no account, no email address, no installation identifier and no record of anything you did. What the switches govern is the measurement itself: with them off, no screen you open and no action you take is reported at all, and there is nothing for this line to label.

What we do not do with it

It is never sold, never shared with an advertiser, and never sent to a third-party analytics company.
It is not used to make any decision about your account.
It is not a device identifier: two people with the same phone model on the same app version send the same line.

The full disclosure is in the Privacy Policy, section 5(k).

Related guides

Related features and guides

How we know whether an email reached you — Documentation. What the tracking image in a Seayora email does, what it can and cannot tell us, why an "open" is not the same as a read, and how to turn it off.
AI that runs on your phone — Documentation. Some Seayora features can run on the handset itself — free, offline, and without the text leaving the device. Which ones, which phones, and what happens on every other phone.
What the Seayora app can do that the website cannot — Documentation. Working with no signal, photographing a meter or an equipment plate, tapping a tag, measuring a room, and arrival reminders. What each one records, and what it does not.
Data Privacy & Portability — Feature. Privacy controls, GLBA financial privacy handling, data export, and account deletion — plus encryption in transit and hardened infrastructure.
Voice Notes in Messaging — Feature. Record and send voice notes in any Seayora conversation. Transcoded server-side so they play on iPhone, Android, and desktop alike, stored with the thread, and searchable as part of the property record.
Audit Logs — Feature. Audit logging across consequential actions, so account activity, permission changes, and financial entries all leave a reviewable trail.