Privacy
Effective October 2026 · Operated by the GroundWatch LA operator
In short: GroundWatch has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. The cases you follow and your notes stay on your own device. Your location never leaves your device.
What stays on your device
- My Cases. The case numbers you follow, your notes, copies of the emails you write to LA 311, and the steps you record (for example "opened MyLA311") are saved in your browser or app storage on this device only. The name you type to sign emails is remembered on this device too. We cannot see them. Deleting a case ("Stop following"), clearing your browser data, or uninstalling the app deletes them. "Back up my cases" saves a file to your device; you decide where it goes.
- Location. When you turn on Find my location (or tap Near me), your device's location is used inside the app to show nearby reports. It is not sent to GroundWatch.
What the GroundWatch server receives
- Case lookups. When you open My Cases or follow a case, the app sends those case numbers to the server so it can ask the City for their current public status. The server does not record which device asked or keep a list of who follows what. It does keep a copy of the public City record it fetched, like any other public 311 record.
- Searches. Street or case-number searches are answered and not stored.
- Address checks. When you check an address (Report an Issue, or an address search in My Cases), the server sends only the address text to the U.S. Census Bureau's public geocoder to find it and see which city or county it is in; no name, contact details or device information go with it. The answer is kept in the server's memory for up to 30 days so the same address isn't sent twice, and is not written to disk. The City Council district is worked out on the server from the district map it downloads from LA County; your address is not sent to LA County. See the Census Bureau's privacy policy.
- Technical data. To prevent abuse, the server keeps the IP address of each request in memory for about one minute for rate limiting; the GroundWatch software does not write access logs. The hosting provider that runs the server may keep standard security logs (such as IP address and time of request); these are not used to identify or track you.
Other services your device contacts
- Map images come from OpenFreeMap (map data © OpenStreetMap contributors). To draw the map, your device asks their servers for the area you are viewing, which shares your IP address with them. See openfreemap.org.
- Emails to LA 311. GroundWatch never sends email. When you choose "Open in my email app", Gmail or Outlook, the message is handed to that app or site, and you send it from your own account to 311@lacity.org; LA 311 then has your email address and whatever you wrote, under the City's own policies. GroundWatch cannot see your mailbox or LA 311's reply.
- Links to MyLA311, the National Weather Service, news sites and other official sources open those sites, which have their own privacy policies.
Public data (311 cases, weather, earthquakes, fire events, LAFD updates, selected news headlines) is collected by the GroundWatch server from official public sources, not from your device.
What we don't do
We don't sell or share personal data, use advertising or analytics SDKs, set tracking cookies, or build profiles. GroundWatch is not directed at children under 13.
Changes
If we add features that need new data (for example, push notifications about cases you follow), we will update this page before they launch and ask for your permission in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: (loading…).