You must be at the pandal to check in. We check your phone's location (with some allowance for weak GPS), but only the pandal or your exact spot, if you turn that on, is shared. This map is public. Everyone on it sees your name, note and pin, not just friends. It fades after 90 minutes without an update, or right away when you tap Stop. Keep Exact spot off unless you're happy to share where you are.
Friends show in pink on the map. Anyone can copy a name, but nobody can fake a code, so a pink pin is really them. Adding a friend only highlights them for you. They aren't told, and your location stays visible to everyone.
Your code and friends live only in this browser. Clearing site data or changing phones gives you a new code. Save a backup file to keep them.
The backup file holds your private key. Anyone with it can appear as you, so don't share it.
What is shared: when you check in, your name, note, chosen pandal and (only if you turn on Exact spot) your GPS position go to a public live-updates service (HiveMQ). Anyone using this app can see them.
How long: the pin fades for others after 90 minutes without an update. Tapping Stop removes it straight away and asks the service to delete its stored copy.
On this phone: your name, friends, code, visited stops and route settings. We don't keep them on our server. Our server only keeps anonymous statistics (which pandals get check-ins and at what hour, route picks, and a random device ID that is not linked to your name or code) and routes you publish. Your location is checked on your phone and is never sent to our server.