Terms of Service

Effective Date: September 26, 2026

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Andrew Althage (“we”, “us”, “our”), who operates GaugeWatcher. They cover the GaugeWatcher iPhone app and widget, the Mac app, and the gaugewatcher.com website (together, the “Service”).

By downloading, installing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Service.

Please read Sections 6 through 10 carefully. They limit our liability and include your assumption of the risks of river activities.

1. What GaugeWatcher Is

GaugeWatcher shows river gauge readings published by government agencies and other public sources. You can compare readings to flow ranges you set, get alerts, and view weather. It is an informational tool. It does not tell you whether a river is safe, whether it can be run, or whether you should go.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may use the Service only with the permission of a parent or guardian, who agrees to these Terms for you.

3. Your License and Acceptable Use

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own non-commercial purposes, subject to these Terms.

You agree not to:

• Scrape, harvest, or systematically download data from the Service or our servers, or redistribute it
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service, except where the law expressly allows it
• Use the Service commercially without our written permission
• Interfere with, overload, or disrupt the Service, our servers, or the data sources we rely on
• Try to gain unauthorized access to any system connected to the Service
• Use the Service to break the law or infringe anyone’s rights

We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms.

4. Subscriptions

Some features, such as flow alerts, may require a paid subscription purchased through Apple’s App Store.

• Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Apple’s Media Services Terms also apply.
• Subscriptions renew automatically at the then-current price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.
• You can manage or cancel your subscription in your device’s Settings under your Apple ID. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period.
• Refunds are handled by Apple under Apple’s refund policy. We can’t issue refunds directly.
• We may change prices or what a subscription includes. Price changes apply only after notice, as Apple requires.
• A subscription pays for access to features. It does not guarantee that data or alerts will be accurate, timely, or delivered (see Section 7).

5. Third-Party Data and Services

Gauge readings come from government agencies and other public sources. Weather comes from Apple Weather. Maps come from Apple. We don’t control these sources. Their data may be delayed, estimated, provisional, revised, missing, or wrong. Their own terms and licenses apply to their data. The fact that we show their data doesn’t mean they endorse GaugeWatcher, and we are not affiliated with any of them.

GaugeBot, the Mac app’s assistant, uses an AI model. It can produce information that is wrong, incomplete, or made up, including flow numbers. Don’t rely on its answers. Check the actual readings.

6. Assumption of Risk

Whitewater paddling and other river activities are dangerous. They can cause serious injury, death, and damage to property. River conditions change quickly and can differ a great deal from what a gauge shows. Hazards such as wood, strainers, undercuts, debris, dam releases, flash floods, water temperature, and weather do not appear in a gauge reading.

You understand and agree that:

• A flow reading, a status color, a “Running” label, a flow range, an alert, or a forecast is not a determination that a river is safe or runnable. Status labels only compare a reading to a range that you set.
• You alone are responsible for deciding whether, when, and where to go on the water. This includes scouting, checking current local information, judging your own skills and equipment, and following the law and any closures.
• You voluntarily assume all risks of river activities, whether or not you used GaugeWatcher in planning them.

To the fullest extent the law allows, you release us from all claims arising from your river activities or from your reliance on the Service.

7. Not a Safety or Warning System

The Service is not intended for emergency use, flood warnings, evacuation decisions, search and rescue, navigation, or any other safety-critical purpose. For those, use official sources such as your national weather service and local emergency authorities.

Alerts may be delayed, may arrive more than once, or may not arrive at all. Delivery depends on the data sources, our servers, Apple’s push notification service, your device settings, and your network connection. Don’t rely on an alert as your only way of learning about river conditions.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service and all data in it are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied. These include warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, and timeliness. We don’t warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any data, forecast, or alert will be accurate, current, or delivered.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• We will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages. This includes loss of profits, data, or use, arising from or relating to the Service. It applies whatever the legal theory, and even if we were told such damages were possible.
• Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid for the Service in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) US $50.

Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain disclaimers or limits. In those places, these limits apply only to the extent the law allows. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as liability for fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct.

10. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, that arise from:

• Your use of the Service
• Your river activities
• Your breach of these Terms
• Your violation of anyone else’s rights

11. Intellectual Property

We own the Service, including its design, code, branding, and original content. These Terms don’t give you any rights to our trademarks. Gauge data belongs to its providers and is subject to their terms.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them freely and without any obligation to you.

12. Changes to the Service and These Terms

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time. This includes adding or removing gauges or data sources.

We may update these Terms. We’ll post the new version here and change the effective date. For material changes, we’ll try to give at least 30 days’ notice in the app or on this site. By continuing to use the Service after the changes take effect, you accept the new Terms.

13. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us through the contact form and try to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days. If the dispute isn’t resolved, it will be decided only in the state or federal courts located in Colorado, and you consent to their jurisdiction. Either party may bring an eligible claim in small claims court instead.

To the extent the law allows, claims must be brought individually and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action. Claims must also be brought within one year after they arise.

If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms takes away rights that the laws of the country where you live give you and that can’t be waived by contract.

14. General

• These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and the unenforceable part will be enforced to the greatest extent allowed.
• If we don’t enforce a provision, we haven’t waived it.
• You may not transfer these Terms. We may transfer them, for example if GaugeWatcher is sold.
• Sections 5 through 11, 13, and 14 survive the end of these Terms.

15. Apple App Store

These additional terms apply because GaugeWatcher is distributed through Apple’s App Store:

• These Terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app or its content.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. To the maximum extent the law allows, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app.
• Apple is not responsible for addressing claims by you or any third party relating to the app or your possession or use of it. These include product liability claims, claims that the app fails to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer protection claims.
• If a third party claims that the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are responsible for investigating, defending, settling, and discharging the claim.
• You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• You must comply with applicable third-party terms when using the app.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept these Terms, Apple has the right to enforce them against you.

16. Contact

Andrew Althage, Colorado, United States

• Contact form