What is collected, and what isn’t
RipCo is a student project, and this page is written to be read rather than skimmed. It covers this website, the early-access list and the app.
No analytics, no cookies, no trackers
This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising scripts. Fonts, scripts and images are served from this site’s own domain.
Two things load from elsewhere, on the coverage page only. Your browser fetches map tiles from CARTO, drawn from OpenStreetMap data, and beach conditions from this site’s own server, which asks Open-Meteo on your behalf. If that server is unavailable your browser asks Open-Meteo directly. In each case the other service receives the same technical details any web request carries, such as your IP address. Neither is given anything about you by this site.
One email address, one purpose
The early-access list is not open yet, and until it is, the early-access page collects nothing. When it opens, it will ask for an email address and nothing else. That address is used to send RipCo updates: the launch, and detection reaching new beaches.
It is not shared or sold. Every email will carry a way to leave the list, and leaving removes your address.
Location is optional, and the cameras are public
Location access is optional and is used only to show beaches near you. You can search for any beach without it.
The camera feeds RipCo reads are public streams that already exist. The model reads the surface of the water for the signature of a rip. It is not built to identify people.
Hazard sightings you report through Shark Watch are shared with other people using the app at that beach. Reports are unverified.
This page was last updated in September 2026.