Legal

Last updated 15 July 2026

Hobbs is a pilot logbook at hobbsfly.com, operated by Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in South Africa (“Hobbs”, “we”, “us”). These pages explain what we do with your information and the terms on which you use the service.

The short version: Your logbook lives on your device. If you enable cloud backup you choose how it is stored: private mode encrypts it with a passphrase only you hold, so we cannot read it and cannot recover it either; recoverable backup encrypts it on our server with a key we hold, so resetting your password restores your logbook — but we can read it. You pick, and you can change your mind. We never sell your data. The social features are strictly opt-in.

Privacy Policy

Who we are

The data controller is Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in South Africa. For any privacy question, contact support@hobbsfly.com.

What we collect

Your logbook — flights, totals, endorsements and related notes. It lives in your browser's local storage on your device. If you turn on cloud backup, it is stored encrypted, and which encryption is your choice. In private mode your device encrypts it with a key derived from your passphrase, which we never receive — we cannot read it, and if you lose the passphrase nobody can recover it. In recoverable backup we encrypt it on our server (AES-256-GCM) with a key we hold, so that resetting your password can restore it — which necessarily means we are able to read it. Your mode is shown in Settings → Backup & sync and you can switch either way.
Account details (only if you create an account for the social features): your email address, a password (stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash — never in plain text), and a display name and handle you choose.
Profile & social data you choose to share: home base, and — only if you opt in — your most recent airport of landing. You control this with the “share last landing” setting (friends / public / off).
Technical data: a session token (stored as a hash) to keep you signed in, and basic request information (such as IP address) used transiently for security and rate-limiting.

What we do not collect

We do not track your GPS or live location. Airport locations come only from the flights you log or the location you set manually.
We do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and we place no advertising cookies.
In private mode we cannot read your logbook contents. On a recoverable backup we can — that is the price of being able to restore it for you.

How we use it

To provide the logbook, cloud backup and sync across your devices.
To operate the optional social features (friend requests, and showing friends the profile and last-landing information you chose to share).
To send you account email you'd expect — verification, password reset, and expiry/currency reminders you enable.
To keep the service secure (authentication, abuse prevention, rate-limiting).

Sharing & disclosure

We never sell your personal data, and we do not share it for advertising.
Social data is shared only with the audience you choose (friends or public) and only the fields you enable.
We use service providers to run the service (hosting, and a transactional email provider for account mail). They process data only on our instructions.
We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the safety and rights of users and the service.

Security

Logbook contents are always encrypted at rest, in one of two ways. Private mode is end-to-end: AES-GCM with a key derived from your passphrase on your own device, which we never receive. Recoverable backup is AES-256-GCM performed on our server with a key stored outside the web root, separate from the database. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt; session and email tokens are stored hashed; all traffic is over HTTPS.

Being precise about what each protects, because "encrypted" on its own says very little: private mode means a breach of our server cannot expose your logbook, and neither can we. Recoverable backup protects you against a database or backup leak — the two most common ways data escapes — but not against an attacker who can read files on the server itself, because the key is on that server. If that distinction matters to you, choose private mode.

If you lose your passphrase in private mode, your backup cannot be recovered — there is no backdoor, and we would not be able to help you even if we wanted to. On a recoverable backup, resetting your password is enough to get your logbook back.

Data retention

Your logbook stays until you delete it. You can wipe your local data at any time, and delete your account and its server-side data by contacting us. Transient security logs are kept only as long as needed for that purpose.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (including under South Africa's POPIA and the EU/UK GDPR), you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. Your logbook is already fully exportable in-app (PDF/CSV). To exercise any other right, email support@hobbsfly.com.

Children

Hobbs is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

International transfer

Your account and social data are stored on our hosting provider's servers, which may be located outside your country. We take reasonable steps to protect it wherever it is processed.

Changes

We may update this policy; we'll change the “last updated” date above and, for material changes, notify you in-app or by email.

Terms of Use

Acceptance

By using Hobbs you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.

What Hobbs is

Hobbs is a personal record-keeping and social tool for pilots and crew. It helps you record flights and, optionally, connect with other users. It is provided “as is”.

Your account

You're responsible for keeping your password and encryption passphrase safe and for activity under your account.
Provide accurate account information and keep it current.
One person per account; don't impersonate others.

Your data is yours

You own your logbook and content. You grant us only the limited permission needed to store, encrypt, back up and display it to you (and, for social data, to the audience you choose) so we can provide the service. You can export or delete it at any time.

Intellectual property & copyright

Hobbs — including the “Hobbs” name and logo, and all software, source code, design, layout, text and graphics we provide (but excluding the logbook content you create) — is owned by Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd or its licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual-property laws. © Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of Hobbs — including its code, design, layout, graphics or name — may be copied, reproduced, republished or reused in any form without our prior written permission.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use Hobbs for its intended purpose. You may not copy, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, sell, rent, sub-licence, publicly display, reverse-engineer or decompile any part of the service, create derivative works from it, or remove any copyright or proprietary notices — except to the extent such a restriction is prohibited by law or you have our prior written permission.

You keep all rights in the logbook data and content you create (see “Your data is yours”), and grant us only the limited licence needed to host, encrypt, back up and display it so we can provide the service. Any feedback or suggestions you send us may be used to improve Hobbs with no obligation to you.

If you believe anything on the service infringes your copyright or other rights, email support@hobbsfly.com with enough detail to identify the material, and we will review and respond.

Acceptable use

Don't misuse the service: no unlawful, harmful, harassing, or infringing content; no attempts to break security, scrape, or disrupt the service; no spam.
On the social features, treat other users respectfully. We may suspend accounts that abuse the service or other users.

Availability

We work to keep Hobbs available and your data safe, but we don't guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service. The core logbook works offline on your device; cloud features depend on connectivity and our providers.

Disclaimer of warranties

Hobbs is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied — including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that any calculation, currency figure or total it produces is accurate. You remain responsible for verifying your own records (see the Disclaimer above).

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd and its directors, employees, contractors and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, revenue, goodwill or opportunity, arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) Hobbs — even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss.

To the extent our liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims relating to the service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for the service in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) ZAR 1,000. Because the core service is provided free of charge, this reflects the limited, no-fee nature of what we offer.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited — including, where applicable, under the South African Consumer Protection Act — such as liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud. Always keep your own backups of your logbook; Hobbs provides export tools for this purpose.

Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Lift Flight Training (Pty) Ltd and its directors, employees and contractors from any claims, losses, liabilities or reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising from your misuse of the service, the content you submit or share, or your breach of these Terms.

Termination

You may stop using Hobbs and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end access for breach of these Terms or to protect the service or its users.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of South Africa, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules.

Changes

We may update these Terms; continued use after changes means you accept them.

Aviation Disclaimer

Hobbs is a convenience tool, not an official record and not aviation or legal advice.

You are solely responsible for meeting your aviation authority's logbook, currency, medical and licensing requirements. Whether Hobbs (or any digital logbook) is accepted as an official record is determined by your authority — verify this yourself.
Always check your own totals, currency and validity against authoritative sources. Automated calculations (day/night split, currency, totals) are provided to help you, but may contain errors — do not rely on them for flight-critical or regulatory decisions.
Nothing in Hobbs constitutes advice on airworthiness, operations, or your fitness to fly.

Contact

Questions, privacy requests, or support: support@hobbsfly.com. You can also send feedback from inside the app under Settings → Legal & support.