CabForward is built to be private. Your railroad data — your roster, photos, layouts, routines and operating sessions — lives on your device. If you turn on iCloud sync, that data is stored in your own private iCloud account, which we cannot access. We don't run accounts or servers of our own, we don't sell your data, and we don't use third-party advertising or tracking. If you use the optional Logo Studio, the design text you type in is sent to an AI image partner to generate your logo — see Third-party services below.
This Privacy Policy explains how the CabForward app ("CabForward", "the app", "we", "us") handles information when you use it on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. CabForward is a native client for the open-source DCC-EX Command Station that lets you control and manage your model railroad.
CabForward is designed to be local-first. The app does not require you to create an account, and we do not operate our own user database or back-end servers that collect your personal information. The optional cloud features described below run entirely within Apple's iCloud (CloudKit) using your own Apple Account.
The information in CabForward is content you create to run your railroad. It includes:
By default, everything you create stays on your device, saved in the app's private storage and shared with the CabForward widget and Apple Watch app through a private Apple App Group. This data is covered by your device's own security and encryption.
If you enable iCloud sync, CabForward stores a copy of your railroad data in the private database of your personal iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit so it can move between your devices. This data resides in Apple's iCloud under your control — we have no access to it and cannot read it. Sync is explicit by default (you choose Merge, Upload or Download) with optional live sync. You can turn it off at any time in Settings → Data → iCloud Sync.
Sharing & Multiplayer lets you invite another person to operate your railroad with you, or join a railroad someone else shares with you, using Apple's CloudKit sharing (CKShare). When you send an invite, the same railroad content described above — your roster, rolling stock, accessories, routines, layout profile, operating sessions and logo — becomes accessible to whoever accepts, at the permission level you choose (Full Crew, View Only, or a custom mix of areas). Invites are sent through Apple's own sharing screen, either to specific people from your contacts or by email/phone, or as a link anyone can use to join — CabForward never sees or stores your contacts or the invite itself. Once someone accepts, their name (from their Apple ID) appears in your "Your Crew" list, and edits sync automatically between everyone with write access. You can revoke a participant's access at any time. Switching to operate a railroad shared with you never changes or uploads your own railroad — it's restored the moment you switch back. Visiting shared railroads also contributes to a Game Center achievement (a simple count, not your railroad content) — see Third-party services.
CabForward talks directly to your DCC-EX Command Station over your local network (Wi-Fi). Control commands and status flow only between your device and your command station. This information is not sent to us or to any third party.
Logo Studio is an optional feature for creating a custom railroad herald. If you use it, the railroad name, tagline and design choices you select are turned into a text description and sent to our backend, which forwards it to our AI image partner, Ideogram, to generate the artwork — your photos and roster data are never included. Our backend does not store your prompt or the generated image; it only checks your remaining generation credits before forwarding the request. Your device then downloads the finished image directly from Ideogram's servers, which — like any direct network request — exposes your device's IP address to Ideogram for that download. If you ask CabForward to remove the logo's background, that happens entirely on-device using Apple's Vision framework; nothing is uploaded for that step. See Third-party services for more on Ideogram.
CabForward only requests permissions needed for features you use, and explains each at the moment it's needed:
You can review or change these permissions any time in the iOS/iPadOS/macOS Settings app.
CabForward relies on a small number of trusted services to function:
Other than the Logo Studio design text, and the railroad content you deliberately share through Sharing & Multiplayer, described above, we do not share your railroad content with any of these providers, and we do not sell or rent your information to anyone.
CabForward does not track you. We do not use advertising, third-party analytics SDKs, or the Advertising Identifier (IDFA), and we do not use the App Tracking Transparency framework because we have nothing to track. We do not build profiles of you or link your activity across apps or websites owned by other companies.
CabForward is a general-audience hobby app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app does not collect personal data and stores content locally or in your own iCloud account, no personal information is gathered from users of any age.
Because your data lives on your device and in your own iCloud account, you control retention:
Depending on where you live, you may have rights under privacy laws such as the EU/UK GDPR or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) to access, correct, delete or port your personal data. Because CabForward does not collect or hold your personal data on our own systems, you can exercise these rights directly: your content is accessible and editable in the app, and is removable as described above. If you have questions about your rights, please contact us.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time — for example, if we add a feature that changes how data is handled. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, note the change in the app. Your continued use of CabForward after an update means you accept the revised policy.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how CabForward handles information, please reach out:
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