1. These terms
These terms form an agreement between you and CosmoLabs Ltd ("we", "us"), a private limited company registered in Scotland under company number SC883326, covering your use of the WreckAtlas iOS application and the pages at cosmolabs.co.uk/wreckatlas. By downloading, installing or using the app you accept them. If you don't accept them, delete the app.
Apple's Licensed Application End User Licence Agreement also applies to your use of the app, and where these terms conflict with it, the more protective of the two applies to you as a consumer.
2. Safety — the important part
WreckAtlas is not a navigation aid. It is not certified, approved or intended for navigation and must not be used in place of official charts, Admiralty publications, a properly maintained plotter or a competent skipper.
WreckAtlas does not plan your dive. It does not assess whether a site is within your qualifications, your currency, your gas plan or the conditions on the day. Depth figures are a starting point for planning, not a substitute for it.
You are responsible for:
- Diving within your training, certification and currency, and within the limits of your equipment.
- Verifying depths, positions and conditions on site before entering the water.
- Complying with all applicable laws, designations, licences and permissions.
- Your own safety and the safety of anyone diving with you.
3. Accuracy of the wreck data
The wreck records in WreckAtlas derive principally from UK Hydrographic Office data, published under the Open Government Licence. That dataset is compiled from surveys, reports and salvage records spanning more than a century. It contains errors, and we make no promise that any individual record is correct.
In particular, be aware that:
- Positions may be wrong or superseded. Some entries have not been resurveyed in decades. A wreck may lie some distance from its recorded position, or not exist there at all.
- Depths are recorded to differing datums and, where shown as approximate to Lowest Astronomical Tide, will read deeper on a rising tide. Least-depth figures describe the shallowest point of the obstruction, not the depth you will dive to.
- Identifications may be uncertain. Multiple vessels share names, and the attribution of a wreck to a named ship is sometimes provisional.
- Curated histories and site notes are compiled from published sources and, while checked, may contain errors or omissions.
If you spot something wrong, tell us — the report function inside the app, or hello@cosmolabs.co.uk. Corrections from divers who've been on the site are the most valuable thing we receive.
4. War graves and protected sites
Many wrecks in UK and Irish waters are legally protected. Depending on the site this may arise under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 or equivalent Irish legislation. Restrictions vary: some sites may be dived on a look-but-don't-touch basis, others are controlled sites where diving requires a licence from the Ministry of Defence, and unauthorised interference is a criminal offence.
The designation flags shown in the app are a prompt to check, not a clearance to dive. Designations change, our list may be incomplete or out of date, and the absence of a flag does not mean a site is unprotected. Verify the current status with the relevant authority — the Ministry of Defence, Historic England, Cadw, Historic Environment Scotland, the Northern Ireland Department for Communities, or Ireland's National Monuments Service — before diving any wreck that may be protected.
Where a wreck is the last resting place of those lost with it, treat it accordingly.
5. Licence to use the app
We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use WreckAtlas on devices you own or control, for your own non-commercial use, in accordance with these terms and Apple's rules.
You may not: copy, extract or redistribute the app's database or curated content as a dataset or competing product; reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the app except to the extent that law permits; remove attribution or copyright notices; or use the app for any unlawful purpose.
6. Your content
Your dive logs, photographs, notes and gear list belong to you. Nothing is uploaded to us — see the privacy policy.
Dive logs and their photographs sync to your own private iCloud account, so they survive replacing the app or the device. That sync is between you and Apple; we have no access to the data and cannot read, recover or restore it. It depends on your device being signed into iCloud with iCloud Drive enabled — if it is not, your logs are stored on the device only and are lost if you delete the app. Everything else the app creates stays on the device. Keep your own backups of anything you'd be sorry to lose.
7. Free features and paid features
The wreck map and the wreck records are free to use, and we intend them to stay free. Some additional tools may be offered in future as a paid subscription. If they are, the price, billing period and what's included will be shown clearly before you buy.
Any purchase is made through Apple. Apple handles billing, renewal and refunds; we never see your payment details. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you manage or cancel them in your Apple Account settings, not in the app. Refund requests go to Apple.
8. Availability and changes
WreckAtlas works offline. The wreck database, the written histories, the heritage designations and the photographs are all bundled inside the app, so no connection is needed to use it. Map tiles are drawn by Apple Maps and dive log sync uses Apple's iCloud; both depend on Apple's services and on your connection, and we don't guarantee their availability.
We may update, change or discontinue features. Where a change materially reduces what you've paid for, we'll tell you before it takes effect.
9. Intellectual property
The app, its design, its code and its curated written content are owned by CosmoLabs Ltd and protected by copyright. The name WreckAtlas and the WreckAtlas logo are our marks.
The underlying wreck records contain UK Hydrographic Office data © Crown copyright and database right, reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Historical photographs are used under their respective licences. Map data © Apple. WreckAtlas is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the UK Hydrographic Office, the Ministry of Defence, or any dive training agency named in the app.
10. Our liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected.
Subject to that, and to the fullest extent the law allows:
- The app is provided as is. We do not warrant that the wreck data is accurate, complete or current, or that the app will be error-free or uninterrupted.
- We are not liable for loss or damage arising from your reliance on wreck positions, depths, designations or historical content, or from any decision you make about whether, where or how to dive.
- We are not liable for business losses, loss of profit, or loss of data.
- Where liability is not otherwise excluded, our total liability to you is limited to the greater of £100 or the amount you have paid us for the app in the twelve months before the claim arose.
11. Ending this agreement
You can end it at any time by deleting the app. We may suspend or end your licence if you materially breach these terms. Sections 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10 survive termination.
12. General
If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continue in force. Our not enforcing a term isn't a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours if the app changes hands, and your rights won't be reduced by that.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by Scots law, and disputes fall to the courts of Scotland. If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in your own courts, and you keep the benefit of any mandatory consumer protections of your home jurisdiction. Nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer.
14. Contact
CosmoLabs Ltd · Registered in Scotland, company no. SC883326
hello@cosmolabs.co.uk