Help & FAQ

No. Conditions, regulations, spots, shops, guides, lessons and your catch log all work without one. You only need an account to share catches, add friends, fish together, use leaderboards, and like or comment.

Enter your email and we'll send a 6-digit code from Tightline ("Your Tightline sign-in code"). Type it into the app. There's no password to remember. The code works once and expires after one hour. The first time, you'll also pick a public angler name (3–24 letters, numbers or underscores).

• Check your spam or junk folder and search for "Tightline".
• Make sure the email address is spelled right.
• Wait a minute, ask for a new code and use the newest one.
• Still nothing? Email us from the address you're trying to use.

Your catch log stays on your phone. Catches you shared stay shared until you make them private or delete your account.

Every catch starts as Only me and stays on your phone. When you log or edit a catch you can choose:

• Only me: nobody else sees it and nothing is uploaded.
• Friends only: your accepted friends see the fish, the water's name and a rough area.
• Community, rough area: everyone sees the fish and a rough area about 2 km across.
• Community, area and water name: the same, plus the lake, river or bay name.

Bait, rig, notes and the photo go with any shared catch, so leave out anything in the notes you don't want to share.

Not unless you say so. The community only ever sees a rough grid square. If you switch on "Let friends see the exact spot" on a shared catch, your accepted friends (and nobody else) can see the exact location and get directions. It's off by default; you can change the default in Settings → Sharing.

Photos are re-saved on your phone when you add them, which removes hidden GPS and camera data. The picture itself is shared as-is, so avoid landmarks or signs in the background if you want to keep a spot secret.

Hotspots show areas where a species has been caught a lot. An area only appears once at least 5 community catches from at least 3 different anglers are there, and only catches older than 3 days count, so nobody can follow where one person fished today. Friends-only catches and exact spots are never used.

Open the catch in My Log and tap Make private. The app removes it, its photo and any exact spot from our servers the next time it syncs.

Friends boards compare you with your accepted friends, using catches you've shared. Local boards are off by default: turn on "Show me on local leaderboards" in Settings → Account to appear there with your angler name, counted from your community catches in your ~50 km area. Friends-only catches never count on local boards, and fish kept against the rules never count anywhere.

Open the post and tap Report. Pick a reason (spam, harassment, illegal harvest, location leak, inappropriate or other). Posts with several reports are hidden automatically while we review them. You can also block someone so you no longer see each other's content. To block someone, open one of their catches and tap Report → Block, tap the flag next to one of their comments, or use Block on a friend's page. You can unblock anyone in Settings → Account → Blocked anglers.

Look for "Found something wrong? Let us know" (or "Rule looks wrong?") on the rule result, Regulations, fish, spot and shop pages and local guides, or go to Settings → Report a problem. Tell us what's wrong; the report automatically includes which rule, spot or shop you were looking at and the app version, never your location or catches. Adding your email is optional and only used to reply.

They're a plain-language summary to help you, not the law. Rules change, and map boundaries are approximate. Always check the official regulations (each rule links to its source) before keeping a fish. See our terms.

Tightline covers New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Elsewhere, the weather forecast, fish guides, lessons and your log still work. Tap "Vote for my state" on the Coming soon card; states with the most votes come next.

In the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. Or on the web: delete your account. This permanently deletes your angler name, shared catches, exact spots, photos, friends, Fish together sessions and posts, likes, comments, reports and your sign-in. Your on-phone catch log isn't touched; delete it by uninstalling the app or clearing its storage.

Your log is on your phone. For a copy of what our servers hold, email DanielsTechShop@protonmail.com from your account's email address. See the privacy policy.

No. Location is used only while the app is open, and you can always pick a place by hand instead.