Privacy Policy

Scope: Earthquake Tracker Mobile Applications (iOS & Android)
Last Updated: October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how our earthquake tracking mobile applications ("the App", "we", "us", or "our") handle user information across iOS and Android devices.

Our applications are engineered with strict privacy-first and data-minimization principles: no user account is required, and we do not collect your personal identity, name, physical address, or phone contact list.

1. Information We Collect and Process

A. Location Information

Location access is minimal, optional, and user-controlled:

• On-Device Processing (Default): When granted, GPS coordinates are processed locally on your device to calculate distance to earthquake epicenters, filter tremors by proximity, center the live map, and display nearby assembly areas. This data stays entirely on your device.
• Area-Based Notifications (Optional): If you choose to enable proximity alerts in Settings, your device transmits an approximate location (rounded to approximately 1 kilometer) to our notification dispatch server. This coordinate is used solely to determine whether notifications for nearby earthquakes should be sent to your device.
• No Movement History: We do not track, log, or profile your travel routes or historical locations.

B. Device Identifiers and Push Notifications

To deliver real-time earthquake alerts through Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), our notification system stores:

• An anonymous, randomly generated installation identifier.
• A device push notification token issued by your operating system.
• Your chosen alert filters (such as minimum magnitude threshold, alert radius, and preferred language).

These technical identifiers cannot be used to identify you personally. Inactive device records that have not connected for 270 days are automatically and permanently deleted from our servers.

C. Emergency Contacts and Preparedness Data

• Emergency Contacts: Any emergency numbers you select for quick dialing are stored strictly on your device's local memory. The application does not access, upload, or sync your phone's address book with any server.
• Emergency Kit Checklist: Checklist progress and preparedness scores are saved exclusively on your local device storage.

D. Emergency Whistle Feature

The emergency whistle sounds an audio tone through your device's loudspeaker. This feature utilizes audio playback only. The application never accesses your microphone and never records audio.

2. Advertising and User Privacy Choices

Our applications display advertisements provided by Google AdMob. AdMob may use device identifiers and approximate location to serve and measure advertisements in accordance with Google's policies.

In applicable jurisdictions (such as the European Economic Area and the UK under the GDPR), a Google-certified User Messaging Platform (UMP) consent form is presented. You can review, modify, or revoke your consent at any time inside the application via:

Settings › Ad Privacy Options

3. Third-Party Services and Scientific Data

The application connects to trusted third-party providers for infrastructure and public seismic data:

Service Provider	Purpose	Data Handled
Google Firebase (FCM)	Push notification delivery	Anonymous device tokens & installation IDs
Google AdMob	In-app advertising	Device advertising IDs (IDFA/GAID) & telemetry
Esri ArcGIS	Map tiles (Street, Dark, Satellite)	Anonymous map tile requests
OpenStreetMap	Assembly area geocoding and fallback maps	Anonymous map requests
Seismological Agencies (USGS, EMSC, AFAD, KOERI, NOAA, GDACS)	Public earthquake and tsunami feeds	Public informational feeds received by our servers; no user data shared

4. Data Deletion and User Control

You can permanently remove your notification data from our servers at any time directly through the app:

1. Open Settings in the app.
2. Select Privacy Policy.
3. Tap Delete Notification Data at the bottom of the screen.
4. Confirm the prompt.

Confirming this action immediately purges your notification token and stored coordinates from our server, and push notifications will stop.

5. Statutory Privacy Rights (GDPR & CCPA/CPRA)

European Economic Area and UK (GDPR)

• The right to access, rectify, or erase your data.
• The right to restrict or object to processing.
• The right to withdraw consent at any time (via Settings › Ad Privacy Options or Delete Notification Data).
• The right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.

California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)

• We do not sell personal information.
• We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising without consent.
• You have the right to request deletion of your data at any time via the in-app deletion tool.

6. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

The application does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in certain jurisdictions). If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can immediately delete it.

7. Data Security

All communications between the mobile application and backend servers are transmitted using Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2 / TLS 1.3 encryption over HTTPS).

8. Changes to This Policy

We may periodically update this Privacy Policy. Any modifications will be posted directly to this document with an updated revision date.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions or inquiries regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our support team:
Email: [email protected]