Privacy Policy

A forecast needs a place. That can be your device's location if you allow it, a place you search for, or a city page you open. Your browser or app sends the coordinates of that place to our servers with each request.

• We do not connect those coordinates to who you are unless you save the place to an account.
• The website keeps the last place you looked at in your browser's storage, so it can open there next time. That copy stays on your device.
• The mobile app uses your location while you are using it. On iPhone, the home-screen widget also reads your location each time it refreshes, so it can show the rain forecast for where you are. The app does not otherwise collect your location in the background.

An account is optional. It lets you save places and set up alerts. You can sign in with Google or with a link we send to your email address. If you have an account we store:

• Your email address.
• If you sign in with Google: your name, your profile picture, Google's identifier for your account, and the sign-in tokens Google issues. We ask Google only for your basic profile and email address, and we do not use the tokens to read anything else in your Google account.
• The places you save: their coordinates and the label you give them.
• Your alert rules: what to watch for, at which place, and how to notify you.
• Whether your account is on the free plan.

A cookie keeps you signed in for up to 90 days, or until you sign out.

If you turn on notifications, we store what is needed to reach your device: the push address your browser or phone gives us, its encryption keys, and a description of the browser or device.

• Push notifications travel through the push service of your browser or phone maker, such as Apple, Google or Mozilla. Notifications to the mobile app also pass through Expo.
• Sign-in links and email alerts are sent through Postmark.
• We keep a record of the alerts we have sent you.

The website uses Google Analytics to count visits and to see which features are used. Google receives:

• The pages you view. A city page's address includes the name of the city.
• General information about your device and browser.
• An approximate location, which Google works out from your IP address.
• What you do with the map and search: changing a layer, playing the timeline, turning an overlay on or off, and searching for a place, including the name of the place you choose.

Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser. The radar view inside the mobile app is a web page, so this applies to it as well. The rest of the mobile app has no analytics.

Our servers record each request they receive: your IP address, the address requested (which includes the coordinates you asked about), the page you came from, and your browser type. We use these logs to keep the service running and to investigate problems and abuse. They are deleted after seven days.

• Place search. When you search for a place, your browser sends what you type directly to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim search service.
• Trip planning. The trip planner sends your start and end points directly from your browser to the public OSRM routing service.
• Government data. For some lookups our servers pass on the coordinates you asked about, with nothing that identifies you, to public services run by the US National Weather Service, the US Geological Survey and FEMA.

The first two are requests from your own browser, so those services also see your IP address.

When you use StrataWeather inside ChatGPT, OpenAI sends us the coordinates of the place you asked about, and may include technical details such as your language. We do not receive your name, your email address or the text of your conversation. OpenAI's own privacy policy covers your use of ChatGPT.

• Sign-in cookies. One that keeps you signed in, and a few short-lived ones that protect the sign-in step. These are set only when you sign in.
• Analytics cookies. Set by Google Analytics, as described above.
• Browser storage. The last place you looked at and your map display choices.

There are no advertising cookies.

• To give you forecasts, maps and alerts for the places you ask about.
• To keep the service running, find faults and stop abuse.
• To understand how the service is used so we can improve it.

We do not sell personal information and we do not use it for advertising.

We use other companies to run parts of the service. They receive only what they need:

• Hetzner hosts our servers, in Germany.
• Google provides Analytics, and sign-in if you choose it.
• Postmark delivers our email.
• Expo, and the push services of Apple, Google and Mozilla, deliver notifications.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it.

Our own servers and database are in Germany. Google, Postmark and Expo process information in the United States and other countries.

• Server logs: seven days.
• Account information, saved places, alert rules and the record of alerts sent: until you remove them or ask us to delete your account.
• Sign-in sessions: up to 90 days. Sign-in links: 15 minutes.
• Analytics: held by Google under the retention setting of our Analytics account.

• Use StrataWeather without an account.
• Decline to share your device's location and search for a place instead.
• Remove saved places and alert rules on your account page. Removing a rule stops its alerts.
• Turn notifications off in your browser or phone settings.
• Block analytics with your browser's settings or Google's opt-out browser add-on.
• Ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete your account and everything stored with it. Write to chris@strataweather.com from the address you sign in with.

Depending on where you live, the law may give you further rights over your personal information, including under the GDPR in the European Union and the United Kingdom. If you think we have handled your information wrongly you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

StrataWeather is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

When this policy changes we will publish the new version here and change the date at the top.

Aarkc Software operates StrataWeather. For anything about this policy or your information, write to chris@strataweather.com. Other questions are answered on the support page.