1. Scope
This policy explains how DarkScout processes data when you use the DarkScout iOS app and website.
2. Information We Process
- Location data you choose to provide, including saved observing spots and exact or approximate locations attached to community shots and observing events.
- Saved spots, planner data, app preferences, and optional horizon profiles you create.
- Community content, including your display name and handle, photos, captions, event details, join requests, attendance state, event chat messages, announcements, safety reports, and the versions and timestamps of event participation documents you accept.
- An account identifier used for sync. If you link Sign in with Apple for event participation, Apple may also provide your name and email address according to the choices you make in Apple’s sign-in flow.
- Subscription and entitlement status provided through Apple.
- Limited product-interaction analytics made from categorical events, such as opening a feature or completing a comparison. DarkScout does not place free-form text, coordinates, email addresses, or auth tokens in these analytics events.
- Operational and diagnostic information needed to secure and maintain the service.
3. Why We Process It
- Compute night scores, visibility, and best windows.
- Sync your data and personalize planner, map, widget, and notification experiences.
- Provide community sharing, nearby-event discovery, join requests, hosting, reminders, and event chat.
- Support account, subscription, moderation, and safety features.
- Secure, maintain, and improve the service.
4. Community Location Privacy
An event’s public map marker uses an approximate location. Its exact meeting location and access instructions are available only to eligible event participants and hosts. Exact event-location records are marked to expire after the event. A community shot can use an exact, approximate, or hidden location chosen by its author.
A saved spot appears in Community Spot discovery only when its owner has explicitly published an approved, public community shot with exact-location sharing. The discovery result uses the location published with that shot at reduced precision and does not include the owner’s account identifier.
5. Service Providers and Monetization
We do not sell personal data. We use Apple for purchases and Sign in with Apple, Supabase for authentication, database, realtime chat, and media storage, and infrastructure providers to operate the app and website.
When DarkScout requests a forecast, the selected coordinates are sent through DarkScout’s authenticated Supabase weather service and then to Open-Meteo so it can return local weather conditions. DarkScout applies access controls, rate limiting, and short-lived shared response caching; Open-Meteo processes the weather request under its own service and privacy terms.
DarkScout does not embed a third-party advertising SDK, display in-app ads, or request App Tracking Transparency permission. Optional DarkScout Pro features are funded through Apple in-app subscriptions; Community shots and the core Community events experience remain available without ads.
Horizon profiles remain associated with your account and are not exposed through community spot listings.
6. Retention and Deletion
Data is kept only as long as needed for the features above, safety and moderation, service operation, and legal obligations. Published community content and event records remain until removed, expired under their feature rules, or deleted with the account. You can delete your account and associated server data from app Settings.
Protected event meeting details are cleared after their configured post-event safety window. Event chat is normally removed after 90 days. An open safety or moderation report, or a legal preservation obligation, may extend those periods for the affected records. Revoked push-device registrations and completed notification delivery records are removed on shorter operational schedules.
7. Your Controls
- Disable location and notifications in iOS Settings.
- Disable app notifications in DarkScout Settings.
- Choose exact, approximate, or hidden location when sharing a community shot.
- Leave events, remove your content where available, report content, or block another community member.
- Export a portable JSON copy of your DarkScout account data from app Settings.
- Delete your account from within the app.
8. Website Analytics
The DarkScout website uses Vercel Web Analytics to understand aggregate page usage. Website requests may also produce standard infrastructure logs such as IP address, browser information, requested page, and timestamp.
9. Children
DarkScout is not intended for children under 13. Joining or hosting an in-person Community observing event is limited to people who declare that they are 18 or older.
10. Changes
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows the latest revision.
11. Contact
For privacy requests, contact sebastianmraz@gmail.com.