Privacy Policy
What we collect
Your places. The coordinates of your current location (while the app uses it) and any places you save, with the name you give them. We use them to check for lightning nearby, send alerts, and keep a 30-day history of strikes near those places.
A random install key. Your phone makes a random code the first time the app opens. Our server stores only a one-way hash of it. It isn't linked to your name, Apple ID or device identifiers. It's how we know which places are yours.
Push token and alert settings. If you turn on notifications: Apple's push token for this app and each place's alert settings (its distance, the heads-up and strike-rate switches, and whether its notifications are on). In Lightning Clock, also how long its count since a strike runs.
Server logs. IP addresses are used briefly for rate limiting and are not stored with your places. Our own logs record positions rounded to about 10 km. The app's requests carry exact coordinates, and our hosts (Render and Cloudflare) may keep their own request logs, with IP addresses, for a short time under their policies.
Purchases. Handled by Apple. If you buy Lightning Pro, the app sends Apple's signed record of the purchase (which plan, its transaction number, and when a subscription renews or ends) with your install key, so our server can check it and send your alerts. We never receive your name, Apple ID or payment details. Delete my data removes our copy; Restore in the app sends it again.
Our website. We count page views and taps on the App Store buttons anonymously: the page, the link that brought you if it carries a campaign or shared-clock code, a coarse device type (iPhone, Android or computer) and, for App Store taps, the referring site's name. No cookies and no IP addresses kept. Our pages load no third-party scripts, except a shared storm or count page, which loads a map library and map tiles from their providers (who see your IP address as any website does). If you write to us through the form for organizations, we keep what you send (name, organization, email, how many fields or pools) to reply to you; it isn't linked to the app. We keep form messages for 12 months, then delete them; write to us to delete yours sooner.
Anonymous usage. To decide what to build next, and for which places, the app sends one short report when you leave it: how long it was open and how long on each screen (Home, Places, Explore, Replay, Settings); whether you opened a replay or something in Explore, added a place or started a Live Activity; whether heads-up and strike-rate alerts are on, notifications are allowed and a widget is installed; kilometers or miles; the map look; how many places you have saved; how many of the last 7 days you opened the app; how long ago you installed it (0 to 1, 2 to 7, 8 to 30, or more than 30 days); the state you are in and the state of each saved place, as a code like US-TX; and, on the day's first report, a mark so we can count people a day. Your phone works out the state itself with Apple's map service and sends only the code; with location off it sends “unknown”. No coordinates, city, postal code or place names. Our server does not use your IP address to place you and does not keep it with the reports. Each report is added into daily totals by state and app version, and only the totals are kept, for 400 days. A report that could not be sent waits on your phone for up to 3 days.
Speed reports. To see how fast the app is on real phones, the app also sends how many milliseconds a few moments took (opening the app until the map is ready and shows strikes, coming back to it, switching places, opening Explore and a replay), how old the newest strike on the map was, and how long any hangs iOS reports lasted. With it: the app version and build, the phone model (for example iPhone16,1), Wi-Fi, cellular or no connection, and whether Low Data Mode is on. We keep these for 7 days.
Neither report carries an install key, push token or anything that ties one report to another, so neither is linked to you, and we cannot pick out yours to delete. Turn both off in Settings › Share anonymous usage.
Shared links. If you share a storm or a count, anyone with the link can see what it shows: the place's name, a map around it and the strikes, as long as the link exists. Shared counts end when you stop sharing; shared storms show public strike data only.
On your phone only. Close calls, settings and saved places are stored on your device.
What we don't do
In the last 12 months we have not sold or shared personal information, and we don't. We don't sell or share personal data, don't track you across other companies' apps or websites, and don't build profiles. The app shows no ads. If that ever changes, ads will be non-personalized, and this policy will name the ad provider first.
Who processes data for us
Render (server hosting, United States), Cloudflare (network delivery and file storage in front of our server; it sees IP addresses as it passes requests on) and Apple (push notifications and purchases). For your Lightning Pro precise places only, we send each place's coordinates to our commercial lightning data provider (Xweather) to get precise strikes; they are not told who you are.
How long we keep it
Places and push tokens: until you delete them, or 90 days after your app last checked in, whichever comes first. Strike history near your places: 30 days. Strikes that belong to a notable storm stay longer as part of that storm's public record, which is not linked to you or your places. Logs: as kept by our host, with rounded positions.
Your choices
Turn off location or notifications in iOS Settings at any time. Delete your data in the app: Menu › Safety & data › Delete my data. That removes your places and push registration from our server immediately. Deleting the app leaves the server copy until the 90-day expiry; use Delete my data first if you want it gone now. Depending on where you live (for example California or the EU/UK), you may have rights to access, correct, delete or move your data and to object to how we use it; contact us and we'll help. We rely on providing the app you asked for (your places, alerts and purchases) and on our legitimate interest in keeping it fast and deciding what to build (the anonymous reports, which you can turn off). Our servers are in the United States. In the EU or UK you can also complain to your data protection authority.
Children
Lightning is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Coaches and parents may use it to make decisions for young athletes; the children themselves aren't users. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.
Changes
We'll update the date above when this changes, and say so in the app for material changes.
Contact
[CONTACT EMAIL]