Earth Right Now privacy
Your home place
The place you add as your home (for example "Home · Tracy, CA") is saved only on your device: in the app, or in your browser's storage when you use the web app. Clearing the app's data or your browser's site data removes it. To show its status, your device asks public services directly, with the location rounded first: the National Weather Service (official alerts and the forecast, rounded to about 1 km) and Open-Meteo (air quality, and weather outside the US, rounded to about 10 km). If one of them can't be reached, the app asks our own data service instead (rounded to about 1 km), which doesn't store it. Like any website, these services see your device's IP address when they answer; the place is sent without your name or anything else about you. Your family plan, kit checklist, watch distance and other settings never leave your device unless you turn on notifications (below).
Finding a place
When you search for a city by name, the words you type are sent to Open-Meteo's place search, or to our data service if Open-Meteo can't be reached. ZIP codes are looked up by our data service from a built-in list. Neither keeps your searches.
Your location
The app uses your location only when you tap "Use my current location" to add a place, and only while the app is open. Your phone or browser asks your permission first. It never tracks you in the background.
If you turn on notifications
Notifications are available in the iPhone and Android apps (not on the web). To send alerts when the app is closed, we store with our database provider (Supabase):
- the push token your phone gives the app (it can only be used to send notifications to this app),
- your alert choices (for example "tsunami alerts" or "earthquakes M4.5+"), your watch distance (25, 50 or 100 miles), quiet hours, time zone and language,
- your home place, rounded to about 10 km, with its ZIP code if you entered one and its short label (like "Home"), plus the weather-service zone codes for that area.
Notifications are delivered through Apple (iPhone), Google (Android) and Expo's notification service. To stop abuse, the service also counts how often each network turns notifications on or off, keeping only a scrambled one-way code made from the network's internet (IP) address, deleted within a day.
Turning notifications off deletes your push token, choices and place from our database. Push tokens that stop working are deleted automatically. Pin Drop reminders are scheduled on your phone itself and send nothing to us.
Pin Drop
To score each day's puzzle and show how you rank ("You beat 64% of today's players"), your device makes a random player code and sends it with your guesses. A guess is a point on the map for that question, not your location. We store the code with that day's scores and which questions you asked a hint for, and delete it after 90 days. There are no names, accounts or locations. Your streak, XP, level and badges are kept only on your device. As with notifications, a scrambled one-way code made from your network's IP address is used briefly to stop abuse. When you share a score, your device's own share sheet sends it.
Maps and data sources
Hazard information comes from public government and research sources, including USGS, NOAA and the National Weather Service, NIFC, CAL FIRE and Cal OES, EPA AirNow, NASA, GDACS and FEMA. Most of it reaches the app through our own data service (hosted by Vercel), so those sources don't see you; the exceptions are the place lookups and searches described above. Map images load directly from NASA, OpenFreeMap, NOAA and, in the phone apps, Mapbox; like any website, they receive your device's IP address when they send map images. We've turned off Mapbox's usage statistics. The phone apps check Expo's update service for app updates, which sees basic app and device details such as the app version and platform. We don't use cookies, analytics or advertising.
Links to other sites
Some screens link to official sites, news searches and sign-up pages. Those sites have their own privacy policies.
Sharing "I'm safe" and your family plan
When you share an "I'm safe" message or your family plan, your device's own share sheet sends it. We never see the message or who you send it to.
Children
The app doesn't ask for names, email addresses, phone numbers or any other contact details, so it's suitable for all ages. Schools using the app should follow their own policies for student devices.
Not an official warning system
Earth Right Now helps you notice and learn about natural hazards. It isn't an official warning service and alerts can be delayed or missed. Always follow official alerts and instructions from local authorities. For earthquake early warning in California, use the MyShake app; to sign up for your county's alerts, visit CalAlerts.org.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update it here and change the date at the top.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your data: email hotnspicy.pro@gmail.com.