Privacy Policy
Effective: October 12, 2026Liminal Cosmos is made by Different Productions, LLC ("we", "us"). This page says what the app collects, why, who gets it, how long we keep it, and how you delete it or turn it off.
The short version
- You can use the app, get alerts and buy Pro without signing in.
- A phone that is not signed in gets a device account when you turn on alerts, or buy or restore Pro. It has no name and no email.
- We do not sell your data. There are no ads. We do not follow you across other companies' apps or websites.
- Your location is rounded to about 1 km (0.6 miles) before it is sent to our server.
- What you ask the assistant stays on your iPhone.
- Apple handles every payment. We never see your card.
- You can delete your account in the app. It happens right away.
What we collect, and why
| What | When | Why | Tied to your account? | How long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email address. The one Apple gives us. If you chose Hide My Email, it is Apple's private relay address. We do not ask for your name. | When you sign in with Apple | So your account has a contact address. We have never sent an email to it. | Yes | Until you delete your account |
| Account ID. A scrambled, one-way version of the ID Apple gives us for you. Also a key from Apple that lets us end the Sign in with Apple link when you delete your account. | When you sign in with Apple | To know it is you on each of your devices | Yes | Until you delete your account. A sign-in lasts up to 90 days. |
| Device account. An account for one phone that is not signed in. It has no name and no email. It is made from a key that Apple's App Attest service gives the app. | The first time a phone that is not signed in turns on alerts, or buys or restores Pro | So alerts and Pro work without signing in | It is the account, for that phone only | Until you sign in with Apple. Your alerts and your Pro then move to your account and the device account is deleted. |
| Rough location. Rounded to about 1 km. | When you allow location and the app works out an answer for your place | To tell you if the aurora is in reach, how dark it is and how cloudy it is where you are | No. It is sent with nothing about you. | The cloud answer for that spot is kept about 1 hour. One record per night for that spot is kept for good, with nothing about you, so we can check our forecasts. |
| Rough location, with your alert settings. Also your time zone, miles or kilometers, which alerts you turned on, and when we last sent each one. | When you turn on alerts for your place, signed in or not | To send alerts for where you are, at the right time of evening | Yes: to your account if you are signed in, otherwise to the phone's device account | Until you sign out on that phone, delete your account, or Apple tells us your phone no longer accepts our notifications. If you are not signed in and then sign in with Apple, it moves to your account. |
| Your phone's notification address. The address Apple gives this app on this phone so notifications can reach it. | When you allow notifications and turn on alerts, signed in or not | To deliver alerts | Yes: to your account if you are signed in, otherwise to the phone's device account | The same |
| Sighting reports. Your answer (I see it; Clear sky, no aurora; Too cloudy to tell), the time, and a rough place (about 1 km). Your answer to the morning question "Did you see the aurora last night?" | When you report | To show people what others see, and to check our forecasts against what people really saw | Yes, until you delete your account | For good. When you delete your account, the link to you is removed and the report stays. |
| Photos you add to a sighting. The place and camera details stored inside the picture file are removed, on your phone and again on our server. | When you add one | To show other people what you saw | Yes | Until you delete your account or we remove it |
| Reports and blocks you make. Which photo you reported and why; which person you blocked; photos you marked as helpful. | When you do it | To hide the photo or person from you, and so we can review it | Yes | Until you delete your account |
| Alerts you have read. | When you are signed in and open an alert | So an alert you read on one device shows as read on the others | Yes | Until you delete your account |
| Your Pro subscription. Apple's ID for the subscription, which plan, whether it is a trial, when it started, when it ends, whether it will renew, and Apple's latest notice about it. For each account that bought or restored it, the fact that the account holds it. Not your card, not the price, not your country. | When you buy or restore Pro | So our server knows which accounts have Pro. Pro on your other devices comes from your Apple Account: tap Restore Purchases there. | Yes: to your account if you are signed in, otherwise to the phone's device account | For good. When you delete your account, the link to you is removed and the record stays, because Apple keeps billing until you cancel. |
| How the app is used. Which screens and features are opened, and with each: whether you are signed in, Free or Pro, whether location is allowed, one of four broad bands of latitude (never your position), the readings shown on the Tonight card, and the direction your phone points when you open the compass. Your answers to the welcome questions (what interests you, how far you would drive). A random ID the app makes for this install, the device's model, iOS version, language and app version. | While you use the app with Share Usage Data on | To see what works, what breaks and what to build next | Yes, when you are signed in. Otherwise tied to that random ID only. | Until you delete your account or ask us to delete it. Amplitude carries out a deletion within 30 days. |
| Server logs. A record of each request, which can include your account ID or the device account's ID. | Whenever the app talks to our server | To find and fix faults | Yes, where the ID appears | 14 days |
What we do not collect
- Your name, contacts, or anything from your photo library other than a photo you choose to post
- Your card or bank details
- An advertising ID
- What you type to the assistant, or what it answers
- What you type into the search in Help
- Your location while the app is closed
Your location, step by step
- The app asks for your location only while you are using it, and only to the nearest kilometer or so.
- Before it leaves your phone it is rounded to about 1 km. Our server rounds it again as it arrives.
- Our server sends that rounded spot to Apple Weather to get the cloud. Apple sees our server, not your phone.
- When you search for a place, or when Pro looks for parks and beaches near you, your phone asks Apple Maps directly. Apple's privacy policy covers that.
- Our analytics never gets your position, only one of four broad bands of latitude.
- Places you save or recently looked up in the Trip planner stay on your phone.
- The widgets do not use your location.
- Without location the app still works: search for a place by name.
Sightings and photos: who sees what
- Anyone using the app, signed in or not, can see reports from the last 10 hours: the answer, a place rounded to about 1 km, the time, how many people agree, and the photo.
- Nobody sees your name, your email or your account ID.
- Before a photo is uploaded, your iPhone checks it with Apple's on-device check for nudity. The check runs on your phone.
- Any photo can be reported. A photo two people have reported is hidden from everyone and moved to a private store until we have looked at it.
- Our staff can see a reported photo, the reports about it, and the account that posted it, including its email address.
The assistant
- The assistant runs on your iPhone with Apple Intelligence. Your questions and its answers are not sent to us, to Apple, or to any other company.
- We count that a question was asked and whether an answer came back. We never see the words.
- If you are signed in, your chats are saved on your iPhone only. Delete one by swiping it in Saved Chats. Deleting your account deletes the ones saved on that iPhone. Deleting the app deletes them all.
- If you ask about nights for a place you saved, the app asks our server for that place's nights, the same way the Trip planner does.
Who gets your data
| Who | What they get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Sign in with Apple; the key behind a device account (App Attest); notification delivery; payments; the rounded spot for cloud (Apple Weather); place searches and nearby places (Apple Maps) | To run those services |
| Amazon Web Services, in the United States | Everything our server stores, listed above | It hosts our server and our pictures |
| Amplitude, in the United States | The "how the app is used" row above. We have turned off Amplitude's collection of IP address, city, region, country and carrier. Nothing while Share Usage Data is off. | Analytics, and choosing which version of the Pro screen you see |
| Other people using the app | Your sighting reports and photos, with no name | That is what a sighting is for |
| NOAA | Time-lapse pictures are loaded straight from NOAA's public website, so NOAA sees your phone's internet address, as any website does. | To show the pictures |
| NASA, GFZ Potsdam, USGS | Nothing. Our server fetches their public data. | |
| Cloudflare | It hosts this website. The app does not use it. |
We use only providers that commit to protecting your data at least as well as this policy does. We also share data when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety or our rights.
Deleting your account
In the app: Settings, Account, Delete Account. It happens right away. You can also write to us and we will do it for you. A device account is deleted when you sign in with Apple, after its alerts and Pro have moved to your account. If you never sign in, write to us and we will delete it.
| Deleted | Kept, with the link to you removed | Not removed by Delete Account |
|---|---|---|
| Your account and email address. Your devices, their rough location and alert settings. Your sign-in sessions. The alerts you have read. Your photos. Your reports and blocks. Your Sign in with Apple link to the app. Your analytics record: we ask Amplitude to delete it, and Amplitude does so within 30 days. Chats saved on that iPhone. | Your sighting reports (answer, rough place, time). Your Pro subscription record. Counts you added to other people's photos. If someone blocked you, their block keeps your scrambled account ID. | Your Pro subscription itself: cancel it with Apple, or Apple keeps charging. Saved places on your iPhone, and chats saved on another device: delete the app there to remove them. |
Turning things off
- Location. iPhone Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Liminal Cosmos.
- Notifications. Each alert has its own switch in the app's Settings, Notifications. Or turn them all off in iPhone Settings, Notifications. Signing out on a phone also stops that phone's alerts. You can turn them on again in Settings, Notifications without signing in.
- Sightings. Do not post them. Nothing is posted for you.
- Analytics. In the app's Settings, Privacy, turn off Share Usage Data. From then on no usage data leaves your iPhone. To delete what was sent before, delete your account or write to us.
Where your data is kept
On servers in the United States. If you live elsewhere, your data is sent there.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Write to support@liminalcosmos.app. We answer within 30 days. If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you can also complain to your data protection authority.
Children
The app is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us personal data, write to us and we will delete it.
Security
The app talks to our server over an encrypted connection. Your sign-in, or the device account's, is kept in your iPhone's Keychain. No system is perfectly safe, and we will tell you if a breach affects you.
Changes
When we change this policy we update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use data we already hold, we tell you in the app first.
Contact
Different Productions, LLC. support@liminalcosmos.app