Privacy Policy
Summary
Space Station Passes predicts when the International Space Station, Tiangong and other satellites will be visible from where you are. To do that it needs a location. No sign-in is required. There is no advertising and no sale of data.
What we collect
Location. The coordinates you choose in the app, either your device's current location or a place you search for. See the Location section.
Push notification token. Delivery identifiers used by Apple and Firebase to send the reminders or Live Activity updates you request.
Device settings. Time zone offset, language and region, app version and whether the build is a release or debug build. These make reminders arrive at the right local time in the right language.
Weather requests. Rounded coordinates and an anonymous Firebase session identifier used to obtain weather and limit requests. This weather session does not require your name or email address.
Usage analytics. Which screens are opened, how long forecasts take to load, and whether reminders were enabled. See the Analytics section.
Optional brightness reports. The satellite identifier, estimated magnitude, observation time, an app installation identifier and the Firebase push token, when you choose to submit a report.
What we do not collect. Your name, email address, contacts, photos, search text, the exact satellites you browse, or any advertising identifier.
Location
Pass predictions are computed on your device from your chosen location and public orbital data. Your chosen location is stored locally.
Starting with version 2.1, the home screen requests weather using coordinates rounded to roughly kilometre precision. Our Firebase weather server requests forecasts for a nearby area from Apple WeatherKit and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Nearby requests share area-based caches; Apple weather is reused for up to 15 minutes while fresh. Weather lookup uses a separate anonymous Firebase session and does not send your push token or name to the weather providers. Weather requests are separate from usage analytics and can occur without enabling reminders. Standard server access logs may include the requested coordinates and IP address.
When you tap Remind me and allow notifications, the app registers your device with our server so it can predict passes ahead of time and send push reminders. That registration includes your latitude, longitude and altitude, plus a five-character geohash (an area of roughly 5 km by 5 km) used to group nearby devices. Each time you open the app or change location, the registration is updated.
You can turn off station reminders by disabling notifications in iOS Settings. Weather lookup follows the location selected in the app. Registrations that have not been active for 30 days no longer receive automatic reminders.
Reminders and push notifications
Reminders come in two forms. Local alarms for a specific pass are scheduled by iOS on your device and involve no server. Station reminders for the ISS and Tiangong are sent by our server about five minutes before a visible pass, with an additional afternoon reminder for qualifying prominent passes. They include viewing details and brief weather guidance. Automatic alerts may be skipped when fresh forecasts indicate rain is highly likely throughout the visible pass. We never send advertising or promotions.
Live Activities. When you follow a pass with the eye button, the app sends a per-activity delivery token, a Firebase delivery token, the pass schedule and its sunlight/shadow intervals to our server. This lets the Live Activity update while the app is in the background. This registration contains no coordinates or satellite name. Firebase App Check verifies that registration requests come from the app. Delivery tokens are removed when the activity ends or its cancellation reaches the server; expiring records are also automatically cleaned up. A cancellation receipt may remain for up to two days, plus the database cleanup delay.
Brightness reports
When you tap Report in the brightness dialog, we store your selected satellite, estimated magnitude and observation time. Reports include an app installation identifier and the current Firebase push token so we can associate observations with the reporting installation and limit abuse. Reporting is optional and does not include your coordinates. Firebase App Check verifies the request. Reports are stored on our server and are not publicly accessible. They are retained until deleted; contact us with the satellite and approximate observation time to request deletion.
Analytics
We use Firebase Analytics to understand which parts of the app are used and how quickly they load. Events carry fixed labels, counts and timings only. They never include coordinates, place names, search text, satellite names, notification identifiers or error text. Firebase attaches its standard device and session metadata, such as device model, OS version and country derived from IP address.
Analytics are sent from release builds only. Tests, previews and simulators are excluded.
This website
The next-pass preview on the home page runs entirely in your browser. If you tap Use my location, the browser asks for permission and the coordinates stay on your device; they are used only to compute the preview and are remembered in your browser's local storage until you pick a city instead. The site fetches public orbital data from our server; that request carries no location. The site sets no analytics or advertising cookies. Firebase Hosting, which serves the site, keeps standard server logs including IP addresses for a limited period.
Third parties
Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Cloud Messaging, Hosting and Analytics) provides anonymous weather sessions, serves forecasts, stores registrations, runs pass predictions, serves this site and delivers reminders. Google processes this data under its Firebase privacy terms.
Apple WeatherKit and Environment and Climate Change Canada supply weather forecasts for the area requested by our weather server. They receive sampled area coordinates rather than your reminder registration or push token.
Apple Push Notification service delivers reminders to your device.
Orbital data is public and comes from CelesTrak. Requests for it carry no personal data.
We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers or anyone else, and we do not sell it.
Retention and deletion
A reminder registration is kept while your device stays active and is eligible for automatic reminders for 30 days after the last app launch. To delete it, disable notifications for the app in iOS Settings or delete the app, then email us with the approximate date you did so and we will remove the record. Analytics data is retained by Firebase for its default period of 14 months.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal data from them.
Changes to this policy
Changes are posted on this page with a new effective date. Material changes will also be noted in the App Store release notes.
Contact
Questions about privacy or a deletion request: lsh32768@gmail.com