Privacy Policy

The short version

• You can browse launches, rockets, and pads without an account at all.
• Anything you post — a comment, a video — is public on purpose. Everything else is not.
• One frame — and the location you are shooting from — leaves your device only when you personally tap Analyze Scene.
• We do not sell your data, and we do not use it to train AI models.
• We run no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.
• You can delete your account and everything attached to it.

What we collect

Account information. If you sign in, we store a user record: an email address, a display name if you give one, and the identifier Apple or Google gives us for you. If you use Apple's Hide My Email, we only hold the relay address. Signing in with Apple or Google means we never receive a password.

Session tokens. We store hashed refresh tokens so you stay signed in. They are scoped per app, so a SpaceLaunches session cannot be used against our other apps. They are hashes — we cannot read them back into a usable token.

Purchase records. When you buy something, Apple gives us a signed receipt. We store the Apple transaction identifier, the product identifier, the environment (sandbox or production), the purchase and expiry dates, and the amount and currency Apple reports. We never receive your card number, and Apple does not give us your billing address.

Comments you post. The text, which launch, rocket, pad or video you posted it on, when you posted it, and your display name. Comments are public — that is what posting one means. We also store reports and moderation decisions about a comment, including ones about your comment made by other people.

Videos you upload. If you submit a video, we store the file, the launch or entity you attached it to, the title and description you gave it, and its moderation state. Approved videos are public and are published into a public Apple CloudKit database so the app can show them without depending on our API. Rejected and pending videos are visible only to you and to us.

Launch notifications. If you enable them, we store your device push token and which launches, agencies or programs you asked to be told about. That is a device identifier issued by Apple for notifications; it is not an advertising identifier and we cannot use it as one.

AI usage counters. To meter the AI features we store how many requests you have used in the current period, plus an audit row per request recording the feature, the model, token counts, latency, and whether it succeeded. We keep a history of closed monthly periods so we can answer "why did my credits reset" without guessing.

Purchased credit ledger. For consumable packs we store what was granted, what has been spent, and the Apple transaction that granted it.

Chat transcripts. Questions you ask the mission assistant and the answers it gives are stored against your account so the conversation survives closing the app. You can delete a conversation.

AI Scene Analysis results. When you use Analyze Scene we store the analysis: the camera settings you had, the settings we suggested, the reasoning, confidence, tips, the device model and its capability limits, the location you were observing from, and any rating you give the result. See the AI Use document for the frame itself, which is handled differently.

Your location, when you use Analyze Scene. To suggest exposure for the sky in front of you, Analyze Scene sends the latitude and longitude you are observing from along with the frame, so the server can work out where the Sun and Moon are and how dark it is. This happens only when you tap Analyze Scene, and only if you have granted location access. It is not continuous, there is no background location, and it is never used to advertise to you. Everywhere else the app needs your position — pointing you at a launch pad, the Sun, the Moon or the ISS — the calculation happens on your device and nothing leaves it.

Consent records. When you accept Terms, this policy, or the AI Use document, we store which version you accepted and when. These records are append-only — that is the point of them.

Diagnostics. Crash and performance diagnostics come to us through Apple, in aggregate, and only if you have enabled sharing in your iOS settings. We cannot tie them to you.

What we do NOT collect

• Your photo library. Videos and frames come to us only from the ones you pick and submit.
• Your location in the background, or continuously. We ask for location only While Using the app, we read it only when a feature in front of you needs it, and the one time it leaves your device is with an Analyze Scene request you tapped — see "Your location, when you use Analyze Scene" above. We never use it to advertise to you and we do not track where you go.
• Your contacts, calendar, health data, or device identifiers for advertising.
• Any behavioural profile. We do not track you across apps or websites, and there is no advertising SDK or third-party analytics SDK in the app.

What you post is public

This is the part most people are asking about, so it is spelled out.

Comments and approved videos are published to everyone using the app, under the display name on your account. Treat them as public writing. Deleting a comment removes it from the app; we keep the moderation record of it, because an append-only record of what was reported and what we decided is the only thing that makes moderation reviewable.

Every uploaded video is reviewed before anyone else can see it. We check it against our content rules, and we may reject it without publishing it. That review is done by us, not by an automated system acting alone.

Launch data itself

Launch, rocket, spacecraft, agency and pad information comes from public spaceflight data sources and is the same for everyone. Browsing it involves no personal data, and you do not need an account to do it.

Cloud Sync

If you enable Cloud Sync, your preferences and app settings are stored in your iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit, in a private database only you can read. We cannot see the contents of your private CloudKit database. Deleting the app or signing out of iCloud removes our access entirely.

We also publish into a *public* CloudKit database: these legal documents, the subscription product catalogue, launch reference data, and community videos that have been approved. Other than approved videos and the display name attached to them, none of that contains personal data.

Who else sees your data

We share data with a small number of processors, each for exactly one purpose:

• Apple — purchase and subscription events, push notification delivery, and your own CloudKit data. For in-app purchases, Sign in with Apple, notifications, and iCloud sync.
• Google — the identity token you present, and only if you choose to sign in with Google.
• Our AI provider — your question and the mission context for a chat answer, or one frame plus camera metadata and the latitude and longitude you are observing from for an analysis you personally request. See the AI Use document.
• Our speech provider — the text of an answer, when you ask to hear it read aloud. The audio is streamed to you and is not stored.
• Amazon Web Services — everything we store, at rest. Hosting, database and uploaded video, in a US region.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. There is no fourth column here labelled "advertising partners".

We will disclose data if we are legally compelled to, and we will tell you unless we are prohibited from doing so.

Where your data lives

Our servers and database run in the United States on Amazon Web Services. If you use SpaceLaunches from outside the US, your data is transferred there. For transfers out of the UK, EU or Switzerland we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep things

• Account record — until you delete your account.
• Session tokens — until they expire or you sign out.
• Purchase records — seven years. We are required to keep financial records.
• Comments — until you delete them, or delete your account.
• Moderation records — three years, as the audit trail of what was reported and decided.
• Uploaded videos — until you delete them, or delete your account. Rejected uploads are deleted within 30 days.
• Push tokens — until you disable notifications, or the token stops working.
• AI usage counters and audit rows — 24 months.
• Quota period history — 24 months.
• Purchased credit ledger — until spent, then seven years as a financial record.
• Scene analyses — until you delete your account.
• Analysed frames — not retained by default. See the AI Use document.
• Chat transcripts — until you delete them, or delete your account.
• Consent records — seven years, as the audit trail of what you agreed to.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy.
• Correct anything wrong.
• Delete your account and its data.
• Stop processing, or restrict it, where the law gives you that right.
• Object to processing based on our legitimate interests.

Email privacy@shutterspeedapps.com. We will respond within 30 days. We will not charge you, and we will not treat you differently for asking.

Deleting your account removes your account record, sessions, comments, uploaded videos, scene analyses, chat transcripts, push subscriptions and usage counters. It does not remove purchase records, consent records, or moderation records, which we are required or obliged to keep — those are retained with your account identifier reduced to a number that no longer resolves to a person.

If you are in the EU or UK you may also complain to your national data protection authority. If you are in California, the rights above are your CCPA rights; we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined there.

Legal bases (EU/UK)

• Contract — running your account, delivering what you paid for, metering it, and publishing what you chose to post.
• Legitimate interests — keeping the service secure, moderating what is posted, and preventing abuse.
• Consent — sending a frame for AI analysis, and sending you notifications. You give each per use or per setting, and you can simply not use the feature.
• Legal obligation — financial records and consent records.

Children

SpaceLaunches is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email us and we will delete it.

Changes

We will publish a new version of this document when it changes and the app will ask you to accept it. We keep a record of which version you accepted.