Aether26 Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

Aether26 is an independent weather and environmental application. This policy describes the data the app and its public website process, how those data are used, when external providers are involved, and the controls available to users. You do not need to create an account or provide a name, email address, or phone number to use the general features. Aether26 does not sell personal data.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Depending on the features you use, Aether26 may process these categories:

• Approximate or precise location, only with the applicable permission or when you manually choose a location.
• App-generated identifiers, notification tokens, and alert preferences when you enable notifications.
• Product, purchase, and entitlement information needed to validate and maintain Aether26 Pro.
• Local preferences and caches, such as language, units, theme, followed zones or sensors, and legal-document acceptance.
• Limited technical request, error, and operational data for security, abuse prevention, and reliability.
• In the ad-supported free version, information automatically processed by Google Mobile Ads as described under Advertising.

Aether26 does not request a name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, messages, personal files, or health data for its general features.

LOCATION

With your permission, Aether26 may obtain approximate or precise location while you use the app to show local conditions, center maps and radar, find nearby alerts, and configure geolocated notifications. You can also search for and select a location manually.

When you enable geolocated notifications, coordinates or the selected location may be stored with the subscription to decide which alerts to send. The audited code does not request background-location permission, keep a travel history, or perform continuous tracking. You may deny location permission and use manual search, although some local features will be less automatic.

NOTIFICATIONS

Notifications are optional. If enabled, Aether26 may store an FCM, APNs, or Web Push token; a random identifier generated by the app; platform, language, and time zone; location or geofence; and the alert categories, thresholds, rivers, reservoirs, or cyclones you choose to follow. Those data let the service target, deduplicate, and rate-limit alerts.

To verify delivery and improve reliability, the service may record operational received or opened events with the alert type, event and device or subscription identifiers, platform, and timestamp. You can disable notification permission in your system settings. To also delete the server-side subscription and preferences, use Unsubscribe in the Notifications panel or request deletion under section 13.

DEVICE INFORMATION

The app may process a random identifier created by Aether26, platform, app version, language, time zone, and permission or feature state. Firebase App Check processes attestation material and tokens to confirm that requests come from a legitimate app instance. Infrastructure may log normal technical metadata such as IP address, user agent, requested route, time, response status, and errors. Aether26 does not read contacts, photo inventories, messages, or personal files.

WEATHER DATA AND PERSONALIZATION

To provide weather, radar, alerts, river, reservoir, air, earthquake, astronomy, and tropical features, Aether26 processes location searches, coordinates required for a query, units, and selected features. The device stores preferences and caches to speed up the experience. If you enable notifications, certain preferences — such as location, geofence, thresholds, and followed items — are also stored on the server so alerts can be sent while the app is closed.

Requests may pass through the Aether26 backend or go directly to a data source or map provider, which will receive the normal technical data of that request. The text of some official alerts may be sent to Google Gemini to produce an automatic translation; a personal user profile is not sent for that purpose. Translations are informational and the original official text controls.

GOOGLE PLAY BILLING AND AETHER26 PRO

On Android, Google Play processes the payment and related financial information. Aether26 neither receives nor stores your card number. To validate, restore, and maintain Pro, the app sends the product, plan, purchase token, and an obfuscated app account or device identifier to the backend. The backend queries Google Play and keeps license information needed for access, such as product, plan, order or transaction identifier, status, expiry, and a cryptographic fingerprint of the token. Google Play real-time notifications may update access when a subscription renews, cancels, pauses, expires, or recovers.

Purchases, cancellations, and refunds are managed in Google Play under its policies. Cancelling prevents future renewals but is not, by itself, a request to delete Aether26's technical validation records.

ADVERTISING

The free version may show ads through Google AdMob/Google Mobile Ads. According to the SDK's official disclosure, Google Mobile Ads automatically collects or shares IP address — which may be used to estimate general location — ad or app interactions, diagnostic information, and device or account identifiers such as the advertising ID and App Set ID. Google uses those data for advertising, measurement or analytics, and fraud prevention according to its configuration and policies. See https://developers.google.com/admob/android/privacy/play-data-disclosure and https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Aether26 Pro removes ads where offered. The availability of personalized or non-personalized ads depends on Google configuration, device choices, and, where applicable, consent managed for the user's region.

EXTERNAL SERVICES AND PROVIDERS

Aether26 uses providers that process data to operate the service or act as information sources. Providers found in the audited code include:

• Google Cloud Run and Firestore for backend and operational storage; Firebase Cloud Messaging for notifications; Firebase App Check for app integrity; Google Weather and map/geocoding services; Google Gemini for alert translation; Google AdMob; and Google Play Billing, Developer API, and RTDN for Pro.
• On Apple platforms, StoreKit/App Store and Apple Push Notification service when those features are available.
• NOAA, NWS, NHC, NESDIS/STAR, nowCOAST, NDBC, NWPS, and NDFD; USGS; NASA; AirNow/EPA; U.S. Drought Monitor; Iowa Environmental Mesonet; JMA; GDACS; Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority; Puerto Rico Seismic Network; OpenStreetMap/Nominatim; CARTO; Esri; and WhereTheISS.

Each provider processes the data it receives under its own terms and policies. Aether26 limits requests to what the selected feature needs and does not provide purchase or notification tokens to weather sources unless an integration expressly requires it; the audited code does not do so.

ANALYTICS

Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, Sentry, Mixpanel, Amplitude, and other general analytics or crash-reporting SDKs were not found in the audited code version. The service does keep operational backend logs and limited notification received or opened events to identify errors, abuse, duplicates, and delivery problems. Google AdMob performs its own measurement, analytics, and diagnostics as described in section 8.

DATA SECURITY

Aether26 uses HTTPS/TLS in production, backend access controls, Firebase App Check, device secrets, server-side purchase validation, cryptographic fingerprints, and rate-limiting and deduplication measures. Provider credentials and secrets remain on the server and must not appear on this page. No transmission or storage method is completely infallible.

DATA RETENTION

The notification subscription, token, and preferences are kept while needed to send the requested alerts or until you use the unsubscribe function. Local preferences and caches remain on the device until cleared, app data are reset, or the app is uninstalled. Pro records are retained as needed to validate access, restore purchases, prevent fraud, and meet store or legal obligations. Operational logs are retained only as reasonably necessary for security, reliability, and incident response. Aether26 does not apply one fixed period to every category.

DATA DELETION

You can use Unsubscribe in the Notifications panel to delete the applicable subscription, token, preferences, and associated geofence from the backend and Firestore. You can clear local preferences and caches through the app or system settings, or by uninstalling the app. Google Play subscriptions are cancelled through Google Play.

To request additional access, correction, or deletion, email aether26app@gmail.com. Because Aether26 does not require a personal account, you may need to provide the app-generated identifier or complete reasonable verification so the correct record can be located; do not send credentials, passwords, or card information.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

Aether26 is not directed to children under 13 and does not seek to knowingly collect their personal data. A parent or guardian who believes a child provided data may request deletion through the contact in section 16.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this policy when the app, its providers, or legal requirements change. We will publish the current version at this URL and clearly show the last-updated date. Material changes may also be communicated within the app.

CONTACT

Privacy questions or requests: aether26app@gmail.com