Privacy Policy

Information on your device

SideLight stores your planning pin, selected date and time, and preferences in your device's local settings. The app does not require an account, and it does not upload your photographs, run an app-operated analytics service, or use your information for advertising tracking.

Your device backups may contain these local settings. You can remove the saved pin with Settings → Clear Planning Location. Deleting SideLight removes its local app data, subject to any device backups.

Location access is optional. SideLight asks for your device's location only when you select My Location. It does not request background location access. You can search for a place or put a pin on the map instead. A chosen planning location does not have to be where you are physically located.

Sun, Moon, eclipse, and Milky Way calculations run on your device. These calculations do not require sending your planning pin to an astronomy server.

Services SideLight uses

Some features need internet access and share only the information needed for the service to respond.

• Apple: Place searches, suggestions and reverse geocoding send your search text or coordinates to Apple to provide place names and time zones. The Light Pollution basemap requests Apple map data for the area you view. Apple privacy policy.
• Mapbox: Map requests share the viewed map area and ordinary network information with Mapbox. Its SDK can collect de-identified location, usage, and device-related information under its own policy. Use the map information control to review Mapbox attribution and telemetry settings. Mapbox may retain map data in its own device cache. Mapbox privacy policy.
• Offline light overlay: Choosing Download Overlay Data requests the same global VIIRS dataset from GitHub for every user. It sends network metadata such as IP address, but not your pin, search text or planning date. The approximately 20 MB download stays on your device, excluded from backups, until deleted in Settings. Overlay rendering works offline; basemap detail and search still require a connection. GitHub privacy statement.
• Open-Meteo: Opening Overview or Photo Weather sends your selected planning coordinates and time zone to obtain a forecast. SideLight keeps forecast results in memory during the app session and refreshes them after 30 minutes when you reopen the forecast or return to the app. Open-Meteo terms and privacy information.
• NASA/JPL: SideLight requests comet listings from the Small-Body Database (SBDB). Opening comet details sends the comet identifier, chosen planning coordinates, and selected date and time to JPL Horizons to calculate its position. Results are cached in memory. JPL privacy policy.

These providers receive normal network details, including IP addresses. Their own policies govern how they handle and retain that information. SideLight does not operate a server receiving your planning data. Weather and JPL requests do not use persistent HTTP cookies or an on-disk HTTP cache; Mapbox maintains its own separate storage.

Support and sharing

If you create a support report, it may contain the app version, iOS version, and basic configuration status. Planning coordinates are not included automatically. You decide what to disclose in any email, screenshot, or description you send.

Support correspondence is used to respond to and resolve your request, and is retained as needed for that purpose. You can ask us to delete correspondence we control by emailing aashutoshvyas2010@gmail.com. Email providers and any other destinations you choose to share with handle information under their own policies.

Your choices

• Change location permission at any time in iOS Settings.
• Remove the saved planning pin in SideLight's Settings.
• Review Mapbox's telemetry option through the map information control.
• Avoid weather and comet network requests by not opening those features.
• Uninstall the app to remove local data, subject to device backup settings.

SideLight does not use your data for cross-app advertising tracking.

This website

The Sidelight website is hosted on Netlify, which may process ordinary request information such as IP address and browser details to deliver the pages and protect the service. This website does not require a login, run its own visitor analytics, or use a support contact form. If you email us, your email provider and ours process that correspondence.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page and its effective date if SideLight's data practices change. The privacy information shown in the app and in the App Store will be kept consistent with this policy.

For questions about privacy or your information, email aashutoshvyas2010@gmail.com.

Support website: Sidelight support