Privacy Policy

Data Stella Handles

Stella helps you plan nights under the sky, run observing tools, manage astronomy photos, and sync your account when you choose to sign in. This policy explains what Stella accesses, how it is used, and the choices available to you.

• Account and profile data can include your user ID, email address, display name, avatar, provider sign-in state, subscription state, and sync status when you sign in.
• Location is used for sky positions, compass headings, dark-sky site distances, routing, AstroDrive arrival handoff, and weather forecasts.
• Camera, photos, FITS files, thumbnails, and related metadata are used for AR sky overlay, capture workflows, telescope photo tools, object identification, and selected sync or backup workflows.
• Motion and compass data orient the sky view and guide you to celestial objects.
• Observation logs, saved sites, equipment profiles, trip plans, public readings, and reviews are stored locally or synced when you use account-backed features.
• Apple Health data is optional and used for observing-readiness estimates from the Health data you approve.
• Purchases and subscriptions are processed through Apple and RevenueCat so Stella can unlock paid features and restore access.
• Optional usage analytics are off until you grant consent. On the website, Stella's custom analytics can then send page paths, referrers, display mode, session and acquisition fields, and the interaction labels described by the page. Vercel Web Analytics can separately process limited website traffic and pageview data. You can withdraw consent for future collection at any time.

Third-Party Services

Stella uses service providers to operate the app and website. These include Supabase for authentication, account data, sync, storage, Edge Functions, account deletion, and Stella's consent-gated custom web analytics receiver and storage; Firebase and Google for selected app analytics, crash reporting, and reliability tooling; RevenueCat and Apple for purchases, subscriptions, entitlement state, Sign in with Apple, notifications, and platform services; Vercel for web hosting and, after website analytics consent, Vercel Web Analytics; and weather, map, satellite, astronomy, and AI services when you request related features.

Coordinates may be sent to weather, satellite, astronomy, map, or Stella backend services when you request forecasts, passes, routing, or dark-sky planning. These requests should not include your account email or display name.

After website analytics consent, Stella's analytics endpoint receives the custom event fields listed above. Network requests also carry technical information; Stella's receiver stores hashed request and user-agent fingerprints rather than the raw IP address or raw user-agent string. Vercel Web Analytics is a separate Vercel service and handles its analytics data under Vercel's terms and privacy commitments.

Data We Do Not Sell or Track for Ads

• We do not sell, rent, or share personal data with advertisers.
• We do not use advertising identifiers for cross-app tracking.
• We do not use request hashes for advertising or cross-site tracking.
• We do not send optional usage analytics until you grant consent.

On-Device Processing

Many Stella features run entirely on your device or continue to work with reduced capability when permissions are denied, including planet position calculations, sky projection, star field rendering, Tonight scoring, site ranking, observation journal storage, night vision mode, and AR sky tracking except where you explicitly choose a cloud workflow.

Children

Stella is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 provided personal information to Stella, contact us so we can review and delete it as appropriate.

Data Retention and Deletion

• Local data remains on your device until you delete it, reset app data, or uninstall Stella.
• Cloud-synced account data remains until you delete specific records, delete your account, or make a verified privacy request.
• Deleting your Stella account removes your Stella cloud account and account-bound Stella cloud data that Stella controls. Some purchase, billing, security, or provider logs may be retained by platform providers or as legally required.
• Withdrawing website analytics consent stops future custom Stella analytics and Vercel Web Analytics events from that browser. It also clears Stella's locally stored analytics queue and current acquisition context in that browser.
• Withdrawing consent does not automatically erase analytics events already delivered to Stella or Vercel. Previously received data may remain in Stella's analytics store or Vercel's service under the applicable retention, security, legal, and deletion practices. You can make a verified privacy request, although analytics that was not linked to a signed-in account may not be identifiable as belonging to a particular person.

Your Choices and Rights

• You can revoke location, camera, photo, notification, local-network, Health, and motion permissions in iOS Settings.
• You can turn usage analytics on or off in Stella's Data and Privacy settings for the iOS app. You can use the Website Analytics Preferences control above for this website and browser.
• You can manage public profile, sharing, cloud solving, and account data from Stella's in-app settings where those features are available.
• You can delete your Stella account from the Account screen.
• You can create a signed-in privacy request receipt from Stella's Data and Privacy settings for access, export, correction, deletion help, objection, or restriction. You can also email privacy@stellastargazing.app.

International Transfers

Stella and its processors may process data in the United States, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and other locations where our providers operate. Where required, we use contractual, technical, and organizational safeguards for international transfers.

Changes and Contact

We may update this policy as new features are added. Material changes will be noted in the app's release notes, and the effective date on this page will be updated.

Questions about this privacy policy can be sent to privacy@stellastargazing.app.