The short version
Solar Flare shows live solar activity from NOAA and NASA. It has no accounts and never asks for personal information like your name, email, or contacts. The app collects only anonymous usage analytics and crash reports to help improve it. That's the whole story — the details are below.
1. Information the app collects
Solar Flare does not ask for or store any personally identifiable information. There is no sign-up, no account, and no access to your contacts, photos, files, or location. The app automatically collects a limited amount of anonymous data through two Firebase services:
- Anonymous analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase) — aggregated usage events such as which screens are opened, taps on app controls, session length, app version, device model, operating system version, and country-level region.
- Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics) — if the app crashes, an anonymous report with the technical state of the app and device at that moment, used solely to find and fix bugs.
- Advertising ID — the app declares Android's advertising-ID permission because the Firebase Analytics library includes it. Solar Flare shows no ads and does not use this identifier for advertising, profiling, or tracking you across other apps; where the identifier is available, Google Analytics for Firebase may use it to de-duplicate anonymous usage statistics. You can reset or delete it at any time in Android Settings → Privacy → Ads.
This data helps us understand how the app is used and keep it working. We cannot identify individual users from it.
2. Analytics
We use Google Analytics for Firebase to collect the aggregated, anonymous usage statistics described above. This data is processed by Google acting as our service provider. Details on how Google processes it: Firebase Privacy and Security.
3. Data sharing
We do not sell data and do not share it with any third parties beyond Google's processing of the anonymous analytics described above. We never see or store any of your data on servers of our own — we don't have any servers.
4. Solar data sources
To show live solar activity, the app fetches public scientific data over HTTPS from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (services.swpc.noaa.gov) and the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov). These are standard web requests to public U.S. government data services; the app sends them no personal information. Solar Flare is an independent app; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing NOAA, NASA, or any government entity.
5. Data stored on your device
The app caches recent solar data (flare events, X-ray flux readings) and your preferences (notification threshold, theme) locally on your device only. This local data is deleted when you uninstall the app or clear its storage.
6. Permissions
- Internet — required to fetch NOAA/NASA data and send anonymous analytics.
- Notifications (optional, Android 13+) — used only to alert you about solar flares if you enable alerts. You can decline or revoke this anytime in system settings.
7. Children
Solar Flare is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children. It contains no purchases and no user-generated content.
8. Security
All network traffic — solar data and analytics — is transmitted over HTTPS (encrypted in transit).
9. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address with a new effective date.
10. Contact
Questions about this policy or the app:
dinesh.thiyagarajann@gmail.com