Privacy policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

The data controller is Romain Pamart EI (Pam's Factory), email: pams.factory@gmail.com.

We have not appointed a data protection officer. For any question about your data or to exercise your rights, write to pams.factory@gmail.com.

2. What data we process, why, and on which legal basis

We do not collect your name, your email address (except if you write to us), your contacts, your photos or your payment details, and we never keep a history of your positions.

3. Your position, the sensors and the camera

Astronomer asks for the permission to use your position “while using the app” only. The positions of the stars, the planets, the Sun and the Moon, the times of the day and the night and the reminders of the events are computed on your phone with it. You can refuse it and choose an observing site instead.

When the app needs data our server holds, it sends a rounded position: 0.1° (about 10 km) for a weather forecast or a solar eclipse, 1° (about 100 km) for the aurora. Our server uses it to answer, then forgets it: it is not stored, and it is removed from the technical logs of the requests. For a forecast, our server asks MET Norway for the forecast of that rounded area: MET Norway never receives your address nor your IP address.

The gyroscope, the accelerometer and the compass orient the sky map and the finder; their readings stay on the phone. The camera of the finder (Astronomer Plus) shows the landscape behind the Sun’s and the Moon’s paths: its image is neither recorded nor sent.

Your observing sites, your equipment, your settings and the reminders of the events are kept on your phone only. The addresses you type are turned into coordinates by the geocoding service of your phone (Google on Android, Apple on iPhone); the map of the sites is drawn by Google Maps.

4. Aurora alerts

An aurora alert (Astronomer Plus) is checked by our server when you are not using the app: it keeps its site, rounded to 1° (about 100 km), with the chance at which it speaks and its name, until you delete the alert or your data. An alert is paused while the account has no Astronomer Plus.

5. Purchases

Astronomer Plus is bought through Google Play or the App Store, which process the payment as independent controllers under their own privacy policies. They send us a proof of purchase, which our server checks with them before unlocking Astronomer Plus for your install. We keep a record of each purchase for 10 years, as required by French accounting law (Commercial Code, art. L123-22); when you delete your data, this record is kept without any link to you, and it can still be restored with the same store account.

6. Notifications

The reminders of the sky events are prepared by the app and shown by your phone at the right time: they need no server. To tell you about an aurora, a reply of the team or a news item, our server sends push notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging and, on iPhone, the Apple Push Notification service. You can turn each kind off in Settings › Notifications or in the settings of your phone.

7. Statistics and crash reports

Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase) are only collected if you turn them on, in Settings › Usage statistics: they are off until then, and you can turn them off at any time. They are pseudonymous (tied to an identifier of the app installation) and never contain your position or your sites. We use them in aggregate form only (for example: how many sky maps were opened this week).

Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics) contain technical information about the crash and the device. They are kept 90 days.

8. Advertising in the free version

The free version shows ads served by Google AdMob; Astronomer Plus shows none, and Observation mode never does. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a consent form (Google User Messaging Platform, IAB TCF framework) asks you at first use whether ads may be personalised and whether information may be stored on or read from your device. Without consent, only non-personalised or limited ads are shown. On iPhone, the app also asks for your permission before accessing the advertising identifier (App Tracking Transparency). Astronomer never gives your position to the advertising network.

In the US states whose privacy laws give you that right (such as California), you can also refuse that your data be sold or shared for targeted advertising, in Settings › Ad choices.

You can change your choice at any time in Settings › Ad choices, and reset or delete the advertising identifier in the settings of your device. How Google uses data for advertising: policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

9. This website

This website uses no cookies, no analytics and no advertising. It remembers the language you choose in your browser (local storage), without sending it to us. The “What’s new” page asks our server for the list of the versions. Our hosting provider keeps technical logs (IP address, browser, pages requested) for security, for 30 days.

10. Who receives your data

Your data is only accessible to Pam's Factory and to the following recipients, within the limits of their task:

• Google (Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC), as processor: Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, Firebase Hosting, Firebase Cloud Messaging, Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Crashlytics, under the Google Cloud and Firebase data processing terms.
• Google AdMob for the ads of the free version, as independent controller for personalised advertising, under Google’s privacy policy.
• Google and Apple, as independent controllers, for the map of the sites, the geocoding of the addresses you type and, for Apple, the notifications of iPhones.
• Google Play and Apple (App Store) for purchases and payments, as independent controllers.
• MET Norway (Norwegian Meteorological Institute) receives from our server the rounded area of a forecast, never anything that identifies you.

We never sell or rent your data. We may disclose it to the authorities when the law requires it.

11. Transfers outside the European Union

Our server and our database are hosted in the European Union (Google Cloud, Belgium). Google may process some data in other countries for its services (authentication, notifications, statistics, crash reports, ads), in particular in the United States. These transfers are covered by the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission (Decision 2021/914) included in Google’s data processing terms, and by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, under which Google LLC is certified. You can ask us for a copy of these safeguards.

12. How long we keep your data

13. Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest. The app reaches our database only through our server, which checks who is asking; purchase tokens are only stored as fingerprints. Access to our administration tools is limited to Pam's Factory and logged.

14. Your rights

You have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict its processing, to receive it in a portable format, to object to processing based on our legitimate interest, and to withdraw your consent at any time (without affecting the processing carried out before). Under French law, you can also give instructions about what happens to your data after your death.

Many of these rights can be exercised directly in the app: turn statistics off, change your ad choices, turn notifications off, delete an alert, or delete all your data. For anything else, for example to receive a copy of your data, write to pams.factory@gmail.com with your Install ID (tap it at the bottom of the Settings of the app to copy it). We answer within one month.

If you think your rights are not respected, you can lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority, the CNIL (3 place de Fontenoy, TSA 80715, 75334 Paris Cedex 07, France, www.cnil.fr), or with the authority of your country of residence.

15. Deleting your data

You can delete your data at any time in the app (Settings › Delete my data), or by email as explained on this page. Your anonymous account, your alerts, your messages and your notification tokens are deleted immediately from our server, and your sites, equipment and settings from your phone. Purchase records are kept without any link to you, as explained above.

16. Minimum age

Astronomer is intended for a general audience aged 15 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 15; if you think a child has sent us data, write to us and we will delete it.

17. Changes

We may update this policy, for example when a feature changes. The date at the top shows the latest version; we will tell you in the app before any important change takes effect.

18. Contact

Romain Pamart EI (Pam's Factory), pams.factory@gmail.com.