Privacy Policy
Last updated 7 October 2026
The short version. Learn the Stars works without an account and without an internet connection. Everything you do in the app (the tours you finish, your badges, your journals) is stored on your own phone.
We ask for your location so we can work out which stars are above you. We never sell your data and we don't run ads. We count a few anonymous things, like which tour steps get finished, so we can make the tours better. These counts are never linked to you, your account or your location, and you can turn them off in Settings.
If you choose to create an account, we store your email address and a copy of your progress so you can move to a new phone. You can delete that account, permanently, from inside the app at any time.
If you send us feedback, a crash report, or answers to our beta survey, we keep what you send so we can improve the app.
Who we are
Learn the Stars is an app made by Bonneville Learning. If you have a question about this policy or about your data, email [email protected].
What stays on your phone
By default, everything. The app stores your progress, your settings, and your chosen location in your device's own storage. That information is not sent anywhere unless you sign in.
If you delete the app, that information is deleted with it.
What we collect, and why
| Information | Why we need it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate location | To calculate which constellations are visible from where you are, and when they rise and set. This is the core function of the app. | When you allow it, or when you type a location yourself |
| Email address | To create an account and send you a sign-in code. We use no passwords. | Only if you choose to create an account |
| Your progress | So it can follow you to a new phone. This includes completed tours, badges, and your sky journals. | Only if you are signed in |
| Crash reports | To find and fix what broke. See Crash reports for exactly what one contains. | Only when you tap Send a report |
| Feedback and survey answers | What you write, so we can fix problems and improve the app. See Feedback and surveys for exactly what is sent with it. | Only when you choose to send it |
| Purchase record | Whether you have unlocked the full app, so it stays unlocked and you can restore it. See Purchases. | Only if you buy the full app |
About location, specifically
Your phone gives the app precise coordinates. The app uses them on your phone to work out your sky, and to show you a town name.
On iPhone and Android, the town name comes from your phone's own map service: Apple's on iPhone, Google's on Android. That service receives your precise position for the lookup, the same way the Maps app sends it, and returns a place name such as "Eagle Mountain, Utah". The app keeps the name. It does not store your exact position, and it does not send it to us or to anyone else. (We used to round the position before this lookup, and a town name came back wrong for people near a town boundary.)
Everything the app itself sends off your device is rounded first to roughly one kilometre, which is two decimal places: your synced progress and any feedback you send. That is far more than accurate enough to know what is in your sky, so we never store or transmit your exact position.
In the web version, the town name comes from a web service (BigDataCloud) that receives only the rounded position.
You can use the app without granting location access at all. Just type a nearby town instead. You can revoke the permission at any time in your phone's settings.
Feedback and surveys
When you send feedback, a note at the end of a tour, or answers to our beta survey, we store what you send and email a copy to our team inbox. You do not need an account to send feedback. Along with your words we keep:
- the app version, and whether you use Android, iPhone, or the web;
- for feedback sent from Settings or inside a tour, your phone's model and system version, its language setting, and your location rounded to about a kilometre, so we can reproduce what you saw;
- the tour you were on, if any;
- an email address, only if you give us one, so we can reply or send a survey reward;
- if you are signed in, a link to your account.
Crash reports
If part of the app stops working, it shows a screen with a Send a report button. Nothing is sent unless you tap it. A report contains the error details, the app version, whether you use Android, iPhone, or the web, the tour and step you were on, your phone's model and system version, and its language setting. It never contains your location, your email address, or a link to your account.
While the app is open, it keeps a note of the last few smaller errors in your phone's memory (not in storage). They are added to a report only if you choose to send one, and they disappear when the app closes.
Anonymous usage counts
To find out which tours work and which steps confuse people, the app counts a few things as you use it: tour starts and finishes, which steps people reach or go back on, whether a star was found or skipped, when the built-in guide was used, rough sky conditions like dark or twilight, and the app version. Each count is stored with the date, but not the time of day.
These counts never include your account, your email address, a device identifier, your location or the exact time. They are not free text, so nothing you type is ever part of them. Each tour run gets a random label that exists only while the tour is running, so counts from one run stay together, and nothing connects them to you or to your other runs.
The counts go to our own database (Supabase, see below). We don't store your IP address with them. Like any online service, our database host keeps short-lived request logs for security. Counts are kept for 24 months and then deleted automatically. We may analyze them with tools such as Google Looker Studio or Claude, which only ever see these anonymous counts.
You can turn the counts off at any time in Settings (the switch is called "Help improve Learn the Stars"). Turning it off stops the counting and discards anything not yet sent.
Purchases
The app is free to start. If you buy the full app, the payment is handled entirely by Apple (the App Store) or Google (Google Play). We never see your card or payment details, your name, or your Apple or Google account.
To check and restore purchases we use a service called RevenueCat. It receives the purchase record from Apple or Google (what was bought, when, the price and the store's transaction details) together with an ID for you. If you are not signed in, that ID is a random one created on your phone. If you are signed in, it is your account's ID, so the unlock follows your account to another phone. RevenueCat never receives your email address, your location or your progress.
If you are signed in, our own database also notes whether your account has unlocked the full app.
A purchase is not undone by deleting the app or your account: Apple or Google keep their record so you can restore it on that store account. RevenueCat keeps its copy of the purchase record so restoring keeps working. Email us if you want that copy deleted too.
What we never do
- We do not sell or rent your information to anyone.
- We do not show ads, and there are no advertising trackers in the app.
- We do not use analytics tools that profile you. Usage counts cannot be traced back to you.
- We do not track you across other apps or websites.
- We do not ask for your contacts, photos, microphone, or camera.
Other companies that help run the app
A few outside services are involved in making the app work. Each one only receives what it needs to do its job.
| Service | What it receives | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Your email address and your progress (including whether you have unlocked the full app), any feedback, crash reports or survey answers you send, and the anonymous usage counts, stored on servers in the United States | Signed-in users, anyone who sends feedback or a report, and everyone who leaves the usage counts switch on |
| Resend | Your email address, in order to deliver your sign-in code, and the contents of feedback, crash reports and survey answers, to deliver them to our inbox | Signed-in users, and anyone who sends feedback or a report |
| Apple or Google (your phone's own map service) | Your precise coordinates, to turn them into a place name like “Eagle Mountain, Utah”. This is the phone's built-in service, not something we run; see “About location”. | iPhone and Android, when you allow location |
| BigDataCloud | Your rounded coordinates, to turn them into a place name like “Moab, Utah” | The web version only, when a location is set |
| Open-Meteo | The place name you type when searching for a location | Everyone, when you search |
| Cloudflare | Handles our domain and forwards email sent to us | Everyone who contacts us |
| Hosts the inbox where email to us, including feedback, crash reports and survey answers, is read (Gmail) | Everyone who contacts us or sends feedback or a report | |
| Google (Looker Studio) | Totals built from the anonymous usage counts, to chart them for us. Never your email, account or location. | Everyone who leaves the usage counts switch on |
| RevenueCat | The purchase record from Apple or Google and an ID for you (random, or your account's ID if you are signed in), to check and restore purchases. Never your email, location or progress. | Anyone who buys the full app or restores a purchase |
| Apple or Google (App Store, Google Play) | Your payment, handled entirely by the store. We never see your payment details. | Anyone who buys the full app |
| Anthropic (Claude) | The anonymous usage counts, when we ask it to help analyze them | Everyone who leaves the usage counts switch on |
If you joined our mailing list through our website, that list is held by Loops, and you can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of any of those emails. Joining the mailing list is entirely separate from using the app.
The app's typefaces are bundled inside the app itself rather than fetched from a font service, so displaying text never contacts anyone.
Notifications
If you turn on reminders, the app schedules them on your phone. Notifications are generated by your device itself. They are not sent from our servers, and setting one tells us nothing.
How long we keep things
If you have an account, we keep your email address and progress for as long as the account exists. When you delete your account, both are erased immediately and permanently. We do not keep a backup copy of deleted accounts.
We keep feedback, crash reports and survey answers for as long as they help us improve the app. Anonymous usage counts are deleted after 24 months.
When you delete your account, your progress and email address are erased immediately and permanently. Feedback and survey answers you sent are kept but anonymized: we remove the link to your account and every email address stored with them, so they can no longer be traced to you. If you wrote personal details into a message itself, email us and we will delete it.
If you never create an account and never send us feedback or a report, we hold nothing that identifies you.
Deleting your account and data
In the app, open Settings → Account → Delete account. You will be asked to confirm, and then your account and your stored progress are permanently removed. Any feedback you sent is anonymized, as described above.
If you have already uninstalled the app, you can ask us instead. See the deletion request page, or email [email protected].
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see the information we hold about you, to correct it, to have it deleted, or to receive a copy of it. Email [email protected] and we will respond within 30 days. We will not charge you or treat you differently for asking.
Children
Learn the Stars is written for anyone learning the night sky, and families are very welcome to use it together. The app is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect or who we share it with, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Significant changes will be announced in the app.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or requests: [email protected].