Trust and safety

Keeping SunSpotters safe is a shared job. The company that runs our servers looks after the machines and the network. We look after the app and decide who can see what. You look after your sign-in details and only share photos that are yours to share.

• You can sign in with your Google account or with an atproto account such as Eurosky or Bluesky.
• We never see or store your password; that stays with the company you sign in through.
• Your sign-in only lasts a short time and is renewed quietly in the background while you use the app.
• Sensitive jobs, such as reviewing new members, are only open to the small team who need them.

• The app runs on trusted servers, and every page is sent over a secure connection.
• Our database is set up so that people can only see the rows they are allowed to see.
• Private keys and passwords live on the server; they are never sent to your browser.
• Backups and safety updates for the servers are handled by the company that hosts them.

• Your profile, the main feed, the leaderboard and the location pages all sit behind sign-in; search engines cannot reach them.
• Other members only ever see the nickname you have chosen. Your real name and email are kept safe and hidden from everyone else.
• You can change your nickname whenever you like; if you want more privacy, use the button to pick a friendly random one.
• When you share a spot, the map only shows the wider area, roughly five kilometres across. Your exact spot is never shown, even to other members.
• If you link a Bluesky or other atproto account, the details we need to keep are stored in a scrambled form; even our own team cannot read them.
• The address your device uses to receive push messages is treated like a password. It is stored in a scrambled form and only unscrambled for a moment when we send a message to you.

• We only keep what the app needs to work: who you are, the photos and spots you upload, and simple notes about how the app is being used.
• Our database has strict rules so that people can only see and change the parts that belong to them, unless something is meant to be shared, such as a published spot.
• Anything the team uses to run the app is kept apart, with extra care around who can open it.

• Lovable, who host and run the app for us.
• Supabase, who store the data, handle sign-in and keep the photos.
• Google, when you choose to sign in with a Google account.
• Atproto services such as Eurosky and Bluesky, when you choose to sign in with one of them.

All of these companies work inside the EU, or under safeguards that the EU has approved. There is more detail in the privacy policy.

• You can close your account at any time from your profile page.
• After you close your account we remove your details within twelve months, sooner if you ask.
• Photos and spots you upload are removed when you delete them or when you close your account.
• Notes about how the app is used are either made anonymous or deleted within twenty-six months.

Under EU law you can see, correct, export or delete the details we hold about you, and you can change your mind about anything you have agreed to. The full list is on the your rights page, together with how to ask.

If you think you have found a safety problem, please write to security@sunspotters.net. Please give us a chance to look at it and put it right before you tell others. We try to reply within five working days.

For questions about your privacy, please write to privacy@sunspotters.net.