Privacy policy

What stays on your device

Next Light saves your chosen location mode, home place, current-location snapshot, alert preference, recent forecast data (including a disk cache of foliage estimates), and alert timing records on your device. Optional sun-time reminders are scheduled through iOS; their identifiers are read back to show which reminders are set. These let the app remember your choices, show saved data offline, and avoid repeated alerts.

The app does not continuously track your movements. A current-location snapshot remains saved until replaced or the app's local data is removed. Saved app data may also be included in device backups, depending on your Apple settings.

What is sent to other services

When you search for a home, Apple receives the search request. Apple's location and place services help resolve your selected location.

Next Light sends the forecast location's latitude and longitude to the National Weather Service to request local weather. It downloads aurora models and outlook data from NOAA. Sunrise, sunset, golden-hour and blue-hour times are calculated on the device, without a separate astronomy service. These network requests also expose ordinary connection information, such as your IP address, to the receiving services.

For Fall, the app downloads licensed USA National Phenology Network reports and experimental forecasts from Next Light’s Cloudflare-hosted foliage service. Nearby filtering happens on your device; these requests do not send your selected coordinates to that service. Spring and Blooms also download regional USA-NPN data without your coordinates. Historical estimates use regional data sampled on your device. The services and hosting providers can receive ordinary connection information such as your IP address. Hosting diagnostics and operational logs help maintain the service and investigate errors. The globe uses bundled geographic outlines; Apple MapKit is used for place search. The app does not upload your own foliage observations.

Those providers handle requests under their own policies. See Apple's privacy policy and the National Weather Service privacy policy.

Alerts and reminders

Next Light can use on-device notifications and optional server-delivered alerts. When you consent to server alerts, the app sends your selected alert location’s latitude and longitude, country, device push token, alert preferences, and consent version to Next Light’s alert service. The service uses these to monitor that saved place and deliver notifications through Apple. It does not continuously follow your device’s movements. The app stores an alert-service credential in the iPhone Keychain and records the saved alert place and delivery settings locally.

Optional individual sun-time reminders are scheduled through iOS. Their controls are separate from server alert settings. Delivery depends on permissions, available data, network conditions, and iPhone settings; an enabled preference does not guarantee delivery.

No advertising or tracking tools

We have not added advertising, cross-app tracking, or third-party analytics SDKs to the current app. It does not sell your saved locations or use them for advertising.

Your choices

You can choose a home location instead of granting device-location access. Change location access and notification permissions in iPhone Settings at any time. Manage saved locations and Aurora alerts using the Settings gear on Today. Manage server alert choices in the app and wait for the app to confirm that a change has reached the server. If it cannot confirm, try again while connected. Turning off notification permission in iPhone Settings controls delivery on the phone; it does not by itself delete an alert-service record. Cancel individual sun-time reminders from the corresponding moment. For deletion of an alert-service record, use the app’s removal control where available or contact support.

Deleting the app, rather than offloading it, removes its ordinary local app storage. Copies in device backups or shared system storage may remain under Apple's storage and backup rules. Deleting the app does not itself confirm deletion of an alert-service record or its Keychain credential, and cannot remove requests already processed by Apple or government services. Turn off server alerts and confirm removal before deleting the app, or contact support for help.

This website

The website has no account requirement or advertising. Optional website analytics are described below. It saves your chosen place, including coordinates and time zone, in local browser storage so that you can return to the same view. Clear this website’s data in your browser settings to remove that choice.

Location is requested only after you select “Use my location.” The browser asks for permission, and the location is rounded to three decimal places. We do not continuously track your movements. You can instead choose a city from the built-in collection.

Your chosen coordinates are sent to the National Weather Service for a weather forecast. Aurora requests to NOAA and regional seasonal-data requests to Next Light’s hosted service do not contain your coordinates; seasonal sampling happens in your browser. Sun times and Moon phases are also calculated in your browser. These providers receive ordinary connection information, such as your IP address. Hosting providers process connection information to deliver and protect the site. The website does not request notification permission or register push subscriptions. App Store links may include a campaign name so Apple can report aggregate acquisition results. Those links do not send your selected coordinates to Apple. Consented website analytics count clicks on these links separately from Apple’s reporting.

Optional website analytics

With your permission, this website uses Google Analytics to measure page visits and clicks that open the Next Light App Store listing. Google receives the page address without query parameters, page title, referring website without its path, browser and device information, and ordinary connection information such as your IP address. Analytics cookies distinguish browsers and sessions. We do not send your selected place, coordinates, location-search text, saved places, or email address to Google Analytics. Advertising personalization and Google signals are disabled.

Google Analytics loads only after you choose “Allow analytics.” Choose “No thanks” to use the site without it. Use “Analytics choices” in the footer to change your decision; declining removes this site’s Google Analytics cookies and stops future collection. Withdrawal does not delete information already processed. Your preference is stored in this browser for up to 180 days. Browsers that signal Global Privacy Control are treated as declining analytics.

These website choices do not change the iPhone app’s data practices. Click counts are not installation counts, and Apple’s native Safari banner is outside the website’s click tracking. See Google’s privacy policy for its processing practices.

Support messages

If you email support, Cloudflare forwards your message to our support inbox hosted by Gmail. Your email address, message, and any attachments are received so we can respond to your request. Avoid including precise home coordinates or other information that is not needed to explain the issue. You can contact us at the same address to request deletion of a support conversation.

Cloudflare and Google process these messages under their own service and privacy terms. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.

Changes and questions

We will update this page if the app's data practices change.

For support or privacy questions, email support@nextlight.today.

Read the support guide