Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 26, 2026

1. Introduction

Fire ("we", "our", or "the app") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Location Data

If you grant permission, Fire uses your device's location to:

Center the map on your current position
Calculate distances to fire hotspots
Decide which civil-protection feed to use (Portugal vs. EU-wide satellite)
Generate local notifications when fires are detected near you (when the app is open)

Location stays on your device, except when you explicitly enable Incident alerts (Portugal — Beta) (see section 2.3).

2.2 App Settings

Your notification preferences (alert radius, intensity threshold, sound settings, language) are stored locally on your device using Apple's standard storage mechanisms.

2.3 Incident Alerts (Portugal — Beta) — opt-in

If you are inside Portugal and you enable Incident alerts in the app's Settings, we transmit the minimum data needed to deliver server-driven push notifications while the app is closed:

Push notification token (FCM token) — an anonymous identifier issued by Firebase Cloud Messaging, valid only for this install of the app on this device
Monitoring point — a single coordinate (lat/lng) chosen when you enable the option. By default this point is not updated as you move; it is only re-sent if you additionally enable "Auto-update my location" and you've moved more than 2 km from the last sent point, with a minimum 1-hour cool-down between updates.
Alert radius and preferred language — so the server can localize the notification

This opt-in feature is currently scoped to Portugal only. We do not send a continuous trail of your location. When you turn Incident alerts off, or when you travel outside Portugal, the record is deleted from our server.

3. Advertising

Fire displays advertisements through Google AdMob. Google AdMob may collect and use certain information to serve personalized ads. This may include:

Device identifiers (such as advertising ID)
IP address
General location (based on IP address)
App usage data

You can opt out of personalized advertising by adjusting your device settings:

iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → disable "Allow Apps to Request to Track"

For more information about how Google handles data, please visit Google's Privacy Policy.

4. Data We Do NOT Collect

Fire does not collect, store, or transmit:

Name, email, phone number, or any other personal identification information
Account or login information (the app has no user accounts)
Usage analytics or behavioral tracking data
A continuous trail of your location (only the opt-in monitoring point described in 2.3)
Device contents (contacts, photos, calendar, etc.)

5. Third-Party Services

Fire uses the following external services:

NASA FIRMS: Fire hotspot data from satellite sensors
EFFIS Copernicus: Fire Weather Index overlay data
ANEPC (Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil) / ProCiv: Official Portuguese civil-protection incident data (public ArcGIS endpoint).
Apple Maps: Map tiles and satellite imagery.
Cloudflare Workers (Cloudflare, Inc., infrastructure in the European Union): Hosts our push-notification backend. When Incident alerts (Portugal — Beta) are enabled, the FCM token, monitoring point, radius and language are stored here.
Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google Ireland Limited): Push delivery service for iOS (via Apple Push Notification service). FCM processes the device token and notification payload as a sub-processor.

These services may log standard web request data (IP address, timestamp) according to their own privacy policies.

6. Data Storage

On your device:

Notification preferences (in UserDefaults)
Already-notified fire IDs, to prevent duplicate alerts

On our server (only if Incident alerts (Portugal — Beta) are enabled):

FCM token, monitoring point (lat/lng), alert radius, language, and the timestamp of the last update — a single row per app install, updated when you change settings.
List of incidents already notified to you in the last 7 days, to prevent repetition. Removed automatically after that window.

The record is deleted from the server as soon as you disable Incident alerts, travel outside Portugal, or the FCM token becomes invalid (for example, when reinstalling the app).

7. Notifications

Fire uses two notification paths:

Local notifications: When the app is open and has location permission, it generates notifications locally when a fire appears within your radius. No server involved.
Incident alerts (Portugal — Beta, opt-in): Our server polls the public ANEPC data every few minutes. When it detects a new fire-type incident inside the radius you registered, it sends a push notification to your device via Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service. This lets you receive alerts even when the app is closed. Currently scoped to fire-type incidents only (forest, urban, agricultural, industrial fires).

You can disable either path at any time in the app's Settings or in iOS Settings.

8. Children's Privacy

Fire does not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13. The app does not require any personal information to function.

9. Your Rights

You can:

Deny or revoke location permissions at any time in iOS Settings
Disable notifications in iOS Settings or within the app
Delete the app to remove all locally stored data

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.

11. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact:

Walter Tengler
Email: walter.tengler@gmail.com