Privacy Policy

Gradient Weather is developed and published by Subtle Signals Ltd, a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales. References to "we", "us", or "our" in this policy refer to Subtle Signals Ltd.

This policy applies solely to the Gradient Weather Android application and does not apply to any other Subtle Signals products.

• No account required. You never need to register or provide personal information to use the app.
• No analytics or tracking. The app contains no analytics SDKs, no advertising networks, and no third-party tracking.
• No data sold. We do not sell, rent, or trade any user data.
• Local-first storage. Your preferences, saved locations, and alert settings are stored exclusively on your device.
• You control your data. Deleting the app removes all locally stored data.

The app uses your device location to fetch an accurate weather forecast for your current position. Location is the only data strictly necessary for the app to function.

• Foreground location is used to fetch your current weather and to display radar and rain-grid overlays on the map.
• Background location is used, only if you enable weather alerts, to monitor your neighbourhood via a geofence and trigger alert checks. This processing occurs on-device; your location during background checks is not transmitted to us.
• Your coordinates are sent to third-party weather providers solely to retrieve a forecast. Neither we nor those providers retain or store your location beyond serving the request.
• Your location is never used for profiling, advertising, or any purpose other than delivering weather information.
• You can revoke location permission at any time in Android Settings.

The app includes an optional community feature that lets you submit a single emoji to describe current conditions near you (for example, rain or sunshine). Submitting a report is always voluntary and requires an explicit action.

When you submit a report, the following data is sent to our backend:

• The emoji you selected.
• Your approximate location. Coordinates are sent to our Cloudflare Worker backend, where they are immediately rounded to a geohash cell of roughly 1 km accuracy. Precise coordinates are not stored.
• An anonymous sender ID. A randomly generated UUID created locally on your device the first time you submit a report. It is stored on-device only, persisted with Android DataStore, and is never linked to your identity. It is used solely to enforce a per-user cooldown to prevent duplicate submissions.

Aggregated emoji counts per geographic area are displayed to other nearby users. Individual reports are not exposed to other users. Raw report records are automatically deleted from our servers after 24 hours.

If you enable community weather alerts, the app subscribes to anonymous Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) topic channels based on your geohash, a short alphanumeric code representing a geographic cell of approximately 5 km × 5 km. This allows the app to receive push notifications when nearby users report severe conditions.

• Your precise location is never sent to Firebase. Only the derived geohash topic identifier is used.
• FCM associates no personal identity with a topic subscription.
• Topic subscriptions are automatically updated if you move to a new area, and previous subscriptions are removed.
• You can disable community alerts at any time in Settings, which immediately removes all FCM subscriptions.

The following data is stored in the app's private storage on your device only and is never transmitted to us.

To deliver forecast data, the app sends your coordinates to the following services. We do not control these services' own data practices. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for further information.

All connections use HTTPS. The app's Network Security Configuration explicitly blocks unencrypted (cleartext) HTTP traffic.

Gradient Weather offers optional paid subscriptions. All payment transactions are processed entirely by Google Play. Subtle Signals Ltd does not receive, process, or store any payment card details, bank account information, or other billing data. Google is the merchant of record for all purchases made through the app.

The transaction is governed by Google's Privacy Policy and the Google Play Terms of Service.

The app stores your subscription status (active or expired) locally on your device, via the Google Play Billing Library, in order to determine which features are accessible. This status is not transmitted to Subtle Signals Ltd.

The app does not include any analytics SDKs, advertising networks, or third-party tracking libraries. Firebase is included solely for Cloud Messaging (push notifications). Firebase Crashlytics and Google Analytics are not present in this application.

Advertising identifiers (e.g. Google Advertising ID) are never accessed or transmitted.

All network traffic is encrypted with HTTPS/TLS. On-device data is held in Android's sandboxed private storage, inaccessible to other applications. API keys are compiled into the application binary and obfuscated with R8. They are not transmitted to us.

Weather API requests may be processed on servers located outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area. For example, Pirate Weather servers are located in Canada; Cloudflare operates a global edge network. Where such transfers occur, they are covered by the respective provider's Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent adequacy safeguards. Firebase Cloud Messaging is operated by Google LLC under Google's EU–US Data Privacy Framework certification.

This application is not directed at children under the age of 13, or under 16 in the European Union and United Kingdom. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information through this app, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Under UK GDPR and EU GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access. You may request a copy of any personal data we hold about you.
• Right to erasure. You may request deletion of your anonymous sender ID and any emoji report records associated with it. We will fulfil valid requests within 30 days.
• Right to rectification. You may request correction of any inaccurate personal data.
• Right to data portability. You may request your personal data in a portable format.
• Right to object. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent. Location and notification permissions can be revoked at any time via Android Settings without affecting your use of other app features.

Legal basis for processing (GDPR Article 6): Location data is processed on the basis of performance of the service you requested (Article 6(1)(b)). Anonymous emoji reports are processed on the basis of legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), specifically, providing a crowd-sourced local weather layer to users.

Weather forecasts and alerts are provided for general informational purposes only. Subtle Signals Ltd does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any forecast or alert data. Do not rely solely on this application for safety-critical decisions. Always consult official guidance from your national meteorological authority.

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify users via an in-app notice or the Google Play Store listing. Continued use of the app following publication of changes constitutes your acceptance of those changes.