Privacy policy

Updated 5 September 2026 · GLOW for Android

GLOW is an aurora-forecast app published by Jordan Tough (tough.services), Guernsey.

The short version

GLOW has no accounts, no analytics and no advertising. We do not collect, transmit or store any personal data about you. Nothing you enter or choose in the app is uploaded, and there is no server of ours for it to be uploaded to.

What GLOW stores on your device

• The locations you save — chosen from a list, found by search, entered as coordinates, or taken from your device's position.
• Your alert threshold, quiet hours and notification preferences.
• A short cache of recent space-weather readings so the app works offline and can fill the home screen widget.
• Whether you have purchased GLOW Pro.

All of this lives in the app's private storage and is deleted when you uninstall the app. None of it is uploaded.

Location

GLOW works fully without any location permission — you can pick a place from the built-in list, search for one by name, or type coordinates.

If you tap “Use my location”, GLOW asks for approximate (coarse) location permission and reads your device's last known position once, to save it as one of your places. We ask only for approximate location because the visibility calculation works in whole degrees of latitude and precise location would be data we neither need nor want. Your position is used on your device to work out whether the aurora is visible from there, is stored only on your device, and is never transmitted to us or to anyone else. You can decline the permission, or revoke it later in Android settings, and the rest of the app carries on working.

Searching for a place

Place search uses Android's own geocoding service, built into your device. What you type in the search box is handled by that Android service under your device manufacturer's and Google's privacy terms. GLOW does not log, store or transmit your searches.

Network requests

To show a forecast, GLOW fetches public space-weather data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (services.swpc.noaa.gov). These requests carry no identifier of you beyond the IP address inherent in any internet request, which NOAA handles under its own policies. GLOW sends NOAA no information about you, your locations or your settings.

Notifications

Aurora alerts are worked out on your device by comparing the fetched data against your own threshold. There is no push server, so no device token is registered and nothing about your alerts is known to us.

Purchases

GLOW Pro is a one-time in-app purchase handled entirely by Google Play Billing. GLOW never sees or stores your payment details; it only asks Google Play whether the purchase is owned by the signed-in Google account. Refunds and purchase history are managed by Google Play, under Google's own privacy policy.

Children

GLOW is suitable for all ages and collects no data from anyone, including children under 13.

Changes

If a future version collects anything, this page will be updated before that version is released, and the change will be described in the release notes.

Contact

Questions: jordantough@cwgsy.net.