Privacy Policy
Last updated: 16 October 2026
This policy explains what personal data the StellaFind app ("StellaFind", "we") collects, why, how long it is kept, and the rights you have. We collect as little as possible: you can use the sky view, the AR finder and search without an account, and your precise location never leaves your phone.
- No ads and no advertising tracking.
- Crash reports are on to help us fix bugs (you can turn them off in Settings). Anonymous usage statistics are sent only if you say yes. Neither includes your name, email or GPS position.
- Your precise location is used only on your phone to calculate the sky. When you search for a city, only a rough area (about 100 km) is sent, to show nearby places first.
- An account (optional, from 15 years old) needs your name, email, date of birth and a password.
- Our servers are in the European Union (Microsoft Azure, France).
- You can delete your account at any time, in the app or by email.
1. Who is responsible
The data controller is Joseph Alkhoury, developer of StellaFind (published on Google Play as "StellaFind App").
Contact for any privacy question or request: support@stellafind.com.
2. What we collect and why
Without an account
- Location. If you allow it, your phone's position is used to show the sky as seen from where you are. The calculation is done on your phone; the position is not sent to us. You can refuse and choose a city instead.
- City search. When you type a city name, that text is sent to our server, which asks Microsoft Azure Maps to find the place. To show nearby places first, the app also sends a rough area: the place currently used for the sky, rounded to whole degrees (about 100 km), never your precise position. Your account is not sent. Searches are not stored in our database; the server keeps recent search results in memory for up to 24 hours so the same search is answered faster, without any link to who searched. Azure Maps passes the search text to its partner TomTom, which cannot link it to you.
- Star catalogue. The app downloads the list of stars and constellations from our server and keeps a copy on your phone so it works offline. This contains no personal data.
With an account
| Data | Why | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| First name, last name, email, date of birth | Create and run your account; check you are at least 15; send you email codes | Contract |
| Password | Sign in. We only store a one-way encrypted version (hash); nobody, including us, can read it | Contract |
| Email verification and password-reset codes | Prove the email is yours; reset a forgotten password. Only an encrypted version is stored, for 30 minutes at most | Contract / legitimate interest (security) |
| Saved stars | Show your list of favourite stars | Contract |
| Account dates (created, last sign-in) | Run and secure the account | Legitimate interest (security) |
Crash reports and usage statistics (Firebase)
The app uses two Google Firebase services. You control both in the app under Settings → App.
| Service | What is sent | Why | Your choice / legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics) | When the app has an error or crashes: technical details of the error (which part of the code failed), app version, phone model, Android version, date and time, and a random identifier created for the app installation. | Find and fix bugs, keep the app working and secure | On by default; you can turn it off at any time in Settings. Legitimate interest (a working, secure app); turning it off is your right to object. |
| Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase) | Which screens are used and for how long, app events (for example "app opened"), app version, phone model, Android version, approximate country or region (derived from the connection, not from GPS), and a random identifier created for the app installation. | Understand how the app is used, to improve it | Only if you say yes. The app asks once; you can change your answer at any time in Settings. Consent, which you can withdraw at any time. |
Neither service receives your name, email, account, saved stars or GPS position. The advertising ID of your phone is not collected and the data is not used for advertising. Test versions of the app used by our team do not send anything.
Security information
To protect accounts against password guessing and abuse, our server temporarily uses your IP address and counts failed attempts. These counters are kept in memory only, for one hour at most, and are not stored in our database. When an attempt is blocked, the IP address may appear in the server's technical logs, which are kept for a short time. Legal basis: legitimate interest (security).
Stored on your phone only
Your sign-in token (in Android's encrypted storage), your choices for crash reports and usage statistics, the last accounts used to sign in on this phone (so the app can suggest them; you can remove them), recent and chosen cities, the saved star catalogue, and a copy of your saved stars while you are signed in (so the list opens at once; it is deleted when you log out or delete your account). Uninstalling the app removes them.
3. Who processes your data
We do not sell or rent your data, and we do not share it for advertising. We use these service providers:
- Microsoft Azure (servers in France) – hosting of the server and the database, in the France Central region; sending of the emails with your codes; city search (Azure Maps, Europe, with its subprocessor TomTom), as described above.
- Google – Google Play (app distribution, crash reports collected by Android if you agreed to share them); Firebase Crashlytics and Google Analytics for Firebase (crash reports and, if you agreed, usage statistics, as described above). Google may process this data in the United States.
- Zoho (EU) – the support@stellafind.com mailbox, if you write to us.
- Cloudflare – hosting of this website.
Where a provider processes data outside the European Union, it does so under the safeguards provided by the GDPR (adequacy decisions such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, or standard contractual clauses).
4. How long we keep it
- Account data and saved stars: until you delete your account.
- A Create Account form waiting for its email code: 30 minutes. If the code is not entered, it is deleted and no account is created.
- Email codes: 30 minutes at most, deleted once used.
- Crash reports: 90 days (Firebase Crashlytics).
- Usage statistics: 2 months for data linked to the random installation identifier; after that only totals remain (Google Analytics).
5. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask to access your data, correct it, delete it, receive it in a portable format, object to or restrict its processing. Write to support@stellafind.com from the email address of your account; we answer as soon as possible, and within one month at the latest.
You can delete your account yourself in the app: see Delete your account.
If you think your rights are not respected, you can complain to the French data protection authority, the CNIL (www.cnil.fr), or the authority of your country.
6. Age
Anyone can use the sky view, the AR finder and search. Creating an account requires being at least 15 years old; the app checks the date of birth when the account is created.
7. Security
All connections between the app and our server are encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords and email codes are stored only in encrypted (hashed) form. Access to the database is limited to the app's server and its administrator.
8. Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published on this page with a new date. Important changes will also be announced in the app.