Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 17, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Fault Line ("we", "us", "the App") collects, uses, stores and protects your information when you use our mobile applications and related services. By using Fault Line, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, do not use the App.

1. Data We Collect

We collect the minimum data required to operate an earthquake alerting service. We do not collect data for resale, profiling or identity-based advertising.

Data	When	Purpose
Push notification token (OneSignal player ID)	On first launch, if you allow notifications	Delivering earthquake alerts to your device
Notification preferences (countries, minimum magnitude, language)	When you configure alerts	Sending only the alerts you asked for
Name and email address	Only if you sign in with Apple or Google	Account identity for family and community features
Coarse location (city level)	Only when you submit an "I felt it" report	Community felt-report aggregation
Comments and reports you post	When you post them	Community features and moderation
Family circle data (member names, safety status, shared locations)	Only if you create or join a family circle	Family safety features you explicitly enable
Technical logs (IP address, request timestamps, app version)	Automatically, server side	Security, abuse prevention, rate limiting and diagnostics

What we do NOT collect

• We do not track your location in the background. Your precise GPS position is processed on your device for distance display and is not uploaded unless you explicitly share it (felt report or family circle).
• We do not read your contacts, messages, photos or files.
• We do not build advertising profiles or sell any personal data to anyone, ever.

2. How We Use Your Data

• Alert delivery: your push token and preferences determine which earthquake alerts you receive.
• Community features: your display name and posted content are shown to other users; felt reports appear with coarse (city-level) location only.
• Family safety: data shared inside a family circle is visible only to the members of that circle.
• Security and abuse prevention: IP addresses and technical logs are used for rate limiting, spam prevention, ban enforcement and the investigation of misuse.

3. Legal Bases

We process personal data under the following legal bases: performance of the service you requested (alert delivery, features you enable), our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and abuse-free, and your consent where required (e.g. notifications, location sharing). Where the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 ("KVKK") or the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") applies, we act as the data controller.

4. Sharing and Processors

We share data only with the processors strictly necessary to run the service:

• OneSignal: push notification delivery (push token, language, coarse country preference).
• Google Firebase: remote configuration and crash reporting.
• Cloud hosting providers: our backend and database run on managed cloud infrastructure in the European Union (Frankfurt).
• Apple / Google sign-in: authentication tokens are verified with the respective provider; we never see your password.

We do not share personal data with advertisers, data brokers or analytics resellers. We may disclose data if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, including sharing records of abusive activity with law-enforcement authorities and platform providers.

5. Retention

• Notification preferences and push tokens are kept while your subscription is active. Invalid or expired tokens are deactivated automatically.
• Account data is kept until you delete your account.
• Community content may be retained in anonymized or moderated form after account deletion where needed for the integrity of the service.
• Records of banned accounts and abusive activity (content, timestamps, technical logs) are retained for the period necessary to prevent repeat abuse and to support potential legal proceedings.
• Technical logs are retained for a limited period for security purposes and then deleted or anonymized.

6. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction (including under KVKK and GDPR), you have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal data, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time.

• Delete your account directly in the App: Settings → Account → Delete Account. This removes your account data from our production systems.
• For any other request, contact us at [email protected]. We respond within 30 days.

7. Children

Fault Line is not directed at children under 13 (or the higher minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

8. Security

All traffic between the App and our servers is encrypted with TLS and protected by certificate pinning. Access to production systems is restricted and authenticated. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we apply industry-standard safeguards and continuously improve them.

9. Advertising

The free tier of the App displays ads served by Google AdMob. These ads are configured to be non-personalized where required by law. Premium subscribers see no ads. AdMob's own privacy practices are described in Google's Privacy Policy.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced in the App or on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of the App after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

Data controller: Fault Line
Email: [email protected]