Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Cloak Communications LLC ("Cloak Communications," "Fireloop," "we," "us," or "our") provides the Fireloop mobile applications for iOS and Android, the Fireloop web application, and the Fireloop marketing website located at fireloop.live (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights available to you.

By creating an account, using the Service as a guest, or otherwise accessing the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Policy, please do not use the Service.

2. Who We Are

The Service is owned and operated by Cloak Communications LLC, 3252 F Rd #819, Clifton, CO 81520. You may contact us at [email protected]. For purposes of applicable data protection laws, Cloak Communications LLC is the data controller of the personal information described in this Policy.

3. Scope of This Policy

This Policy applies to the Fireloop iOS application, the Fireloop Android application, the Fireloop web application (app.fireloop.live), and the Fireloop marketing website (fireloop.live), which we refer to collectively as the "Service" throughout this Policy. Where a practice applies to only one platform, we say so explicitly.

4. Information We Collect

4.1 Information You Provide Directly

We collect account information, including your email address and, if you choose to add them, a display name and profile photo (avatar). We collect user-generated content, including fire, smoke, road-closure, and power-outage "sightings" you post, along with any message text, photo, and the precise location associated with the post; comments and replies you post on other users' sightings; and reports you file against other users' content. We collect saved locations, meaning named locations you save for fire-alert monitoring, along with their coordinates. We collect information you provide when you contact us for support, including the content of your message and your email address. If you subscribe to Fireloop+, we collect your selected plan and billing status, as described in Section 4.6.

4.2 Location Information

Location is central to how Fireloop works, and we collect it in several ways. We collect your precise device location in the foreground, used to center the map on your position, show fires near you, and calculate distances. On iOS and Android, if you grant "Always" or background location permission, we continue to receive your location periodically while the app is not in the foreground; this is used exclusively to keep your "near me" fire and air-quality alerts accurate as you move, and to power the foreground service that keeps this functionality active. You can grant, limit, or revoke background location access at any time, as described in Section 6 and Section 10.3. When you post a sighting or comment, we record your precise coordinates at that moment; we require this location to be within a reasonable distance of the relevant fire to help ensure that sightings are genuinely submitted by people near the incident. We also collect locations you manually search for and save, independent of your device's real-time position, and, when you search for a place, your query and, if provided, your approximate position, which is sent to our backend and relayed as a filtered request to our mapping data provider.

4.3 Photos and Media

If you choose to attach a photo to your profile avatar or to a sighting, we collect and store that photo. Photos are processed and re-encoded by our servers before storage, which removes embedded metadata such as EXIF location data. Photos you post to a sighting are visible to other users of the Service.

4.4 Automatically Collected Information

We collect a push notification token tied to your device, platform, and your notification preferences; this token is retained even if you use the Service without an account. We collect the IP address and user-agent string associated with your sign-in sessions, along with standard server request logs. We also collect general information about how you interact with the Service, as described in Section 4.5.

4.5 Analytics Information

We use Firebase Analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase) to understand how the Service is used. Analytics events we collect include account sign-in, sign-up, and sign-out activity; sighting and comment activity; report submissions; search activity, limited to the length of your search query and the number of results returned, never the query text itself; saved-location activity; map overlay and theme preferences; onboarding progress; notification permission outcomes; and subscription purchase events. We also automatically log screen views as you navigate the Service. Analytics data is associated with a device or installation identifier, not directly with your name or email address. Google Analytics is also installed on our marketing website, fireloop.live.

4.6 Payment and Subscription Information

If you purchase a Fireloop+ subscription, payment is handled entirely by Apple's App Store, Google Play, or Stripe for web purchases, depending on the platform you use. We do not collect or store your payment card number or other financial account details. We receive and store only your subscription status, plan, and, for Stripe, a customer or subscription reference identifier, so that we can grant you access to Fireloop+ features and provide billing support.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to provide, operate, and maintain the Service, including displaying nearby fires, air quality, weather, and smoke information; to send you push notifications about fires, air quality, and replies to your content, based on your preferences and location; to allow you to post, view, and interact with sightings, comments, and reports; to create and manage your account, including authentication via one-time email codes; to process and manage Fireloop+ subscriptions; to monitor, investigate, and act on content reports and enforce our Terms of Service; to understand usage patterns and improve the Service through analytics; to communicate with you about your account or in response to your inquiries; to detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, security incidents, and technical issues; and to comply with legal obligations.

6. Location Data — Additional Disclosures

Background location access is optional and is requested separately from, and after, foreground location access. We collect background location solely to keep location-based fire alerts accurate when the app is not actively open. We do not use background location for advertising, and we do not sell location data of any kind, to anyone, for any purpose. You can deny, limit, or later revoke location permissions, foreground or background, at any time through your device's operating system settings. If you deny or revoke location access, core safety features such as "near me" alerts and map centering will not function, but you can still use the Service by manually searching for and saving locations.

7. How We Share Your Information

7.1 Public User-Generated Content

Sightings, comments, your display name, and your avatar are public by default and visible to any user of the Service, signed in or not. Do not include information in a sighting, comment, or display name that you do not want to be publicly visible.

7.2 Service Providers

We share information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, as described in Section 8 below. These providers are authorized to use your information only as necessary to provide services to us.

7.3 Business Transfers

If Cloak Communications LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide notice, for example via the Service or email, before your information becomes subject to a materially different privacy policy.

7.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, to protect the safety of any person, to address fraud, security, or technical issues, or to protect our rights or property or those of our users.

7.5 We Do Not Sell Your Information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own independent advertising purposes.

8. Third-Party Service Providers

We work with a number of service providers to operate Fireloop. Cloudflare provides storage and delivery of user-uploaded photos, including avatar and sighting photos. Railway provides application and database hosting for all account and content data. Google Workspace supports our business and support email, including emails you send to us. Resend delivers transactional email, including sign-in codes and email verification, and receives your email address and one-time codes for that purpose. Firebase, operated by Google, provides push notification delivery and analytics infrastructure, and receives device push tokens and analytics events. Google Analytics (GA4) provides product and website analytics, and receives usage events and device or platform information. Mapbox provides location search and geocoding, and receives search queries and approximate coordinates. RevenueCat manages iOS and Android subscriptions, and receives purchase and subscription events along with an account identifier. Stripe handles web subscription billing, and receives payment details, billing email, and subscription status. Apple's App Store and Google Play process payment for mobile subscriptions directly, and Fireloop does not receive your payment details from either.

We also display fire, weather, air quality, and smoke information sourced from public government agencies, including the National Interagency Fire Center, InciWeb, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow program, and NOAA and the National Weather Service. This data is aggregated and displayed without any association to your personal information. Full attribution is available at fireloop.live/sources.

9. Data Retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account is active, and deleted upon account deletion as described in Section 10.1. Sighting and comment content is retained until you delete it or delete your account, except as described below. If a sighting or comment is reported and the report is approved, the underlying content is removed from public view and deleted; however, we retain a permanent record of the reported content, including the message text, author name, photo, and reporter identity, for trust, safety, and moderation purposes, even after the associated account is deleted. Fire, incident, weather, and air quality data is not personal information and is retained indefinitely to preserve stable, linkable public records of historical fire activity. IP address and user-agent information tied to authentication sessions is retained for the life of the session record; operational request logs are short-lived and are not used to build a durable profile of your activity.

10. Your Rights and Choices

10.1 Account Deletion

You may delete your account at any time from within the app, under Profile and then Delete Account. Doing so permanently deletes your profile information, saved locations, sightings, comments, and uploaded photos, and cannot be undone, except for content preserved under Section 9 above. You may also request account deletion by emailing [email protected].

10.2 Access and Correction

You can view and edit your display name and avatar at any time in the app. You can change your account email address through the in-app email-change flow, which requires verification of the new address.

10.3 Location Permission Controls

You can grant, deny, or revoke foreground and background location permissions at any time via your device's system settings.

10.4 Notification Controls

You can manage which categories of push notifications you receive, including near-me alerts, new fires, fire updates, containment, and replies, from within the app's notification settings, or by disabling notifications entirely at the operating-system level.

10.5 California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, gives you the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose about you, to request deletion of your personal information, to correct inaccurate personal information, and to not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell or "share," as that term is defined under the CPRA, personal information. To exercise these rights, contact us at [email protected].

10.6 Other State Privacy Rights

Residents of other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws, including Colorado, Virginia, and Connecticut, among others, may have similar rights to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of their personal information. You can exercise these rights by contacting us at [email protected].

11. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to, and is not intended for use by, children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected].

12. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction, including encrypted data transmission and restricted access to production systems. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. International Users

The Service is operated in the United States, and the fire, weather, and air-quality data we display is scoped to the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by updating the "Last Updated" date and, where appropriate, through the Service or by email. Your continued use of the Service after a change becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at Cloak Communications LLC, 3252 F Rd #819, Clifton, CO 81520, or by email at [email protected].