Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 1, 2025

Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes how the Fire Danger Rating Calculator app (“we,” “our,” or “the app”) handles information when you use our mobile and desktop application. We are committed to protecting your privacy and giving you full control over your data sharing preferences.

Your Privacy Choices

We believe privacy is a personal choice. Our app includes comprehensive privacy settings that let you control exactly what data, if any, you’re comfortable sharing with us.

Data Collection Levels

You can choose from three data collection levels in the app’s Privacy settings:

Disabled - Complete Privacy

  • No analytics data collected whatsoever
  • No crash reporting
  • No performance monitoring
  • No usage statistics
  • The app functions completely offline with no data transmission

Essential Only - Basic Stability Data

  • Basic app lifecycle events (app opens/closes)
  • Crash reports to help us fix critical bugs
  • No detailed usage analytics
  • No personal information

Full Analytics - Help Us Improve

  • All essential data (above)
  • FDR calculation frequency and general usage patterns
  • Screen navigation patterns
  • Performance metrics to optimize app speed
  • Anonymous feature usage statistics

Important: You can change these settings at any time in the app’s Privacy section, and your choice is immediately applied.

Information We Never Collect

Regardless of your privacy settings, we never collect:

  • Personal Information: Names, email addresses, phone numbers, or contacts
  • Location Data: GPS coordinates or precise location information
  • Device Content: Photos, files, messages, or other personal content
  • User Accounts: No registration or accounts required

What We Collect (Based on Your Settings)

Essential Level Data (when enabled):

  • App Lifecycle: When the app starts, goes to background, or returns to foreground
  • Crash Reports: Technical details about app crashes to help us fix bugs
  • Device Type: General platform (iOS, Android, Windows, macOS) for compatibility
  • App Version: To provide appropriate updates

Full Analytics Data (when enabled, includes all essential data plus):

  • Screen Views: Which sections of the app you visit (e.g., “about page viewed”, “rating levels viewed”)
  • FDR Calculations: Anonymous statistics about calculation frequency and general danger level results (e.g., “calculation performed with result in yellow range”)
  • User Interactions: When you tap the gauge or view actions
  • Performance Metrics: App load times, screen transition speeds
  • Feature Usage: Which features are used most frequently

Example of Anonymous Analytics Data:

✓ "Screen viewed: rating_levels"
✓ "FDR calculation: result=45, danger_level=yellow"
✓ "Action page viewed: yellow level"
✗ "User John calculated FDR of 45" (Never collected)
✗ "Temperature: 25°C, Location: Cape Town" (Never collected)

How We Use Collected Data

Data is used exclusively to:

  • Fix Bugs: Crash reports help us identify and resolve app issues
  • Improve Performance: Load time and responsiveness optimization
  • Feature Development: Understanding which features are most valuable
  • Platform Support: Ensuring compatibility across different devices
  • Quality Assurance: Identifying areas where the app can be improved

Technical Implementation

Local Processing

  • All fire danger calculations are performed locally on your device
  • Results are displayed immediately without network communication

Data Transmission

  • Only anonymous, aggregated analytics are transmitted (if enabled)
  • All data transmission uses industry-standard encryption
  • No personal identifiers are included in any transmitted data

Data Storage and Security

  • No Cloud Storage: Your input data and calculations are never stored in the cloud
  • Local Only: All your fire danger calculations remain on your device
  • Anonymous Analytics: Any transmitted data contains no personal identifiers
  • Secure Transmission: All network communication uses HTTPS encryption
  • No Third-Party Sharing: We never sell, trade, or share your data

Children’s Privacy

This app is designed for professional use by fire management authorities and trained personnel. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. The app’s technical nature and professional focus make it unsuitable for unsupervised use by children.

Your Rights and Controls

Privacy Controls

  • In-App Settings: Change your privacy level anytime in Privacy settings
  • Immediate Effect: Changes are applied instantly without app restart
  • Device Settings: Additional controls available in your device’s privacy settings

Data Requests

  • Access: Since we don’t store personal data, there’s no personal data to access
  • Deletion: You can disable all analytics to stop future data collection
  • Portability: All your data (calculations) remains on your device under your control

International Users

The app is available globally and designed to comply with privacy laws including:

  • GDPR (European Union)
  • CCPA (California)
  • PIPEDA (Canada)
  • Privacy Act (Australia)
  • POPIA (South Africa)

Anonymous analytics data may be processed in different countries, but never contains personal information.

Professional Use Considerations

For organizations deploying this app:

  • Review your organization’s data handling policies
  • Consider setting appropriate privacy levels for your use case
  • Train users on privacy settings if required
  • Document any organizational privacy requirements

Compliance

  • The app’s privacy controls support compliance with most organizational privacy policies
  • “Disabled” mode ensures no external data transmission
  • All fire danger calculations remain under organizational control

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to:

  • Reflect changes in our data practices
  • Comply with legal requirements
  • Improve clarity and transparency
  • Add new privacy features

Notification of Changes:

  • App store update notes for significant changes
  • Website announcements
  • In-app notifications when appropriate

Contact Information

For questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices:

Transparency Report

Current Data Practices Summary

  • Privacy Levels Available: 3 (Disabled, Essential, Full)
  • Default Setting: Full Analytics (user can change immediately)
  • Personal Data Collected: None
  • Local Processing: All FDR calculations
  • Third-Party Services: Firebase (mobile only, user-controlled)

Effective Date: This Privacy Policy is effective as of July 1, 2025.

By using the Fire Danger Rating Calculator, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. You maintain full control over your privacy settings and can change them at any time within the app.