Privacy policy
Privacy policy.
What the Ureka Lantern website and app handle, what Ureka receives, and who else may process data. Plain language first.
Draft, last updated 2026-11-08, under legal review. This policy has not been reviewed by a lawyer and describes the planned first release. The app is not yet available. It will be updated and re-dated before release.
Summary
- Ureka Lantern has no accounts and no Ureka-operated server for your location, photos, contacts or messages. We do not receive them.
- The app keeps your trusted contacts on your device. It reads your location, and optionally takes photos, only after you act and allow permission.
- When you send a check-in, your device’s messaging or mail app, your carrier and your recipients handle it. Their practices are theirs.
- No advertising, analytics or tracking software. We do not sell or share personal information.
Who we are
Ureka Lantern is an early-stage product. The responsible operator will be named here before the app is released: [operator legal name and address to be confirmed before launch]. This policy covers the website urekalantern.com and the Ureka Lantern mobile app for iPhone and Android. Contact: support@urekalantern.com.
What the app handles
| Information | Why | Where it is kept | Sent to Ureka? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to three trusted contacts (phone number or email you enter or pick) | To address your check-ins. | On your device in secure storage (iOS Keychain, Android Keystore-backed storage) until you remove them or uninstall. | No |
| Precise location, timestamp and accuracy, read when you tap | To build the map link in your message. | Held in memory to compose the message. Not logged by us. | No |
| Photos, only if you turn the option on and grant camera permission | To attach to your message. | Short-lived temporary file on your device, deleted after hand-off or a short expiry. | No |
| App settings (for example, photos on or off) | To remember your choices. | On your device. | No |
| Subscription status | To know whether your subscription is active. | Apple App Store or Google Play handle purchases and tell the app locally. | No personal data; see “Purchases” |
Permissions the app may ask for: location (while using the app), camera (only if photos are on), and contacts (only if you choose to pick from your address book). You can decline any of these and still use the app in a reduced way, and can change them in your phone settings.
No sensitive logging. The app is designed not to write your location or contact details to logs, and uses no crash-reporting or analytics service.
What happens when you send
Ureka Lantern prepares a message and hands it to your device’s messaging or email app (or the system share sheet). From that point, that app, your mobile carrier, your email provider, and your recipients’ services and devices process the message under their own policies. They may keep it. A map link may be opened in a map service of the recipient’s choice, which may log that request. We do not control or see any of this.
Purchases
Subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). They handle your payment details, which we never see. The app learns only whether a subscription is active. Apple’s and Google’s privacy policies govern that processing.
What the website handles
This website sets no cookies, uses no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts, and loads all its files from our own domain. It is hosted on Google Firebase Hosting, which, like any web host, logs ordinary technical information (such as IP address, browser type and the page requested) for security and operation. If you email us, we receive your email address and message, and use them only to reply.
Sharing and selling
We do not sell personal information, do not share it for advertising, and do not hold your location, photos or contacts to share. We may disclose information if required by law, but we hold almost none: the app is designed so we have no location, photo or contact data to produce.
Retention and deletion
Because the app keeps data on your device, you control it: remove contacts in Settings, or delete the app to remove its data. Temporary photo files are deleted after hand-off or expiry. Email you send us is kept only as long as needed to help you, then deleted. Your messaging app, carrier and recipients may keep sent messages; delete those in their apps. There is no Ureka account to delete.
Security
Contacts are kept in your device’s secure storage. No system is perfectly secure; anyone with your unlocked phone can open the app. Use a device passcode.
Children
Ureka Lantern is intended for adults 18 and over and is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets that age). We do not knowingly collect information from children. Because the app sends nothing to us, we hold none.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example California, the EU/UK, or other places), you may have rights to access, correct, delete or restrict personal information we hold, and to object to or limit certain uses. Since we hold essentially none, most requests will result in us confirming that. Contact us at support@urekalantern.com to make a request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising them.
International transfers
Our website host and the app stores operate globally, so technical logs and purchase data may be processed in other countries under their safeguards.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above and, for material changes, tell you in the app or on this site before they take effect.
Contact
support@urekalantern.com. Operator name and postal address to be added before launch.