Privacy policy
The short version
- Bumelerze has no accounts and no sign-up — we never ask for your name, email address, or phone number.
- No ads, no ad SDKs, no third-party analytics or trackers.
- We never sell or share your data for advertising or any commercial purpose.
- Everything the app collects exists for one reason: turning community felt reports into better earthquake science for Kurdistan.
What the app collects
Anonymous device ID
The app generates one random identifier (a UUID) on your device when it is first installed. It is attached to your felt reports so that duplicate or spam reports from a single install can be recognised. It is not linked to your identity — there are no accounts, and a fresh install gets a fresh ID.
Felt reports
When you choose to send a “I felt it!” report, the report contains: the shaking level you picked, the time, your answers to the optional follow-up questions, an optional comment, an optional photo, your location (see below), and the anonymous device ID. Sending a report is always your choice.
Location
The app asks for location permission only while you are using it — it never requests background or “always on” location. Location is used for two things: showing the distance from you to each earthquake, and attaching a position to your felt report so it is valid scientific testimony. Location is optional: if you deny the permission, felt reports still work — you pick your town from a list instead.
Where your data goes
Today, felt reports are stored on your device only and are not transmitted anywhere. The only network requests the app makes are read-only requests to public earthquake data services (USGS, EMSC, GEOFON) — those requests contain nothing about you.
When Bumelerze's own report database goes live, felt reports (including the anonymous device ID and report location) will be transmitted to it so community shaking maps can be built. That database belongs to Bumelerze, and the data in it will still never be sold, shared, or used for advertising. This policy will be updated before that change takes effect.
Telemetry
A minimal, anonymous app-launch telemetry ping (to count active installs) is planned but not active today — the current app sends no telemetry at all. If and when it is enabled, it will be anonymous, tied only to the random device ID, never to any personal identifier.
Deleting your data
Today, because nothing leaves your device, deleting the app deletes all of your data. Once the report database is live, you can request deletion of the reports associated with your device ID by writing to hello@bumelerze.com (the ID is shown inside the app so you can quote it without revealing anything personal).
Changes to this policy
If our data practices change — for example when the report database goes live — this page will be updated and the effective date above revised before the change applies.