Steven's Launch Guide for iPhone and Android
Privacy Policy
Last updated October 4, 2026
Launch Guide has no accounts, no ads and no tracking. It never sells or shares data, and it keeps only anonymous usage counts. This page lists everything the app sends off your phone and why. It applies to the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android apps.
Your location
If you allow it, your location is used on your phone only to show how far you are from the launch pad, which way to look, and distances to viewing spots. It is never sent to us or anyone else. On iPhone, a viewing-spot suggestion can include a location, but only if you choose to attach one.
Launch schedule and weather
The app downloads the launch schedule and the National Weather Service forecast from stevenslaunchguide.com. Weather requests include only a launch time. Cloud forecasts at the launch pad come from Apple Weather on iPhone and Open-Meteo on Android; both receive the pad's coordinates, not yours. Satellite and radar imagery is downloaded directly from NOAA and the Iowa Environmental Mesonet, and the Android map uses OpenFreeMap. These services see an ordinary web request (including your IP address) like any website would.
Notifications
To alert you when a launch you follow is delayed or scrubbed, and to update the Lock Screen countdown on iPhone, the app sends our server:
- a push token: from Apple on iPhone, or from Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android (a random identifier for this app on this device),
- a random install ID the app creates, so one install is counted once even when its push token changes,
- the IDs of the launches you follow, which kinds of notifications you want and your reminder times,
- the app version, and which launches you've already logged (so it stops asking “Did you see it?”),
- on iPhone, whether you want the Lock Screen countdown started automatically, and a token for any countdown that is running.
These are not linked to your name, Apple Account, Google Account, email or location. They are deleted automatically 30 days after the app last checks in, and as soon as Apple or Google reports the token is no longer valid (for example after you delete the app). Notifications to Android phones are delivered through Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, which handles only the token and the message.
Your launch log
The launches you log, where you watched from, your notes and badges are stored on your phone. On iPhone they also sync to your other Apple devices through your own iCloud account; we can't see them. Two features send part of it to us, and only when you use them:
- Importing a log: the file you choose is sent to our server, read once by Anthropic's Claude to find the launches in it, and not stored.
- Print discounts: claiming a reward sends the app's install ID and the reward, so a code is issued only once. The code is created in our Shopify store.
Suggestions
If you send a suggestion or report a problem, we receive what you write and, if you add one, your email address so we can reply. Nothing else is attached.
Anonymous usage counts
When the app, its widgets or the Watch app load the launch schedule, our server counts the request: which screen asked (launch list, launch detail or recent launches), whether it came from the app, a widget or the Watch, the app version, and the country the request came from. These are anonymous usage counts: endpoint, app version, country. We don't store your IP address, push token or any identifier with them, so they can't be traced back to you or your device. We use them only to see how much the app is used.
Alarms, calendar and reminders
Wake-up alarms, reminders and calendar events are created on your phone using its own system features. Nothing about them is sent to us.
Children
The app is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone.
Contact
Questions: apps@stevenmadow.com