Introduction
OutageSensor ("the app," "we," "us") is developed and operated by Oleksandr Seminov, an independent developer — not a company. This Privacy Policy explains what information the app and its companion cloud service collect, how that information is used, and the choices you have. It applies to the OutageSensor iOS and Android apps.
Information We Collect
OutageSensor is designed to collect as little as possible. Specifically, we collect:
- Sensor device identifiers. Each physical sensor has a device ID (its hardware MAC address). This ID is used to identify your sensor(s) and route status updates and alerts to your app.
- Outage event data and timestamps. When a sensor detects a power or internet outage (and when it recovers), the event and its timestamp are recorded so the app can show you outage history and send alerts.
- Push notification tokens. If you enable notifications, Apple (on iOS) or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (on Android) issues a device token that we use solely to deliver outage alerts to your device.
- Subscription/purchase status. Pro subscriptions (Monthly/Yearly) are purchased and managed entirely through Apple's in-app purchase system. Apple handles your payment information; we never see or store it. To unlock Pro features and apply the Pro sensor limit, the app sends our server the Apple-signed record of your active subscription. Our server verifies Apple's signature and stores only the subscription's anonymous transaction ID and expiration date, linked to your device's push notification token. This information is not linked to your identity and is never used for tracking or advertising.
- Approximate country. To decide whether to show a link to buy a sensor in your region, our network provider determines the approximate country of your connection from its IP address. We use it only for that decision and do not store it.
Your home WiFi network name and password are used only to connect a sensor to your network during setup or reconfiguration. This exchange happens directly between the app and the sensor over Bluetooth — it does not pass through or get stored on our servers.
What we do not collect: we do not require or collect your name, email address, or any account credentials — there is no account system. We do not track your location — the app requests Location permission solely because iOS requires it to read the current WiFi network name while connecting a sensor to your home network during setup; we do not access, store, or transmit your location, and this permission is never used for tracking. We do not collect browsing history or any data unrelated to sensor monitoring.
How We Use Information
The information above is used for exactly one purpose: to provide the outage monitoring and alerting functionality the app is built for — identifying your sensors, recording and displaying outage history, and delivering push notifications when a sensor's status changes. We do not use your information for advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to running the app.
Data Sharing
We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. Limited technical data passes through the following categories of service providers, strictly as needed to operate the app:
- Cloud hosting and network infrastructure providers — the servers and network services that relay sensor status data between your sensors and the app.
- Google — for delivering push notifications on Android (Firebase Cloud Messaging).
- Apple — for delivering push notifications (Apple Push Notification service) and for processing subscription purchases (App Store).
These providers process data only to the extent necessary to deliver the service — none of them are permitted to use it for their own advertising or analytics purposes.
Data Storage and Security
Communication between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS). WiFi credentials are exchanged directly between the app and your sensor over Bluetooth and are never transmitted to or stored on our servers.
Outage event data and sensor records are retained for as long as the sensor remains registered to your account, and are deleted when you remove the sensor from the app. We do not currently apply an automatic time-based deletion in addition to this — data is not kept indefinitely once you remove a sensor, but there is no separate countdown while it remains registered.
Your list of added sensors and their access tokens sync via Apple's iCloud (iCloud Key-Value Storage and iCloud Keychain) so they follow you across your own devices signed into the same Apple ID. This sync is handled entirely by Apple's infrastructure — we do not have access to your iCloud data.
Sensor Sharing Feature
A sensor's owner can share read-only access to it via Share Sensor, on the sensor's detail screen: this generates a QR code and shareable link containing a unique, revocable access token. The recipient scans the code or opens the link in their own copy of the app to get read-only access — they can view live status and outage history and receive their own notifications, but cannot change WiFi or other settings. The owner can see everyone they've shared with and revoke access at any time from Manage Sharing, which immediately cuts off the recipient's access.
Children's Privacy
OutageSensor is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with information, contact us and we will remove it.
Your Rights and Choices
- Delete your data. Removing a sensor from the app deletes its outage history from our servers. To request deletion of any other data associated with your device tokens, email us at the address below.
- Notifications. You can disable push notifications at any time in iOS Settings → Notifications → OutageSensor.
- Remove a sensor. Open the sensor's detail screen in the app and choose "Remove Sensor" to unlink it and clear its history from your device and our servers.
Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes when practical.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at outage.sensor.support@gmail.com.