Privacy Policy

Effective September 23, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Eerie Sightings (“Eerie Sightings,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you use the Eerie Sightings website, iOS application, Android application, and related services (collectively, the “Service”). By using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described here.

1. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account information: your name or display name, email address, profile image, authentication-provider identifier, and related account details.
• Sighting reports: the title, description, date and time, category, type, evidence selections, location coordinates, anonymity preference, and other information you choose to submit.
• Communications: information you send when contacting us for support, privacy requests, or other inquiries.

Information collected when you use the Service

• Location: with your device or browser permission, the Service may use your current location to center the map or help select a report location. A report’s selected coordinates are stored with that report. You can deny or revoke device-location permission in your device or browser settings.
• Technical and usage information: internet protocol address, device and browser type, operating system, app version, request timestamps, diagnostic information, and interactions needed to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the Service. Our infrastructure providers may process server logs containing this information.
• Authentication information: sign-in tokens and session data used to keep you signed in. We do not receive your Apple or Google password.

2. Public information and anonymous reports

Sighting reports are intended for public display, including their description, classification, date, approximate or exact map location, selected evidence, and source attribution. If you choose to report anonymously, your name remains associated with the report in our private database for account administration, abuse prevention, and legal compliance, but the public source attribution is displayed as “Anonymous.” Do not include personal, confidential, or identifying information in a public report unless you want it to be public.

3. How we use information

We use information to provide and maintain the map and reports; create and manage accounts; authenticate users; display and attribute reports according to their anonymity selection; respond to support and privacy requests; detect fraud, abuse, security incidents, and technical problems; enforce our Terms of Service; comply with legal obligations; and improve the Service.

If you report a sighting for review, we collect your account identifier, the selected reason, optional explanation, the submission time, and a copy of the sighting content needed for review. These complaints are private and accessible to authorized administrators. We record moderation decisions and may retain complaint snapshots and decision records after an account or sighting is deleted when reasonably necessary for security, abuse prevention, disputes, or legal compliance.

4. How we disclose information

We may disclose information:

• Publicly, when you submit content intended for the public map, subject to your anonymity selection.
• To service providers, such as cloud hosting, database, authentication, mapping, security, and technical-support providers that process information to provide services to us.
• For legal and safety reasons, when reasonably necessary to comply with law or valid legal process, protect rights and safety, investigate abuse, or prevent fraud and security threats.
• In a business transaction, in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate safeguards.
• With your direction or consent.

We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties, including Apple and Google for optional sign-in, Supabase for authentication, Railway or comparable providers for application and database hosting, and map-data or map-tile providers. Their processing is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. Links to external sources and websites are also governed by those third parties.

6. Data retention

We retain account information and reports while your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. If you delete your account, we will delete or de-identify your account and community reports from active systems, subject to reasonable backup cycles and any retention required for security, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, or law. Technical logs are retained only as reasonably necessary for operations, security, and legal compliance.

7. Your choices and rights

You can update your display name, choose anonymous attribution for a new report, revoke location permission, sign out, or delete your account through the Service. Depending on where you live, you may also have rights to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, or an appeal concerning your personal information. To exercise a right, email us at [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. No network, storage system, or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children’s privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can take appropriate action. Users who are not old enough to consent to data processing in their jurisdiction should use the Service only with authorization from a parent or legal guardian.

10. International use

Information may be processed and stored in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. Those locations may have data-protection laws different from those where you live.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the Service changes. We will post the updated policy here and revise the effective date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice when reasonably appropriate.

12. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, contact [email protected].

When reporting a privacy concern, please do not send passwords, authentication tokens, or more personal information than is necessary for us to respond.