1Quake Feed — Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-10-08
This privacy policy applies to the mobile app "Quake Feed" for Android:
- Google Play: package com.simonj.quaketracker, developer "Global Utility App Maker"
The app is developed and operated by Kyu-Hee Jang (Google Play developer name: Global Utility App Maker).
Contact: wkdrb2100@gmail.com
OVERVIEW
Quake Feed does not require an account, and we do not sell personal information. It shows recent earthquakes from the public USGS feed on a map and in a list, and lets you save up to five watch places with their own radius and minimum magnitude. Your watch places and settings are kept in the app's storage on your device. The app also uses Google services and an advertising mediation partner for push messaging, analytics, crash reporting, remote configuration, and advertising.
INFORMATION STORED ON YOUR DEVICE
For each watch place the app keeps the name you give it, its latitude and longitude, the radius (50 to 1,000 km), the minimum magnitude, a colour and when it was last changed. The app keeps at most five watch places; adding, undoing a deletion and restoring a backup all keep this limit, and a restore that would exceed it is refused. The app also keeps your quiet-hours setting, a list of IDs of deleted watch places so that restoring an older backup does not bring them back (this list is kept without a limit), the notification topics it has subscribed to, and the earthquake messages it has received together with the time they arrived on your phone. Received messages are removed when they are more than 30 days old, the next time the app checks them.
The app may also store basic operating information such as whether you have seen the introduction, how many times the app has been opened (used to time a single review request), cached advertising settings and a cached More Apps list. If saved watch data cannot be read, the app does not overwrite it and offers a recovery copy instead.
The app is set up so that Android's automatic cloud backup and device-to-device transfer do not include the watch places, settings and received messages described above. Backup files you create yourself are described below.
EARTHQUAKE DATA AND NETWORK USE
The app downloads the public USGS "all earthquakes, past day" feed directly from the U.S. Geological Survey when it starts, when it returns to the foreground and when you refresh the list. This request does not include your watch places, but like any web request it reveals your IP address to the USGS server. Distances to your watch places and the map are calculated on your device; the map is built into the app. "Event page" and "Did you feel it?" open USGS web pages in your browser.
LOCATION
Location is optional. It is used only when you tap "Use my location" in the watch-place editor; at that point Android asks for approximate location access if you have not already allowed it. If you allow it, the app reads your current position once and fills in the latitude and longitude fields (rounded to four decimal places); it is saved only if you save the watch place. If you decline, the app shows that location is unavailable and you can enter coordinates or pick a point on the map instead. The app does not track your location in the background.
NOTIFICATIONS AND FIREBASE CLOUD MESSAGING
When you save your first watch place, and when you tap "Enable notifications" in Settings, the app asks for permission to show notifications (on Android versions that require it). If you decline, the app does not subscribe to any notification topics and you can still browse the feed; you can allow notifications later in Android settings.
When notifications are allowed, the app subscribes your phone to one Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) topic for each watch place (places in the same cell with the same minimum magnitude share a topic). A topic name has the form c_LAT_LON_mBUCKET: LAT and LON are the numbers of the 2-degree grid cell (roughly 220 km north to south) that contains the place, and BUCKET is the place's minimum magnitude (25, 30, 40, 50 or 60 for M2.5, M3, M4, M5 and M6). FCM therefore receives these coarse cell topics and a registration ID for your app installation, but not your exact coordinates, radius or place names. When you delete a watch place or notifications are no longer allowed, the app unsubscribes from topics it no longer needs the next time it updates its subscriptions (for example when it opens or returns to the foreground).
The app is designed to receive earthquake messages sent to these topics through FCM by a notification service operated by the developer; that service is not yet operating, so earthquake notifications may not arrive until it is. Earthquakes are always listed in the app from the public USGS feed. When a message arrives, the app compares the earthquake with your saved watch places and quiet hours on your device to decide whether to show a notification and whether it makes a sound. A notification shows the magnitude, the region, and the distance to and name of your nearest watch place.
ANALYTICS, CRASH REPORTING, AND ADS
Google Firebase Analytics may process limited app-usage and technical information, such as app launches, a screen view when the app starts, an app-open count, when the automatic review request is triggered and whether it was attempted, unavailable or failed, ad revenue events (ad format, value, currency and precision), app version, device type, and app-instance identifiers. These events do not include watch-place names, coordinates or radii.
Google Firebase Crashlytics may process crash reports and related technical information needed to diagnose app problems.
The app shows ads through Google AdMob. A banner may appear at the bottom of the main screen, and an ad may appear in the exit dialog. Full-screen ads may appear when the app opens or returns to the foreground, and occasionally after you save a watch place. The app does not start a full-screen ad while one of its sheets (watch places, place editor, filters, event details, settings or the introduction) is open, while a save, backup or restore is in progress, or within two minutes after you open the app from one of its notifications. AdMob may also request ads from the InMobi mediation network. Google and InMobi may process advertising identifiers and device, app, consent, network, and ad-performance information to provide and measure ads, and may use an IP address to estimate an approximate location.
ADVERTISING CHOICES
When the app starts, Google's consent message (UMP) is checked first. Where consent is required (for example in the EEA and UK), personalized advertising stays off unless your choice allows it, and if the consent result does not allow ad requests, the app does not request ads. Where no consent message is required, ads may be personalized. If the consent message cannot be loaded, the app still requests non-personalized ads, personalized advertising stays off, and the "Advertising privacy choices" option is not shown until the app is started again. Where Google requires it, Settings shows "Advertising privacy choices", which reopens the consent message so you can change your advertising choice. The app works whatever you choose.
STORAGE AND YOUR CONTROL
You can edit or delete a watch place under Watch places; Undo adds a deleted place back as a new copy. You can change or turn off quiet hours in Settings. Deleted places are removed from the app's records, while their IDs stay in the deleted-ID list described above. You can also clear the app's data in Android settings or uninstall the app.
"Back up watch places" in Settings asks you to choose a folder and saves files there containing your watch places (names and coordinates), quiet hours and the deleted-ID list. Before saving, the app writes the same files to its own storage and checks them; after a successful backup it keeps the three most recent complete backup sets there and deletes older ones, and unfinished sets more than 24 hours old are deleted the next time the app loads its data. In the folder you choose, the app may delete its own unfinished backup files (ending in _pending.json) that are more than 24 hours old; it does not replace or delete completed backups there. When saved data cannot be read, a recovery copy of the unreadable file is saved the same way, and the app's own copy is deleted the next time the app loads its data once it is more than 24 hours old. "Restore watch places" reads the newest backup in a folder you choose and merges it with your places. Copies you save or send elsewhere stay where you put them, and the app does not delete them.
Because we do not receive your watch places, we cannot delete them for you; the controls above remove them from the app. For questions about data processed by Google or InMobi, or to ask us for help with a privacy request, contact us at the address below.
Data processed by third parties is retained according to their service settings and policies. We use these services under their applicable terms, and we ensure that third-party service providers with whom we share user data provide the same or equal protection of that data as stated in this policy.
- Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Firebase privacy information: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
- Google advertising technologies: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
- InMobi Privacy Policy: https://www.inmobi.com/privacy-policy
SECURITY
Your watch places and settings are kept in the app's private storage on your device, which the operating system protects from other apps; they are not separately encrypted by the app, so protect your device with a screen lock. Apart from the coarse topic subscriptions and limited analytics events described above and the backup files you choose to save, the app does not upload your saved data. Communication between the app and USGS, Google services and the ad mediation partner uses encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we limit what the app collects to what is described in this policy.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Quake Feed is not an earthquake early-warning system. Once the notification service operates, notifications can be sent only after an event appears in the USGS feed, which near the United States is often within minutes and elsewhere often 15 to 30 minutes or more after the earthquake. Events first reported more than 24 hours after they occur are not notified, smaller earthquakes outside the United States may be missing from the feed, magnitudes and locations can be revised, and Android may delay or stop notifications. Do not rely on the app for safety decisions; follow your local emergency authorities.
CHILDREN
The app is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
CHANGES
We may update this policy if the app or its services change. The date above shows the latest revision.
CONTACT
Kyu-Hee Jang (Google Play developer: Global Utility App Maker)
Email: wkdrb2100@gmail.com