Privacy Policy
LOOK UP does not require an account, fingerprint the device, or use third-party analytics. It creates a random installation identifier and a separate high-entropy secret on the device. The secret is stored in the iOS Keychain and authenticates only that installation to the LOOK UP backend. LOOK UP does not send either installation credential to its advertising provider.
Information used by LOOK UP
When you choose a monitoring area, LOOK UP sends its latitude, longitude, and radius to the backend so cloud alerts can work while the app is closed. The backend stores the current monitoring area, watchlist, saved-search preferences, push token, entitlement status, alert history, community-report preferences and submissions, aircraft-data correction reports, and limited operational security records. Aircraft-data correction reports contain the aircraft identifier, identity shown by LOOK UP, observation time, selected reason, and any optional details you enter; they do not include your monitoring location. LOOK UP also records whether an alert was accepted by the push service, whether a delivery receipt was returned, and whether the notification was opened. A live-map selection may be retained as a daily aircraft-level total. To avoid duplicate counts, the backend temporarily retains a keyed, day-scoped digest derived from the private installation identity; this digest is pseudonymous, not anonymous, and cannot be calculated from a database copy without a separate server key. Automatic aircraft-card impressions are not collected. These measurements do not contain advertising identifiers or precise location. LOOK UP does not continuously track the phone in the background and does not retain a location history.
Free-tier advertising
The Free tier displays non-personalized banner ads supplied by Google AdMob. LOOK UP does not pass monitoring coordinates, aircraft searches, watchlists, installation credentials, push tokens, or purchase information to AdMob and does not request access to Apple's advertising identifier. Google's Mobile Ads SDK may process IP addresses and IP-derived general location, app or device identifiers, advertising data and interactions, diagnostics, and performance information under Google's policies. Premium installations do not request or display ads. Where legally required, Google's User Messaging Platform presents consent choices and LOOK UP provides an Ad Privacy Choices entry point in Settings.
Services
Aircraft searches and monitoring use public ADS-B information. LOOK UP uses Railway for hosting and database storage, ADSB.lol for aircraft observations, Expo and Apple for push notifications, Apple for purchases, and Google AdMob for Free-tier banner advertising. These providers naturally receive network information such as IP addresses and may retain information under their own policies. LOOK UP never receives payment-card details.
Retention and deletion
Alert records are retained for 90 days, engagement deduplication values for no more than three days, and aircraft-level daily totals for 365 days. Community aircraft tags expire after 24 hours. Aircraft correction reports and installation-specific mutes are retained while needed to review data quality, prevent repeated false alerts, and document correction decisions; automatic mutes expire after 90 days unless renewed. You may use Delete This Installation's Data in Settings to revoke the installation and delete its directly linked server-side data. Already aggregated aircraft-level daily totals and aircraft suppressions that no longer identify an installation cannot be removed for a particular installation. Subscription transaction records may be retained where needed to validate purchases, refunds, or legal obligations.
Contact
Privacy questions may be sent to dr.ifixit@gmail.com.