Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 5, 2026

Who is responsible?

Oscar is a one-person project. There’s no data protection officer, because none is required. If you have questions, just write to me directly.

The app

Your location

Oscar shows the weather for your current location or for places you add yourself. It only reads your current location if you allow it in iOS, and you can change that any time in the iOS settings. Without location access, Oscar keeps working with saved places.

What happens with your location:

• Forecast, air quality, ensemble, climate: Oscar sends the coordinates rounded to three decimal places (about 100 m) to Open-Meteo. When you open the list of places, the rounded coordinates of all saved places are requested in one go.
• Radar, weather stations, warnings: the same rounded coordinates go to Oscar’s own server. It answers the request and doesn’t store it.
• Place name: to show “Leipzig” instead of coordinates, iOS sends your exact location to Apple (reverse geocoding). This also applies to widgets and the Apple Watch.
• Maps: map tiles come from OpenFreeMap, which learns which part of the map you’re looking at. When it opens, the map is centred on your location. One widget also loads a map of your surroundings through Apple.
• Canada: for places in Canada, Oscar requests warnings directly from Environment and Climate Change Canada, with rounded coordinates.
• Place search: what you type into the search goes to Open-Meteo, together with your language, to find matching places.

With every request, the server on the other end technically also sees your IP address. Oscar itself doesn’t attach anything to weather requests that identifies you or your device.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (the app features you use). Location is read on your device only with your permission through iOS (§ 25(1) TDDDG).

Notifications: rain, severe weather, Live Activity

Notifications are off until you turn them on. When you do, Oscar registers with Oscar’s server, which stores:

• your push token from Apple (so the server can reach your device),
• your rounded location (about 100 m) and the place name,
• time zone, language and 12/24-hour format,
• which notifications you want,
• for the Live Activity on the Lock Screen, the tokens Apple issues for it.

The server regularly checks the radar and official warnings for your location and, when needed, sends a notification through the Apple Push Notification service. Apple sees the content of the notification, including the place name. The server keeps a log of sent notifications, which is deleted automatically after 14 or 30 days.

If you turn all notifications off, the app deletes your registration on the server, including the push token, location and log. From then on, Oscar’s server stores nothing about you. If Apple reports a push token as invalid (for example because the app was deleted), the server deactivates the notifications and deletes the registration after 30 days.

Legal basis: your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. You can withdraw it any time by turning notifications off in Oscar or in the iOS settings.

Crash and performance reports (Sentry)

To find and fix bugs, the iPhone app uses Sentry. Widgets and the Apple Watch don’t send reports. What’s sent:

• on crashes and errors: technical details about the error, device model, iOS and app version, a screenshot of the screen at the moment of the error, and the structure of the view,
• the last steps before an error, including the addresses of recent requests. These can contain your rounded coordinates and a term from the place search,
• for about half of all sessions, measurements of how fast the app runs (loading times, hangs),
• a random ID for this app installation, so related reports can be grouped. It contains no name and no Apple device identifier.

Sentry is operated by Functional Software, Inc. (USA). The data is stored in the EU (Frankfurt) and deleted after 90 days at the latest. Where Sentry transfers data to the US, it does so under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, for which Sentry is certified. A data processing agreement with Sentry is in place.

Legal basis: legitimate interest in a working, stable app, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. You can turn the reports off any time in Oscar under Settings → Send crash reports, or object by email.

Tips

Tips and supporter subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple. I don’t receive any payment or account details. The app only checks on your device whether a purchase exists, to unlock the thank-you icons and stickers.

What stays on your device

Your saved places, settings, the last loaded weather data and maps for widgets are stored only on your device. The usage statistics you see in the settings (how often you open Oscar, places you visited, weather records) are also synced through your own iCloud. I have no access to them.

Apple

Oscar runs on Apple devices and is distributed through Apple (App Store or TestFlight). Apple is itself responsible for place names, push notifications, purchases and iCloud. Apple’s privacy policy applies: apple.com/legal/privacy.

This website

This website runs on the same server as Oscar’s server, hosted by netcup GmbH in Karlsruhe, Germany. When you visit, the server processes technically necessary data such as IP address, time, requested page and browser, to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. These access logs are deleted after 14 days at the latest. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

The website sets no cookies, uses no analytics or tracking and loads no external fonts. If you pick a language, only that choice is stored in your browser so the site remembers it next time (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG).

The TestFlight link leads to Apple.

Where data is processed

Data processing agreements are in place with netcup and Sentry. Open-Meteo, OpenFreeMap, Apple and the Canadian weather service receive data because Oscar calls their services for the features you use. For Canada, the transfer is necessary for the information you asked for (Art. 49(1)(b) GDPR).

Your rights

You have the right to access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object (Art. 21). You can withdraw any consent you’ve given at any time, with effect for the future. An email to me is enough.

Because Oscar works without an account, I can’t find you in my data by your name. For access to or deletion of your notification registration, it helps to tell me, for example, the place you get notifications for.

You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The one responsible for me is the Saxon Data Protection and Transparency Commissioner (Sächsische Datenschutz- und Transparenzbeauftragte), Devrientstraße 5, 01067 Dresden, Germany.

Other

You’re not obliged to provide any data. Without a location and an internet connection, though, Oscar can’t show you the weather. There’s no automated decision-making and no profiling.

If anything about Oscar changes, I’ll update this policy. The date at the top shows the current version.