Stratus Radar
Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 4, 2026 · Stratus Radar for Android
1 Who We Are
Stratus Radar ("the App") is a weather globe that shows public weather data, operated by Swap Widget LLC ("we"). If you have any questions about this policy, email swapwidget@gmail.com.
2 Your Location Stays on Your Phone
If you allow it, the App reads your approximate location to start the globe over your area. It never asks for precise (GPS) location or for location in the background, and it works fully if you say no. Your device location stays on the phone: it is stored there for the next launch and for the live wallpaper, and it is never sent to us.
To draw the map, the App requests map tiles for the area you view (and, for the wallpaper, around your saved place) from our server and from public data providers, which see your IP address and that area. They include NASA (GIBS), NOAA and its partners (NOAA's open data on Amazon Web Services, Iowa State University's Iowa Environmental Mesonet, NOMADS, nowCOAST and aviationweather.gov), EUMETSAT and national weather services such as Deutscher Wetterdienst and the Japan Meteorological Agency. The full list is on the credits page. Each handles its requests under its own policy.
Android's own device backup may copy the App's settings to your Google account, as it does for most apps. Your saved location and your Pro status are left out of it.
3 Our Map Server and Its Logs
Many map requests pass through our server, which caches weather data so that the public providers are asked once rather than by every phone. The App reaches it at tiles.swapwidget.com, which is delivered through Cloudflare's network, and at the server's own address as a fallback. Cloudflare handles those requests, including your IP address, to deliver and protect them, under Cloudflare's privacy policy.
Our server's access logs keep no request paths and only a shortened network address (the first three parts of an IPv4 address, or the first three groups of an IPv6 address), for 7 days, for operation and abuse protection. Error logs, also kept 7 days, can occasionally contain the address and map path of a failed request. No account, advertising ID or device ID is ever sent to our server, and it never learns whether you bought Pro.
4 Data We Do NOT Collect
5 Ads (Google AdMob)
The free version shows one ad, provided by Google's Mobile Ads SDK and marked "Sponsored", as the last item of the layer list. There are no ads on the map, in Studio, in videos, on the Pro screen or on the wallpaper. To choose, show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google's SDK automatically collects and shares with Google:
| Data | Examples | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate location | IP address, used to estimate a general area | Advertising, analytics, fraud prevention |
| App interactions | App launches, taps, ad views | Advertising, analytics, fraud prevention |
| Diagnostics | Launch time, hang rate, energy use | Advertising, analytics, fraud prevention |
| Device identifiers | Android advertising ID, app set ID | Advertising, analytics, fraud prevention |
Third parties, including Google, may use cookies, IP addresses or other identifiers to collect information from this app and elsewhere to serve and measure ads. This data is encrypted in transit. Google's use of it is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy. Your location from the phone is never given to the ads SDK. For Pro users the ads SDK and the consent tool are never started.
6 Your Ad Choices (Consent)
In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the App asks for your consent through Google's consent tool before personalized ads are used. Where the law gives you a right to opt out, such as in some US states, the same tool offers it. You can change your choice at any time in Settings › Privacy options (shown when it applies where you are). You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's Settings › Privacy › Ads. Without an internet connection no ads are requested.
7 Purchases (Stratus Radar Pro)
Stratus Radar Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, handled entirely by Google Play. Google processes the payment; we never see your card or payment details. The App only reads from Google Play whether your Google account owns Pro, and keeps a small note on your phone so Pro works offline. It checks with Google Play again to restore Pro on a new phone or after reinstalling. Nothing about your purchase is sent to our server. Google Play's terms and the Google Privacy Policy apply to the purchase.
8 Share Links, Videos and the Wallpaper
Share links and pictures. You choose what to share and with whom. A link holds the place, time and layers of the view after the "#" sign, a part that browsers never send to any server, ours included. The position is rounded to about 1 km unless you turn on the exact position. The picture never shows your location marker. Whoever receives the link or picture can see the place it shows.
Videos (Studio, Pro). Videos are made and saved on your phone, and we never receive them. While a video is made, the App requests map tiles for the clip like the map does. The sample clip on the Pro screen is part of the App and fetches nothing.
Live wallpaper (Pro). The wallpaper never reads your location. It uses the place you last saved in the App, rounded to about 10 km, and fetches cloud images, or rain images around that place, only while it is on screen.
9 This Website
The Stratus Radar pages on swapwidget.com run no analytics and set no cookies. The page a shared link opens reads the view from the part after the "#" inside your browser and sends it nowhere. Our web server keeps standard request logs (IP address, page address, browser type and time) for operation and security. The pages load their fonts from Google Fonts, and the shared-link page shows Google's Play badge, which come from Google's servers.
10 Permissions
- Internet and network state: to load map tiles and weather data, and, in the free version, the ad.
- Approximate location: optional, only to start the globe over your area. Never precise, never in the background.
- Advertising ID: added by Google's ads SDK and used only for the free version's ad.
- Files and media: the App asks for no access to your files or photos. Videos are saved to your phone's Movies folder through Android's media store.
11 Keeping and Deleting Data
- On your phone: your settings, saved location, cached maps and videos stay until you delete them, clear the App's storage, or uninstall.
- Our server's logs: deleted after 7 days.
- Help & feedback messages: kept on our support server until we delete them; ask through Help & feedback or by email to have yours deleted (section 15).
- Ads data: kept by Google under its own retention policies. You can reset your advertising ID at any time.
- Purchases: your purchase record is kept by Google Play with your Google account.
Apart from support messages you choose to send, we hold no account or profile about you, so there's nothing else for us to hand over or delete. If you have a question or request about your privacy, email us and we'll help, including pointing you to Google's tools for ads data.
12 Security
The App's data on your phone is protected by Android's app sandbox. Map requests to our server, Help & feedback messages to our support server, and ads and purchase data to Google, travel over encrypted connections.
13 Children's Privacy
Stratus Radar is intended for people aged 13 and over and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.
14 Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and publish the new version at this address. Significant changes will also be mentioned in the App's release notes.
15 Help & Feedback
Settings › Help & feedback lets you send us a bug report, a feature request, or a question or note, and read our replies in the App. Nothing is sent until you tap Send, and the page goes online only while it is open. There is no account and no sign-in.
With each message the App sends the text you wrote, the kind of message you picked, the App's version, your Android version (for example "Android 16") and a random install ID. The App creates that ID the first time you send a message and keeps it on your phone. It is not your name, email, Google account, advertising ID or any device identifier; it only lets this install list its own requests and our replies. Our support server (api.swapwidget.com, run by Swap Widget LLC, separate from the map server) stores the message, its kind, the two versions, the date and a one-way scrambled (hashed) form of the install ID, never the ID itself. Like any server it sees your IP address; it uses it only to limit how many messages can be sent, and does not store it with your message. Messages travel over an encrypted connection.
When we answer a request, the message and our reply may be published in a public list of Stratus Radar updates, without your name or install ID, so please don't put personal details in a message. We use messages only to answer them and to improve the App, never for ads, and we don't sell them or share them with anyone. They are kept until we delete them; to have yours deleted, ask through Help & feedback or by email. Uninstalling the App or clearing its storage removes the install ID from your phone (Android's device backup may bring it back on a new phone, with your other settings); messages already sent stay on our server until they are deleted.