Aquarion Labs ("we", "us", or "our") operates the Caldera Astro mobile application (the "Service"). This page explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. We're committed to protecting your privacy and to being transparent about how your information is handled.
Information We Collect
We collect only what's needed to deliver the Service.
- Account. When you create an account using Sign in with Apple, we receive your unique Apple-issued user identifier. If you choose to share them, we also receive your name and email address.
- Optional inputs. You may optionally provide birth information (birth date, birth time, and birth place) for chart readings. You can type a birth place, choose MapKit search suggestions, or use current location permission only to fill the birth place field. You may also optionally provide a focus question for chart readings and profile preferences.
- Chart readings. For chart-reading orders, we collect your customer name, customer email, focus question, product type, promo code, payment state, purchase/request date, delivery state, and delivered reading content. These records are stored in Apple's CloudKit Public Database so Aquarion Labs can manually fulfill and support your orders.
- Public profile and friends (optional). If you sign in and choose a username, we publish a public profile so friends can find you: your username, the display name you choose, an optional profile photo, and a public encryption key. Anyone using Caldera Astro can search for and see these. When you send or accept a friend request, we store a connection record between your account and theirs.
- Birth cards shared with friends. When you connect with a friend, your birth date, time, and place are sent to them as an end-to-end encrypted card (HPKE, using Apple's CryptoKit). It is stored in CloudKit, but only that friend's device can open it — Aquarion Labs and Apple cannot read it. Removing a friend withdraws the card.
- Reports and blocks. If you report someone, we store the reported account's identifier, username, display name, the reason you chose, and your account identifier, so a moderator can review it. Reports are readable only by Aquarion Labs moderators. If we ban an account, we store a ban record that the app uses to hide that account. The list of people you block is kept only on your device.
- Approximate location for weather (optional). If you turn on "Match my weather" for Today's music, the app reads your approximate (city-level) location and sends it to Apple WeatherKit to get the current weather; Apple also turns it into a city name. The result is kept on your device for up to an hour. We do not receive or store your location, and you can turn this off at any time.
- Device identifier for fraud prevention. We use a hashed per-device signal, derived from Apple's identifierForVendor or a locally generated fallback ID, to prevent repeated free-reading abuse. The raw device identifier is not stored in CloudKit.
- Technical data. We may process limited technical signals through Apple and Google services, such as device type, iOS version, app version, language, time zone, crash/diagnostic data, advertising identifiers when permitted, and ad interaction data handled by Google.
How We Use Your Information
We use what we collect to provide and improve the Service: generate astrological readings, deliver the Daily Oracle and Sacred Calendar, sync your purchases and readings across your devices, send reading delivery, "what's new," and optional daily/guidance/focus reminders, let you find friends and share birth cards with them, match Today's music to your local weather if you ask it to, review reports and keep the community safe, prevent fraud and abuse (including repeated free-reading abuse through our per-device hashing mechanism), respond to support requests, and — only with your consent — show personalized advertising. We use local astrological calculations where possible; cloud-backed reading orders are transmitted off-device so Aquarion Labs can deliver them.
Do We Sell Personal Information?
No. We do not sell personal information.
EEA / UK Users
Data controller. For users in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, the data controller is Aquarion Labs (operated by Ceren Dastanoglu). You can reach us about any data-protection matter at hello@aquarionlabs.com.
Legal bases. We process personal data under the following legal bases: performance of a contract (to deliver the features you request), legitimate interests (to improve the Service and prevent abuse), consent (for tracking-based and personalized advertising and certain optional features), and legal obligations. Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time — withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew.
Storage and Security
Local Storage
Sensitive profile and birth values are stored locally on your device through SecureLocalStore encryption, while other app preferences may use UserDefaults or the app group UserDefaults. We may keep a local Apple display-name recovery value in the device Keychain after profile deletion so we can greet a returning user by name if Apple does not resend the name on a later Sign in with Apple authorization.
CloudKit Storage
Your account profile — including your Apple-assigned user identifier, display name, email address, account creation date, subscription/free-reading credit status, and first-subscription state — is stored in Apple's CloudKit Private Database. Chart-reading orders and delivered reading content are stored in Apple's CloudKit Public Database so Aquarion Labs can manually fulfill and support orders. If you use friends, your public profile, connection records, encrypted birth cards, reports, and ban records are stored in Apple's CloudKit Public Database; your public profile is visible to other users, birth cards can only be opened by the friend they were sent to, and reports can only be read by our moderators. Limited app settings and content are shared with widgets through the app group, such as theme, language, subscription unlock state, and daily quote/oracle display data.
Data Security
All data is governed by Apple's iCloud privacy practices. We use industry-standard safeguards including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest, but no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.
Third-Party Services
We rely on a small number of third-party services to operate Caldera Astro:
- Apple — Sign in with Apple, StoreKit (subscriptions and one-time purchases), iCloud / CloudKit, push notifications, App Tracking Transparency, MapKit, Core Location, and WeatherKit (current weather for your approximate location, only if you turn it on).
- Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) and Google's User Messaging Platform — advertising, frequency capping, and consent management. Google may use a device identifier to serve personalized or non-personalized ads depending on your choices.
Each provider has its own privacy policy that governs its handling of your information.
App Tracking and Advertising
We use Google Mobile Ads and Google's User Messaging Platform for ads, consent management, and frequency capping. Caldera Plus removes ads. We do not track you across other companies' apps and websites unless you grant permission via the App Tracking Transparency prompt. If you grant permission, we may collect your IDFA for personalized advertising. If you decline, ads are served non-personalized and contextual where applicable, using signals such as language and time zone. You can change your tracking choice at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → Caldera Astro.
Automated Decisions & Profiling
We do not make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you through solely automated processing. Personalized advertising involves profiling carried out by Google to choose the ads you are shown; this only takes place if you have given consent, and you can withdraw that consent or turn off tracking at any time, after which ads are served non-personalized.
Subscriptions and Payments
Subscriptions and in-app purchases are processed by Apple via StoreKit. We never see or store your payment card details. Caldera Astro receives product IDs, transaction and entitlement status, renewal/expiration state, and purchase state needed to unlock features.
Your Rights
Depending on where you live — and in particular if you are in the EEA or the UK — you have the right to access, correct, export (data portability), and delete the personal data we hold about you, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw any consent you have given at any time (without affecting processing already carried out). You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection or supervisory authority. We do not charge for exercising these rights and will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.
You can delete your account and profile data at any time from Profile → Manage profile → Cancel subscription & delete profile. Deleting signs you out and removes local profile/birth/email copies and private profile metadata.
You can remove your public profile and username at any time from Profile → Edit profile → Remove my social profile. This deletes your public profile and username, ends your friendships, and withdraws the birth cards you shared; your own chart stays on your device.
If you have an active Caldera Plus subscription, you must first cancel it in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions and wait until the current billing period ends before deleting your profile, so that your subscription benefits and your account remain in sync.
Children's Privacy
Caldera Astro is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can delete it.
International Transfers
Your information may be processed in countries other than the one you reside in. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Apple's and Google's standard contractual clauses.
Data Retention
Local data lives on your device until you delete it, sign out, clear profile/readings, or uninstall the app. CloudKit profile data is retained while your account is active or until deletion is requested, subject to Apple CloudKit behavior and legal/support needs. Public profile, connection, and birth-card records are kept until you remove your social profile or a friend, or until we remove them for a rules violation. Reports and ban records are kept as long as needed to moderate the community, handle appeals, and meet legal obligations. Public reading-order records are retained as needed for fulfillment, support, billing history, fraud prevention, dispute handling, and legal obligations. When you delete your profile, local profile/birth/email copies and private profile metadata are removed. However, a local Apple display-name recovery value, public reading-order records, and anti-abuse records may be retained when needed for account restoration, fulfillment, support, fraud prevention, or legal obligations.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be communicated within the app before they take effect.
Contact
Questions, requests, or complaints? Reach us at hello@aquarionlabs.com.