PENDING LEGAL REVIEW — this text has not been approved by a lawyer. Highlighted parts are not decided yet.
Location and Disaster Communication Notice
Location permission is optional. Without it, alerts, guides and downloaded maps still work; only location-based features (nearby events, adding your location to an SOS) are limited. Koruya is not an official warning system and delivery of alerts is not guaranteed.
1. When location is read
- While the app is open, to show nearby disasters, weather and nearby critical places; the permission is asked with the system's own dialog, after a short explanation in the app, when a feature first needs it.
- During an open SOS: when you start an SOS, a foreground service with an ongoing notification tries to keep your location on the SOS; it stops when the SOS ends, when you tap Stop or when its time limit is reached. The store version does not ask for the "Allow all the time" (background) location permission; updates may stop if Android fully closes the app.
- Outside an SOS no new location is read in the background; the nearby disaster check uses the last location saved on the phone.
2. Where location goes
- To data sources (rounded): about 1 decimal place to USGS and EMSC for earthquakes, about 2 decimal places to MET Norway for weather (1 decimal place in the web app), and 2 decimal places to the NWS if you are in the United States. Your name and account id are not sent; the source sees your IP address.
- To Koruya's server only by your choice: when you turn on location sharing in a family group, share an SOS with your family, or add your location to an "I'm safe" check-in with "add location". Turning sharing off deletes the coordinates in your family statuses; family SOS records are deleted 30 days after the SOS ends.
- Into messages you share: "Share location" and SOS sharing hand your coordinates and a map link to the app you pick (SMS, WhatsApp, etc.); you send the message.
- Map packs: offline map packs carry no coordinates; the name of an automatically downloaded province pack can show your province.
3. How disaster alerts reach you
- In the store version: the app regularly checks public data sources (USGS, EMSC, GDACS, NASA EONET, MET Norway and official warning feeds for your area) and shows a local notification on the phone for a new event. Your phone decides when background checks run; battery saving can delay or skip them.
- Server notifications (push): not switched on in today's store version; when they are, Privacy Policy §3 takes effect and you are told in the app beforehand.
- Source label: every record is labelled with its kind (official warning, measurement record, automatic alert system, satellite detection, model estimate); an estimate or a satellite detection is never shown as an official warning. Warnings issued by Türkiye's official agencies are not connected to the app yet.
- What is not certain: sources can be late, incomplete or wrong; a source that does not answer does not mean nothing is happening. Koruya is not an earthquake early-warning system.
4. SOS and messages
- The emergency call button opens your phone app with your country's emergency number checked against an official source; you start the call.
- Koruya does not send SOS and location messages through its own server; you send them with the app you pick and Koruya cannot confirm delivery. Without a network or internet the message may not go out.
- An SOS to your family group is retried when the device is back online; delivery is not guaranteed.
5. Managing permissions
You can turn location and notification permissions off at any time in your phone's settings; you can turn family location sharing off on that group's screen. Details: Privacy Policy §5 and §7, Emergency Safety Notice. Questions: privacy@koruya.app.