Effective date: August 26, 2026
This policy describes how SteadSense ("SteadSense," "we," "us") collects, uses, and shares information when you use the SteadSense mobile app and related services.
Information We Collect
Account & Identity. SteadSense uses sign-in through your Apple, Google, or other identity provider (OIDC). We store your email address, display name, and a unique identifier tied to that sign-in — never a password, since authentication is handled entirely by your identity provider.
Location. Your homestead's location is used to provide weather forecasts, frost dates, and climate guidance. You control how precisely this location is used through a setting with three levels:
- None — no location is sent anywhere; weather features are disabled.
- Coarse (default) — your location is rounded to roughly a 1.1 km area before being sent to the National Weather Service to fetch a forecast.
- Precise — your exact location is sent to the National Weather Service for forecasting.
This setting controls what we transmit to the National Weather Service. The location you configure is stored in our database regardless of this setting, so we can apply it consistently if you later change your preference. Property layout maps (garden beds, structures, etc.) use a private local grid unrelated to real-world coordinates and are never sent anywhere.
Photos. If you attach photos to journal entries, we strip location and camera metadata (EXIF/GPS) from the image before it's uploaded. Photos are stored in object storage operated by us or by a cloud storage provider acting on our behalf.
Homestead Records. SteadSense stores the records you create to use the app: journal entries, financial entries, animal health records, planting and harvest logs, soil test results, asset and maintenance records, and similar homestead-management data. Some of these are free-text fields you control — for example, a financial entry's "counterparty" field or an animal health record's notes — and may incidentally include names or details about people you've noted, such as a veterinarian or contractor.
Emergency Contacts & Resource Directory. If you add emergency contacts, local resources (such as a veterinarian, extension office, or feed store), or a caretaker briefing, that information — including names, phone numbers, and addresses of other people or organizations you choose to enter — is stored so it's available to you and anyone you designate as a caretaker. You're responsible for having a reasonable basis to store this information about others.
Subscription & Billing. If you subscribe, Apple or Google process your payment directly — SteadSense never receives your payment card details. We receive and store transaction identifiers, product and subscription status, and purchase timestamps from Apple's and Google's server APIs, used solely to grant access to paid features. Google-administered purchases may in some cases include basic Google account profile information (such as a name or email) tied to the transaction, if provided by Google.
AI-Assisted Guidance. SteadSense includes an "Ask" feature intended to provide AI-assisted guidance. As of this policy's effective date, this feature is not connected to any AI service — questions are received by our own servers and no external AI provider is used. If we enable a real AI provider in the future, we will update this policy before doing so.
Device & Sync Data. To support offline use and sync across devices, we store a device identifier and session information tied to your account. Data on your device is stored locally and synced to our servers over an encrypted connection.
How We Share Information
We share information only as needed to operate the app:
- National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) — receives location data as described above, to generate your forecast.
- Apple and Google — process subscription payments and provide us transaction/status data as described above.
- Cloud infrastructure providers — may host our servers, database, and object storage as our data processors, under contractual confidentiality obligations.
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising purposes.
Data Retention
We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete a photo, the underlying file is permanently removed from storage within about 24 hours. Other records (journal entries, financial entries, health records, and similar data) are retained until you delete your account, as described below.
Accessing or Deleting Your Data
You can export your data and delete your account yourself, from the Account screen in the app. Neither is behind a paywall, and both work regardless of your subscription status.
Deletion is scheduled 30 days ahead rather than performed immediately. A homestead's records are often years of irreplaceable work, so your account stays fully usable during that window and you can cancel the deletion at any point before it runs. Once the 30 days pass, the data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
If you have already uninstalled the app, you can still request deletion at our account deletion page, or by contacting us at admin@deadstarlabs.com.
Children's Privacy
SteadSense is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
Security
We apply industry-standard security practices, including encrypted connections, secure on-device credential storage, and cryptographic verification of subscription transactions. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as SteadSense changes. We'll update the effective date above when we do. Material changes will be reflected here before they take effect.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy or your data: admin@deadstarlabs.com
Dead Star Labs, operator of SteadSense.