Effective date: August 1, 2026
In short
There is no account, no advertising, no analytics, and no tracking. The app has no server that stores anything about you — with one exception: if you turn on push notifications, a small alert relay we operate has to keep your device's notification token and the location(s) you want alerts for, because that is the only way to know which device to warn when the National Weather Service issues something for your area. Turning notifications off deletes that record.
Overview
NOAA Weather (Unofficial) is a free, independent app that displays publicly available weather data from the U.S. National Weather Service (weather.gov). It is not affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA, the NWS, NASA, or any U.S. government agency.
This policy explains what information the app accesses, where it is sent, what is stored, and for how long.
Location Data
When your location is read
Location access is optional and always requested through the standard iOS permission prompt. If you grant it, the app reads your device's location periodically while you are using it — not only when you tap the location button. Specifically, it may read your position when the app starts or returns to the foreground, when it refreshes alerts, and to keep the home screen widget current. Readings are cached for about 20 minutes so the app is not continuously polling your position.
The app does not use background location. It cannot read your position while it is closed. Severe-weather alerts arrive by push notification, which does not require background location access.
You can deny or revoke location permission at any time in iOS Settings. The app remains fully usable — you can search for any city or ZIP code instead.
Where your location is sent
Your coordinates are sent to the public data services listed under “Third-Party Services” below in order to look up the forecast, alerts, tides, marine conditions, and air quality for that spot. Those requests are made directly from your device. Apart from the alert relay described in the next section, we do not operate any server that receives or stores your location.
Push Notifications and the Alert Relay
Push notifications are opt-in. If you enable them, the app registers
with the NOAA Alert Relay, a small server we operate at
noaa-alert-relay.nelsok.workers.dev, hosted on Cloudflare Workers.
What the relay receives and stores
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| APNs device token | A per-install identifier issued by Apple. It is the address a push is delivered to; without it we cannot notify your device. |
| Your selected location (latitude, longitude, NWS forecast zone and office) |
To match alerts issued for that area. The zone lets the relay use the NWS zone-based alert feed directly. |
| Your device's current location (latitude, longitude, NWS zone) |
Stored in addition to your selected location, and only if you have granted location permission, so that you are warned about where you actually are as well as about your saved location — for example while travelling. Sent only when the app is open; it is not tracked in the background. |
| Severity filter | Which alert tiers you have chosen to be notified about. |
| A random installation identifier | Generated on your device, unique to this install, and not derived from any device or advertising identifier. It proves that a request to change or delete your notification record actually came from your device. Only a one-way cryptographic hash of it is stored, never the value itself. |
| A record of alerts already sent to your device | Alert identifiers with timestamps, kept so the same warning is not delivered to you twice. Deleted automatically once the alert expires. |
The relay periodically checks the NWS public alert feed and sends a push through Apple's APNs service when an active alert covers one of your locations. It does not receive your name, email address, contacts, device identifiers beyond the APNs token, or anything tied to a user account. It is never used for advertising or analytics.
Retention and deletion
Only your current locations are kept — no location history. Each update overwrites the previous values. Your record is deleted when you turn notifications off in the app (the app asks the relay to remove it), and automatically when Apple reports your device token as no longer valid, which happens when you uninstall the app or disable notifications at the system level.
Opt-out. Turn off the notifications switch in the app's Settings, or disable notifications in iOS Settings → NOAA Weather Unofficial → Notifications.
Information Stored on Your Device
The following is kept locally on your device and is never transmitted to us:
- Your saved locations and the currently active one
- Your settings — units, quiet hours, severity filter, briefing time
- Recent alert history and which alerts you have already seen
- Cached weather and map data, so the app works briefly without a connection
- The random installation identifier described above
Deleting the app removes all of it.
Home Screen Widget
The optional home screen and Lock Screen widgets read your saved location and unit preferences from a storage area shared with the app, and fetch forecast data directly from the National Weather Service API in order to refresh. The widget does not send anything to us and has no access to your location beyond what the app has already stored.
Third-Party Services
The app makes requests directly from your device to the public services below. Each has its own privacy practices, and each can see your IP address as part of any normal internet request. We have no control over, and receive no data from, these services.
| Service | Purpose | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| api.weather.gov NWS / NOAA | Forecasts, current conditions, alerts | Coordinates or forecast zone |
| opengeo.ncep.noaa.gov NOAA RIDGE2 | NEXRAD radar imagery | Map area being viewed |
| gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov NASA GIBS | GOES satellite imagery | Map area being viewed |
| tile.openstreetmap.org OpenStreetMap | Map base layer | Map area being viewed |
| geocoding-api.open-meteo.com Open-Meteo | City / ZIP search | Your search text |
| photon.komoot.io Photon (OpenStreetMap) | Address search fallback and reverse lookup | Your search text or coordinates |
| geocoding.geo.census.gov U.S. Census Bureau | Determining your ZIP code from coordinates | Coordinates |
| data.epa.gov U.S. EPA | UV index | Your ZIP code |
| api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov NOAA CO-OPS | Tide predictions | Nearest tide station |
| api.open-meteo.com Open-Meteo | Long-range outlook (days 8–14, model guidance) | Coordinates |
| data.rcc-acis.org Regional Climate Centers | Daily climate history (rainfall streaks) | Weather station ID, not your location |
| marine-api.open-meteo.com Open-Meteo | Wave and marine conditions | Coordinates |
| air-quality-api.open-meteo.com Open-Meteo | Air quality index | Coordinates |
| noaa-alert-relay.nelsok.workers.dev Operated by us, on Cloudflare | Background alert delivery | See the Push Notifications section |
Requests are made only when the corresponding feature is used — for example, tide and marine services are contacted only for coastal locations, and the alert relay only if you have enabled push notifications. Cloudflare processes relay traffic in accordance with its own privacy practices.
The app contains no advertising networks, no analytics SDKs, and no third-party tracking software of any kind.
Information We Do Not Collect
- No account, sign-in, name, or email address.
- No advertising identifiers, and no participation in Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework — the app collects no tracking data.
- No advertising networks or third-party analytics SDKs.
- No cookies or cross-app tracking technologies.
- No location history, search history, or behavioural profile.
- Nothing is sold, rented, or shared for marketing purposes. Ever.
Children's Privacy
This app does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. It requires no account and collects no personal identifiers from users of any age.
Changes to This Policy
If this privacy policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a revised effective date. Material changes affecting what is collected or how it is used will be reflected here before the corresponding app update is released.
Contact
Questions or concerns about this privacy policy, or requests to delete data held by the alert relay, can be directed to: nelsokdev@gmail.com