Last updated: September 27, 2026
Fogos ("we", "our", or "the app") is a wildfire monitoring application for Portugal. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what the fire chats add. The controller of the data is the operator of Fogos, who can be reached at info@arkbyte.dev. By using Fogos, you agree to this policy.
We collect the minimum data necessary to provide the app's features:
Fogos uses the following third-party services, each with their own privacy policies:
For the fire chats, messages and photos are checked by our own AI service and reviewed by our moderators. The moderators receive copies of messages (translated to English by our own AI service for them), a reduced-size version of each photo with its caption, and flags and reports, in private groups on Telegram, whose servers may be outside the EU. Your messages may be stored for moderation purposes.
Our servers and database are hosted in Spain.
You can opt out of personalised ads at any time via your device settings: Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising (iOS) or the Google ads settings on Android.
Fogos requests access to your device location ("While Using the App") to show fires near you on the map. Your position is never transmitted to our servers. It is used solely on your device to centre the map and calculate distances to active fires. Your location is used in the background only if you choose it, for the optional feature "Alerts near me" (see below). (The alert zones you draw yourself are stored, see section 1; they are areas you choose, not your position.)
Separately, Google's advertising service may derive an approximate location (for example the region) from your IP address when it shows an ad. We do not receive that information.
Alerts near me (optional, Android). You can switch on "Alerts near me" in Settings. It is off until you do. When it is on, the app compares your position with the list of active fires on your phone and shows a notification when an active fire is within the radius you chose, once for each fire. Your position is not sent to our servers, is not stored on our servers and is not part of any log. The app uses your position in memory for the comparison; it does not keep a history of where you have been. What the app keeps on your phone is: a short list of the fires it has already told you about (with the time), the radius you chose, the time of the last check, a copy of the areas of your own alert zones (kept so the check works without asking our server), and the locations of nearby fires registered with the phone's region monitoring. This is erased when you switch the feature off.
Location "all the time". To warn you while the app is closed, for example when you are travelling, the app asks you separately, after an explanation, to allow location access "all the time". This is optional: without it, "Alerts near me" only works while the app is open, and you can still receive alerts for the places and zones you chose. The app checks in the background about every 30 minutes and uses the phone's own region monitoring for fires near you, so it may affect your battery slightly, and alerts can be delayed or missed (for example because of battery savers); in an emergency call 112. You can withdraw the permission at any time in the app (switch the feature off) or in your phone's settings.
What still reaches other parties. On Android the phone's location service (part of Google Play services) processes your location, under your phone's own location settings, to detect when you come near a fire. Like every request the app makes to the internet, the check that downloads the public list of active fires reaches our server with your IP address and the time; it contains no position and no identifier of you or your device. Our server logs of such requests are rotated as described in section 6.
You can revoke location access at any time in Settings → Fogos → Location (iPhone) or Settings → Apps → Fogos → Permissions → Location (Android).
When you enable notifications, your FCM token is sent to our server and associated with your device ID and the topics (cities, districts, villages) you subscribe to. We use this only to deliver wildfire alerts. We do not use it for marketing.
Chat notifications are off until you turn them on. If you follow a fire's chat, or switch on chat notifications for one of your alert zones or for the places you subscribed to, including all of Portugal if you chose to select all places, we send you a notification when new messages are posted in that chat. The notification contains only the place of the fire and the number of new messages: never the text of a message or who wrote it, and at most one notification per chat every few minutes. For the places you subscribed to (including all of Portugal) the notifications are limited to a few per hour, and when there are many messages a notification tells how many new messages there are. To do this we keep, linked to your device ID, which chats you follow and, per chat, when we last notified you and how many messages arrived since; the counters are deleted after 30 days of inactivity, and following a chat ends when the chat is archived (section 9). You can switch chat notifications off for one chat, for all chats (the main switch in the app), or in your phone's notification settings.
Moderation notices. We also send you a notification when moderators warn you, block your device from writing, or lift a block, even if chat notifications are off. The notification is always the same short text and contains no reason and no message text; the details are shown only inside the app. You can switch this category off in your phone's notification settings.
You can disable notifications at any time in Settings → Notifications → Fogos or within the app.
Fogos is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. The fire chats are for people aged 16 or older: you confirm this when you accept the chat rules.
If you are located in the European Union, you have the right to:
Legal basis: we send notifications and show the map to provide the service you asked for. We process chat data (messages, the device identifier and related technical data) and the technical data needed to run the service safely on the basis of our legitimate interest in running a safe public chat and a secure service and in preventing abuse.
To exercise these rights, contact us at the address below. Because chat data is not linked to a name or an email address, we can only act on a request that lets us find your messages: tell us the fire (chat) and the text or time of the message. Messages that were already disconnected from your device (section 9) can no longer be attributed to you by us, so we cannot identify them as yours.
Each wildfire has a public chat. Anyone can read it without joining. To write, you accept the chat rules once and confirm that you are at least 16. No email address, name or account is needed.
What is public. Your messages and your photos are visible to everyone who opens that fire's chat, together with a short random code that identifies you within that chat only. Your device ID and IP address are never shown to other users. Anything you post can be copied by others, so do not post personal data.
What we store and why. Your device ID is stored together with your chat activity so that we can prevent abuse and block users who break the rules (legitimate interest, see section 8).
Moderation. Messages and photos appear immediately and are then checked automatically and by moderators for abuse, spam and similar. Your messages may be stored for moderation purposes and shared with the tools we use for moderation, some of which may be located outside the EU. Fear, anger or strong language about the fire or the authorities is not a reason to hide a message. The person who wrote a removed message is told that it was removed and why.
Photos. Photos you post are public and are kept permanently in the fire's gallery, unless you delete them or we remove them. Location and camera data embedded in the picture (EXIF) is removed when you upload it.
Bans. If you break the rules we can block your device from writing, for 24 hours, 7 days or permanently. We keep the device identifiers needed for that for as long as the ban lasts. A ban applies to the device, so reinstalling the app or using another device can evade it. Before a ban, a moderator can warn you: the warning is stored with your device identifier for 90 days, is shown to you once in the app, and lets moderators see how often a device was warned.
When a fire has ended. When a fire is closed, its chat is archived: it is no longer shown in the app, and you can no longer read, write or delete anything in it there. We do not delete archived chats automatically: we keep them for moderation, safety and legal purposes, without a fixed end date, until they are deleted on request or by our moderators. Only our staff can see archived chats. Photos stay linked to your device for as long as they exist, so you can ask us to delete them by writing to info@arkbyte.dev; messages that have already been disconnected from your device (below) cannot be attributed to you.
Deleting your messages, and what "disconnected" means. While a fire is active you can delete your own messages one by one in the app, as long as they are still connected to your device (at least 72 hours). 72 hours after your last message in a chat, we automatically disconnect your messages there from your device: they stay visible in the chat, but we no longer keep any link between them and you, so we cannot tell they are yours and you can no longer delete them in the app. This is not deletion: the text stays public, and it can still identify you if it contains personal details (a name, an address, a distinctive story), so think before you post. Messages that were reported, or hidden for breaking the rules, stay connected for up to 90 days so that we can handle the report and defend legal claims, and are disconnected afterwards; copies of hidden messages are deleted after that period. Photos are different: they stay connected to your device for as long as they exist, so that you can delete them while the chat is active, and so that we can delete them when you ask us afterwards (and, as long as a photo exists, your other messages in that chat stay connected too). Because a disconnected message can no longer be linked to you, requests to delete or to access it cannot be answered; to remove something you posted, delete it while it is still connected. Write to info@arkbyte.dev if you need help.
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent version. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at:
info@arkbyte.dev
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