Privacy Policy

Updated November 7, 2026

W185 Holdings LLC, a company registered in Wyoming, United States, operates Lantern and this website. This policy explains how we handle information when you use the map, create a profile, connect with other people, buy a subscription, or contact us. Our shared support inbox is support@strumguitarapp.com. Put “Lantern privacy” in the subject.

1. Profiles and connections

Device profiles. New profiles are device profiles. When you create one, the app sends your display name to our service. We create an account identifier and save a device credential in your device’s Keychain. The server stores a hash of that credential, session records, and a device label. You do not give an email address, phone number, or password. Device transfer and email recovery are not available.

Earlier accounts. Some accounts from our earlier beta use Sign in with Apple or an email address and password. For a Sign in with Apple account, we store the Apple user identifier, the name Apple shares at first sign-in, the email address or private relay address Apple shares, and an encrypted Apple refresh token. We use the token to revoke Lantern’s Apple access when you delete the account. For an email account, we store the email address, first and last name, birthday, a hashed password, and a hashed recovery code. You can add an optional phone number to either type of earlier account. We do not show your phone number or birthday to your Circle, and we do not use the phone number for sign-in or verification. Lantern does not offer new email or Sign in with Apple sign-ups.

Profile photo. If you choose a photo with the system photo picker, we receive a resized JPEG. The server re-encodes the image and removes its original metadata. Lantern does not upload your photo library.

Circles and check-ins. We store Circle names, membership, roles, relationship labels, invitations, disconnections, and sharing choices. People you are connected with see your profile name and photo. There is no public directory. We store check-in requests and replies with participant identifiers and timestamps. Check-ins have no message text. We do not upload your address book.

Invitations. An invitation has a link, a QR code, and a code. The link opens a page on this website that shows the code. The page is not cached and sends no referrer. Our hosting provider can log the page address, which includes the code. Our service stores a hash of each code, not the code itself. An invitation expires after 7 days.

2. Location and sharing

With your permission, Lantern uses your device location to center the map. When you turn on sharing with a person, the app sends your latest coordinates, accuracy, and measurement time to our service. Only the people you selected can see them. A location is precise when you allow Precise Location in iOS. Approximate permission reduces precision.

Sharing goes in one direction. When someone shares with you, you do not automatically share with them. You can pause sharing for one person or for everyone. When you pause sharing with everyone, sign out, or delete your profile, we remove your current shared location.

Each new location replaces the previous one. We do not save a series of locations. The service removes locations older than 24 hours during routine processing.

Background updates need two choices: background sharing in Lantern and iOS “Always” permission. iOS can delay or stop updates because of battery, network, or system settings. Change permissions in iOS Settings → Apps → Lantern → Location.

The Emergency button in Lantern opens your phone’s call screen. It does not send your location or notify your Circle.

3. Maps, searches, and public records

Apple MapKit supplies map tiles and place search. Apple can receive map regions, search terms, location-related information, and network information to provide these services. See Apple Maps & Privacy.

To load incident or registry records, the app sends our service the map area, the selected layer or category, optional search text, and page information. Some requests carry proof of your App Store subscription. Our service does not save a search history. Query-string logging is off in our hosting router. Infrastructure logs can still include IP addresses, request paths, and timestamps. Bookmarks and onboarding answers stay on your device.

Incident records. Incident records come from official city open-data portals and from archives that we bundle in the app. Current sources cover parts of Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Boston, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, San Antonio, and Montgomery County, Maryland. Publishers blur or round locations to a block, a street segment, or an area. We keep the publisher’s precision and do not geocode records. We withhold some sensitive call types, such as sexual-offense, abuse, domestic, medical, and missing-person calls. A record is a report or a call. It is not proof that a crime happened.

Registry records. The Offenders layer shows a snapshot of public sex-offender registry records that we get from a commercial provider, CrimeoMeter. A record can include a name, a registered address and its map position, offense details, a photo, and a link to the source registry. We do not show birth dates from the provider. A registered address is the address on file with the registry. It is not the person’s live location, and it can be out of date or wrong. Coverage is a sample and is not complete.

When the app shows a registry photo or you open a source link, the source website can receive your IP address and the requested address. These requests do not include your Lantern session or any family locations.

Corrections. The source agency or registry owns each record. To correct a registry or incident record, contact the agency that publishes it. The source link on a record opens that agency’s page. To report a display problem in Lantern, or a record that the source changed or removed, email support@strumguitarapp.com. Give the source and the record’s address or identifier. We review each report and can correct or remove the record in Lantern.

4. Subscriptions, purchase records, and install measurement

Apple processes App Store payments. We do not receive your card or bank details. Lantern saves an app-specific identifier in your device’s Keychain. We use it to connect purchases, restore access, and count installs and subscriptions.

Subscription service. Our subscription service verifies signed Apple transactions and receives Apple subscription updates, such as purchases, renewals, cancellations, and refunds. It records transaction identifiers, the product, purchase and expiry dates, subscription status, price, currency, storefront, app version, the offer shown, and the app identifier.

Install measurement. Our analytics service receives the app identifier, first-open time, install time, app version, platform, and an Apple-verified app transaction identifier when available. We use these records to tell first installs from reinstalls and to measure how many installs start a subscription. We also receive aggregate App Store download reports from Apple. We do not send profile names, family locations, check-ins, searches, bookmarks, or onboarding answers to this service.

Family plan seats. If you have a profile, the app also sends your signed Apple transaction to our family service. The service stores the original transaction identifier, product, purchase and expiry dates, and Apple environment with your account. It uses them to give seats in a family plan. A family plan subscriber sees the names of the people who hold its seats. A seat holder sees the subscriber’s name.

Superwall. Superwall receives the app identifier, the device vendor identifier, subscription information, device and app settings, locale, and offer display counts. Superwall can estimate a city, region, or country from the network connection. Lantern turns off Superwall’s general event collection. We do not send your profile name, family locations, searches, or bookmarks to Superwall. See Superwall’s Privacy Policy.

5. Notifications

If you allow notifications, Lantern registers with Apple Push Notification service and sends a device push token to our service. The token is linked to your account and session. We store it encrypted, with a hashed installation proof, registration details, and limited delivery records. We use it to tell you about check-in requests and replies. Notification text is generic and does not include names or locations. Delivery is not guaranteed, and Lantern is not an emergency service. We cannot recall a notification that Apple has already accepted.

Turn notifications off in iOS Settings → Apps → Lantern → Notifications. We remove a device registration when you sign out of that session, delete the account, or Apple reports the token as invalid. Lantern does not send crime or offender alerts.

6. Website, support, and security

Our hosting providers, including Heroku, process connection information such as IP addresses, request paths, timestamps, and browser details. We use hashed credentials, expiring sessions, and rate limits to prevent abuse. This website does not use advertising trackers, analytics cookies, or forms.

If you email us, we receive your email address, any name you give, your message, and attachments. We use them to reply, fix problems, handle privacy requests, and keep support records. Do not send sensitive information that we do not need.

7. Who receives information

People you connect with receive the profile, location, and check-in information you choose to share. Apple, Superwall, hosting providers, and email providers process information for the purposes above. CrimeoMeter supplies registry records to us and does not receive your information from Lantern. An invitation that you send with the share sheet goes through the app you choose, under that app’s privacy terms. We can disclose information when the law requires it, to protect rights or prevent misuse, or in a business transfer with privacy protections.

We do not use family locations for advertising. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not combine your app activity with other companies’ data for advertising.

8. Retention and deletion

We keep profile and connection information while your account exists. Each new shared location replaces the previous one. The service removes locations older than 24 hours and check-ins older than 7 days during routine processing. These are cleanup limits, not exact deletion times.

Delete your profile in Lantern under Me → Settings → Delete account. For a Sign in with Apple account, you confirm with Apple, and we revoke Lantern’s Apple access. Deletion removes your profile, photo, current location, sessions, connections, memberships, check-ins, push registrations, and family plan records from our active service. Seats that your family plan gave to other people end. If you own a Circle with other members, ownership moves to another member.

We keep a hash of a retired device credential so that an interrupted request cannot recreate a deleted account. We keep limited notification security records for up to 30 days. We can keep information that we need for security, legal duties, disputes, or support. Copies in provider backups remain until those backups expire.

Deleting the app does not delete your server profile or cancel your Apple subscription. Keychain credentials can remain after you reinstall. Purchase and install records in our subscription service are linked to the app identifier, not to your profile. Contact us to delete them. Apple and Superwall keep purchase records under their own policies.

Cancel auto-renewal in Apple’s subscription settings. You can delete your Lantern account without cancelling first.

9. Your rights and information security

Depending on where you live, you can have the right to access, correct, delete, or get a copy of your personal information; to restrict or object to processing; to withdraw consent; to appeal a decision; and to complain to a privacy regulator. Contact support@strumguitarapp.com. We can ask for information to verify a request. We respond within legal time limits, and we do not discriminate against you for using your rights.

Where the law requires a legal basis, we process information to provide the service you request, with your consent, to meet legal duties, and for our legitimate interest in operating and securing Lantern. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier processing. We use technical and organizational safeguards, but no system is completely secure.

10. Age, international processing, and changes

Lantern is for people aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children or offer accounts for children. If you think a child has given us information, contact us.

We operate in the United States. Our providers can process information in other countries with different privacy laws. Where required, transfer safeguards apply. This policy does not limit rights that the law does not let us exclude.

We can update this policy when the service changes. The date above shows the latest version. We give notice of material changes when the law requires it.

W185 Holdings LLC
United States
support@strumguitarapp.com