Privacy Policy
Firefly doesn't collect your data. There's no account, no server, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. What you put in Firefly stays on your iPhone.
What stays on your phone
Everything you enter: household members and their medical information, documents and scans, contacts, account numbers, meeting places, supplies, radio logs and messages. Sensitive fields are encrypted with a key held in your iPhone's Secure Enclave and released only by Face ID or your passcode. We can't see any of it, and we have no copy to lose, sell or hand over.
When Firefly uses the internet
Firefly works in Airplane Mode. A few optional features reach the internet, and each sends only what's listed here. Those services see your IP address, as with any web request, and their own privacy policies apply.
- News briefing (on by default; turn off in Settings › News and alerts). Downloads the same public lists every phone gets, from Wikipedia, GDACS, the US Geological Survey, the US State Department and FEMA. Nothing about you is sent; sorting news by your meeting places happens on your phone.
- Weather alerts (off by default). Sends the locations of your meeting places, and your current location if you choose, to the US National Weather Service, rounded to about a kilometer. Place names are never sent.
- Barcode lookup when adding supplies. Sends the barcode number to Open Food Facts to fill in the product name and size.
- Offline map download when you save a map of an area. Downloads OpenStreetMap from Firefly's copy at maps.getfirefly.xyz (stored with Cloudflare), or from Protomaps if ours can't be reached. The request names only which map squares to download. Squares are a fixed grid about 30 km across, so everyone nearby asks for exactly the same ones; your home and places are never sent.
- Place search when adding a meeting place, suggestions for one (parks, schools and libraries near home), and the Apple Maps view used when no offline map is installed. These use Apple Maps, under Apple's privacy policy. Directions hand your chosen place to the Apple Maps app.
- Shopping links open Amazon in your browser. When a link is an affiliate link, Firefly says so; Amazon learns only what any visit to Amazon tells it.
Nearby messaging
Messages and check-ins travel directly between phones running Firefly over Bluetooth and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi. No server is involved. Direct messages are end-to-end encrypted, so phones that carry a message for someone else can't read it. Posts to the neighborhood board are signed but readable by anyone nearby, and Firefly says so where you post.
Backups and sharing
Backups, paper copies and anything you share are files you create and send yourself, by AirDrop, Files or a drive. Backups are encrypted with a passphrase only you know.
Apple
If you choose to share analytics with app developers in iOS Settings, Apple may send us anonymous crash reports. Optional on-device features (text recognition, voice entry, Apple Intelligence) run on your iPhone.
Children
Firefly doesn't collect personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If Firefly ever starts sending anything new, we'll update this page and the date above before the update ships.