Tembló app (com.jrsoft.terremotos) · Last updated: 1 October 2026
This is a translation of the Spanish version. If the two differ, the Spanish version prevails.
In one sentence: this app has no user accounts, does not record who you are, and does not send your location to its servers. Your location is used inside your phone to work out how far away earthquakes happened.
The data controller is JR Soft, trading name of Javier Román Sáez, developer of the Tembló app. You can get in touch at demual@gmail.com.
This information is kept in the app's private storage and never leaves it. It disappears completely if you uninstall the app or clear its data from Android settings.
The app asks for location permission only when you turn on a feature that needs it, never on first launch. If you decline, the app still works: you lose distances and sorting by proximity, and you can get both back by setting a reference point by hand in Settings.
Location is used inside your phone to calculate how far each earthquake was from you and to decide whether an alert applies to you. Those coordinates are not sent to any server, the advertising network included.
There is one exception worth understanding. If you enable alerts, your phone subscribes to Google's notification service (Firebase Cloud Messaging) using identifiers that represent 5-degree cells of the planet — grid squares roughly 550 km across. Google receives those subscriptions. This means Google can tell which 550 km square contains a watched area of yours, but not your position: the square is deliberately enormous, and that is precisely why the design works this way.
As with any app that connects to the internet, the servers the app talks to receive your IP address. This happens with:
Your IP address appears in this app's server technical logs, which exist to diagnose errors and detect abuse. It is not cross-referenced with any other data, because there is no other data to cross-reference it with: requests carry no user or device identifier.
If you enable alerts, Firebase Cloud Messaging assigns your installation its own identifier so that messages can be delivered. It identifies the device, not you, and it is renewed if you uninstall and reinstall the app. Turning alerts off in the app cancels the subscriptions.
So that advertising can be adjusted or withdrawn without publishing a new version (for example, after a serious earthquake), the app asks Firebase Remote Config, from Google, where and how often to show ads. That request carries an installation identifier generated by Firebase, but no data about you and not your location.
The app includes Google's advertising SDK (AdMob) and therefore declares the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission, which grants access to the Android advertising identifier. That identifier can be reset or deleted from Android Settings → Google → Ads.
In the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, the app will show Google's consent form (UMP) before serving personalised advertising. You can change your choice at any time from the app's settings.
That form lists precise geolocation among the purposes advertising vendors may ask for, and it is worth being exact about what that means. This app does not hand your coordinates to the advertising SDK: the ad request goes out with no location data attached. What the form asks is whether you consent to Google and the vendors listed there processing data for those purposes, under their own policies and by their own means. If you decline, you get non-personalised advertising and the app works exactly the same.
| Service | Purpose | Their policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase Cloud Messaging | Delivering earthquake alerts | firebase.google.com/support/privacy |
| Google Maps | Drawing the map | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google AdMob | Advertising | policies.google.com/technologies/ads |
| Google Firebase Remote Config | Adjusting or withdrawing advertising without publishing a new version | firebase.google.com/support/privacy |
| USGS | Seismic data (public source) | usgs.gov/policies/privacy-policy |
| EMSC | Seismic data (via our server) | emsc-csem.org |
The seismic data shown in the app comes from USGS and EMSC. This app is not affiliated with either organisation.
Processing relies on your consent, given when you grant location and notification permissions, and withdrawable at any time from Android settings or from the app itself. For personalised advertising, consent is collected through Google's form (UMP).
Server technical logs containing IP addresses are kept for as long as Google Cloud retains them by default (30 days) and are then deleted automatically. Data stored on your phone remains until you uninstall the app or clear its data.
If you live in the European Union, the GDPR grants you rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection. In practice, and given that this app stores nothing tied to you as a person:
You may also lodge a complaint with your country's supervisory authority. In Spain this is the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos.
This app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.
If this policy changes substantially, the new version will be published at this same address with a different update date, and the app will show a corresponding notice.
This app is not an official early warning system. Alerts arrive once the earthquake has already happened and a seismological agency has published it. The data is preliminary and may be revised or withdrawn. It does not replace instructions from civil protection or the emergency services.