Darkest HourPlaces to see the stars

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 1, 2026

1. What We Collect

Darkest Hour collects the minimum data needed to deliver sky condition decisions and Pro planning features:

  • Location coordinates — when you search or save a place, allow browser geolocation, or the Tonight check uses an approximate location supplied with the request. Used to fetch cloud cover, moon phase, and Bortle darkness data.
  • Email address — only when you subscribe to Pro or saved-place alerts. Used for account identity and alert delivery.
  • Optional usage analytics — page views, interaction telemetry and session replay via Microsoft Clarity, plus Ahrefs analytics, only with your consent. These providers may process browser/device details, approximate network location and consent-scoped identifiers under their own privacy terms.
  • Stripe payment data — handled entirely by Stripe. Darkest Hour never sees or stores your full credit card number.

2. Cookie & Consent Details

Darkest Hour uses three categories of browser storage:

  • Essential — session tokens (first-party authentication), your consent preference, and display settings. These are always active because the app cannot function without them.
  • Analytics — Microsoft Clarity session replay and Ahrefs analytics. Loaded only when you choose "Allow analytics & ads."
  • Advertising — Google AdSense. Loaded only on free-tier content pages when you allow analytics & ads. Pro subscribers never see ads.

Your consent choice is stored in localStorage under the key darkesthour_cookie_consent_v1. Use the persistent Privacy settings control shown on every page to change your choice. Withdrawing to Essential only clears relevant first-party analytics/ad identifiers and reloads once so optional scripts do not restart.

3. Third-Party Services

We rely on the following services to operate:

  • Cloudflare — database and edge infrastructure (D1, Workers, Pages), and access controls. Cloudflare privacy policy.
  • Stripe — payment processing for Pro subscriptions. Stripe privacy policy.
  • MET Norway — cloud cover and weather forecasts. When you request a forecast, Darkest Hour sends the selected latitude and longitude rounded to two decimal places; it does not send your account email or name.
  • NOAA SWPC — geomagnetic (aurora) data. No user data is sent.
  • Resend — transactional emails (alert confirmations). Resend privacy policy.

4. Affiliate Links & Advertising Disclosure

Darkest Hour participates in affiliate programs. Some outbound product links to retailers (such as Amazon or outdoor equipment partners) may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  • Affiliate links are disabled by default — partner links only activate when the corresponding partner account identifier is configured. Until then, links point to informational product pages or our contact form.
  • No paid rankings or paid reviews — product recommendations are editorial. Inclusion is not proof of hands-on testing and is never influenced by affiliate status.
  • Amazon Associates — as an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
  • Stay22 — accommodation and travel links may use Stay22 affiliate mapping. Stay22 is a third-party service and subject to their own privacy and cookie policies.
  • AdSense — Google AdSense displays personalized and non-personalized ads on free-tier content pages. Ad serving requires your consent (see section 2). Pro subscribers do not see ads. Google may use cookies for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting, and to combat fraud and abuse.

You can review the full list of configured affiliate programs in our about page.

5. Data Retention & Your Rights

Account, saved-location and alert records are retained until they are no longer needed for the service or you make a verified deletion request. Cancellation does not currently trigger an automatic 30-day account purge. Payment, fraud-prevention, dispute and tax records may be retained where law or a processor requires it.

Request access, export or deletion by contacting privacy@darkest-hour.com. The Darkest Hour privacy owner verifies control of the account, inventories the relevant systems, performs the permitted export or deletion manually, records any legal-retention exception, and aims to respond within 30 days. This is an owned manual process; automated self-service export and deletion are not yet available.

6. Contact

Questions about this policy? privacy@darkest-hour.com