ecoquity.tech
Effective date: 11 July 2026
This policy applies to the mobile application Luminate
(App Store name Luminate - Air Quality, bundle ID
uk.ac.erg.luminate), operated by ecoquity.tech
in association with the Environmental Research Group (ERG), Imperial College London.
Contact: hello@ecoquity.tech
1. What Luminate does
Luminate builds a personal timeline of your journeys and stops and estimates your exposure to common air pollutants (NO₂, O₃, PM₁₀, PM2.5) using modelled UK air-quality data. It is an environmental information tool, not a medical device, and does not provide medical diagnosis or treatment.
2. Data we process
- Location — including background (“Always”) location while recording is enabled, to reconstruct routes and stops.
- Motion / activity — device motion signals to improve moving vs stationary detection and transport inference.
- Places you confirm — names and place identifiers you select (including via Google Places search) such as Home or a workplace.
- Timeline & exposure results — stops, journeys, and pollutant average/dose values stored primarily on your device.
- App diagnostics — optional crash or performance signals if Firebase or similar services are enabled in a given build.
3. Where data is stored
Your detailed timeline is stored on your device (local database). Exposure scores returned by our service may also be cached on device so the app can show chips and Insights without re-fetching every time.
4. Data we send off the device
To compute exposure and show maps/places, the app may send:
- Timed coordinates and travel mode for confirmed timeline segments to our exposure service (Cloud Run / HTTPS) so pollutant averages and doses can be calculated.
- Map requests to Mapbox (map tiles / styles) as needed to draw your day.
- Place search queries to Google Places when you look up or confirm a place name.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your timeline to serve third-party advertising.
5. Why we process this data
- To provide the core features of the app (timeline, exposure, Insights).
- To improve reliability and safety of the service (security, abuse prevention, crash diagnosis).
- To comply with legal obligations where applicable.
Legal bases under UK GDPR typically include performance of a contract (providing the app you chose to use) and, where required for background location, your consent via iOS system permission prompts.
6. Retention
Timeline data remains on your device until you delete the app or clear app data. Server-side exposure requests are processed to return a result; we do not operate Luminate as a long-term cloud backup of your full GPS history. Third-party processors (Mapbox, Google, hosting) retain technical logs according to their own policies for a limited period.
7. Your choices & rights
- You can deny or revoke location and motion permissions in iOS Settings (the app will not work fully without them).
- You can stop recording in the app when you do not want further background tracking.
- You can delete the app to remove on-device timeline data.
- Depending on applicable law, you may have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, and complaint to the ICO (UK).
To exercise rights or ask a privacy question, email hello@ecoquity.tech.
8. Children
Luminate is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from children for this product.
9. Changes
We may update this policy as the product evolves. The effective date at the top will change; material updates may also be noted in the app or on ecoquity.tech/luminate.