AstroPhotoGuru Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 2, 2026

Who We Are

AstroPhotoGuru (“AstroPhotoGuru,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates AstroPhotoGuru.com and the AstroPhotoGuru Imaging Planner.

We respect your privacy and are committed to being transparent about the information we collect, why we collect it, how it is used, and the choices available to you.

AstroPhotoGuru does not sell or rent email lists or personal information to other companies for their own marketing purposes.

This Privacy Policy applies to the AstroPhotoGuru website, the AstroPhotoGuru Imaging Planner, and related services that link to this policy.

Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you use AstroPhotoGuru.

Information You Provide

You may provide information to us when you:

create an AstroPhotoGuru Imaging Planner account;
sign in using an available authentication provider;
save equipment, setups, or imaging sessions;
submit feedback;
submit an equipment suggestion;
leave a website comment;
subscribe or opt in to email communications; or
otherwise contact us.

Depending on the service, this information may include your email address, name, equipment information, observing plans, comments, feedback, and other information you choose to provide.

Account Information

If you create an Imaging Planner account, we collect information needed to create and maintain that account, including your email address and authentication information.

You may also be able to sign in using Google. If you use Google authentication, Google provides the information necessary to authenticate your account in accordance with your choices and Google’s policies.

Passwords are handled through our authentication provider. AstroPhotoGuru does not have access to your plaintext password.

Imaging Planner Information

The AstroPhotoGuru Imaging Planner allows you to create and save information related to your astrophotography planning.

Depending on the features you use, this may include:

telescopes, cameras, accessories, and other equipment;
saved equipment configurations;
Saved Setups;
Saved Sessions;
astronomical targets;
planned observing dates and times;
session and target notes;
integration-time and other planning information;
camera orientation or rotation information; and
other information you intentionally save to your account.

We use this information to provide the Planner’s features and restore your saved planning information when you return.

Observing Location Information

The Imaging Planner can use an observing location to calculate astronomical information such as target visibility and observability.

Location information may include:

latitude and longitude;
elevation;
time zone; and
a location label.

You may enter a location manually or, where supported, allow your browser or device to provide your location after you grant location permission.

For visitors using the Planner without an account, observing-location information may be stored locally in the browser so that the Planner can remember the location. Anonymous observing-location information is not automatically stored as an AstroPhotoGuru account record.

For signed-in users, observing-location information may be associated with the account and may also be stored with Saved Sessions so that those sessions can be restored and evaluated correctly.

We use observing-location information for Planner functionality, including astronomical calculations. We do not use your observing location to determine which astronomical targets rank higher for commercial or affiliate purposes.

Cookies, Local Storage, and Similar Technologies

AstroPhotoGuru and the Imaging Planner use cookies, browser local storage, session storage, and similar technologies.

Some of these technologies are necessary or useful for functions such as:

authentication;
maintaining Planner state;
remembering equipment and observing preferences;
preserving an active planning session;
remembering interface preferences;
security; and
providing requested functionality.

The website may also use cookies and similar technologies for analytics and advertising, subject to applicable consent requirements.

You can remove cookies and locally stored information using your browser settings. Doing so may cause some preferences, authentication state, or Planner information stored only on your device to be lost.

Analytics

AstroPhotoGuru uses Google Analytics 4 (“GA4”) to understand how visitors use our website and Planner, such as which pages are visited and how our services are used.

Google Analytics may process information such as browser and device information, approximate location derived from network information, pages visited, referring information, and analytics identifiers, depending on your location and consent choices.

Where required, AstroPhotoGuru uses Google’s consent-management and Consent Mode technologies to communicate visitors’ privacy choices to Google services.

When analytics storage is not permitted, Google may receive limited, cookieless measurements rather than storing analytics cookies, depending on Google’s applicable technologies and settings.

AstroPhotoGuru previously operated a separate first-party event-analytics system for certain Planner interactions. New collection through that system is currently paused. Historical analytics records may be retained in deidentified or non-user-linked form for historical reporting and operational purposes.

Advertising

AstroPhotoGuru may display advertising provided through Google AdSense and related Google advertising services.

Third-party vendors, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to AstroPhotoGuru or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables Google and its partners to serve ads based on visits to AstroPhotoGuru and/or other sites on the Internet.

Users may manage or opt out of personalized advertising through Google’s Ads Settings. Where applicable, AstroPhotoGuru also provides consent and privacy controls that allow visitors to review or change their advertising and analytics choices.

Advertising services may process information such as cookies, device information, IP addresses, browser information, advertising identifiers, and similar information as permitted by applicable law and according to your consent choices.

For visitors in regions where consent is required, AstroPhotoGuru uses a Google-certified consent-management platform to request and communicate advertising and analytics choices.

The Imaging Planner is designed so that website advertising services are not intentionally loaded in supported native-app or embedded modes where advertising has been disabled by AstroPhotoGuru.

Consent and Privacy Choices

Where required by applicable law, AstroPhotoGuru provides controls allowing visitors to make choices about analytics, advertising, and related data processing.

Visitors in applicable regions may be presented with Google’s privacy and consent controls.

Where available, you may also reopen privacy or cookie settings to review or change your choices.

You may also control or delete cookies through your browser. Browser-level deletion does not necessarily delete information stored in your AstroPhotoGuru account.

Third-Party Service Providers

AstroPhotoGuru uses third-party services to operate the website and Imaging Planner. These providers may process information necessary to provide their services.

They include services used for:

Website and application infrastructure. AstroPhotoGuru uses hosted infrastructure and database/authentication services, including Lovable and Supabase-related services, to operate the Imaging Planner, authenticate users, and store account and Planner information.

Google services. We use Google services that may include Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Google authentication, and Google’s consent-management technologies.

Email services. We use managed email-delivery services to send service-related messages such as authentication or password-recovery emails and to deliver feedback submitted through the Planner.

Astronomical sky-survey services. When you open certain features such as Live Sky View, the Planner may connect to external astronomical services, including Aladin/CDS services operated by the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Those services may receive ordinary network information such as your IP address and browser information as part of providing requested sky imagery or data. The astronomical coordinates requested from those services relate to the target being viewed and are not your observing-location coordinates.

These providers operate under their own applicable privacy terms and policies.

Feedback

If you use the Imaging Planner’s feedback feature, we process the information you submit so that we can review your feedback, investigate problems, and improve the service.

Feedback may include:

the feedback category;
subject and message;
an optional reply email address; and
optional Planner/setup diagnostic information if you choose to include it.

Feedback is delivered using our email services and may remain in our business email records until it is deleted as part of our normal email-management practices.

If you would like information submitted through feedback removed, you may contact us using the information below.

Equipment Suggestions

If you submit equipment for consideration for addition to the AstroPhotoGuru database, the submission may include a name and email address that you manually provide.

Equipment submissions are stored separately from your Imaging Planner account. The name or email entered on an equipment-submission form is not automatically linked to your account for account-deletion purposes.

Therefore, deleting your Imaging Planner account does not automatically delete a separately submitted equipment suggestion.

If you want personal information associated with an equipment submission removed, contact us using the information below and provide enough information for us to locate the submission.

Website Comments

AstroPhotoGuru.com may allow comments on articles or other content.

When you submit a comment, information you choose to provide—such as your name, email address, website, and comment—may be stored in connection with that comment.

Information intended for public display, such as your chosen display name and comment, may be visible to other visitors. Your email address is not intended to be displayed publicly as part of the comment.

You should not include information in a public comment that you do not want others to see.

Email Communications

If AstroPhotoGuru offers optional newsletters or promotional email communications, subscription is voluntary.

Where an email/newsletter opt-in is presented during account creation or elsewhere, it is separate from the basic functionality required to create and use an account.

You may unsubscribe from promotional communications using the unsubscribe mechanism provided in those messages or by contacting us.

We may still send non-promotional messages necessary to operate your account or provide services you request, such as authentication and password-reset messages.

Affiliate Links and External Websites

AstroPhotoGuru content may contain affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and make a purchase, AstroPhotoGuru may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

Affiliate relationships do not determine the Imaging Planner’s astronomical suitability or recommendation rankings.

When you follow an affiliate link or other external link, you leave AstroPhotoGuru and the destination website may collect information according to its own privacy policy.

The Planner and website may also link to third-party services such as Buy Me a Coffee. Information you provide directly to those services is governed by the applicable third party’s privacy practices.

Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide our services, maintain accounts and saved information, comply with applicable obligations, resolve disputes, maintain security, and operate our website and Planner.

Different categories of information may be retained for different periods.

Account-associated Planner information is generally retained while your account exists unless you delete particular information or delete the account.

Information stored separately from an account—such as equipment suggestions, feedback email, public comments, or historical/deidentified analytics information—may follow separate retention practices and may not automatically be removed when an Imaging Planner account is deleted.

You may contact us to request deletion of personal information that is not covered by the Planner’s automated account-deletion function.

Deleting Your AstroPhotoGuru Imaging Planner Account

The Imaging Planner provides an account-deletion function within Account Settings.

Account deletion is permanent.

When you successfully delete your account, AstroPhotoGuru deletes the account and account-associated Planner information covered by the deletion process, including associated profile information, Saved Setups, and Saved Sessions.

After deletion, those Saved Setups and Saved Sessions will not be restored if you later create another account using the same email address.

Deleting your account does not necessarily delete information that was collected separately from the account, including:

equipment suggestions submitted with manually entered contact information;
feedback retained in email records;
public website comments;
information held independently by third-party services; or
historical information that has been deidentified or is no longer linked to your account.

You may contact us if you would like us to locate and remove other personal information that may be associated with you.

Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, applicable privacy laws may provide rights concerning your personal information. These may include rights to request:

access to personal information we hold about you;
correction of inaccurate personal information;
deletion of personal information;
restriction of certain processing;
objection to certain processing;
portability of certain information; or
withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent.

The particular rights available to you depend on applicable law and the circumstances in which information is processed.

To make a privacy request, contact:

Patrick
AstroPhotoGuru
Email: patrick@AstroPhotoGuru.com

We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests.

If applicable law gives you a right to complain to a data-protection or privacy authority, you may also exercise that right.

Data Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures intended to protect personal information and limit access to information according to its intended purpose.

However, no internet transmission, online service, or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should use a strong, unique password for your AstroPhotoGuru account and protect access to your devices and email account.

Children’s Privacy

AstroPhotoGuru and the Imaging Planner are not directed specifically to children, and we do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children in violation of applicable law.

If you believe a child has provided personal information to AstroPhotoGuru in circumstances where it should not have been collected, please contact us so that we can review and, where appropriate, remove the information.

International Users

AstroPhotoGuru is operated from the United States and uses service providers that may process information in the United States and other countries.

If you access AstroPhotoGuru from outside the United States, your information may therefore be processed in countries with privacy laws that differ from those in your country.

Where applicable, we and our service providers rely on appropriate legal mechanisms for international data processing and transfers.