3D Earth – Privacy Policy
Effective 27 September 2026 · applies to 3D Earth for macOS (Mac App Store and direct download) and Windows
Who we are
3D Earth is made by Vangelis Makridakis, publishing as Ax-Easy, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Contact: info@ax-easy.com.
What the app does not do
- It does not ask you to sign in or create an account.
- It does not collect, store on our side, sell or share any personal information.
- It contains no advertising, analytics, crash-reporting or tracking code, and no third-party SDKs.
- It does not use Location Services and never sends your location anywhere.
- It does not read your files. Settings are only exported to, or imported from, a file you choose yourself.
What the app downloads
To show today’s weather on the globe, 3D Earth downloads public files over encrypted HTTPS connections. These requests contain no personal information, no identifier and no location; only the app name and version in the standard “User-Agent” header.
| What | From | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Global cloud map (image) | Live cloud maps by Matt Eason, clouds.matteason.co.uk | every 30 minutes by default (adjustable) |
| Active tropical storms (lists) | NOAA National Hurricane Center, www.nhc.noaa.gov; GDACS, www.gdacs.org | with each weather update |
| Earth and Moon textures (images) | Solar System Scope, www.solarsystemscope.com; NASA, eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov | once, and when you change the surface map or quality |
| A cloud map address you enter yourself (optional) | the server you choose in Settings | with each weather update |
| Update check (direct-download versions only, not the Mac App Store version) | GitHub, api.github.com | at most every 12 hours, can be turned off |
Like any website you visit, these servers receive your device’s IP address as part of the connection and may keep it in their ordinary server logs under their own privacy policies. We do not receive or have access to that information. Links in the app (for example to the data sources or to ax-easy.com) open in your web browser only when you click them.
What is stored on your computer
- Settings, including the “home” location used to centre the view. It is guessed from your time zone or typed in by you, and is stored only in the app’s settings file.
- Downloaded images and storm lists, including about 24 hours of cloud maps for the time-lapse.
- A small log file for troubleshooting, which never leaves your computer unless you send it to us.
On the Mac App Store version everything is kept inside the app’s sandbox container (~/Library/Containers/com.axeasy.3DEarth). On the direct-download Mac version it is in ~/Library/Application Support/3D Earth and ~/Library/Logs/3D Earth; on Windows in %APPDATA%\3D Earth and %LOCALAPPDATA%\3D Earth. Uninstalling the app and deleting these folders removes all of it.
Open at login
The app only starts automatically when you turn on “Open at login” yourself. You can turn it off in the app or in System Settings → General → Login Items.
Children
The app is suitable for all ages and collects no data from anyone, including children.
Your rights
Because we do not collect or hold personal data about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct or delete. If you email us, we use your message only to answer you and delete it when it is no longer needed. You may also contact the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr).
Changes
If the app’s behaviour changes in a way that affects privacy, we will update this page and the date above before releasing that version.
