The Shelter — Terms of Use

Last updated: 1 October 2026

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and Alexey Komarov ("we", "us"), the developer of The Shelter ("the app"). By using the app you accept these terms and our privacy policy. If you do not accept them, do not use the app, and do not sign in or publish anything.

2. The Shelter is not an emergency or early-warning service

• The app shows earthquakes after a seismological agency has published them, usually within minutes. It is not an earthquake early-warning system and cannot warn you before shaking starts.
• Earthquake data, alerts, maps, estimates (for example estimated shaking or felt distance), news and other content may be delayed, incomplete, revised or wrong. Alerts depend on Apple's notification service, your device settings, your network and our servers, and may arrive late or not at all.
• The app gives no guarantee of your safety and does not replace official warnings. In an emergency, follow the instructions of your local authorities and call your local emergency number. Words such as "possible tsunami" only repeat an agency's flag; always check official tsunami warnings.
• SOS only opens a text message to the contacts you chose; it does not contact emergency services.

3. Where the content comes from

• Earthquake data comes from more than 40 public seismological agencies (for example USGS, EMSC and GFZ Potsdam), combined in the open earthquakes-feed (https://github.com/TheShelterApp/earthquakes-feed). The compilation is licensed under CDLA-Permissive-2.0 and every record keeps its source's licence and attribution; the agencies' own terms apply to their data.
• News headlines come from Google News and link to their publishers; videos play from YouTube, whose Terms of Service apply (https://www.youtube.com/t/terms); podcasts stream from their publishers; the map is Apple Maps. This content belongs to its owners. We do not create, check or endorse it, and we are not responsible for it.
• If you believe content in the app infringes your rights, write to us (§13).

4. Your account

• You can use most of the app without an account. Publishing felt reports and keeping a profile need Sign in with Apple.
• Keep your device and Apple Account secure; you are responsible for what is published from your account.
• Choose a display name that follows §5. We may reject or change a name that does not, without notice.

5. Community rules — zero tolerance

We do not tolerate objectionable content or abusive users. You must not use the app, your display name or your reports to:

• post content that is offensive, hateful, harassing, threatening, sexually explicit, violent, defamatory or discriminatory, or that impersonates another person or organization;
• bully, harass, threaten or intimidate anyone;
• send reports you know to be false, or automated, repeated or bulk reports;
• spam, advertise, or try to get around a block, a suspension or our limits;
• interfere with the service, other users or our systems (for example by probing, overloading or reverse engineering them beyond what the law allows).

How we enforce them:

• Display names pass an automatic filter when they are chosen.
• Signed-in users can report a felt report ("Report this" on its pin) and block the person who published it, so that person's reports are hidden from them; anyone can report other content ("…" → "Content complaint").
• We review complaints and act on objectionable content within 24 hours: we remove the content and suspend or ban the user who posted it. Reports that collect complaints may be hidden automatically before we review them.
• We may remove content, and suspend or close an account, that breaks these rules or the law, without notice.

6. Your content

Your felt reports stay yours. By publishing one you let us show it in the app and in our public data files (the intensity, the ~1 km area, the time and your display name / tag), and publish it in an anonymized research archive without your account or name — worldwide, free of charge, for as long as the privacy policy allows. The same applies to the messages you send us, except that they are never published.

7. Reports to the USGS

If you choose to send a "Did You Feel It?" report to the U.S. Geological Survey, it goes directly to the USGS, and the USGS terms and privacy policy apply to it.

8. Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time: Profile → Settings → "Delete my profile". What happens then is described in the privacy policy (§4 there): your profile is erased and your reports are anonymized at once, and the account can be restored by signing in again within 30 days.

9. The service

The app is free. We may change, suspend or stop any part of it, including data sources, alerts and community features, at any time, and we may limit how often it can be used to protect the service. We try to keep it running but do not promise that it will be available, uninterrupted or error-free.

10. Disclaimers and liability

The app is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement, and we are not liable for any loss or damage — including injury, loss of life or property damage — arising from relying on the app, from late, missing or wrong data or alerts, or from content provided by others. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, or your statutory rights as a consumer.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We will post the new version here with a new date and announce material changes in the app. If you keep using the app after a change, you accept the new terms.

12. Apple

• These terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app or its content.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
• If the app fails to conform to an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any); to the maximum extent the law allows, Apple has no other warranty obligation.
• Apple is not responsible for any claims by you or a third party relating to the app, including product liability claims, claims that it fails to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer-protection or privacy claims.
• If a third party claims that the app infringes their intellectual property, we, not Apple, are responsible for investigating, defending, settling and discharging the claim.
• You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as "terrorist supporting", and that you are not on a U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.
• These terms supplement Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement (https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/); where they conflict, Apple's agreement prevails for Apple's rights.

13. Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales (United Kingdom). Disputes go to the courts of England and Wales sitting in London, unless the consumer-protection law of the country where you live gives you the right to other law or courts.

Questions, complaints and legal notices: [email protected].