Privacy Policy

The short version. This site collects nothing, stores nothing about you on any server, and has no analytics, no advertising and no third-party scripts. It can ask for two browser permissions, and everything they return is used inside the page and then discarded.

Who operates this site

Online Compass is operated by Online Compass, United Kingdom. For anything in this policy, write to [email protected].

What is collected

Nothing. There is no account system, no form that posts anywhere, no cookie set by this site, no analytics of any kind, and no third-party embed. Pages are static files.

The one unavoidable exception is that any web server records requests it serves. Whoever hosts this site will see the usual server log entries: an IP address, a timestamp, the path requested and a user agent string. Those logs exist to keep the site running and to deal with abuse. They are not used to build any profile of you, and they are not combined with anything else, because there is nothing else.

The two permissions

Both are optional, both are requested only when you press the control that needs them, and neither is asked for on page load.

Motion and orientation

Browser API

DeviceOrientationEvent

When it is requested

Only when you press Start compass, never on page load.

What it is used for

To read the angle your device is held at, which is the compass heading.

What is retained

Nothing. The angle is drawn to the screen and replaced by the next reading, roughly sixty times a second. It is never stored and never transmitted.

Location

Browser API

Geolocation

When it is requested

Only when you press Use my location, and it is entirely optional.

What it is used for

To show your coordinates, and to compute the qibla, which is the great-circle bearing from where you are to the Kaaba. It is not used for the declination, which this site asks you for rather than estimating.

What is retained

Nothing. The coordinates stay in the page for as long as the tab is open and are discarded when you close it. They are never stored and never transmitted.

The point worth stating plainly: everything derived from your position is computed in your browser. There is no request to any geocoding, mapping or magnetic-model service, because such a request would carry your coordinates to a third party. That is also part of why the site asks you for your magnetic declination rather than looking it up.

What is stored on your device

Two values in localStorage, which is storage that stays in your browser and is never transmitted. No cookies are set.

oc:theme

Either "light" or "dark", whichever you last chose. So the site does not flash the wrong theme on your next visit.

oc:north

Either "true" or "magnetic", whichever reference you last selected. So the compass reads the way you set it up, on every visit.

Clearing site data in your browser removes both. Nothing breaks; the site falls back to your operating system's theme preference and to magnetic north.

Children

This site is not directed at children and collects no personal data from anyone, of any age.

Your rights

Depending on where you live you may have rights to access, correct, export or erase personal data held about you, and to object to its processing. Those rights are straightforward to honour here, because no personal data is held. If you believe otherwise, write to [email protected] and it will be looked into.

Server logs held by the host are the only records that exist, and they are retained for a short operational period and then rotated out.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top changes with it. Since the site collects nothing, the most likely change is a clarification rather than a new practice.

Contact

Online Compass, United Kingdom. Privacy: [email protected]. Everything else: [email protected].