Privacy Policy

Luciola for iPhone and iPad
Effective: October 14, 2026
Published at: https://luciola.app/privacy

Luciola is an app for the Luciola social network. It is made by Bin Hua ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the app does with your information.

The short version

• We don't collect your data. The app has no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no crash reporting of our own. Nothing you do in the app is sent to us.
• Your data goes to the node you choose. Luciola works with independent servers called nodes. Your account, your posts and your photos live on the node you sign up on, and that node's operators handle them under their own rules.
• Your recovery phrase never leaves your device. It is not stored by the app and is never sent to anyone.

Nodes

Luciola is decentralized. When you sign up, you choose a node, such as one we suggest or one you type in. Each node is run by its own operators, who decide its rules and how it keeps data. When we run a node ourselves (for example, try.luciola.app), we are the operator of that node and this policy applies to it too.

Because public posts are shared between nodes so that people can follow each other, a public post can be copied to the nodes of the people who follow you.

What stays on your device

The app keeps the following on your iPhone or iPad:

• Your device key, which signs your posts on this device. It is stored in the Keychain, available on this device only, and is never synchronized to iCloud or restored to another device.
• Your session with your node, and your node's address, also in the Keychain.
• Copies of recent screens (your timeline, profile, notifications and the threads you opened) and images, so the app works offline.
• Posts you wrote while offline, until they are sent.

Signing out removes all of this from the device.

Your recovery phrase is only held in memory while you type it, to sign a key for this device, and is then discarded. The app never saves it. If you choose "Save as PDF" or "Copy" during sign-up, the PDF goes only where you choose to save it, and the copy stays on this device's clipboard for two minutes.

What the app sends to your node

To work, the app sends your node what you choose to share:

• Your profile: your handle, display name, bio and profile photo.
• What you post: sparks, replies, photos and videos, and places you add.
• What you do: follows, blocks, approvals, bookmarks, pins and deletions.
• A label for this device ("Luciola on iPhone" or "Luciola on iPad"), shown to you under Keys & devices.
• Reports you make about other people's posts.

Your node also receives the technical information any web server sees, such as your IP address.

Photos and videos are uploaded to your node, which removes location and camera details from them.

Location

The app asks for your location only when you add a place to a post. It then sends your approximate position to your node to look up places nearby. Your node finds them through a map service it chooses (OpenStreetMap or Google Maps). The name of the place you pick is added to your post, which others can see. The app does not use your location for anything else and does not track it in the background.

Camera and photos

The app uses the camera and your photo library only when you choose to add a photo or video to a post or to your profile.

"Only me"

When "Only me" is on, new posts stay on your node and only you can see them. They are not sent to other nodes.

Notifications

The app does not currently send push notifications.

Exporting and deleting your data

If your node allows it, you can download your posts and media as a file from Move to another node.

You can delete your account in the app from Settings. You confirm it with your recovery phrase, and you can first download your data. Deletion takes effect after a 7-day waiting period, during which you can change your mind. After that, your node deletes your membership, posts, replies, media, bookmarks and connections, and frees your handle. Your node also asks other nodes that keep copies of your public posts to delete them; most will, but a node run by someone else may not.

Your identity (the key behind your recovery phrase) is not stored by us and can't be deleted by anyone. Without your recovery phrase it can't be used.

Children

Luciola is not directed to children under 13, or under the minimum age for online services in your country. Nodes may set a higher minimum age.

Links

Posts and profiles can contain links to other websites. Those sites have their own privacy practices.

Apple

Apple processes information when you download and update the app from the App Store, under Apple's own privacy policy. If you agree to share diagnostics with app developers in your device's settings, Apple may share crash reports with us.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will publish the new version at the address above with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: [contact email]

For data held by a node, contact that node's operators; their contact details are shown when you sign up on the node.