SunPathly

Privacy & cookies

Last updated: 2026

This page describes what happens to information when you use SunPathly. It is written to be read rather than to be legally impenetrable, but it is intended to be accurate. If anything here is unclear, the safest assumption is the one that gives you more privacy, not less.

The short version

  • All sun, shadow and daylight calculations run inside your browser. Nothing about your location, your room dimensions or your garden layout is sent to us.
  • We do not have accounts, and we do not ask for your name or email address.
  • Typing into the location search sends that text to a third-party geocoding service so it can be turned into coordinates.
  • Advertising is served by a third party and does use cookies. You are asked before any advertising cookie is set, and you can decline.
  • SunPathly is operated from Ireland, so the GDPR applies. Your rights under it, and the legal basis for each thing the site does, are set out below.

What stays on your device

The solar position algorithm, the shadow geometry and every chart you see are computed in JavaScript in your browser. There is no server-side calculation, so there is no request carrying your coordinates anywhere.

Your chosen location, your unit preference, your theme, and any garden or room layout you build are stored in your browser's localStorage so the tools remember them next time. That storage is local to your device and is never transmitted. Clearing your browser's site data removes it entirely.

The location search

When you type a place name into the search box, that text is sent to the Open-Meteo geocoding API to be converted into a latitude, longitude and timezone. Open-Meteo receives the text you typed and, as with any web request, your IP address. We do not send them anything else, and we do not receive anything back beyond the matching places.

If you would rather not use it, both alternatives avoid the service entirely: enter coordinates directly, or use the "Use my location" button, which reads your device's own position and never leaves the browser.

Your browser's geolocation always asks your permission first, and we never store the result anywhere but your own device.

Advertising cookies

These tools are free and are paid for by advertising. Adverts are supplied by Google AdSense, which sets cookies to measure and, if you allow it, personalise what you see.

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, you are asked to choose before any advertising cookies are set. That consent message is provided by Google, a Google-certified consent management platform, and lets you accept, decline, or pick which purposes and partners you allow. If you decline, Google may still show limited, non-personalised adverts that do not rely on cookies for tracking. Your choice is remembered so you are not asked repeatedly, and you can change it at any time with the "Cookie settings" link at the foot of every page.

Google's handling of that data is described in their policy for partner sites, and personalised advertising can be controlled at My Ad Center.

Analytics

This site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to count page views. It sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device, does not fingerprint you and does not track you across other websites. It records the page requested, the referring page, and coarse details such as country and browser type. Because it holds no personal data and sets no cookies, it is not covered by the consent message.

No other analytics or tracking scripts are loaded. Standard web server logs may record requests, including IP addresses, as is normal for any website; they are used for operating and securing the site and nothing else.

Children

This site is not directed at children, does not knowingly collect information from them, and has no accounts or profiles of any kind.

Who is responsible for this data

SunPathly is operated from Ireland and is the data controller for the limited processing described on this page, within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). Questions, requests and complaints all go to hello@sunpathly.com.

The honest summary is that there is very little to be controller of. There is no database, no account system and no server-side record of anything you do with the tools. The processing that does exist is set out below rather than glossed over.

The legal basis for each thing

The GDPR requires a stated basis for each kind of processing, so:

  • Your settings, location and layouts. Held in your browser's localStorage so the tools remember what you were doing. Strictly necessary for a feature you asked for — and it never reaches us, so there is nothing for us to process.
  • Text you type into the location search. Sent to the geocoding service to be turned into coordinates. Necessary to provide a feature you actively invoked (Article 6(1)(b)).
  • Advertising cookies. Set by Google to fund the site. Your consent, given through the consent message and withdrawable at any time (Article 6(1)(a)).
  • Cookieless page-view counts. Used to see which pages get read. Legitimate interests in understanding and maintaining the site, with no cookies, no fingerprinting and no cross-site tracking (Article 6(1)(f)).
  • Server and security logs. Ordinary request logs. Legitimate interests in keeping the service running and defending it from abuse (Article 6(1)(f)).

Storing or reading anything on your device beyond what is strictly necessary also requires consent under the ePrivacy rules, which in Ireland are the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Privacy and Electronic Communications) Regulations 2011. That is what the consent message is for, and why declining it means no advertising cookies are set.

How long anything is kept

Data in your browser stays until you clear your site data — it is yours, on your device, and we cannot see or delete it. Advertising cookies have retention periods set by Google, described in their policy linked above. Page-view counts are aggregate statistics that are not tied to you. Server logs are short-lived and used only for operating and securing the site.

Where the data goes

The geocoding request and the advertising script both involve third parties, and some of them process data outside the European Economic Area. Where that happens it relies on the transfer safeguards the GDPR provides — an adequacy decision by the European Commission, or standard contractual clauses. Google, which serves the advertising, is certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

If you would rather no third party was involved at all, the site remains fully usable: decline advertising cookies in the consent message, and enter coordinates directly or use your device's own location instead of the search box.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing already carried out on the basis of it.

In practice, most of these have an unusually short answer here: we hold no personal data on a server, so there is nothing for us to export, correct or delete. What exists is in your own browser and under your own control, and clearing your site data removes all of it.

The exception is advertising. To withdraw consent, use the "Cookie settings" link at the foot of any page and change your choice; to exercise rights against Google over data it has already collected, use My Ad Center and the controls in their policy above. Requests to us are free and are answered within one month.

Complaints

If you think this site has handled your data improperly, please raise it with us first at hello@sunpathly.com — it is a small site and problems are usually mistakes rather than policy.

You also have the right to complain to the Irish supervisory authority, the Data Protection Commission, or to the authority in your own EU country of residence.

Accuracy of the figures

This page is about your data, not about the numbers the site produces — but the two get looked for in the same place, so: every figure on SunPathly is a computed estimate for an idealised clear sky, not a measurement of your property, and it is not professional advice. The terms of use set out what that means and what it does not cover.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of this page changes with it.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to hello@sunpathly.com.