SkystaContents
These terms are an agreement between you and Cy Liassides (“Skysta”, “we”, “us”) about your use of the Skysta app. By creating an account you accept them. If you do not accept them, please do not use Skysta.
This is the short version, and its section numbers match the full text. If the two ever seem to disagree, the full text governs, and please tell us so it gets fixed. Where a sentence describes what the app does, it describes what the app actually does today.
Skysta is offered in the United States. It is not directed to people anywhere else.
1. Who can use Skysta
You must be 13 or older. By creating an account you confirm that you are. The app does not ask your age and cannot check it, so this is a promise you make to us rather than a test you pass. If we learn that an account belongs to somebody under 13, we remove it and everything it has posted. Parents can write to hello@skystaapp.com.
Do not use Skysta if we have previously terminated your account, or if the law where you live forbids it. These terms are written for United States law, and Skysta is not available on any App Store outside the United States.
2. Your account
Skysta requires an account; there is no signed-out browsing. You can sign in with Sign in with Apple or with an email address and password, handled by Google’s Firebase Authentication.
If you sign up with an email address, you must follow the link we send before the app opens. Keep your password to yourself: you are responsible for everything done under your account, and Skysta does not offer two-factor authentication. Tell us if you think somebody else is using it.
We ask you for a name before the app opens, and it is not optional, because that name is published on every sky you share. A profile picture is up to you. Both are visible to every Skysta account. Do not use a name that impersonates someone else.
3. What Skysta costs, and what you may do with it
Skysta is free: nothing to buy and no subscription. If that ever changes, we will tell you first.
We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use Skysta on Apple devices you own or control, as permitted by Apple’s Media Services Terms, for your own non-commercial use. You may not copy, modify, or reverse-engineer the app except where the law allows; rent, sell, or redistribute it; scrape or bulk-download other people’s photographs, names, or posts; use another client or script to talk to Skysta’s servers; or try to defeat its limits, rules, or moderation.
Skysta’s name, design, writing, Sky Score, and curated spot data belong to us.
4. Forecasts are forecasts
Sunrise and sunset times come from astronomical geometry. They say where the sun is, not what you can see: Skysta does not model the hills, buildings, or trees in front of you.
The Sky Score is a prediction, not a fact. It is built from weather forecasts and an air quality reading, and forecasts are sometimes wrong. A high score is not a promise of a beautiful sunset. Do not rely on it for anything that matters.
Drive times and “leave by” times are estimates from Apple’s routing service. Never drive faster than the law or conditions allow to make one.
5. Going outside is your responsibility
Trusted spots are curated for the view. Each one is researched first and then approved by a person: we check the coordinates against the map, check the place is open to the public, record what kind of place it is and how you get in, and turn down anything that looks closed, private or too hard to reach. All of that happens at a desk. Nobody from Skysta goes to a spot, so approving one is a screen and not a promise about the ground: we do not inspect them for safety and we do not control them. Gates close, land changes hands, roads wash out.
Before you travel, check that the place is open to the public at that hour, consider the terrain, the drop-offs, the cold and the drive, tell someone where you are going, and do not trespass or park where you should not.
You are responsible for your own safety and for obeying the law. Do not use Skysta while driving. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for what happens to you at a place you went to because of this app.
6. Your photographs
They stay yours. We claim no ownership of them. Every photograph in Skysta is taken with Skysta’s own camera; the only image you pick from your library is your profile picture.
Your Journal is private, and it is backed up to your account so your photographs follow you to a new phone. That copy is readable by your account and no other. Since 15 September 2026 the coordinate is part of it, as is a spot tag. Storing it gives us no licence to it. There is no setting that turns the backup off. Deleting a photograph deletes its backup, and deleting your account deletes the whole backup.
When you share a sky, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, and display that photograph, with your display name, within Skysta, so the app can show it to other users. That is the whole purpose of the licence, and it ends when you delete the post or your account. We will not use your photographs in advertising without asking you first. You promise the photograph is yours, that sharing it infringes nobody’s rights, and that it does not show another person in a way they have not agreed to.
A shared sky is public and permanent. Every signed-in account can see it. It is in the feed for three days and then stays published for good: on your profile, which shows your newest sixty, and on the trusted spot’s page if it is tagged, which shows that spot’s newest forty. Older skies are not deleted and still open from their own link. Nothing takes it down on a timer; you can delete it at any time, and we can take one down for moderation, a takedown request, or when erasing an account.
You cannot edit a published sky, with one exception that only ever removes: you can take the place off it (§7). Save to Photos appears only on your own skies. Sharing somebody else’s sky sends a link, never the picture. Sharing your own sky sends a card carrying the picture, your name and profile picture, the light and the Sky Score, and the name of the trusted spot it was tagged at, when it has one, all of which is already public on the sky itself. The town is not on the card. We cannot stop a screenshot, and the image address works for anyone who holds it, so treat anything you share as capable of leaving the app.
A share link opens the sky inside Skysta for anyone who signs in, shows a page on our website without the photograph for anyone who does not, reaches nothing private, grants nobody any right in your photograph, and stops working when you delete the post.
A sky sent to one person is different. It is not published. The link you send carries a secret, the first account to open it becomes the only other account that can ever see the sky, and a forwarded link opens nothing. While it stands, you grant us the same narrow licence as above, limited to showing that one photograph to that one account and to you. It ends when you take the sky back, delete the photograph, or delete your account. The community rules apply to it exactly as to anything you share. The recipient can still screenshot it, and that is theirs to answer for, not ours.
7. Location on a shared sky
Two controls decide what a shared sky says about where it was taken, and one thing goes with no control.
Show on the map starts OFF, for everyone, on every photograph, unless you set it to start on at Settings → Location & units. One tap turns it on, and the post then carries the exact coordinate the photograph was taken at, drawn as a pin right where you stood. It is a choice on every photograph, and one tap either way decides that photograph. A pin at your home is your home. The name of the town is a separate switch, Name the town, which ships on and puts the town on every sky you share whichever way the pin sits.
The spot tag starts ON whenever the photograph was taken within about 500 metres of a trusted spot. It names a public overlook. Tap the ✕ on the share screen to remove it, and look for it every time, because it appears whether or not you knew the spot was there.
With no control, every shared sky carries a coarse cell of about 5.5 km so people nearby can find it in their Local feed. On the map it is drawn as a town-sized area of about 5.5 km, never as a point. The town name is not worked out from that cell: it comes from a finer point, about 1.1 km, that is only ever asked about and is never stored or published. The privacy policy §2 says exactly what is sent and to whom. A sky you keep in your Journal publishes nothing about where it was taken.
You can take the place off a sky you already shared and keep the photograph. Open it, tap the ⋯ menu, choose Remove the place. The pin, the town name, the spot tag and the coarse cell go together. It cannot be undone, and it does not reach a screenshot somebody already took.
Our Privacy Policy §4 lists exactly what a shared sky publishes.
8. Spot suggestions, corrections, and feedback
If you suggest a spot, you send us its name, town, a coordinate you picked, whether it is best at sunrise or sunset, and why the sky is good there, and you confirm it is public and safe. You grant us a perpetual, royalty-free licence to use, edit, and publish that information, with no obligation to publish, credit, or pay you. We may verify, rewrite, move, or reject any suggestion. Verifying means reading public sources and checking the pin on a map from a desk, and nobody goes to the place. You can see the status of your own suggestions in Settings, but you cannot withdraw one from the app. A spot you suggest on the website, at skystaapp.com/spots/suggest, is sent on the same terms, with no account and no status to check, and the page says so before you send it.
A spot correction from Something wrong here? and a feedback note from Settings are letters to us, read by a person. Neither can be read back, edited, or deleted from the app, and neither is removed when you delete your account. Email us and we will remove yours. Anything you tell us about how Skysta could be better, we may use without owing you payment, credit, or confidentiality.
9. Community rules
Do not post, or use Skysta to do, anything unlawful, hateful, harassing, threatening, or defamatory; any sexual content, and absolutely nothing involving the sexual exploitation of a child; graphic violence or content glorifying self-harm; someone else’s photograph as your own; a photograph that identifies a person who has not agreed to it; another person’s home, location, or personal information; spam, scams, advertising, or impersonation; or anything meant to identify, follow, locate, or intimidate another user.
You can share one sky per capture window. Keep as many as you like in your Journal; the limit is on publishing. Skysta is a place for photographs of the sky, and content that has nothing to do with that may be removed. There is no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users on Skysta. The Community Guidelines say the same in plain words.
10. Reporting, blocking, and what we do
Before a sky or a profile picture is published, your own phone runs Apple’s sensitive content check on it, and if it is flagged Skysta refuses to publish it. The check runs only when Sensitive Content Warning is on in iOS Settings, so it is a first filter and never the only one.
Reporting. Every sky that is not yours has Report this sky in its ⋯ menu, and every person’s page has Report this person. Reports are private. Blocking removes that person’s skies from your feed and galleries, on every device, and you can undo it in Settings → Blocked people. Somebody who has never shared a sky cannot be reached from any screen; write to hello@skystaapp.com and a person will act.
Our commitment. We read every report and aim to act on objectionable content within 24 hours. Be clear about what stands behind that: one person reads them, from a queue that shows how long each has waited. There is no team and no overnight shift, so if that person is ill or travelling it can take longer. Acting means removing the content and, where it warrants it, suspending or ending the account. If we act on something of yours, we tell you by email what we removed, the ground for it, and how to contest it. A person writes that email; nothing about it is automatic. The one exception is illegal content or a real and immediate danger, where we act first and explain straight afterwards. A photograph we take down comes off Skysta at once, but we keep the picture rather than destroying it, so a wrong decision or a copyright counter notification can put it back exactly as it was. Where destruction is the point, illegal material or your own request, Google keeps the file recoverable for seven days and no longer.
What you get back when you report something. The app tells you the report went. There is no automatic receipt by email, and we would rather say so than leave you waiting for one. When we have acted on your report we email you and say what we decided. If you would rather not wait, or you disagree, write to hello@skystaapp.com and a person answers. Reports made in bad faith or in volume may be ignored. We are not obliged to monitor content, but every report reaches us and is answered.
Copyright. If something on Skysta infringes a copyright you own, write to hello@skystaapp.com with the subject line Copyright notice. Tell us what work was infringed, what on Skysta infringes it, that you are allowed to act for the owner, and how to reach you. Skysta is run by Cy Liassides and he reads them. We remove infringing material, we tell the person who posted it and let them reply, and we close accounts that infringe repeatedly. That plain route is enough for most people and asks you to swear nothing.
Since 15 September 2026 Skysta also has a registered DMCA agent, so you can send a formal notice under 17 U.S.C. §512 instead: Cy Liassides, 4318 N 400 W, Lehi, UT 84043, phone 801-368-4330, hello@skystaapp.com, Copyright Office registration DMCA-1079417. §10.1 of the full text lists exactly what a formal notice and a counter notification must contain, including the statements made under penalty of perjury, and what we do with each. Please do not send a notice you know to be false; §512(f) makes that actionable.
11. Ending it
You can leave at any time. Settings → Delete account proves it is you, then deletes every sky you shared, your Journal backup, your saved spots, the record behind your Lock Screen card, your block list, your online record and your profile picture, and wipes the phone. If any of your skies, backup, saved spots or that Lock Screen record cannot be removed, the app stops and tells you rather than leaving your things behind. Deletion cannot be undone.
Deleting your account does not erase everything we hold. Reports filed about you stay, so moderation decisions remain reviewable, and we do not remove those even if you ask. Reports you filed, spot suggestions, corrections, feedback, and a small count of verification emails stay in our queues because no part of the app can reach them; ask and we remove them by hand. If we ever acted on your account, the record that we did survives, without your name or email. Deleted photographs stay recoverable at Google for seven days, deleted records for one hour, and our own dated database copies for thirty days; none of those copies holds a photograph.
A Journal backup on an account unused for six months may be deleted, by hand, one account at a time. Nothing else about the account goes.
We may suspend or terminate your account if you break these terms, if the law requires it, or if we stop operating Skysta, and we tell you first, say why, and say how to contest it, with the same exception as §10. If we shut the service down we give you reasonable notice to save what you want to keep. Sections 3, 6.3, 8, 12, 13 and 15 survive the end of this agreement.
12. Other people’s services
Skysta relies on services we do not run: Apple for sign-in, forecasts, maps, routing, naming towns, and the pushes that start and end the Lock Screen card with the app closed; Google Maps, only if you pick it for directions; Google Firebase for authentication, the database, storage, the small server jobs behind the verification email and the Lock Screen card, the website, and, only if you switch them on, crash reports and app counts; Open-Meteo for air quality; and Resend for the verification email. They have their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for them, and an outage at any of them can stop parts of Skysta working. Using Skysta means keeping to their terms where they apply to you.
13. Disclaimers and limits on liability
Skysta is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, and we do not warrant that any forecast, score, time, route, or spot detail is correct.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, lost profits, lost data, or personal injury arising from your use of Skysta, including any journey you make and anything another user posts. Our total liability for all claims is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, which for a free app is US$0, or US$50.
Nothing above limits liability the law does not let us limit. We never exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud. Some states do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you, and you keep every protection your law gives you.
If you use Skysta as a business, you indemnify us against claims arising from what you post, your use, or your breach of these terms. If you are a consumer, there is no indemnity.
14. Apple
Where you obtained Skysta from Apple’s App Store, this section applies. These terms are between you and us, not Apple.
Support is ours alone, at hello@skystaapp.com. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for Skysta.
We, not Apple, answer any claim you or anyone else makes about Skysta or your use of it, including product liability, a claim that Skysta does not meet a legal or regulatory requirement, and a claim under consumer protection, privacy or similar law. If somebody says Skysta infringes their intellectual property, we, not Apple, investigate, defend, settle and pay for it.
Warranties are ours too. We are solely responsible for any warranty on Skysta, so far as §13 has not disclaimed it. If Skysta fails to meet a warranty that applies to it, you can tell Apple, and Apple will refund what you paid, which for Skysta is nothing. Beyond that refund, Apple has no warranty obligation of any kind.
Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.
You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo, and that you are not on any US Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
15. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Utah, USA, without regard to its conflict of law rules, and the state and federal courts in Utah have exclusive jurisdiction.
We have not asked you to give up your right to go to court. There is no arbitration clause and no class action waiver. If we ever add one, it will be announced in its own dated entry on the changes page. Nothing here takes away a protection your state’s consumer law gives you, or stops you bringing a small claim in your local court. If any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest stays in force.
16. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms only for a reason: the law requires it, a feature is added, changed, or removed, a service we depend on changes its terms, or we have to close a security or abuse problem. The date at the top changes, and this page is the notice, because Skysta has no in-app announcement screen. If you do not accept a change, delete your account in Settings; there is nothing to pay and nothing to cancel. A change never applies backwards. Every change is recorded, dated, on its own page.
17. Contact
hello@skystaapp.com is the address for support, reports, complaints, takedowns, copyright notices, and legal notices. It is read every day and answered in English. Skysta is made and operated by Cy Liassides, in Utah, in the United States. There is no company behind it and no staff.
Designated agent for copyright notices (17 U.S.C. §512(c)(2), registration DMCA-1079417): Cy Liassides, 4318 N 400 W, Lehi, UT 84043, United States, phone 801-368-4330, hello@skystaapp.com.