LiveTerra Support
Thanks for using LiveTerra! If you need help, have a feature request, or run into a bug, we are happy to hear from you.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
We try to respond within a few business days.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add a place?
Tap the plus button on the Places screen and type a name. Cities and towns come from Apple Maps, and a whole country is offered as its own kind of answer above them. Pick one and it appears in your list.
Can I watch a whole country?
Yes. Search for its name and choose the entry under Countries. A country watches everything inside its borders rather than a distance around a point, so it has no radius to set. Each country can be added once.
How far around a place does LiveTerra look?
That is up to you, per place. Open the place and tap its radius to change it. The default is 300 km. A city and a mountain range are not the same question, which is why there is no single setting for everyone.
Why does my place say “Nothing significant”?
Because nothing significant has been reported near it. That is the honest shape of this data: some places see something most weeks, and many see nothing for months. LiveTerra does not invent activity to look busy, and a quiet list is a real answer.
What is the difference between “Reported nearby” and “Satellite heat detections”?
Reported nearby lists events that an agency has published: earthquakes, wildfires, storms, floods and volcanoes near the place. Satellite heat detections are a second opinion from NASA’s satellites, which measure heat rather than fires. Industry, gas flares and agricultural burning all show up, so persistent industrial sources are filtered out. A heat detection is a weaker claim than a reported wildfire, and the two are kept apart on purpose.
What does “significant” mean?
Each source grades what it publishes, and LiveTerra takes those grades rather than making its own. Notifications only ever cover significant events. The World tab shows significant events by default, and you can switch it to everything, which adds the small earthquakes.
How do notifications work?
Turn them on in Settings under Notifications, then choose per place what you want to hear about: which hazards, and for earthquakes the smallest magnitude worth a notification. The phone asks for permission once. There is a longer explanation in the guide “What LiveTerra notifies you about”.
I got a notification about something that is not at my place. Why?
Places closer together than about 100 km share a grid square, and notifications are sent per square. A hazard switched off for one place can still arrive from a place beside it. It is a limit of keeping your exact positions off our server, and the guide explains it.
What is “Where I am”?
An optional place that moves with you. Turn it on from the Places screen and your current position becomes a watched place like any other, pinned to the top of the list. It matters most just after you land somewhere. LiveTerra asks for location only while you are using the app, and never in the background.
Where does the World tab open?
On your part of the world. It uses your position if you are watching where you are, otherwise the first place in your list, otherwise the continent your phone’s time zone is in. Hold and drag a place to the top of the list to change where the map opens.
How do I change the order of my places, or remove one?
Hold a place and drag it to where you want it. Swipe a place to remove it.
Where does the data come from?
Earthquakes from USGS and EMSC. Wildfires, storms, floods and volcanoes from GDACS, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System run by the European Commission and the United Nations. Volcanic activity from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program. Heat detections from NASA FIRMS. Flood and fire outlines from Copernicus Emergency Management Service where they exist. Shaking maps from USGS. Maps and place search from Apple. Each event card links to the full report at its source.
Is LiveTerra a warning system?
No. It passes on what the agencies publish, as soon as it can, and those agencies publish after the fact, sometimes hours after. Official warnings from your local authorities come first, and LiveTerra never replaces them. If something is happening where you are, follow the instructions of the people on the ground.
Which languages does LiveTerra speak?
English for now.