Starling

About Starling

Starling is an Android app for sharing location with a private circle such as family or a small group of friends. It uses no phone number, email address, or account. The app says locations and identity details are encrypted on the device with a key held by the circle’s phones. Invitations use a one-time code, and a new member receives the circle keys only after members compare a safety number and accept them. Circles have separate keys and identities. A relay moves encrypted data between devices. The product says the relay cannot read locations, names, or group membership, but it can see IP addresses, timing, and channel identifiers. Relay records expire after 24 hours, and the app can be configured to use a custom self-hosted relay. Tor mode can hide the user’s IP address from the relay. Map tiles are fetched from an external map source when the street map is used; an off-grid map is drawn locally without network requests. Location sharing can continue with the screen off and is accompanied by a persistent notification. Swiping the app away ends sharing unless an option to keep sharing when closed is enabled. Users can stop sharing with one tap, send an SOS, or check in with a status without continuously sharing their location. An optional passcode lock encrypts the circle secret at rest, and biometric unlocking is available where supported. The app also provides a panic wipe and separate circles for different groups. The product notes that a compromised phone may expose readable history stored on it, and that removing a member causes the circle to be re-keyed. Starling requires Android 9 or newer and a recent system WebView. Its privacy properties are stated by the product; the relay still observes network timing and IP addresses unless Tor is used.

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