Support
Contact us
Use the form below — it reaches our app support team directly. If something looks wrong on a particular volcano, tell us its name and what you are seeing, along with your device and iOS version. That is usually enough for us to reproduce it.
Frequently asked
The map is grey or half-drawn when I first open the app
The world base map is downloading. It is about 50 MB and it only happens once — after that the globe draws with no connection at all. Leave the app open on Wi-Fi for a minute or two and it will fill in. If it seems stuck, close the app fully and reopen it; the download resumes rather than starting over.
What actually works with no signal?
All of it, with older data. The globe draws from the map stored on your device, the catalogue is on the device, and the last alert feed, advisories, photographs and earthquake lists are all cached. The app shows you when the data was last updated and tells you plainly that it is offline, so you always know how old what you are looking at is — it will not quietly show you stale information as though it were live.
Can I get a detailed map of one volcano for offline use?
Yes. Open a volcano and download its map area from there. That gives you street-level detail around that volcano on top of the world map, for the times you are actually near one. Each downloaded area can be removed individually when you no longer need it.
A volcano is erupting on the news but shows no alert in the app
Colour-coded alert levels are the USGS volcano alert levels, and the USGS assigns them only to volcanoes it monitors — almost all of them in the United States. A volcano anywhere else can be very active and still carry no USGS level, because no one has assigned it one. For those, look at the Activity tab: the weekly volcanic activity report and the ash advisories cover the rest of the world, and a volcano's detail page merges everything known about it into one status. If a volcano is genuinely missing from a feed we publish, tell us through the form above.
How current is the data?
Our server rebuilds the merged alert feed every fifteen minutes from the USGS, the ash advisory centres and the weekly report. The app refreshes it when you open it and periodically in the background. Earthquakes come straight from the USGS as you look at them. Every screen that shows feed data also shows when it was last updated.
I am not getting notifications
Three things have to be true. The volcano has to be on your watchlist; notifications have to be allowed for Volcano Alert in iOS Settings; and Background App Refresh has to be on, both system-wide and for this app. Note that alert notifications fire on a change in status, so a volcano that is already at Warning when you add it will not notify you until something changes. iOS also decides when background refreshes actually run — it learns your usage and can delay them, particularly in Low Power Mode.
Why does it want my location?
Only to sort volcanoes by distance from you and to fill in the "near me" section. The reading happens on the device and is never stored or sent anywhere. Decline it and everything else works normally — you simply lose the distance sorting. See the privacy policy.
Can I turn off Mapbox telemetry?
Yes. Tap the ⓘ button on the map and turn telemetry off there. That is Mapbox's own control, and it applies to the map component only — the app itself has no analytics of any kind.
Some volcanoes are missing from the map
Pleistocene volcanoes — those with no known eruption in the last 10,000 years — are hidden by default to keep the map readable. Turn them on in the map's filters and they will appear. The full Smithsonian catalogue is always searchable in the Browse tab regardless of what the map is showing.
Where does the information come from?
The catalogue is the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program's. Alert levels are the USGS's, ash advisories come from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres, the weekly bulletin is the joint Smithsonian/USGS report, and earthquakes are from the USGS. We merge and cache them; we do not author them.
Important
Volcano Alert is an information tool. It reports what official sources publish, and those sources can lag real events. It is not a warning system and must not be relied on as one — always follow the guidance of your local authorities and civil aviation notices.