FledgrPrivacy Policy
Fledgr is an iPhone app for identifying birds and keeping a record of the birds you see. It is made by Max Diess, an independent developer in the United States ("we", "us"). Questions about this policy go to support@fledgr.net.
The short version
- Your sightings, photos, and profile are private. Other users never see them.
- We collect only what the app needs to work. We do not sell your data, show ads, or track you across other apps and websites.
- Your data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers in the United States, encrypted.
- You can delete your account and all your data from inside the app at any time.
What we collect
Account
- Your email address, and which sign-in method you use (email, Google, or Apple). When you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive only your email address. If you choose Apple's "Hide My Email", we receive a relay address instead of your real one.
- A username you choose.
- Your password, if you set one. It is handled by our sign-in service (Amazon Cognito), and we never see it.
- An age check: at sign-up we ask for your year of birth, use it once to confirm you are 13 or older, and keep only the date you confirmed. We do not store your year of birth.
Profile (all optional): first name, last name, date of birth, home area (a general place such as a city, never a street address), gender, and a profile photo.
Your bird records
- Sightings: the species (or "unclassified"), date and time, location, count, and any notes you add.
- Your life list, custom lists, and favorites.
- Photos you take in the app or add from your library, including the date and location recorded in the photo.
From your device
- A push notification token, your app version, and when your devices last synced, so we can keep your devices in sync.
When you contact us: your email and whatever you write to us.
We do not use analytics or advertising tools, advertising identifiers, or cookies.
Location
The app uses your location only if you allow it. We use it to:
- record where you saw a bird
- suggest birds that are likely near you
- suggest which bird a photo might show
When you check off a bird while online, the app sends that spot's coordinates to Apple to look up a place name, such as a park or town. Apple handles this under its own privacy policy.
You control how precise each sighting's location is (exact, rounded to about 10 km, or hidden) whenever a sighting leaves your device in a share or export. Locations of endangered and sensitive species are hidden by default everywhere except your own view.
How we use your information
- To run the app: sign you in, save and sync your records across your devices, and show your lists and photos.
- To send the emails the app needs: sign-in and verification codes, a welcome message, and account notices such as a deletion confirmation. We do not send marketing email.
- To show anonymous totals, such as "Seen by 1,234 birders" on a species page, counted from all users without names or places.
- To keep the service secure and fix problems.
- To answer your support requests.
What other users can see
Other users cannot see your sightings, photos, lists, favorites, profile, or location. There are two exceptions:
- Your sightings count toward the anonymous "seen by" totals.
- If you are the first person in Fledgr to photograph a species, the species page shows your username and the date. It never shows the place or the photo.
Your photos
Your photos are stored encrypted and are visible only to you, on your own devices. We do not use your photos to train any model. If we ever offer that, it will be off unless you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time.
Bird photos and information in the app's field guide come from Fledgr's own servers. The app does not load them from Wikipedia or other outside sites.
Who we share it with
We do not sell your information or share it for advertising. We use these service providers to run Fledgr, and they process data only on our behalf:
- Amazon Web Services: hosting, storage, sign-in (Amazon Cognito), and email delivery (Amazon SES), in the United States
- Apple: Sign in with Apple, push notifications, and place-name lookups
- Google: Sign in with Google, if you choose it
We may disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of our users or the service.
Where it is stored and how it is protected
Your data is stored on AWS servers in the United States, with a backup copy in a second US region. It is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest. Access is limited to what is needed to run the service.
How long we keep it
- We keep your data for as long as you have an account.
- Items you delete are removed from our servers 30 days after you delete them.
- When you delete your account, we delete your account, records, profile, and photos. Copies in our backups expire within 35 days.
Your choices and rights
- View and edit your profile at any time, and leave any optional field empty.
- Turn location access on or off in iPhone Settings, and choose how precise each sighting's location is.
- Delete any sighting, photo, or list.
- Delete your account from the app: Account, then Delete account.
- Ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct it, by emailing support@fledgr.net.
Depending on where you live (for example, California), you may have additional privacy rights. We honor these requests for every user, wherever they live.
Children
Fledgr is not for children under 13. If we learn that someone under 13 has an account, we delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the effective date above. If the change is significant, we will also tell you in the app.