Privacy Policy

pocket planter is operated by Stephanie Klahre, doing business as pocket planter ("we", "us"), based in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. This policy explains what data the pocket planter app and website collect, why, who processes it for us, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. We wrote it to match exactly what the app does.

Short version: we collect what we need to care for your plants (your account, your plants, rooms and care logs, and optionally your location and photos), we keep a simple record of which features you use so we can improve the app, we do not sell or share personal data for advertising, we do not include any third-party analytics or ad SDKs, and you can delete everything from inside the app.

1. who this applies to

This policy covers the pocket planter mobile app (iOS and Android, including TestFlight and Google Play beta builds) and the website pocketplanter.app. The app is intended for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. It is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them; if we learn we have, we delete it.

2. what we collect, feature by feature

Account

• Email address and a password (stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider). If you sign in with Apple, we receive the email or relay address Apple provides.
• Profile: display name (optional) and a profile photo (optional).

Your garden

• The plants you add (species, nickname, date added, health score, status), the rooms and spots you create, care logs (watering, feeding, repotting, checks), notes, shopping list items, tasks, vacation hand-offs and achievements. This is the core of the app and is stored in our database.

Location and weather (optional)

• If you allow it, the app reads your approximate location (low accuracy) once and stores the coordinates and city name in your profile. It uses them to fetch local weather (temperature, rain, frost) so watering and care advice fit where your plants live.
• Coordinates are sent to OpenWeather to get the forecast. You can decline or revoke location access at any time in your phone settings; the app keeps working with generic advice.

Photos and plant identification (optional)

• Photos you take or pick (plant photos, room photos and your profile photo) are uploaded to our file storage at Supabase and shown in the app.
• Photo files are served from unlisted web links. Anyone who has the exact link to a photo can open it without signing in, so do not share those links if you want a photo to stay private. We never publish the links, except in plant-sitter emails you choose to send, the app shows your photos only to you, and only you can add or delete the files in your folder.
• When you use scan, identify or diagnose, the photo is sent through our server to Kindwise (Plant.id), a plant identification service, which returns species suggestions and health findings. Photos sent for identification are not labelled with your name or email.

Ask planter (AI assistant, optional)

• When you chat with planter, your message and a short context summary (your plants, their rooms, current weather and recent care) are sent through our server to Google, whose Gemini model generates the reply. We count how many messages you send to apply fair-use limits. Chat content is not labelled with your name or email.

How you use the app

• The app keeps a simple record of how it is used: which screens and features you open, when a session starts and ends, the app version and your platform (iOS or Android). These records are tied to your account id and stored in our own database at Supabase. We use them to see which features help people, fix what confuses them, and plan pricing.
• These records never contain your name, email address, anything you type, or your photos. No third-party analytics or advertising service receives them. They are kept for 12 months and then deleted, and they are deleted with your account.

Notifications

• Care reminders are scheduled on your device. If you allow notifications, a device push token may be stored so we can send reminders; the content of notifications is not stored by us.

Email and feedback

• We send transactional emails only: account emails (confirmation, password reset), plant-sitter hand-offs you request, waitlist confirmations, and replies to your feedback. If you use "send feedback" in the app, your message, category, app version, platform and account email are stored so we can reply.

Beta testing

• If you install a beta build through TestFlight or Google Play, Apple or Google may send us crash logs, usage statistics and the feedback you submit through their tools, under their own privacy terms.

Website

• pocketplanter.app is a static site hosted on GitHub Pages. GitHub logs visitor IP addresses for security. The site sets no cookies and runs no analytics. If you join the waitlist, we store your email address and when you joined, and to stop automated sign-ups we briefly keep a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address, which cannot be read back, for about a day.
• Waitlist email: we use your address only to email you about the launch of pocket planter. Every email we send to the list includes a link to unsubscribe and our postal address. If you unsubscribe, we stop emailing you right away.

What we do not collect

• No advertising identifiers, no contacts, no precise location tracking in the background, no third-party analytics, advertising or tracking SDKs, no sale or sharing of personal data for advertising.

3. why we use it (and our legal basis)

• To run the app you asked for: account, plants, rooms, care schedules, reminders, emails you request. Legal basis: performing our contract with you.
• To tailor care to your weather, identify plants from photos and answer your questions: these are optional features that run only when you turn them on or use them. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse, enforce usage limits and fix bugs, and to read and reply to feedback. Legal basis: our legitimate interests, balanced against yours.
• To understand which features are used, improve the app and plan pricing, using the usage records described above. Legal basis: our legitimate interests, balanced against yours.
• To email people on the waitlist about the launch. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time with the unsubscribe link.
• We do not use your data for advertising or profiling, and we do not make automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you.

4. AI processing, in plain terms

Two features send your content to AI providers so they can process it for you. Both happen only when you use the feature.

• Plant identification and diagnosis: your photo goes to Kindwise (Plant.id), based in the Czech Republic. Kindwise processes it to return suggestions and may keep identification results for a limited period to let us retrieve them; we do not permit use of your photos for any purpose other than providing the service to us.
• Ask planter: your message and the context summary go to Google's Gemini API (USA), on a paid plan. Under the paid Gemini API terms, Google does not use your prompts or the replies to improve its products, and keeps them only for a limited period for abuse monitoring (currently up to 55 days).

AI output can be wrong. Identification, diagnosis and care advice are suggestions, not professional advice. See the Terms of Service for the full disclaimer.

5. who processes data for us

We use a small number of service providers. Each one processes data only on our instructions, under a contract, to provide the service described.

• Supabase (database, authentication, file storage, server functions; data hosted in the United States): all account, garden, photo, usage record, feedback, waitlist and push-token data.
• Google, Gemini API (AI assistant, United States): chat messages and context summaries.
• Kindwise, Plant.id (plant identification, Czech Republic): photos sent for identification or diagnosis.
• OpenWeather (weather forecasts, United Kingdom): approximate coordinates. OpenWeather states it does not store request parameters.
• Resend (email delivery, United States): email address and the content of emails we send you.
• Expo (app updates and push notifications, United States): an anonymous install identifier for updates, and push tokens for notifications.
• GitHub (website hosting, United States): visitor IP addresses in server logs.
• Apple and Google (app distribution, beta testing, future purchases): under their own terms.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with data brokers or advertisers.

6. international transfers

We are based in the United States and most of our providers process data there. If you use the app from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, your data is transferred to the United States. Where required, those transfers rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses in our providers' data processing agreements and, for certified providers (including Google), the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK and Swiss extensions.

7. how long we keep data

• Account and garden data: as long as your account exists.
• Photos: until you delete the photo, the plant, or your account.
• Chat messages: processed to answer you and kept by Google for abuse monitoring for a limited period (up to 55 days); we store only the count of messages per user, not the content.
• Identification photos: processed by Kindwise and retrievable by us for a limited period under their terms; we do not keep a separate copy beyond your plant timeline.
• Usage records (which screens and features were used): 12 months, then deleted automatically.
• Feedback: up to 24 months after we receive it, then deleted or anonymised.
• Waitlist: your email address is kept until 12 months after the app launches publicly, or until you unsubscribe, whichever comes first. After you unsubscribe we keep your address only on a do-not-email list, so we never email it again. The hashed IP addresses used to stop automated sign-ups are deleted after about a day.
• Emails: our provider keeps delivery logs for a limited period for deliverability and abuse prevention.
• When you delete your account, we delete your profile, plants, rooms, room photos and plant spots, care logs, photos, usage records, usage counters and push tokens, and then the account itself. Feedback you sent is detached from your account and its email address removed. Supabase keeps daily backups for a limited period (7 days on the current plan); deleted data disappears from backups when they rotate. We may keep a minimal record where the law requires it (for example, to honour a deletion request).

8. your choices and rights

• Location, camera, photo library and notification access are controlled in your phone settings and can be turned off at any time.
• Delete your account and data at any time: Profile → Delete my account in the app, or email us and we will do it for you (see pocketplanter.app/delete-account).
• Export your data: Profile → Export my data creates a file with your plants, rooms, room photos and plant spots, care logs and photo links.
• Leave the waitlist: use the unsubscribe link in any waitlist email, or email us.
• Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, export or restrict the use of your personal data, to object to processing based on legitimate interests, to withdraw consent, and to complain to your data protection authority. Email us and we will respond within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights.
• We do not sell or share personal data as those terms are defined in US state privacy laws, so there is nothing to opt out of.
• Do Not Track: the app and the website do not track you across other companies' apps or websites, and we do not allow any third party to track you on our services. Because there is no such tracking to turn off, we do not change how we handle data when your browser or device sends a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal.

9. security

All traffic uses HTTPS/TLS. Passwords are stored only as salted hashes. Database access is protected by row-level security so you can only read and change your own rows. API keys for our providers live on our servers, never in the app. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your data we will notify you as the law requires.

10. children

The app is for people aged 18 and over. It is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.

11. changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. For material changes we will tell you in the app or by email before they take effect, and the app will ask you to review and accept the new version. We record which version you accepted and when. The date at the top shows the latest version; earlier versions are available on request.

12. contact

Stephanie Klahre, doing business as pocket planter, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Email: hello@pocketplanter.app