Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 6, 2026 · Applies to Foraging ID: Plant & Mushroom for iOS, version 3.0 and later
This policy explains what the Foraging ID app ("Foraging ID", "the app", "we", "us") does with your data. Foraging ID is developed by Oleksandr Khnykin (AiTrendTool), who is the controller of the data described here. Contact: [email protected].
The short version: there is no account. Your logbook, your photos and your saved spots stay on your phone. A photo leaves the phone only when you ask the app to identify it, and only after you have agreed to send it to OpenAI. We keep no copy of it. We do not sell data, show ads or track you across other apps.
1. Data that stays on your phone
These are stored only on your device. We cannot see them.
- Your logbook: the results of your identifications and the photo of each find.
- My Spots: the places you save, with the species, your note, the photo and the map position. Spots are never uploaded. If you export them as a GPX file, you choose where the file goes.
- Settings such as the language, your season region, reminders and your choices in the app. Notifications (daily scan reminder, season and forecast alerts) are scheduled locally on the phone.
You can delete logbook entries and spots in the app at any time. Deleting the app removes all of them.
2. Photos sent for identification, only with your consent
Before the first identification, the app shows a screen that names the provider and asks for your permission. If you do not allow it, nothing is sent; the season guide, the forecast, your spots and the logbook keep working. You can withdraw consent at any time in Settings → Send photos to OpenAI for identification; the app will ask again before the next scan.
| When | What is sent | To whom and why |
|---|---|---|
| You ask the app to identify a photo | The photo (re-encoded on your phone, without its location or other metadata) and the language of the app | OpenAI analyses the photo and returns a suggested species with notes. The request goes through our server (a Cloudflare Worker), which passes it on and does not store the photo. |
OpenAI processes the photo under its API terms: it does not use API data to train its models and may keep it for up to 30 days to monitor abuse (OpenAI privacy policy). Each request carries a random app identifier created on your phone. It is not linked to your name, email or Apple Account; our server uses it only to apply scan limits and stop abuse, and does not pass it to OpenAI. Short technical logs (errors and request counts with the random app identifier, never your photo) are kept by Cloudflare for a few days.
3. Location
Location is optional. If you allow it, the app uses it on your phone for three things:
- Season guide: to pick your region (for example "Germany" or "US Midwest"). The position is turned into a region with Apple's geocoding service. You can also pick the region by hand, without location.
- Mushroom forecast: the position, rounded to about 11 km, is sent to Apple Weather (WeatherKit) to get recent rain and temperature (Apple privacy policy).
- My Spots: to pin a spot you save. This position stays on your phone.
We never receive your exact location. Analytics may receive the name of your season region (see section 4).
4. Analytics
To understand how the app is used and to fix problems, we use Google Firebase (Analytics and Remote Config). It receives which screens and features are used, scan and purchase steps, the name of the species a scan returned, the season region you chose, app version, device model, language, approximate country and the random app identifier. Remote Config lets us adjust settings such as the number of free scans without an app update.
Analytics never receives your photos, your spots, your notes or your exact location. We do not use advertising, we do not sell data and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites. The app does not ask for or use the advertising identifier (IDFA).
5. Purchases
Payments are handled by Apple. We never see your payment details. The app checks your subscription or purchase with Apple's StoreKit on your phone.
6. Legal bases (EEA, UK and similar laws)
- Consent for sending photos to OpenAI and for using location. You can withdraw it at any time.
- Performance of a contract for providing the app and your purchases.
- Legitimate interests for analytics and preventing abuse, limited to the data described above.
7. How long we keep data
- On your phone: until you delete it in the app or delete the app.
- Photos: not stored by us; OpenAI keeps them only as described in section 2.
- Analytics data: event-level data no longer than 14 months.
- Technical logs: a few days.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR or US state laws such as the CCPA), you can ask to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your data, to restrict or object to its use, and to withdraw consent. Most data is only on your phone and you control it directly. For analytics data, write to [email protected]; we will answer within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
9. International transfers
OpenAI, Google and Cloudflare may process data in the United States and other countries. Where required, transfers rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent safeguard offered by these providers.
10. Security
All connections use encryption (TLS). Data on your phone is protected by iOS.
11. Children
Foraging ID is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. Foraging should always be done under the supervision of an experienced adult.
12. What Foraging ID is
Foraging ID is an educational tool. Its identifications are AI suggestions and can be wrong. Nothing in the app is a guarantee that a plant or mushroom is safe to eat, touch or give to an animal, and nothing in it is medical or veterinary advice. See our Terms of Use.
13. Changes
If we change how the app uses data, we will update this page and the date above, and, for important changes, tell you in the app before they apply.
14. Contact
Oleksandr Khnykin (AiTrendTool) · [email protected]