Privacy policy

Effective November 1, 2026 Beta version

Bird Journal is built to keep what you hear and where you go on your own phone. This policy explains what the app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have.

On your device only

• Sound. Audio from your glasses or your phone's microphone is analysed on your phone to identify birds. It is not recorded, saved or sent anywhere.
• Your journal. Your sightings, notes, cards and the photos taken through your glasses are stored on your phone. They are not uploaded unless you choose to share them.
• Location. With your permission, your location is used to list the birds that live where you are and to record where each bird was found. It is stored with your sightings on your phone.

When the app uses the network

• Place names. To label a sighting with a place, such as a city, the app asks Apple's location service, which receives the coordinates. Apple's privacy policy applies.
• Species packs. Regional packs of bird photos, sounds and text download from GitHub. GitHub sees your IP address, as for any download.
• Your glasses. Bird Journal connects to Meta glasses through Meta's Wearables toolkit and the Meta AI app. Meta's terms and privacy policy apply to that connection. The audio arrives over the glasses' camera stream; video frames are shown in the viewfinder and only kept when you take a photo. Bird Journal does not use the glasses' voice features.

An optional account

You can use Bird Journal without an account. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive an identifier for your account and, if you allow it, your name and email address. We store these and a display name you choose on our server, hosted by Amazon Web Services in the United States, so that future features such as sharing with friends can work. Signing out keeps your journal on your phone.

Features that share sightings with friends, or that send a photo to be painted into card art, are coming in later versions. They will be optional and explained in the app before anything is sent, and this policy will be updated before they launch.

Tips

Tips are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We receive no payment details, and the app keeps no record of who has tipped.

What we don't do

• No advertising, and no ad or tracking SDKs.
• No analytics or crash-reporting services.
• No selling or renting of your information.

Your choices

• You can turn off location or microphone access at any time in iOS Settings.
• Deleting the app deletes your journal from your phone.
• To delete your account and the information stored with it, email us at the address below. In-app account deletion is coming in a later version.

Children

Bird Journal is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

We will post any changes here and update the effective date. If a change affects what is shared, the app will tell you first.