Terms of use

Effective November 1, 2026 Beta version

These terms cover your use of the Bird Journal app and its services. By using the app, you agree to them.

The app

Bird Journal is free. It identifies birds by sound with a machine-learning model, and the identifications can be wrong. Use your own judgement, especially for rare or protected species, and enjoy birds responsibly: keep your distance, respect nesting birds, and follow local rules and private property.

Bird Journal is in beta. Features may change, break or be removed, and data in the beta may not carry over to later versions.

Your account and content

An account is optional. If you create one, you are responsible for activity on it. Your sightings, notes and photos are yours. If you choose to share them through the app, you give us permission to store and show them to the people you share them with, only to provide that feature.

Don't use the app to harass anyone, to share content that isn't yours to share, or to disclose the locations of sensitive or threatened species. We may suspend accounts that do.

Content in the app

Bird photos, sounds and text come from open sources under their own licences, credited in the app under Settings → Sources & credits. The identification models are BirdNET, used under their licences. Card art is generated with AI and labelled as such.

Tips

Tips are voluntary, non-refundable except as required by Apple's policies or the law, and unlock nothing.

Third parties

The app works with Meta glasses, Apple and Google sign-in, and Apple's App Store. Their own terms apply to your use of their products.

No warranty

The app is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential damages arising from your use of the app.

Changes

We may update these terms and will post changes here with a new effective date. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept it.