Privacy Policy

Overview

Critterhood helps you track and share local wildlife sightings to keep your community informed. The app has no user accounts — all data is anonymous. We collect only what is necessary to make the core features work.

Location

Critterhood uses your device location for the following, all on-device:

• Display your position on the map
• Pre-fill the location pin when reporting a sighting
• Filter the Recent Sightings Nearby list by distance (the full sightings list is downloaded and filtered locally — your location is not sent to our servers for this)

Optionally, when creating an alert zone, you can use your current location to set the zone's center. Only the saved zone coordinates are stored on our servers — not your ongoing location.

We do not track your location in the background or build a location history.

Wildlife Sightings

When you report a sighting, the following is stored on our servers and is publicly visible to all Critterhood users:

• Species type
• Encounter severity (Sighted or Approached)
• Map coordinates
• Submission timestamp (recorded automatically)
• Optional text notes

Push Notification Token

If you enable notifications, Critterhood stores an anonymous device token provided by Apple's Push Notification Service (APNs). This token is the only device identifier we collect. It is used to deliver wildlife alerts for your configured zones and is not linked to any personal information.

App Preferences

Your appearance settings, notification time windows, minimum severity filter, and nearby radius are stored only on your device using iOS UserDefaults. These preferences are included in standard iOS device backups. They are not transmitted to our servers.

Alert Zones

When you create an alert zone, its coordinates and radius are stored on our servers linked to your anonymous APNs token. This is required so the backend can match new sightings to your zones and deliver push notifications. The zone name you assign is stored only on your device and is never sent to our servers.

Deleting a zone removes it from both your device and our servers.

Third-Party Services

Critterhood uses the following third-party services:

1. Supabase — stores wildlife sightings and alert zone data on its servers. Privacy policy: supabase.com/privacy
2. Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) — delivers wildlife alerts to your device. Privacy policy: apple.com/legal/privacy
3. Google AdMob — displays ads in the free version of the app. AdMob may collect device and usage data to serve personalized ads. You can opt out via iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising. Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy

We do not sell, trade, or rent your information to third parties for marketing purposes.

In-App Purchases

Critterhood offers an optional purchase to remove advertisements. All payments are processed securely by Apple's App Store. We do not collect or store your payment information.

Data Control

You have control over the data you submit:

• Delete individual sightings: Open My Sightings, then swipe left on a row or tap Delete. This removes the record from both your device and our servers.
• Delete alert zones: Go to Settings > Alert Zones, then swipe left on a zone. This removes the zone from both your device and our servers.
• Uninstall the app: Removing Critterhood from your device deletes all locally stored preferences and your My Sightings list. Any sightings you previously submitted remain in the shared database — they are anonymous and carry no connection to your identity or device. Delete your sightings individually before uninstalling if you want them removed from our servers, or contact us afterward with the relevant details.

Children's Privacy

Critterhood is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Because all submissions are fully anonymous — no name, account, or device identifier is attached to any sighting — we have no way to identify which records were submitted by a minor. If a child has used the app, any sightings they submitted can be deleted directly within the app from the My Sightings list before uninstalling.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected by the updated date at the top of this page.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy or our data practices, please contact us:

shaunklassen.apps@gmail.com