Vogelsong Privacy Policy
The short version
- Vogelsong identifies birds on your phone. Nothing you record or photograph is uploaded.
- No account, no sign-up. We do not know who you are.
- Analytics are optional and off by default.
- No ads, no advertising identifier, no tracking across apps.
On-device processing
Sound ID and Photo ID run on your phone. Recordings, photos, spectrograms and model embeddings never leave your device and are not uploaded to us or anyone else.
Microphone and camera
The microphone is used only while you run Sound ID, and the camera or photo library only when you start a Photo ID. Access is requested through the standard iOS permission prompts and can be revoked in Settings › Privacy & Security at any time. Audio and images are processed in memory on your device.
Location
If you allow location access, Vogelsong uses a coarse (approximate) location only to pick a region for Nearby and region-pack suggestions. Precise GPS coordinates are not stored and not sent to us. You can deny location access and choose a region manually.
No account
There is no account, no sign-up and no login. We do not collect your name, email address or contacts.
Optional analytics and crash reports
Analytics are optional and off by default. Nothing is sent, and the analytics SDK is not even initialised, until you switch on “Share anonymous analytics” in onboarding or in Settings › Privacy. When it is on, we receive anonymous usage events (which screens are opened, whether an identification succeeded, coarse confidence buckets) and crash reports. Events carry no name, email, account identity, advertising identifier or precise location. Advertising-related consent types remain denied permanently. You can switch analytics off at any time; collection stops immediately.
Provider: Google Firebase (Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics), operated by Google LLC. See Firebase privacy and security. Opted-in data may be processed in the United States under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you can withdraw at any time in Settings › Privacy.
Region pack downloads
Region packs are downloaded from our server. Like any web server it keeps standard short-lived access logs (IP address, file requested, time, user-agent) for security and capacity planning. They are not joined with analytics data and are deleted on rotation. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Purchases
Vogelsong is free with no ads and no subscription at launch. If in-app purchases are introduced, purchases are processed by Apple; we do not receive your payment details. This policy will be updated before that happens.
App Store privacy label
| Data | Purpose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Usage data (product interaction) | Analytics | Only if you opt in. Not linked to you. No tracking. |
| Diagnostics (crash, performance, other diagnostic data) | App functionality | Only if you opt in. Not linked to you. No tracking. |
| Coarse location | App functionality | Optional. Used on-device only. Not linked to you. No tracking. |
Data used to track you: none. Data linked to you: none.
Data retention and deletion
Your life list, settings and downloaded packs are stored only on your device and in your iCloud device backup if you have that enabled. Deleting the app deletes them. Anonymous analytics events, if you opted in, are retained by Firebase for up to 14 months and cannot be attributed to you.
Children
General audience. Not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
Your rights
You can ask for access, correction, deletion or portability of personal data, object to processing, withdraw consent, and lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Because the app does not identify you, the only personal data we could realistically hold is an email conversation with you. Write to support@anastasiia.app.
Changes
We will update this page and the date above when anything changes. See also the site-wide privacy policy.