Privacy
This policy covers the on-wildlife and on-site apps, on the web and on iOS, and this website. It is written plainly because it is short: these apps are built so that there is almost nothing to say here.
The short version
There are no accounts, no advertising, and no analytics. Nothing you write, rate, photograph or log is sent to me. It is written to storage on your own device and it stays there. I cannot read it, I cannot recover it for you, and I never see that it exists.
What the apps store, and where
Everything below is stored locally on your device, in your browser's IndexedDB and local storage, or inside the app's own container on iOS. None of it is transmitted anywhere by default.
- on-wildlife: the encounters you log, including species, date and time, your notes, any photo you attach, and a location if you choose to add one. Your display name and initial. Your settings, including units, language, theme and text size. Any bear or hazard reports you place on your map.
- on-site: the campsites, campgrounds, trails and parks you rate, your star ratings, notes, wishlist marks and photos. Your favourites. Your display name and initial. Your settings.
Your display name is used only to draw an initial in the corner of the app. It is never transmitted.
Permissions the apps ask for, and why
- Location, while using the app. Only if you tap a control that needs it: to tag a sighting with where you were, to centre the map on you, or to place a bear or hazard report. Location is never collected in the background. If you decline, every other part of both apps still works.
- Camera and photo library. Only when you attach a photo to a sighting or a campsite. The photo is resized and stored on your device. It is not uploaded.
What leaves your device
Three ordinary things, and one optional thing.
Map tiles
When you open the Map, the app requests map images from CARTO, which renders OpenStreetMap data. When you turn on fishing zone boundaries, it requests those from the Government of Ontario's public GIS service. Like any request to any website, these carry your IP address and tell that server roughly which part of the map you are looking at. They do not carry your log, your notes, your photos or your name. Their own privacy terms apply to that request: carto.com/privacy and ontario.ca privacy statement.
Reference photos
on-wildlife can show a reference photo on a species page, fetched from iNaturalist. That request carries your IP address and which species you are reading about. You can turn reference photos off in More, and then no request is made. See inaturalist.org privacy.
Hosting
The web versions are served from GitHub Pages, which keeps ordinary server logs including IP addresses. See GitHub's privacy statement. The iOS apps carry their files inside the app, so opening them makes no request at all.
The optional community layer, in on-wildlife only
on-wildlife has an off-by-default feature for people who run their own server. I do not operate one, and none is included. Nothing is shared unless you paste in a server address yourself and then switch sharing on. If you do:
- Your coordinates are rounded to roughly a five kilometre grid before sending, so a sighting cannot be traced to a nest, a den or your campsite.
- The time is blurred to the hour.
- Your name is never included.
- A random token is included so that you, and only you, can delete what you sent.
Because that server is yours, its handling of the data is governed by whoever runs it, not by me. The app gives you a "Delete my shared data" control that uses your token to remove everything you sent.
Third parties
There are no analytics SDKs, no advertising networks, no trackers, and no third-party code libraries that phone home. The only third parties involved are the map, reference photo and hosting services named above, and each receives only what is described there. I do not sell, rent or share personal data with anyone, because I do not hold any.
Keeping, deleting and taking your data with you
- How long it is kept: for as long as you keep it. There is no expiry and no server-side copy to expire.
- Deleting it: More, then Your data, then Reset all data. It asks twice, then removes everything. Deleting the app from your device also removes it. On the web, clearing site data for the app does the same.
- Withdrawing consent: turn the relevant thing off. Location can be revoked in iOS Settings or your browser. Reference photos have a switch in More. Community sharing has a switch, and a disconnect control that also forgets the server address.
- Taking it with you: More, then Your data, then Export my log writes a single file containing everything you have saved. It is plain, readable JSON. Import reads it back on any device.
Children
These apps are safe for a child to use, and nothing in them collects personal information from anyone, of any age. There is no sign-up, no profile, no messaging and no advertising.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it, and the previous versions stay in the public git history of this site. If a change ever meant that something new left your device, it would be announced in the app before it took effect, and it would be off until you turned it on.
Not affiliated
These are independent apps. They are not made by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Ontario Parks, the Government of Ontario, Parks Canada, iNaturalist, OpenStreetMap, CARTO or Apple. Park names, place names and programme names are used to describe the places and rules they refer to.
Questions
Email katsuma123@gmail.com. I answer.