Privacy Policy

Faunist is a personal wildlife field journal. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have.

Who is responsible

Faunist is operated as a personal project. For any privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at privacy@faunist.app.

Data we collect

We collect only what is needed to run the app:

• Email address — used for account creation and sign-in
• Password — stored as a secure hash, never in plain text
• Username and bio — optional profile fields you set yourself
• Wildlife sightings — species, date, and an optional location label you enter manually
• Language preference — stored locally in your browser only, never sent to our servers

Location data

Faunist can optionally detect your location to pre-fill a location label when logging a sighting. This only happens when you explicitly tap the location button. Your coordinates are sent to Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) to convert them into a readable place name. We do not store your coordinates — only the resulting place name, if you choose to save it with your sighting.

How we use your data

• To provide and operate the app
• To let you log in and access your sightings across devices
• To display your profile to other users, if you set your profile to public

We do not use your data for advertising, tracking, or any purpose beyond operating the app.

Third-party services

We use the following services to operate Faunist:

• Supabase — database and authentication. Your account data and sightings are stored on Supabase servers. Supabase is a US-based service operating under standard contractual clauses for international data transfers. See Supabase's privacy policy.
• iNaturalist — species images and names are loaded from iNaturalist's public API. No personal data is shared with iNaturalist.
• Wikimedia Commons — some species images are loaded from Wikimedia. No personal data is shared.
• Nominatim / OpenStreetMap — reverse geocoding when you use the location button. Only used on explicit user action.
• Google Fonts — fonts are loaded from Google's CDN. Google may log your IP address. See Google's privacy policy.

Cookies and local storage

Faunist does not use tracking cookies. We use browser local storage for your session token (to keep you logged in) and your language preference. No third-party tracking or analytics are used.

Public profiles

If you set your profile to public in Settings, your username, bio, and sighting list are visible to other Faunist users. You can switch your profile to private at any time in Settings.

Your rights

You can:

• Delete your account — via Settings → Delete Account. This permanently removes your profile and all sightings.
• Request your data — email privacy@faunist.app and we will provide an export of your data.
• Correct your data — update your username and bio at any time in Settings.

Data retention

We keep your data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, your data is permanently removed from our database.

Children

Faunist is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes to this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions or requests: privacy@faunist.app