Privacy Policy

App: BirdNote
Effective date: June 7, 2026
Last updated: June 7, 2026

BirdNote ("birdnote", "we", "us", or "our"), published and operated by Tawhid Joarder, respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information the birdnote mobile app does and does not collect, how it is used, and your choices.

The short version: birdnote has no accounts and no logins. We do not track you, show ads, or sell your data. Your saved birds, history, and settings stay on your device. The only data that leaves your device is the audio or photo you choose to identify, which is sent to our identification service to return a result, along with ordinary network requests needed to fetch reference information.

1. Information We Do Not Collect

• We do not require you to create an account or provide your name, email address, or phone number to use the app.

• We do not use advertising or third-party analytics/tracking SDKs.

• We do not use the App Tracking Transparency framework or track you across apps or websites.

• We do not collect your precise or approximate location. birdnote does not request location permission.

2. Information Stored Only on Your Device

The following information is stored locally on your device and is not transmitted to us:

• Saved birds ("My List") that you choose to keep.

• Identification history, including recent identification results and the local file reference to the recording or photo.

• App preferences, such as units or sound auto-play settings.

This data does not leave your device through the app and is removed when you delete the app or clear its data.

3. Information Processed When You Identify a Bird

birdnote identifies birds by sound or photo. Identification happens on our server, so when you initiate an identification, the app sends the following to our identification service:

• The audio recording for sound identification, or the photo for photo identification, that you captured or selected, including any portion you trimmed or framed.

• An optional timestamp of the recording or capture.

This media is used solely to generate identification results. It is not used to identify you, build a profile, or for advertising. We do not ask for, attach, or store your identity alongside it.

As with any internet service, our servers may process standard technical information such as your IP address and request metadata for security, abuse prevention, and rate limiting. We may also keep short-lived diagnostic logs, including a per-request ID. This information is not used to identify you personally.

4. Device Permissions

birdnote requests the following permissions only when you use the related feature and only for the purposes described below:

Permission

Purpose

Microphone

To record a bird's song or call for sound identification.

Camera

To take a photo of a bird for photo identification.

Photo Library

To let you choose an existing photo to identify.

You can grant or revoke these permissions at any time in your device settings. birdnote does not request location, contacts, calendars, or other sensitive permissions.

5. Reference Content and Third-Party Sources

To show species details, including images, descriptions, range maps, facts, sounds, and search results, birdnote may request information from:

• Our backend service, which aggregates and license-filters content from sources such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, iNaturalist, and xeno-canto.

• The iNaturalist API (api.inaturalist.org) for species search.

These requests send only the search term or species name needed to fetch results, plus standard network information such as your IP address that those services necessarily receive. Their handling of that information is governed by their own privacy policies, for example:

• iNaturalist Privacy Policy: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/privacy

Images and text are provided under open licenses, such as Creative Commons, and required attributions are shown in the app where applicable.

6. Children's Privacy

birdnote is not directed to children under 13, or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Because the app has no accounts and collects no personal information for profiles or registration, it does not solicit such data from anyone.

7. Data Security

Network communication between the app and our services uses encrypted connections, such as HTTPS/TLS.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect information processed by the app.

8. Your Choices and Rights

You have the following choices:

• Stop sharing media: Do not run an identification, or revoke microphone, camera, or photo library permissions in your device settings.

• Delete local data: Clear your saved birds and history within the app, or delete the app to remove all locally stored data.

• Privacy rights: Depending on where you live, such as the EEA/UK under GDPR or California under the CCPA/CPRA, you may have rights to access or delete personal information. Because we do not maintain accounts or personal profiles, we typically hold no personal data tied to you. Contact us with any request and we will respond as required by applicable law.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will revise the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, provide notice in the app.

Continued use of birdnote after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

10. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at:

• Email: tawhidj.dev@gmail.com

• Publisher / Operator: Tawhid Joarder