Privacy Policy

Publisher: PlotAndPetal is published in Florida. Company filing submitted, not yet approved.

Published by PlotAndPetal. The company behind PlotAndPetal is being formed in Florida. This line will carry its legal name once the state has approved it.

Contact: hello@plotandpetalapp.com

This policy covers the PlotAndPetal apps for iPhone and Android. Where the two apps differ, this policy says so. The web version keeps its sample garden only in your own browser and has no accounts. This policy also covers the "Tell me when it launches" button on our website (section 7).

The short version

PlotAndPetal is built to keep your garden on your phone. There are no accounts. We do not use analytics or advertising tools, and we have no server that stores your information. To show weather, plant photos and reference material, the iPhone app asks a few public services for information. This policy says what kind of service receives what (section 3). The current Android version has no internet connection of its own and sends us nothing.

1. What we collect

We do not collect or store your personal information on servers of our own. We have no servers that receive data from the apps. The only personal information that reaches us is an email you choose to send us (section 7).

2. What stays on your device

Everything you enter stays on your device: your plants, notes, care logs, garden map and areas, wish list, lawn and soil records, garden name, settings, and the photos you add.

We cannot see any of it. If your device is backed up through iCloud Backup, Android's device backup, or to a computer, that backup is handled by Apple, Google, or your computer under your own settings, not by us.

You can export your data from Settings. The export goes only where you choose to send it.

3. What leaves your phone, and who receives it

iPhone. A few features fetch public information over the internet, directly from your phone. Like any internet request, the service that answers can see your phone's internet (IP) address. We never send your name, your email, or any account or device identifier, and none of it comes to us.

• Weather, rain and radar. A government weather service and a university weather archive receive your garden's approximate location, rounded to about 1 km, the code of the nearest weather station, or the broad map area being drawn.
• Maps and place names. Apple's maps and location services receive your location, the map area, or the place or shop name you typed, under Apple's own privacy policy.
• Plant photos and reference pictures. Public reference libraries receive the plant's scientific name.
• Plant name search. When you type three or more letters in a plant-name search, a public plant-name database receives the text you typed in that field.
• Identifying a plant in a photo. Only when you choose it. Apple's own Visual Look Up feature does the identifying. Apple says limited information is sent to Apple and is not linked to your Apple Account. We receive nothing.

None of these services receives anything from your garden records other than the plant name or approximate location described above. Each keeps its own request logs under its own privacy policy, which we do not control. The sources of the information you see are credited inside the app.

Android. The current Android version has no internet connection of its own. It works offline, sends nothing to us, and contacts no outside service. One thing can leave your phone, through the phone's own location service and not through the app: if you type a place name, or tap to use your current location, Android's built-in location service (on most phones this is Google's) turns it into a place, and may send that text or location to do so, under its own privacy policy. A 5-digit ZIP code is looked up entirely on your device and is never sent anywhere. Some screens offer a link that opens a web page in your phone's browser; that page is then outside the app. If a later Android version uses the internet for a feature, this policy will say so before that version is released (section 10).

Scanning a plant tag (iPhone). "Scan a plant tag" reads the printed words on a tag with your camera. The reading is done on your phone. The picture is not kept and is not sent anywhere.

4. Location

Location is optional.

• On iPhone, the app asks once for "while using" permission, to show local weather, rain and frost warnings, and to pick advice for your region.
• If you say no, type a ZIP code or a city instead. A 5-digit ZIP is looked up entirely on your device from built-in public data and is never sent anywhere. A city name is looked up with your phone's own location service (Apple's on iPhone; on Android, usually Google's).
• Your hardiness zone, frost dates and state are looked up on your device from built-in data. The current Android version never sends your location anywhere itself; only the phone's own location service is used, as described in section 3.
• The app saves your garden's location on your device so it does not have to ask again. It saves only an approximate location, rounded to about 1 km.
• On iPhone, location leaves the device only as listed in section 3.
• You can turn off location access at any time in your phone's Settings. On iPhone you can clear the saved location with "Change location" on the weather screen.
• We never track your location in the background.

5. Camera and photos

You add photos in two ways: by choosing them with your phone's own photo picker (the app sees only the photos you pick, not your whole library), or by taking one with the camera from inside the app after you allow camera access.

• Each photo is resized and saved inside the app on your device.
• The app does not upload your photos to us or to anyone. The one exception you control is Apple's Visual Look Up on iPhone (section 3), which runs only when you ask for it.
• A photo you take with the in-app camera stays inside the app. On iPhone, the Home camera screen also offers "Save to Photos"; only if you tap it does the app add a copy to your phone's photo library. It asks for permission to add photos and cannot read your library through that permission.
• When you replace your garden's cover photo, the old one is deleted from your device.
• You can withdraw camera or photo access at any time in your phone's Settings.

6. Reminders and calendar

If you tap to add a care reminder or calendar event, your phone asks your permission first. On iPhone the app then adds the item to your Reminders or to your default calendar. On Android it adds the event to the calendar on your phone.

• The app adds items only when you ask.
• It does not send your reminders or calendar anywhere.
• Whether they sync to other devices depends on your own Reminders and Calendar accounts.
• You can withdraw permission in your phone's Settings.

7. Emails you choose to send us

"Send feedback" and "Report a translation problem" open an email to support@plotandpetalapp.com in your own email app. You can also write to hello@plotandpetalapp.com.

• Nothing is sent unless you press Send.
• We receive what you write and your email address.
• We use it only to answer you and improve the app.
• We do not share it, and we do not add it to a mailing list unless you ask us to (see "Launch updates" below).
• We keep these emails for up to 12 months and then delete them. Ask us and we will delete yours sooner.
• Our email is hosted by Google.

Launch updates. Our website has a "Tell me when it launches" button. It opens an email to hello@plotandpetalapp.com in your own email app; the website itself collects nothing. If you send that email, we keep your email address in our own mailbox and use it only to tell you when PlotAndPetal is ready. We do not sell it, share it or use it for anything else. Reply "remove" or write to us at any time and we will take you off the list within 10 business days. We delete the list within 30 days after the last launch announcement has gone out. This list is for adults; please do not sign up if you are under 13.

8. Children

PlotAndPetal is a general gardening app and is not directed to children under 13. The app has no accounts, and we do not knowingly receive personal information from children. If you believe a child has emailed us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

9. How long data is kept, and how to delete it

• On your device: your data stays until you delete it.
• Recently Deleted. Deleting a plant, log entry or area moves it to Recently Deleted, so a mistake can be undone.
• Permanent delete. From Recently Deleted you can delete items permanently, one at a time or all at once, after a confirmation. Permanent deletion also removes their photos and cannot be undone.
• Automatic clean-up. You can set Recently Deleted to clean itself up automatically after 30 or 90 days. The default is to keep items until you delete them.
• Delete everything at once. Settings > Delete all my data permanently deletes every plant, photo, log entry, bed and setting on your device. This cannot be undone.
• Uninstalling the app removes all its data from that device. Device backups you made before that are handled by Apple, Google, or your computer.
• With us: we hold only the emails you sent us (section 7). Write to us to have them deleted.
• Other services: we cannot delete their request logs, and we do not send them anything that identifies you.

10. Future features

If we add a feature that changes what leaves your device or what reaches us, we will update this policy first, and ask for your permission in the app where that is required.

11. Selling or sharing your data

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with advertisers, data brokers, or anyone else.

When the free version shows our own ads, they will be placed by us, labelled as ads, and shown only inside the app. Nothing about you is sent outside the app to choose them, nothing is linked to data from other companies' apps or websites, and no data broker is involved. This is not "tracking" as Apple defines it, so you will not see a tracking permission prompt.

We may tell a partner a genuinely aggregate figure that identifies no one, for example "most of our users grow roses". Because the apps send us nothing today, we have no such figures today.

12. Contact

Questions, or a request to delete emails you have sent us: hello@plotandpetalapp.com.

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with a new effective date. If a change affects how your information is used, for example when paid photo identification launches, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Browser version (plotandpetal.app)

No accounts, no server. Your garden sample or sandbox data lives only in your browser's own local storage on that device. We cannot see it, and it does not sync anywhere unless a future cloud-sync feature is added and you turn it on.