Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Personal Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address
• Display name
• Profile information you choose to provide
• Your school, if you choose to add it — shown on your public profile only if you turn that on
• Your email choices and a history of when and where those choices were made

If you use Plant Reference without creating an account, we create an anonymous guest identifier to keep what you do linked to that session: your study progress and streak, and anything you add, such as sightings, private photos and private plants. Your guest study progress is kept for 7 days after your last visit. Anything you add is kept for 90 days after your last visit. After that, the guest account and everything in it, including private photo files, are deleted. If you create an account, your guest data moves into it.

Usage Information

We automatically collect information about how you use our service:

• Study sessions and quiz results
• Plant collections and favorites
• Images you upload
• Browser and device information (browser details apply to the website; see “Mobile App” for what the app collects)

Mobile App

If you use the Plant Reference iOS app, it uses the same account system and collects the same information described above. In addition, on your device:

• Camera and photo library access is requested only when you choose to add a photo — of a plant, or your profile picture — and is used solely to upload that photo
• Study material you download for offline use is stored on your device and can be removed in the app at any time
• Reminders and notifications are optional and controlled in the app's settings
• If you turn on reminders or notifications, your device registers a notification token with us so we can send them. It is tied to your account, refreshed when you sign in, and deleted when you sign out or turn off notifications for Plant Reference in your phone's Settings. Turning off an individual reminder in the app does not delete the token, because other notifications may still use it.
• We do not track you across other companies' apps or websites

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide and improve our educational services
• Personalize your learning experience
• Track your study progress
• Send the short welcome and product explainer series that follows account creation
• Send Daily Plant, Daily Mix, garden, or game emails when you choose them
• Record and honour email settings and unsubscribe requests
• Communicate with you about your account and activity
• Ensure the security of our platform

3. Images You Upload

You give us the permissions we need to run and promote Plant Reference: storing your photo, showing it in plant profiles and study materials, resizing or cropping it so it displays properly, and showing it to other users where you have chosen to make that content public.

Separately, and only if you tick the optional box when uploading, you can allow your photos to help improve plant-identification technology and to be included in plant image datasets we may license to researchers or educators. That setting is off by default and you can change it at any time.

If you delete a photo, we stop using it and remove it from the Service within a reasonable time. Deleting your account is different, and worth knowing before you contribute: three kinds of contribution stay, with the link to you removed — photos you have added to the shared plant catalogue, plants you published, and public sets you created. None of them stays linked to your name or profile. Everything personal to you — your profile, saved plants, sightings, study history and streaks — is deleted with the account. Bug reports and suggestions you sent are also kept, with your name and email removed, so the fixes they led to stay traceable. If you want a contributed photo taken down as well, you can remove it yourself from the “Photos you’ve added” list in Settings — do that before deleting the account, or ask us afterwards. The full terms covering contributed content — including credit and what happens on deletion — are in our Terms of Service.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information:

• With educational institutions if you're part of their program
• With other users for collaborative learning features
• With service providers who help us operate the platform, including email delivery providers
• When required by law or to protect our rights

5. Data Security

We implement appropriate security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Regular security audits
• Limited access to personal information
• Secure hosting infrastructure

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate information
• Delete your account and associated data (available in the app's account settings, or by contacting us)
• Export your data (on the website, under Settings, or by contacting us)
• Turn off welcome, product, and optional subscription emails at any time in Settings or from an unsubscribe link in the email

7. Cookies and Tracking

This section is about the website. If you use the iPhone app, it does not use cookies or browser storage; what it keeps on your device is described under “Mobile App” above.

On the website we use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Remember your preferences
• Keep you signed in
• Analyze how you use our service
• Improve our platform

8. Children's Privacy

Our service is designed for educational use and may be used by minors under supervision of educational institutions. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the effective date.

Revision history

So you can tell this policy apart from one you may have read earlier, every material change is listed here, newest first.

• 9 October 2026 — Said how long a guest's data is kept: study progress for 7 days after the last visit, and sightings, private photos and private plants for 90 days, then deleted; and that it moves into an account created later.
• 29 September 2026 — Added the optional school field on your profile, and said that bug reports and suggestions are kept without your name or email when you delete your account.
• 10 September 2026 — Explained the welcome and product email series that follows account creation, optional email choices, and the history kept to honour those choices.
• 2 September 2026 — Disclosed the lasting anonymous identifier kept for guest sessions, and corrected three clauses that described controls which did not exist.
• 29 August 2026 — Corrected what survives deleting your account.
• 19 August 2026 — Stopped promising photo deletion we did not perform, and built the control that makes it true.
• 8 August 2026 — Rewrote image rights: contributors keep copyright, with an opt-in extended licence.
• 9 July 2026 — First policy published under Okaythen Pty Ltd.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us at: