Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Plant Reference ("Plant Reference", "the Service"), owned and operated by Okaythen Pty Ltd ("Okaythen", "we", "us"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you disagree with any part of these terms, you may not access the Service.

2. Description of Service

Plant Reference is an educational platform that provides plant identification and learning tools through flashcards, quizzes, and interactive content. The Service is designed to help users learn about plants and botany.

3. User Accounts

Account Creation

You may create an account to access additional features. You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate and complete information
• Maintaining the security of your account
• All activities that occur under your account
• Notifying us of any unauthorized use

Account Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account at any time for violations of these Terms or for any other reason at our sole discretion.

4. Content and Intellectual Property

Your photos and content

What you allow us to do. So that we can actually run Plant Reference, you give us a worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, display, reproduce, adapt (for example resizing, cropping or colour-correcting so it displays properly) and distribute the content you upload:

• within the Service — including plant profiles, flashcards, quizzes and study materials;
• in material promoting the Service, such as screenshots, app store listings and social posts;
• to other users, where you have chosen to make that content public or added it to a public plant set.

This licence exists so we can operate and promote Plant Reference. It does not let us sell your photos, or license them to other people, as a standalone product.

Credit

Where we display a photo you contributed, we will credit you using your display name, unless you ask us not to. Your moral rights under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) — including your right to be identified as the author of your work — are not affected by these Terms.

Optional: helping improve plant identification

When you upload a photo, you can choose to also allow it to be used to improve plant-identification technology — for example to train or evaluate machine-learning models — and to be included in plant image datasets that we may license to researchers, educators or other organisations.

• This is off by default. It only applies to photos you upload after ticking the box.
• You can change the setting at any time; it affects future uploads.
• You still keep copyright in the photo.
• Where a dataset has already been provided to someone under these terms, we can't recall it — but we will stop including the photo in anything issued after you change your mind or delete it.

If you delete a photo

We will stop using it and remove it from the Service within a reasonable time. Copies may remain in routine backups for a limited period, and we cannot recall copies that other people have already downloaded, or that appear in material already published.

If you delete your account

Everything personal to you is deleted: your profile, saved plants, sightings, study history, streaks and notifications. Photos you contributed to the shared plant catalogue are kept, but disconnected from you — they stay in the catalogue with no link to your name or profile, so the plant records other people rely on do not lose their images. If you would rather a contributed photo came down as well, you can remove it yourself from Settings → Privacy & Data, under “Photos you’ve added” — before you delete the account, or by asking us afterwards.

What you confirm when you upload

• You took the photo, or otherwise have the right to upload it and grant the licence above.
• It doesn't infringe anyone else's rights.
• It doesn't contain other people's personal information, and isn't offensive or unlawful.

If content you upload causes a third-party claim against us because you didn't have the right to upload it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs in dealing with that claim.

Photos from other sources

Many photos in Plant Reference come from open sources such as iNaturalist, Wikimedia Commons and GBIF, and are used under Creative Commons licences. Each is credited to its photographer with a link to the original and its licence. Those photos remain the property of their photographers and are subject to their own licence terms — if you want to reuse one, follow the licence shown on the photo rather than these Terms.

Privacy of Uploaded Images

You are responsible for ensuring that images you upload do not contain personally identifying information of other people, private property identifiers, or any other content you do not have the right to share. Do not upload images you would not be comfortable having distributed or licensed commercially. See our Privacy Policy for details on how account information is handled.

Platform Content

All content provided by Plant Reference, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, and software, is the property of Plant Reference and is protected by intellectual property laws.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Upload content that is illegal, harmful, or offensive
• Upload images you do not have the right to upload
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service
• Use the Service for any commercial purpose without permission
• Upload malware, viruses, or other harmful code
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users

6. Educational Use

Plant Reference is designed for educational purposes. Educational institutions may use the Service for their students under the following conditions:

• Students must comply with these Terms
• Institutions are responsible for their students' use
• Students keep ownership of anything they upload, on the same terms as everyone else (see section 4)
• The optional “helping improve plant identification” setting is off by default and should not be enabled on behalf of a student by their institution

7. Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. Please review our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and protect your information.

9. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee:

• The accuracy of plant identification or information
• Uninterrupted or error-free operation
• That the Service will meet your specific needs
• The security of your data

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Plant Reference shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, or use.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Plant Reference from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from:

• Your use of the Service
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your uploaded content
• Your violation of any third-party rights

12. Mobile apps and app stores

Plant Reference is also available as a mobile app. These Terms apply to the app as well as the website. Where you download the app from a third-party app store (such as the Apple App Store), you also agree to that store's own terms.

• These Terms are between you and Okaythen Pty Ltd only — not with Apple or any other app store operator. We, not the store operator, are solely responsible for the app and its content.
• The store operator has no obligation to provide support or maintenance for the app.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify the store operator and they may refund the purchase price (if any); to the maximum extent permitted by law, they have no other warranty obligation.
• We, not the store operator, are responsible for addressing any claim that the app infringes a third party's intellectual property rights.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

13. Reporting content

If you see a photo, plant entry or plant set that is offensive, infringes your copyright, or otherwise shouldn't be there, report it using the report control shown on that content in the app or on the website, or email legal@plantref.org. We review reports and remove content that breaches these Terms. You can also block another account so their contributed content no longer appears for you. We may suspend or remove accounts that repeatedly breach these Terms.

14. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify users of material changes by posting the updated Terms on this page. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

15. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Australia, and you and Okaythen Pty Ltd submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of Australian courts. Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or other applicable law that cannot be excluded.

16. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at: