Information we collect

Account information. Your email address, password (stored securely by Google Firebase, never by us in plain text), username, and display name. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive your name and email from them. If you use Apple’s Hide My Email, we receive a private relay address instead of your real one.

Profile information you choose to add. Profile photo, bio, location text, pronouns, and interests.

Content you create. Posts, photos, videos, captions, comments, stories, direct and group messages, groups, events and RSVPs, likes, follows, and reports you file.

Your logbook. Species you identify, sightings, catches, trip logs, and hikes you record, including the photos, dates, and locations attached to them.

Location. With your permission, the App uses your device’s precise location while you’re using it, to show conditions, nearby spots and trails, and to tag where you found something. If you record a hike, the App also uses location in the background, only while the recording is running, so your route is captured with the screen off. If you start live location sharing, your location is shared with the people you choose until you stop.

Camera, microphone, and photos. Used only when you take or choose a photo or video, for example to identify a species or add media to a post.

Device and technical information. Basic information our service providers record when your device connects, such as IP address, device model, operating system, and app version. If you allow notifications, we store a push notification token so we can deliver them.

How we use information

• To run the App and its features: your feed, logbook, maps, conditions, identification, messaging, groups, and events.
• To identify species from your photos (see AI features).
• To keep the community safe: automated checks on posts, comments, and photos, and human review of reports.
• To send notifications you’ve turned on, account emails (like password resets), and, only if you opt in, news from Hook & Pine.
• To find and fix bugs, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations.

How location is used and shared

Conditions and nearby places. To show weather, tides, water levels, air quality, sightings, and places near you, the App sends the coordinates you’re looking at to public data providers (listed below). These requests aren’t tied to your name or account.

Your finds. When you log a find, its exact location is saved privately in your logbook. Finds that include a location also become part of the community record that other signed-in members can see on that species’ page. That record shows the photo, species, date, your display name, a city-level place name, and a location rounded to about 1 km (about half a mile). It never shows your exact spot. Deleting a find also removes its community record.

Public logbook. If you turn on “Public logbook” in Settings, other members can see your finds on your profile. Exact spots are never shown.

Recorded hikes and live sharing. Recorded hikes stay private unless you choose to share them. Live location sharing is only visible to the people you share with, and only until you stop.

AI features

Species identification. When you identify something, the App sends a resized copy of the photo and your approximate location to the Google Gemini API, and may also send the photo to our own species-recognition server. Gemini may use Google Search to check details such as a species’ range. Under Google’s paid API terms, Google does not use this content to train its models. Identifications are suggestions and can be wrong. Never rely on the App to decide whether a plant, mushroom, or animal is safe to eat or handle.

Content safety. Before posts, comments, and photos go live, their text and images are checked automatically with Google Gemini to catch content that breaks our Community Guidelines.

Who we share information with

Other members. Content you publish, such as posts, comments, stories, your public profile, and community finds as described above, can be seen by other members. Direct messages are visible to the people in the conversation.

Service providers that run the App for us.

Public data providers. These receive location coordinates (not your identity) to return conditions and nearby information. They include NOAA and the National Weather Service, Open-Meteo, the U.S. Geological Survey, eBird, iNaturalist, GBIF, the National Park Service, Recreation.gov, AirNow, PurpleAir, OpenStreetMap services, and Wikipedia.

Legal and safety. When required by law, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our members, the public, or us.

Business transfers. If Hook and Pine LLC is merged or acquired, information may transfer to the new owner under this policy.

We don’t sell or rent personal information, and we don’t share it with advertisers.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live (for example, the EU, UK, or California), you may also have the right to access, correct, delete, or port your data, or object to certain processing. Email shop@hookandpine.com to make a request. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights.

Reports and moderation

When you report something, our team reviews it, usually within 24 hours. Reviewing a report means our moderators can see the reported content and basic details about the account involved. We remove content and suspend accounts that break our Community Guidelines. People are not told who reported them.

Children

The App is not for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us at shop@hookandpine.com and we will delete it.

How long we keep information

We keep your information while your account is active. When you delete content or your account, it’s removed from the App right away, and remaining copies in backups are removed within 90 days. We may keep limited records longer when needed for safety, legal, or dispute reasons, such as the outcome of a report.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit and stored with Google Cloud’s encryption at rest, and access is limited by security rules. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects you, we’ll notify you as the law requires.

Where data is processed

We’re based in the United States, and your information is stored and processed in the U.S. If you use the App from another country, your information is transferred to the U.S.

Changes to this policy

We’ll post any changes here and in the App with a new effective date. If a change is significant, we’ll let you know in the App.