Privacy policy
Last updated 24 September 2026
The short version: TrekFauna keeps the notes you write, the photos you attach and the places you attach them to. It does not sell any of it, and it carries no advertising or cross-app tracking.
What we collect
Location
Coordinates are read when you add a stop, and continuously while a hike is tracking so the app can draw distance, climb and route. Tracking stops when you end the hike. Location is never read when the app is closed and no hike is running.
Photos
TrekFauna reads your photo library to show recent shots you might want to attach, and stores only the images you actually attach to a stop. It does not upload your library, and it does not scan photos you have not chosen.
Your notes and account
Species, times, counts, written notes and hike records, including the GPS route of each hike you track. We also hold what you sign in with (an email address and password, or a Google or Apple account identifier) and your display name, so your notes follow you to a new phone and other users can see who logged what. If you connect another app, we store the token that lets TrekFauna talk to it.
Server records
Our servers see your IP address on each request and keep records of activity on your account, such as logins and the actions you take in the app. We use them to run the service, enforce daily limits and investigate abuse, and they are tied to your account. TrekFauna has no crash-reporting or analytics service, and there is no setting to turn these records off.
Photo identification
When you ask for a species suggestion, the photo is sent to an AI identification provider, and for some providers so is the place it was taken. Depending on how the service is configured that provider is Anthropic, OpenAI or iNaturalist, which return candidate species with a confidence rating. The same photo is also kept as the picture on your stop. What those providers do with a photo is governed by their own terms, not by us. Suggestions are guesses — nothing is recorded as a confirmed sighting until you confirm it.
What we share
Stops you log are visible to other signed-in TrekFauna users on the trail feed and map: the species, your photos, the place and time, and your display name. Your profile setting (public or private) does not hide your stops or your display name from other signed-in users. The service has an option to round other users' view of a stop's coordinates to roughly 1 km, but it is not on by default and it applies to every species, not only sensitive ones, so do not log a stop somewhere you would not want other users to find. A private tag is the exception: it stays on your account and never appears on the feed or the map.
We use a small number of service providers: hosting, Cloudflare for network delivery and security, email delivery for account emails, and the identification providers above. The app also loads map tiles and place names from OpenStreetMap-based services, which see your device's IP address and the area you are viewing. We do not sell personal data, and we do not run advertising or third-party analytics SDKs. This website sets no cookies and loads no third-party fonts, scripts or analytics.
Your control
The app has no delete or export button yet, so for now these are requests: write to privacy@trekfauna.com from the address on your account and we will handle them by hand. Notes you saved while offline live on the device until they sync; deleting the app before they sync deletes them. Depending on where you live you may also have the right to ask for a copy of your data or to object to how it is handled — write to us and we will sort it out.
Children
TrekFauna is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will remove it.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top of this page. Questions, requests or corrections: privacy@trekfauna.com.