Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

WildStash is a mobile application for community-driven mapping of wild plants (fruits, herbs, bushes, fruit trees) in publicly accessible locations.

If you have any questions about how your personal data is processed, please contact us at the email address above.

2. What Data We Collect

We collect only the data necessary to provide the WildStash service. We do not collect data for advertising or profiling purposes.

2.1 Account Data

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address — used for login and essential service communications.
• Nickname — your publicly visible display name.
• Password — stored only as a cryptographic hash (PBKDF2-SHA-512). We never store or have access to your plaintext password.

2.2 Location Data

• Spot coordinates — the geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) of plant spots you create. This data is submitted manually by you when adding a spot to the map.
• We do not perform continuous location tracking. The app accesses your device's location only when you explicitly request it (e.g. to centre the map on your position or to set a spot's location).

2.3 Photos

• You may attach photos to spots you create.
• EXIF metadata (including GPS data) is stripped on your device before the photo is uploaded. We never receive the original EXIF data.

2.4 Device and Network Information

Through Cloudflare's infrastructure, we automatically receive:

• IP address — used for security and abuse prevention.
• Device type — basic device information transmitted via standard HTTP headers.

This data is processed in server logs and is not linked to your user profile.

2.5 Usage Data

• Group memberships — which groups you belong to.
• Spot confirmations — records of spots you have confirmed visiting.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your data for the following purposes:

Purpose	Legal Basis (GDPR)
Creating and managing your account	Art. 6(1)(b) — performance of a contract
Displaying spots on the map	Art. 6(1)(b) — performance of a contract
Providing group functionality	Art. 6(1)(b) — performance of a contract
Storing and displaying your spot photos	Art. 6(1)(b) — performance of a contract
Processing location data for spot creation	Art. 6(1)(a) — your consent
Security monitoring and abuse prevention	Art. 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest
Rate limiting and infrastructure protection	Art. 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest

4. Where Your Data Is Stored

All data is stored exclusively within the European Union:

• Cloudflare D1 (database) — EU jurisdiction.
• Cloudflare R2 (photo storage) — EU jurisdiction.
• Cloudflare Workers (application logic) — processing at Cloudflare's edge, with data storage restricted to EU.

5. How Long We Keep Your Data

Data	Retention Period
Account data (email, nickname)	Until you delete your account
Spots and photos	Until you delete them or delete your account
Server logs (IP address, device info)	30 days (Cloudflare standard retention)

When you delete your account, all your personal data, spots, and photos are permanently removed.

6. Your Rights Under GDPR

Under Articles 15 to 22 of the GDPR, you have the following rights:

• Right of access — You can request a copy of all your personal data. Use the data export feature in the app (available at GET /users/me/data-export), or contact us by email.
• Right to rectification — You can correct your personal data at any time through the profile editing feature in the app.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — You can delete your account and all associated data through the app (available at DELETE /users/me/account), or contact us by email.
• Right to data portability — You can export your data in JSON format through the app.
• Right to object — You can object to the processing of your data based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)).
• Right to withdraw consent — Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
• Right to lodge a complaint — You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The relevant authority is:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Security Measures

We take the security of your data seriously and implement the following measures:

• Encryption in transit — All communications use HTTPS with TLS 1.3, enforced by Cloudflare.
• Password security — Passwords are hashed using PBKDF2-SHA-512. We never store plaintext passwords.
• EXIF stripping — Photo metadata (including GPS coordinates) is removed on your device before upload.
• Three-level visibility system — You control who can see your spots (public, group, or private). Private and group spot coordinates are never exposed through public API responses.
• Rate limiting — API access is rate-limited to prevent abuse (100 requests/minute for anonymous users, 300 requests/minute for authenticated users).

8. Third-Party Services

WildStash uses the following third-party services:

Service	Purpose	Personal Data Shared
Cloudflare (Workers, D1, R2)	Infrastructure, hosting, data storage	Yes — as data processor (see Section 4)
OpenStreetMap / OpenTopoMap	Map tile rendering	No personal data shared
Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)	Geocoding (location search)	No personal data shared (search queries only)
Wikipedia / Wikidata	Species descriptions and names	No personal data shared
GBIF	Species taxonomy data	No personal data shared

9. Cookies and Tracking

WildStash does not use cookies. Authentication tokens (JWT) are stored securely in Android EncryptedSharedPreferences on your device. We do not use any analytics or advertising trackers.

10. Children's Privacy

WildStash is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, please contact us at [email protected], and we will promptly delete such data.

11. International Data Transfers

Your data is stored within the EU (see Section 4). Cloudflare, Inc. is headquartered in the United States but is a certified participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and we have restricted all data storage to EU jurisdiction. No personal data is transferred outside the EU for storage purposes.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this document.
• Notify you via an in-app notification.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

13. Contact

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the processing of your personal data, please contact: