Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 21, 2026

GardenerNick (“we”, “us”, the “App”) is built around a simple idea: your plants are yours, and so is your data. This policy explains what the App collects, why, and who it is shared with. We collect as little as possible.

1. Information stored on your device

The App is local-first. The following is created and stored on your device (in the App's local database and file storage), not on our servers:

• Your plant profiles, nicknames, placement and notes
• Photos you take or import for your plants
• Journal entries, check-in history and health records
• Reminder and care-schedule settings

If you delete the App, this on-device copy is removed with it. Any optional iCloud backups are separate and are described next.

2. Optional iCloud backup & restore

If you are signed in to iCloud and turn on Settings → iCloud Backup, the App uploads versioned, complete backup snapshots to Apple CloudKit's private database associated with your iCloud account. A snapshot may include:

• Plant profiles, nicknames, species, placement, city and notes
• Plant photos, health checks, journal and care-history records
• Care reminders and their schedules
• Nick conversations, messages and message attachments

Your iPhone remains the live data source. These snapshots are for backup and full restore; they are not live multi-device sync. Restoring a snapshot replaces the App data currently on that device instead of merging it.

Creating backups requires an active Pro subscription. You can still view, restore, or delete an existing backup without active Pro. Completed versions appear under Settings → iCloud Backup → Backup History, where each version can be deleted individually. Turning backup off or deleting the App does not by itself delete existing iCloud backups. The App retains a limited history and may remove older versions as new ones are completed.

iCloud backup uses Apple's CloudKit service and your iCloud account; it does not go through our AI backend and does not require cloud AI consent. Apple's handling of iCloud data is governed by Apple's privacy policy and the terms for your Apple services.

3. Information sent for AI features

Before the App first sends data for a cloud AI feature, it asks for your explicit consent. If you agree and then use plant identification, a health check-in, chatting with Nick, or another cloud AI feature, the data needed for that request is sent over an encrypted connection to our backend and to Volcengine Ark, our current third-party cloud AI service provider.

• Depending on the feature, this may include photos and text you choose, related plant details (such as nickname, species, placement, care history, or reminders), and your chosen city.
• Our backend is stateless: it relays and processes the request to return a result. It does not create a server-side database of your photos, messages, or AI replies, and our production application logs do not record their contents.
• Volcengine Ark processes the content to generate plant identification, health assessments, care advice, chat replies, and related AI results. Its processing and retention practices are governed by the Volcengine privacy policy.
• We send only what the requested feature needs. You can review or withdraw consent at any time under Settings → Cloud AI & Data. Withdrawing consent prevents new cloud AI requests; local plant data remains available.

4. City, location and weather

Location access is optional. If you grant it, the App uses Apple's on-device/system location services to fill in your city so care advice can match your local climate and season. GardenerNick does not send your device's precise latitude or longitude to our backend or to Open-Meteo.

After you consent to cloud processing, the proactive weather feature may send the city appearing most consistently in your active plant profiles to our backend and to Open-Meteo. Open-Meteo's geocoding service resolves that city to city-level coordinates, and its forecast service returns current weather. If there is no single unambiguous city, weather context is omitted. See Open-Meteo's terms and privacy information. You can decline or revoke iOS location permission at any time; you can also enter or edit a city manually.

5. Reminders & notifications

Care plans and their schedules are stored in the App. With your permission, GardenerNick can also create an item in Apple Reminders and schedule local notifications to help you remember plant care. Those items remain on your device and in your own Reminders account, including any iCloud sync configured by Apple. We do not read your existing reminders.

6. Purchases & subscriptions

GardenerNick offers an optional Pro subscription that removes the free tier's plant, health-check, and Nick-message limits and lets you create automatic iCloud backups. Purchases are handled by Apple In-App Purchase; we never see or receive your payment card details. We use RevenueCat to manage and restore subscription entitlements. RevenueCat receives a randomly generated app user identifier together with purchase and receipt information needed to validate your subscription. See RevenueCat's privacy policy and Apple's privacy policy.

7. Privacy-focused product analytics

We use TelemetryDeck to understand how the App is used and where important flows succeed or fail, so we can improve GardenerNick. The App sends:

• Product interaction events such as app launches, tab selections, onboarding progress, plant-add and health-check outcomes, care and reminder actions, Nick chat completion, and subscription-screen or purchase outcomes. Events may include limited categories such as source, outcome, user tier, or tool count.
• An anonymized identifier that is specific to this App installation, plus a session identifier. We do not give TelemetryDeck your name, email address, GardenerNick account ID, or another custom user ID.
• Technical context supplied by the SDK, such as the App version and build, iOS version, device model or type, language, locale and region, and whether the build is from development, TestFlight, or the App Store.

We deliberately do not send plant identifiers, names or species, photos, notes, file names or paths, city, chat messages or Nick replies, tool parameters or results, precise location, payment information, or free-form error details to TelemetryDeck.

TelemetryDeck processes this information on our behalf only for product analytics. We do not link it to an identified person, use it for advertising, or use it to track you across other apps or websites. See TelemetryDeck's privacy policy.

8. What we do not do

• No advertising and no ad networks.
• No advertising analytics or behavioral profiling.
• No tracking across other apps or websites (we do not use App Tracking Transparency because we do not track).
• No selling or renting of personal data.

9. Third parties

Our current service providers are listed here so you can make an informed choice:

• Volcengine Ark — cloud vision and language processing for the AI features you request. Depending on the feature, it may receive the selected photo, text, related plant information, and city. See the Volcengine privacy policy.
• Open-Meteo — city geocoding and current weather used as optional care context. It receives a city and city-level weather lookup, not your device's precise coordinates. See Open-Meteo's terms and privacy information.
• RevenueCat — subscription entitlement validation and restoration. It receives a randomly generated App User ID and purchase/receipt information. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
• TelemetryDeck — privacy-focused product analytics. It receives the anonymized installation identifier, product interaction events, and the technical App and device context described above. See TelemetryDeck's privacy policy.
• Apple — App Store purchases, optional iCloud/CloudKit backup storage, and iOS services you choose to use or authorize, such as location, Reminders, and notifications. See Apple's privacy policy.

Network hosting and CDN infrastructure may transiently process requests to deliver the service. We do not share data with any provider for its own advertising or marketing.

10. Children

GardenerNick is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will address it.

11. Data retention & your choices

• On-device data: retained until you delete it in the App or remove the App.
• iCloud backups: retained in your private iCloud database until you delete a version or the App removes an older version from its limited backup history. Turning backup off or removing the App does not delete existing versions.
• AI requests: our application backend does not persist request or response content after processing. Third-party providers handle any retention under their own policies linked above.
• Subscriptions: manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings; entitlement records held by RevenueCat are retained per their policy.
• Product analytics: retained in our TelemetryDeck workspace for product analysis and handled under TelemetryDeck's privacy policy and retention controls. Because we do not send an account ID, name, or email address, we may be unable to associate a particular analytics record with you. Contact us if you have a question or deletion request.
• Cloud AI consent: review or withdraw it under Settings → Cloud AI & Data. If you have a request concerning data already processed by a provider, contact us using the address below.
• System permissions: camera, photo library, location, reminders and notifications can each be changed or revoked in iOS Settings at any time.

12. Security

Data sent to our backend, TelemetryDeck, and AI providers is transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections. iCloud backups are transferred and stored through Apple's CloudKit private database services. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected here with a new “Last updated” date. If the categories of data sent for cloud AI features or our cloud AI processors materially change, the App will ask for consent again before making another cloud AI request.

14. Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email support@slothease.com.