Privacy Policy
Effective July 24, 2026
Planterra is designed to respect your privacy. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and how you can control it.
Who we are
Planterra is developed and operated by Vladislava Trimborn (personal trader / Einzelunternehmerin) based in Munich, Germany. Contact: hello@planterra.cloud.
What data we collect
On your device (never sent to us)
- Plant photos you take
- Plant names, care schedules, and care history
- Notes you write on your plants (the "patient card")
- Window locations and compass headings you register
- Atlas finds (plants you spot on walks and holidays), including their location if you enable it
- Ratings and optional notes you give on Plant Doctor answers (used only to build a log you can review or export)
- App preferences and onboarding answers
This data lives only on your iPhone. It is not uploaded to any server, backed up to our systems, or shared with anyone. You can wipe all of it at any time via Settings → Delete all my data.
Sent to third parties (only when needed)
- Plant photos - sent to Anthropic (Claude AI) when you identify a plant or send a photo in the Doctor. Anthropic does not retain these images or use them for training. See Anthropic's Privacy Policy.
- Doctor chat messages - text you type into the Doctor is sent to Anthropic (Claude AI) to generate a care response. Messages are not retained by Anthropic beyond the immediate response.
- Subscription state - managed by RevenueCat, our subscription infrastructure provider. RevenueCat receives an anonymous device-scoped identifier and your subscription status. No name, email, plant data, or other personal information is shared with them. See RevenueCat's Privacy Policy.
- Precise location - when you enable weather-aware care, Planterra sends your device's latitude and longitude to Open-Meteo, a public weather API, to fetch current cloud cover and temperature. Your location is not stored on our servers (we do not run any) and Open-Meteo does not tie the request to your identity. You can revoke location access anytime in iOS Settings.
- Crash reports - if Planterra crashes, the crash log (stack trace, device model, iOS version, app state) is sent to Firebase Crashlytics (Google) so we can identify and fix the bug. No personal identifiers are attached. See Firebase Privacy Information.
What we don't do
- No ads, first-party or third-party
- No behavioral analytics or usage tracking (we don't measure taps, sessions, screens, or funnels)
- No selling or sharing of your data
- No account creation required - Planterra works without a login
- No cross-app tracking (no IDFA, no ad IDs)
- No push notifications from us - reminders are local, scheduled on your device
- No moderation of your inputs on our servers - photos you send to the Plant Doctor are pre-checked for sensitive content by iOS on your device before they leave the phone, but that check runs locally and returns no data to us
Payments
Purchases and subscriptions are processed by Apple through the App Store. We never receive your payment information - Apple handles all billing. See Apple's Privacy Policy.
Legal bases for processing (EU/UK users)
Under GDPR / UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
- Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) - to provide the core functionality you signed up for: plant identification, care schedules, Doctor consultations, weather-informed care.
- Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) - to detect and fix crashes via Firebase Crashlytics. Balancing test: crash logs contain no personal identifiers and are essential for app reliability.
- Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) - to send Doctor-answer ratings you optionally record, and to access your device location for weather-aware care. You can withdraw consent at any time in iOS Settings.
Data retention
Because most Planterra data never leaves your device, retention is entirely in your hands - data lives as long as you keep the app installed and is wiped when you uninstall or use Settings → Delete all my data.
The limited data that does leave your device is retained as follows:
- Plant photos and Doctor messages - sent to Anthropic only for the duration of the request. Not retained by Anthropic per their privacy policy.
- Location coordinates - sent to Open-Meteo for the duration of the weather request. Not retained.
- Subscription state - retained by RevenueCat as long as your subscription is active, plus a period of time for accounting purposes as required by tax law.
- Crash reports - retained by Firebase Crashlytics for up to 90 days, then automatically deleted.
International transfers
Anthropic (Claude AI), RevenueCat, Firebase (Google), and Open-Meteo are US- or Europe-based providers. When you use Planterra from outside those regions, some of the limited data described above may be transferred internationally. Each provider maintains appropriate safeguards including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission.
Security
On-device data is stored in Apple's standard sandboxed application storage, which is encrypted at rest by iOS whenever your device has a passcode set. Data transmitted to third-party services is sent over HTTPS. We do not operate our own servers, which means there is no central database of Planterra users that could be breached.
Your rights (GDPR / UK GDPR)
As a resident of the European Union or United Kingdom, you have the right to:
- Access - request a copy of the data we hold about you. In our case, we hold nothing - all app data lives on your device. Export your on-device data via Settings → Export my data.
- Rectification - correct any inaccurate data. Edit your plant records, windows, and Atlas entries directly in the app.
- Erasure - delete your on-device data via Settings → Delete all my data in the app. To delete your subscription record with RevenueCat, contact hello@planterra.cloud.
- Restriction and objection - object to specific processing by revoking the relevant permissions in iOS Settings (Location, Camera, Notifications).
- Portability - export your data as JSON via the Settings export function.
- Withdrawal of consent - withdraw any optional consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal.
- Complaint - lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. For Germany-based users, that is the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA).
Children
Planterra is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in the user's country). We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child under this age has provided us with data, contact us at hello@planterra.cloud and we will investigate.
Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. If the changes are material (e.g. we add a new third-party service), we will surface the change inside the app itself so you have the opportunity to review it before continuing to use Planterra. Continued use of Planterra after a policy update means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
For any privacy-related question, request, or concern, email hello@planterra.cloud. We reply personally, usually within 3 business days.
The controller for the purposes of GDPR is Vladislava Trimborn, Munich, Germany. Correspondence address available on request.