Privacy policy

This policy explains what the Plant Sickness Identifier app for iPhone and Android, and this website, do with your information. The app is made by The Apptor (“we”, “us”), which is responsible for your data. It describes version 2.0 of the app and later. Earlier versions worked differently, and that section says how.

Who we are

The Apptor makes Plant Sickness Identifier and is the controller of your personal data under UK and EU data protection law. You can reach us at [email protected] or through the support form.

Diagnosing a plant

Before your first scan, the app asks whether it may send your photos to Google Gemini, the AI that examines them. If you choose Don't allow, nothing is sent. Your history, the plant problems library and your reminders keep working, and the app asks again the next time you scan. You can withdraw your agreement at any time in the app's Settings.

Once you agree, each scan sends the following over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection:

• The photo, made smaller on your phone first.
• Your app language, so the result comes back in it.
• Your answers from setup, if you gave them: where your plants live (indoors, garden, balcony or vegetable patch), whether there are pets or children at home, and what brought you to the app. They tailor the advice, for example by putting pet-safe treatments first.
• For a follow-up scan, the earlier plant and problem names and how many days ago it was, so the app can say whether things are improving. If you correct the plant with “Not this plant?”, the plant you chose.
• Technical details our server needs to accept the request: a random install ID created by the app, the app version, whether it is iPhone or Android, and a signature that shows the request came from the app.

Our server, which runs on Cloudflare, passes the photo and these details to Google Gemini and sends the result back to your phone. The photo is held in memory for that one request only. We do not save it, write it to a log or keep the result.

Chatting with Sprouty

Sprouty, the app's plant care assistant, works the same way and only after the same agreement. Each message sends the conversation so far (up to the last 20 messages), any photo you attach, your app language, your setup answers and, if you started the chat from a scan, that scan's plant name, problem and summary. Our server passes them to Google Gemini and returns the reply. We do not store or log your messages or the replies. Your conversations are saved on your phone.

Google Gemini

Google processes your photos and messages to produce each result and reply. We use Google's paid Gemini API. In plain words, Google's terms for it say that:

• Google does not use what we send, or its answers, to improve its products;
• Google handles the data on our behalf, as our processor;
• Google keeps a log of requests and answers for a limited time, only to detect misuse of its service and meet legal duties, and may process data in any country where it has facilities.

Read them in full: Gemini API Additional Terms of Service.

What we keep on our servers

Feedback you choose to send

If you answer “Was this right?” on a result, we keep that result's text, your answer, the reason you pick, any comment you write and your app language. We do not keep the photo, your install ID or anything else that identifies you. We store it on Cloudflare for up to 12 months and use it only to improve the app's answers.

Support messages

If you contact us through the form in the app or on this website, we receive your email address, your name if you give it, the topic and your message. In the app, if you leave “Include app details” on, we also receive your app version, system version, device model, language and whether you have Premium. Messages are stored by us on Cloudflare and emailed to us so we can reply. No photos are sent. To limit abuse of the form, a scrambled, one-way version (a hash) of your IP address is kept for 24 hours.

Running the service

Our server counts requests and records timings, error codes and which AI model answered, so we can keep the service working. It uses your install ID and IP address briefly to limit how many requests one phone can send each minute. These records never contain your photos, your messages or your results.

That is all. There are no accounts, no profiles and no copy of your scan history on our servers.

What stays on your phone

Your scans with their photos and results, follow-up comparisons, chats, reminders, setup answers and settings are stored on your phone. On iPhone, your scans can appear in Spotlight search on that phone. Like other app data, they may be included in your phone's own backup under your Apple or Google account settings. Reminders and the optional tips and offers messages are scheduled by the app on your phone.

You can delete a scan or a chat in the app, and deleting the app removes everything it stored. See Delete data.

Services in the app

Firebase, from Google

• Analytics records how the app is used, such as screens viewed, scans completed and when the Premium screen is shown, with your device model, system version, app version, approximate country and a random app instance ID. It does not use the advertising identifier, and we do not link it to your name or email.
• Crashlytics sends a report when the app crashes (what the app was doing, device model and system version) so we can fix it.
• Remote Config downloads settings for the app, such as how many free uses there are each day.

Google acts as our processor for these. Firebase privacy information.

RevenueCat

RevenueCat manages subscriptions for us. It receives your purchase receipts and an anonymous app user ID, with device and app details, so the app knows whether you have Premium and can restore it. On iPhone, if you installed the app after tapping an Apple Search Ads advert, it also receives Apple's attribution token, which says which advert led to the install, not who you are. RevenueCat privacy policy.

Apple and Google

Payments are made through the App Store or Google Play. We never see your card or payment details. Apple and Google handle them under their own privacy policies.

Cards for our other apps

If you do not have Premium, the app shows small cards for other apps made by The Apptor. To show them, the app talks to our own cross-promotion server, which receives an anonymous app session (with a check that the request comes from a genuine copy of the app) and which card was shown or tapped. It does not store a device ID, your install ID, your IP address or your language, and it does not follow you across apps. Premium subscribers see no cards.

What we never do

• We show no ads and do not use your advertising identifier.
• We do not track you across other companies' apps or websites, so the app does not ask for permission to track.
• We do not sell or rent your data, or share it for advertising.
• We do not use your photos or messages to train AI models.

We may disclose information if the law requires it.

Earlier versions (1.x)

Versions 1.0 to 1.2 of the app, the versions on the App Store before 2.0, worked differently:

• They did not ask before sending. Photos and chat messages went to our previous server, hosted on Render, and from there to Google Gemini.
• Until 16 October 2026, that server also saved a copy of every plant photo and its result in an archive on our file storage. We stopped this on 16 October 2026. The copies were saved under random file names, with no name, email address, device ID or install ID, so we cannot find one person's photos. The archive is private: it has never been published, sold or shared.
• They included Meta's Facebook SDK, which sent app events such as app opens and purchases to Meta, and they asked for permission to track. If you allowed tracking, Meta also received your device's advertising identifier. You can turn tracking off at any time in your iPhone's Settings, under Privacy & Security, Tracking.
• They included Adapty, which received purchase events and an ID based on your device, to measure subscriptions.
• Results and chat were in English only.

Version 2.0 removes all of this. Update the app to get the practices in this policy.

Children

The app is not made for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you think a child has sent us a support message, email us and we will delete it.

How long we keep things

Your rights

UK and EU (GDPR)

You can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, limit how we use it, or object to how we use it, and you can ask to receive it in a portable form. You can withdraw your agreement to sending photos to Google Gemini at any time in the app's Settings. We answer within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) in the UK, or to the data protection authority where you live.

Our legal reasons for using your data:

• Sending photos and messages to Google Gemini: your consent.
• Giving you results and providing your subscription: to provide the service you asked for.
• Install ID, limits and security, analytics, crash reports and feedback: our legitimate interest in keeping the service available, fixing problems and improving the answers.
• Support messages: to answer you.

California

If you live in California, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, and to ask us to delete or correct it. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. The current version of the app does not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. Versions 1.x sent app events to Meta, as described in Earlier versions.

To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. Because we hold almost nothing that identifies you, we may ask for the email address you used with us so we can find your messages.

Where data is processed

Our server and stored data run on Cloudflare's network. Google and RevenueCat may process data in the United States and other countries. When data leaves the UK or the EU, it is protected by the safeguards these providers offer, such as standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

This website

This website uses no cookies, no analytics and no trackers, and its fonts are served from this site. Cloudflare delivers the pages and processes your IP address to do so and to protect the site from attacks. The support form on this site works as described in What we keep.

Changes and contact

If we change how the app handles data, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches you, and mention important changes in the app's update notes.

Questions or requests: The Apptor, [email protected], or the support form.