Privacy policy

Information we collect

• Account information: your email address and password. Your email is used only to sign you in and to send account emails (confirmation codes and password resets). It is never shown to other people. Passwords are stored securely (hashed) by our authentication provider; we never see them.
• Profile information: your username, display name, and anything you choose to add (bio, region, profile photo), plus your default location setting.
• Observations you record: what you saw (a species, or your description), when, how many, your notes, an optional photo, the exact location you save, its accuracy, and a general place name (town and region, never a street address).
• Other things you do in the app: identifications you suggest for other people's observations, reports you make about content, people you block (only you can see who you've blocked), species you mark as favourites, species you add from iNaturalist, and whether you've joined Kaitiaki Plus.
• Traps (optional): traps you add, their locations, and the checks and catches you log.
• On your device only: app settings (such as dark mode and accent colour), and for Kaitiaki Plus members, observations saved while offline until they upload.

We do not use advertising or analytics services, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

Location

• We only use your location when you record an observation, add a trap, tap "show my location", or choose to see species seen near you. We never track you in the background.
• The exact location of every observation is visible only to you. By default, other people see only an approximate area (about 1 km). You can choose "Exact" or "Private" for each observation.
• Threatened and at-risk species are always shown only as a general area (about 10 km), whatever you choose. This also applies if anyone suggests a threatened species for an observation.
• For "species seen near you", your location is rounded to about 1 km and used for that search only. It isn't saved.
• Trap locations are visible only to you. If you choose to share a catch as a pest report, others see only its general area (about 1 km).
• Photos are re-saved on your device before upload, which removes hidden camera data such as GPS coordinates.

Device permissions

With your permission, Kaitiaki NZ uses your device's:

• Location: to note where you saw something and show what's around you.
• Camera and photo library: to add a photo to an observation or your profile.

You can change these at any time in your device settings.

How we use your information

• To create and run your account and profile.
• To show observations on the map and in the community feed, with the location privacy described above.
• To provide features such as identification suggestions, Kaitiaki Plus (your life list, yearly summary, data export and offline saving), and the trap tracker.
• To keep the community safe: reviewing reported content and hiding records that several people report until they've been checked.
• To fix problems and improve the app.

Who can see your information

• Signed-in Kaitiaki NZ users can see public profiles and observations that aren't private, with their public (usually generalised) location.
• Identifications you suggest are shown on that observation with your display name.
• If you make your profile private, your name is hidden on your observations and identifications ("A Kaitiaki member"), and your profile page can't be viewed.
• Private observations, exact locations, your email address, your traps and your trap checks are visible only to you.
• Moderators can see reported content so they can keep the community safe.
• If you block someone, you won't see their observations or identifications, and they can't suggest identifications for yours. They aren't told.

Services we use

We do NOT sell your personal information or share it with advertisers. We use these services to run the app, and share only what each one needs:

• Supabase: hosts our database, sign-in and photo storage, in a data centre in Sydney, Australia.
• Google (Gmail): sends account emails (confirmation codes and password resets) to your email address.
• Apple Maps or Google Maps: display maps. Your phone's built-in location service converts coordinates into a town name.
• iNaturalist: if you search iNaturalist for a species that isn't in our guide, your search text is sent to iNaturalist from your device, along with its internet (IP) address, as with any website. A species you choose is added to Kaitiaki NZ for everyone, without your name on it.

We may also disclose information if required by law.

Kaitiaki Plus

Kaitiaki Plus is free during early access and no payment details are collected. If Plus becomes paid in future, we'll update this policy first, and purchases would be handled by the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Children and young people

If you're under 16, please check with a parent, caregiver or teacher before joining. A parent or caregiver can contact us to review, correct or delete a young person's information.

Keeping and deleting your information

We keep your information while your account is active. You can edit or delete any of your observations at any time, and you can permanently delete your account from Settings > Password & account. Deleting your account removes your profile, observations, photos, identifications, favourites, traps and trap checks, and any observations still waiting on your device. Reports you made are kept for moderation but are no longer linked to you. Species you added from iNaturalist stay in the guide, without your name.

Your rights

Under New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020 you can ask to access and correct your personal information. You can edit your profile and observations in the app, and export your observations with Kaitiaki Plus. For anything else, contact us using the details below. You can also find out more about your privacy rights from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner: https://www.privacy.org.nz

Security

Information is encrypted in transit, and access is controlled in our database so people can only see what they're allowed to. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe.

International processing

Your information is stored in Australia. Some services we use (such as our email provider) may process information in other countries, such as the United States. Where they do, we choose providers that protect it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll change the "Last updated" date above, and significant changes will be announced in the app.

Contact us

Questions, privacy requests or concerns? Email kaitiakinzbusiness@gmail.com.