Privacy Policy
Wildlife Connection
This policy explains how this application handles information and how to contact us about privacy.
Information we process
Wildlife Connection stores the outing titles, dates, route notes, ordered places and addresses, gear lists and checkmarks, journal text, manually entered weather and mood, wildlife names and categories, observation descriptions, dates, places, regions, selected or captured photos, goals, language and privacy preferences that you enter on your iPhone. It has no accounts, location tracking, analytics or advertising SDKs, and does not upload or synchronize these records. Opening this public website or Privacy Policy sends ordinary web request information to Railway infrastructure, such as your IP address, requested URL, request time, response information and browser or device headers. The website has no forms, cookies or user-data database.
How we use information
Local records let you plan outings, prepare equipment, keep a journal, revisit observations and places, calculate your own goals and seasonal memories, and schedule optional local reminders. Photos are resized and stored as local copies. Private mode replaces exact places with regions in browsing views; full places remain editable locally. Technical website request information is used by the hosting infrastructure to deliver the pages, operate the service and diagnose availability or security issues.
Service providers and sharing
App journal records and photos are not sent to the developer, Railway or an analytics provider. The public website is hosted by Railway, which processes web traffic and infrastructure logs to provide hosting. Apple provides the iOS camera, system photo picker, local notifications and any device backup service you choose. Device backups may include the local app container depending on your Apple settings. If you independently email the privacy contact, your email provider, the contact mailbox provider and the recipient process your message and address. There is no email delivery or support form in the app. We do not sell app records or use them for advertising.
Data retention
Your app records remain in local storage until you delete individual items, use Delete all data, or remove the app and its data. Offloading an app may keep its data. The app does not maintain server copies or a cloud recovery service. Existing device backups can retain earlier copies under your device or backup provider settings. Railway may retain infrastructure logs under its applicable service configuration and policies; a specific log retention duration has not been established for this website. No fixed retention period is promised for correspondence sent independently to the privacy contact.
Deleting your information
You can edit or delete outings, notes, observations, gear lists and goals in the app. Deleting an outing preserves associated notes and observations as independent records. Settings > Delete all data clears the current local journal, copied photos, preferences and scheduled or delivered app reminders. It does not delete original photos in your photo library, independent email correspondence or existing device backups. Manage those separately in Photos, your email service and your Apple backup settings. Restoring an older device backup may restore older records. Because we do not receive your local journal, we cannot remotely retrieve or erase it.
Permissions and your choices
Camera access is requested only when you choose Take photo. You may deny or withdraw it in iPhone Settings and continue using text entries or the system photo picker. The system photo picker grants access only to images you select, without requesting full-library permission. Notification authorization is optional and is requested when you save an outing with a reminder; you can disable notifications in iPhone Settings or remove the reminder in the outing editor. Reminders use generic text rather than your exact places or outing titles. No location or microphone permission is requested. Withdrawing permission does not remove photos or notes already saved; delete these within the app.
Your privacy rights
You control the local records through the app and your device. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or restrict personal information, object to processing, or complain to your local data protection authority. For questions or requests concerning this policy, website processing or privacy correspondence, contact tirzahdenholm@icloud.com. Describe your request without sending your private journal unnecessarily. We cannot identify or access local app records from your email address, and an email request does not create an account.
Security
The app stores its journal in the iOS application sandbox using atomic file writes and iOS complete file protection. Photos are kept inside the same local store. The public website uses HTTPS and has no authentication system, user-data API, database or upload endpoint. There are no shared app credentials. Device passcodes, access to an unlocked device and backup settings remain important to protecting local information. No storage or network mechanism can guarantee absolute security.
Children’s privacy
Wildlife Connection is designed for adults who plan outdoor activities and keep personal nature journals, and is not specifically directed to children. It does not ask for age or create child profiles. If you believe a child has sent personal information through the public privacy contact, contact tirzahdenholm@icloud.com so the correspondence can be considered for deletion. Outdoor activities should follow appropriate supervision and safety precautions.
Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated when the app or website data practices change. The current version is published at this Privacy Policy page with its effective date and is accessible from the app Settings. Review this page for updates. Material changes will be described in the updated policy; no email notification service or account is required.