Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective 23 July 2026 · Applies to the Critterdex iOS app and critterdex.madpine.com
The short version
- No accounts. The app never asks you to sign up, so we never hold your name or a password. The only thing we can hold is an email address, and only if you type one into the waitlist form on this site.
- Your collection lives on your phone. Cards, photos and progress are stored on your device, not on our servers — we don't have servers for them.
- Photos are sent out once, for one job: when you snap an animal, that photo is sent to an AI service to identify the species, then the answer comes back. That's the only data that ever leaves your device.
- Location is optional and stays local. It only tags your own cards.
- No ads, no analytics, no trackers, no selling data.
What the app collects, and why
Photos you capture
Critterdex works by pointing your camera at an animal. When you take a capture, the photo is processed to identify the species. Photos are stored on your device as part of your collection. To identify the animal, the photo is transmitted securely to our AI identification provider (see “Third parties” below). Only the image itself is sent — no name, no location, no device identifiers attached by us.
Location (optional)
If you grant the “while using the app” location permission, Critterdex tags each capture with where you caught it, so your own cards can show the place. This data is stored only on your device and is never transmitted to us or anyone else. The app works fully without it — decline the permission and nothing breaks.
Identification corrections
If you correct a wrong identification, the correction (which species was guessed, which you chose) is written to a file on your device to help us improve the app in future versions. Nothing is uploaded.
The waitlist (this website)
If you enter your email address in the waitlist form on this site, we store that address so we can tell you once, when the app launches. Alongside it we keep the date you signed up and the two-letter country code Cloudflare provides with the request — that's it. We do not store your IP address, browser, or where you came from. The address is never used for anything other than that launch email, is never shared or sold, and there is no newsletter. Email [email protected] and we'll delete it immediately, no questions. Signups are held in Cloudflare KV storage (see “Third parties”). The site itself sets no cookies and runs no analytics.
What we don't collect
- No account details — there is nothing to sign up for in the app itself.
- No advertising identifiers, no cross-app tracking, no analytics SDKs.
- No contacts, no photo-library scanning — Critterdex only sees the photos you capture inside the app.
Third parties
Critterdex uses two third-party services, each for one job:
- OpenRouter (openrouter.ai, OpenRouter Inc.) receives the capture photo and returns the species identification, acting as a processor for this single purpose. Transmission is encrypted. OpenRouter's handling of this data is governed by its privacy policy, which provides protections consistent with this policy; we do not permit our providers to use your photos for advertising or to build profiles about you.
- Cloudflare (cloudflare.com, Cloudflare, Inc.) hosts this website and stores waitlist email addresses, acting as a processor. It is not involved in the app at all — no capture photo, card or location ever reaches it. Cloudflare's handling is governed by its privacy policy.
We do not share any data with advertising networks, data brokers, or analytics companies. We do not sell data — there's nothing to sell.
Retention and deletion
Because your collection is stored on your device, you are in control:
- Delete one card: long-press it on the board — its photos are removed from your device.
- Reset your collection: available in the app's settings — removes every capture and photo.
- Delete the app: removes everything Critterdex stored, permanently.
- Leave the waitlist: email [email protected] and your address is deleted. Every address is deleted once the launch email has gone out — the list has no purpose after that.
Photos sent for identification are processed transiently to produce the answer; we keep no server-side copy (we operate no storage servers). Any short-term retention by the identification provider is limited to what its privacy policy allows for operating the service.
Your choices and consent
- Camera and location permissions can be revoked at any time in iOS Settings → Critterdex. The camera is required to capture animals; location is entirely optional.
- Identification consent: sending a photo for identification happens only when you take a capture — don't snap, and nothing is ever sent.
- Data deletion: see above — you can delete any or all data yourself, instantly, without asking us.
Children
Critterdex is made for everyone, including families. It has no ads, no social features, no chat, no third-party analytics, and collects no personal information beyond what is described above — which is the same minimal handling for every user, of any age.
The website
critterdex.madpine.com is a static page hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Cloudflare may process standard technical request data (such as IP addresses) to serve and secure the site. The site loads fonts from Google Fonts, which receives a standard web request from your browser. The website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.
Changes
If Critterdex ever changes how it handles data — for example, if optional online features like backups or leaderboards are added — this policy will be updated first, the “effective” date above will change, and anything new will be opt-in and explained in plain language inside the app.
Contact
Questions or requests about privacy: [email protected].