Mycoscout Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to Mycoscout, a mobile application published by APPTIVA SOFTWARE CONSULTING P.C. (the “Service Provider”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Mycoscout identifies wild mushrooms from photographs you take. It is provided as a Freemium service and is intended for use “AS IS”.

Mycoscout has no accounts. You do not register, and we do not ask for your name, your email address or your phone number.

What Leaves Your Device

Mycoscout sends the following to our servers:

• The photographs you take for an identification, and nothing else from your camera or photo library.
• An installation identifier — a random value the Application generates on your device the first time it runs. It is not your device’s advertising identifier and is not linked to you. Reinstalling the Application produces a new one.
• A session identifier, used to link a follow-up photograph to the identification it refines.
• The Application’s language, so results are returned in the language you read.
• Your subscription status, for subscribers, so the Application knows the service is unlocked.

Your device’s IP address reaches our hosting provider as part of any internet request. It is used to limit abuse of the service and is not stored by us alongside your photographs or results.

The Application does not request location permission, does not read your photo library, and does not collect your contacts, your browsing history or any health or financial information.

Photographs and AI Identification

• Photographs are taken inside the Application. The Application does not read your photo library.
• To produce an identification, your photographs are sent over an encrypted connection to our server, which relays them to a third-party artificial intelligence provider. That provider analyses the photographs and returns the identification.
• We do not store your photographs on our servers. They are relayed for processing and are not kept once the identification has been returned. Our servers retain only counters — how many identifications an installation has used — and, for ten minutes, the number of photographs in your most recent attempt so that a follow-up photograph can be offered free of charge.
• Location data is removed from every photograph before it is sent. The Application re-encodes each image, which strips the EXIF metadata a camera would normally attach, including any GPS coordinates.
• Photographs the Application saves for you are stored on your own device, in the Application’s history. They are removed when you clear that history or uninstall the Application.

The artificial intelligence provider is listed under Third Party Access below and handles data under its own privacy policy.

Analytics

Mycoscout records how the Application itself is used, so that we can see which parts work and which do not.

• Analytics are enabled by default. You can turn them off at any time in Settings → Privacy & data, inside the Application. Turning them off stops the collection; it does not require uninstalling.
• What is recorded are product events: the Application being opened, a capture being started, an identification succeeding or failing, the subscription screen being shown, a purchase being started or completed. Each event carries the Application’s version, platform and language.
• Events are keyed to the installation identifier described above. They are not linked to your name, your email address or any account, because the Application has none.
• No photograph, and no identification result, is ever sent to our analytics provider.

We do not use this data for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not combine it with data from other applications or websites to track you. Mycoscout contains no advertising and no advertising or attribution software.

Subscriptions

Mycoscout offers an optional subscription. Subscriptions are handled by our payments partner RevenueCat together with Apple or Google.

• Payment is taken by Apple or Google. The Application never sees your card details.
• The Application receives only whether a subscription is active, so it can unlock the service.
• Where a free trial is offered, its length and terms are shown on the subscription screen before you commit to anything.

Third Party Access

The Application uses the following third-party services, each of which handles data under its own privacy policy:

• Anthropic — analyses the photographs and returns the identification
• Mixpanel — product analytics, as described above
• RevenueCat — subscription status
• Cloudflare — hosts the service the Application talks to

We may also disclose information:

• as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process;
• when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request;
• to trusted service providers who work on our behalf, have no independent use of the information disclosed to them, and have agreed to the rules set out in this policy.

Your Choices

• Turn analytics off in Settings → Privacy & data, at any time.
• Clear your history in Settings, which deletes the photographs and results stored on your device.
• Uninstall the Application, which stops all collection and removes everything held on your device.
• Ask us to delete data held about an installation by emailing support@apptivasoftware.com.

Data Retention

Photographs are not retained after an identification is returned. Usage counters tied to an installation identifier are retained for as long as needed to operate the free tier. Analytics events are retained by our analytics provider for as long as the service is operated. Anything the Application saves for you is held on your own device until you clear it.

Safety Notice

Mycoscout is an identification aid, not an authority. No application can tell you with certainty that a wild mushroom is safe to eat. Never eat a wild mushroom on the basis of this or any other application alone.

Children

The Application does not address anyone under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact support@apptivasoftware.com so we can take the necessary action.

Security

We provide physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect the information we process. All communication between the Application and our servers is encrypted in transit.

Changes

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. We will notify you of changes by updating this page. You are advised to consult this page regularly, as continued use is deemed approval of all changes.

This privacy policy is effective as of 2026-08-31.

Your Consent

By using the Application, you consent to the processing of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy, now and as amended by us.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about privacy while using the Application, please contact us at support@apptivasoftware.com.