Privacy policy

Effective date: October 2, 2026 · This policy describes how the Social Bird iPhone app handles your data.

On this page

Who we are

Social Bird is a birding app for iPhone, operated by Ricardo Andres Medina Serra ("Social Bird," "we," "us"). You can reach us at support@socialbird.app. This policy covers the Social Bird app and this website. It does not cover any other app or service.

What information we collect

Account

You can sign in with Apple, or with an email and password; you can also set a username (handle). We store your authentication identity (for example, your email) and, if you use Sign in with Apple, the name Apple shares the first time. When you first open the app we create an anonymous session so the app works before you sign up.

Profile

Your profile may include a handle, display name, bio, a home region you type (e.g. "Austin, TX"), equipment notes, and an avatar and cover image. Public profile information is visible to other people browsing the app, including guests.

Your content

We store the sightings, photos, community posts, comments, outing records, and identification suggestions you create, along with the species, notes, and other details you add.

Location

With your permission, we record where you spotted a bird (sighting coordinates) and, during an active outing, your route. See Photos & location for how this is handled and shared.

Support requests

If you contact us through this website, we store the name, email address, topic, and message you submit in our support inbox on Supabase so we can respond. Please do not include passwords or payment details.

Device & usage

If you enable notifications, we store a device push token to deliver them. We may collect limited, non-identifying usage and crash information — see Analytics.

Photos & location

  • Photo metadata is stripped. Photos you capture or import are re-encoded before upload, which removes EXIF data including any embedded GPS coordinates. Uploaded photo files do not carry location metadata. (If a photo contains GPS data, the app may read it on your device only to pre-fill the sighting's location for you — it is not uploaded in the image.)
  • Your sighting photos are private by storage. They are kept in private storage and shown through temporary signed links; your profile avatar and cover image are public.
  • Review location sharing before posting. New sightings start with “Post with location” selected. When a location is available, saving in this mode shares it with your post. You can instead post without location or save privately before you save. Hidden coordinates are withheld from public views.
  • Outing routes stay private. The GPS track of an outing is kept to your account and is not shared publicly. Outing recording uses location in the background only while you are actively recording (shown by the system indicator). We do not request always-on background location.

AI photo identification

When you ask for an identification, the app sends your photo (with its metadata already stripped) to our identification provider through our server to get a species suggestion. We currently run the BioCLIP bird-identification model on Modal, our cloud hosting provider.

  • The identification service receives the image and its file type. Your location, name, email, handle, and account identifiers are not sent with the photo.
  • Suggestions are estimates, not verified identifications — you confirm the species yourself.
  • Data processed by our identification provider is also subject to that provider's terms.
Note: the identification provider and configuration may change as the app evolves; this policy will be updated to reflect the provider actually in use.

What's public, and what isn't

Visible to people browsing the app, including guests: your profile; sightings you set to "profile" visibility (with location controlled by the posting option you choose); community posts, comments, and any outings you choose to share. Eligible public bird photos may also appear on species cards, including Discover, with photographer credit. Private to you: sightings set to "private," your outing routes, and your draft content. If you block another user, you and that user are hidden from each other across feeds, the map, and community features.

Service providers we use

We rely on these providers to run the app. Each processes data only to provide its service:

  • Supabase — our database, authentication, and file storage.
  • Apple — Sign in with Apple, push notifications, and App Store purchases (membership billing and receipts are handled by Apple; we never see your payment details).
  • RevenueCat — helps us manage membership entitlements with Apple.
  • Modal — hosts our BioCLIP identification service and processes the photos you submit for identification (see above).
  • Mapbox — map display.
  • PostHog and Sentry — product analytics and crash reporting, only if enabled (see below).

Analytics & crash reporting

We may use PostHog for basic product analytics and Sentry for crash and error reports to keep the app working. When enabled, analytics is limited (for example, recording that the app was opened) and the app does not attach your name or email to these events. Crash reports include technical error information and stack traces. These are only active when we configure them; if they are not configured, no analytics or crash data is collected.

Retention & deletion

We keep your account and content until you delete them. You can delete your account and data from the app at any time: Settings → Delete account. This permanently removes your sightings, photos, profile, posts, comments, outings, and related data from our systems. See Delete your account for the full process.

Deleting your account does not cancel an Apple subscription — cancel that separately in iPhone Settings → Subscriptions. Technical data already processed by a provider (for example, a past identification sent to our AI provider, or crash logs) is governed by that provider's retention terms.

Your controls & rights

  • Choose each sighting's visibility (private or on your profile) and whether to share its exact location.
  • Block or report other users and content.
  • Manage notification permissions.
  • Edit or delete your content, and delete your entire account.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal data. To make a request, email support@socialbird.app.

Children

Social Bird is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Changes

We'll update this policy as the app changes and revise the effective date above. Material changes will be highlighted in the app or on this site.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@socialbird.app.