Privacy Policy

Overview

Pollinator Patch LLC ("we," "our," or "us"), operating the Pollinator Patch app, is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you visit our website or use our mobile application.

By using Pollinator Patch, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Email address: when you sign up for our early access list, newsletter, or create a Pollinator Patch account
• Account credentials: if you create an account, your email and an encrypted password are stored by our authentication provider so you can sign in to the app and website. If you sign in with Apple or Google instead, we receive your email address (or Apple's private relay address, if you choose to hide your email) from that provider and never see a password.
• Name: if you choose to provide it during signup
• ZIP code: to provide region-specific plant recommendations and find nearby nurseries
• Garden preferences and saved data: such as sun exposure, space size, watering habits, pet ownership (dogs or cats), plant wishlist or favorites, garden notes, the plants you have added, and their watering history. If you are signed in, this data is stored on our servers (see Supabase below) so it is available across your devices, and it is deleted when you delete your account.
• Rebate coverage waitlist: if you sign up to be notified when rebate coverage expands in your area, we store the email and ZIP code you provide
• Ask Patch questions: when you use the Ask Patch feature, the text of your questions is stored on our servers. We use this to improve responses, detect misuse, and understand what people are asking about. Questions may include garden details you describe in your message and saved garden preferences like pet ownership.
• Ask Patch conversation history: your conversations, including both your questions and the replies, are saved to your account so you can reopen them later. You can delete any conversation from the Previous conversations list in the app, and deleting your account removes all of them.
• Plant problem checks: when you use the "What's wrong with my plant" flow, we save the symptoms you selected, the answers you gave about watering and setup, and the likely causes we showed you, so the record stays on that plant's history. You can delete any saved check from the plant's history in the app.
• Plant history sent to Ask Patch: when you ask Ask Patch about a specific plant, a short summary of that plant's recorded history is sent to the AI service along with your question, so the answer can take account of what has already happened. That summary can include your journal notes and past problem checks for that plant. It is only sent when you ask about a specific plant, never for a general question.
• Device location (optional): if you grant permission, the app uses your device's GPS to determine your ecoregion, city, and ZIP code. Your coordinates are converted to a ZIP code on your device where possible. If that on-device lookup does not return a result, the coordinates are sent to a reverse geocoding service (BigDataCloud, listed below) to complete the lookup. We never store your GPS coordinates or save them to your account. Only the resulting ecoregion, city, and ZIP code are kept.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: pages visited, features used, and time spent in the app
• Device information: device type, operating system, and browser type
• Analytics data: usage data and feature analytics to improve our services. Some of this is linked to your account rather than anonymous. See the PostHog entry under Third-Party Services below for what is associated with you.
• Location preferences: your ecoregion, city name, and ZIP code are stored on our servers to personalize plant recommendations, show nearby nurseries, and surface relevant rebate programs. GPS coordinates are never stored or transmitted.

Rebate Finder Searches

When you use the Rebate Finder, we collect the ZIP code you enter along with basic information about your visit, including what page referred you, your general device type (mobile or desktop), and whether your search returned results. This data helps us understand where rebate coverage is needed and improve the service over time. We do not collect your precise location or identify you personally unless you choose to provide your email address. If you provide your email to join our waitlist, we use it only to send you the updates you requested. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Garden Plans by ZIP Code

When you request a free garden plan, either on our website or by replying to a message on social media, we store the ZIP code you provide and the resulting plant list so the plan page stays available at its link. Your ZIP code is used to determine which ecoregion you are in and nothing else. If you request the plan through a social media direct message, the messaging platform also passes us the account name you sent it from, which we store so we can recognize a repeat request and avoid sending you duplicate links. No account is required to request or view a plan, and we do not ask for your email address as part of this. Plans that are never opened are deleted after twelve months.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide personalized native plant recommendations for your region
• Send you updates about Pollinator Patch, including new features
• Improve our app and website based on how users interact with our services
• Respond to your questions and provide customer support
• Generate AI-assisted recommendations via Ask Patch using the garden and location context you provide
• Send occasional educational content about native plants and pollinators (you can opt out anytime)

Email Communications

When you join our early access list, you'll receive occasional emails about:

• New feature announcements
• New rebate program updates for your area
• Seasonal gardening tips and native plant education

Every email includes an unsubscribe link. You can opt out at any time, no questions asked.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your data only in these limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use trusted third-party services (like email delivery) that process data on our behalf
• Legal requirements: If required by law or to protect our rights
• With your consent: If you explicitly agree to share your information

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may collect information:

• Resend: for transactional and newsletter email delivery (welcome emails, waitlist confirmations, weekly notes, account-related messages)
• Supabase: for authentication and storage of your account, garden data, waitlist entries, and rebate finder searches. Supabase is our primary backend database and auth provider.
• Stripe: for processing subscription payments made through our website. Stripe receives your email and payment details directly; we never see or store full card numbers. Subscriptions purchased on iOS or Android are handled by Apple or Google instead.
• Vercel: for website hosting and infrastructure
• Vercel Analytics: for website traffic and conversion measurement. It records page views and a small set of events (such as email signups and calls to action) without cookies, and does not build a profile of you across sites. Declining on the cookie banner stops the event tracking; anonymous, cookieless page view counts continue.
• Google Analytics: provided by Google LLC, for website traffic analysis and understanding how visitors move through the site. It uses cookies, and data may be transferred to the United States. Its script loads on this website only, and does not run in the mobile app. Declining on the cookie banner prevents it from loading at all. Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
• Metricool: for measuring how visitors arrive from our social media posts. Its tracking script loads on this website only, and does not run in the mobile app. Declining on the cookie banner prevents it from loading at all.
• Expo / App Stores: for mobile app distribution
• RevenueCat: for managing mobile subscriptions and in-app purchases on iOS and Android. On iPhone and iPad, if you installed the app after tapping one of our Apple Search Ads, the app asks Apple for an attribution token and passes it to RevenueCat so we can see which of our own ads brought people to the app and which of those went on to subscribe. Apple returns campaign-level information such as the campaign and keyword. This uses Apple's own AdServices framework, it does not use the advertising identifier, and it does not track you across other apps or websites, which is why iOS does not show a tracking permission prompt for it. It runs on iPhone and iPad only.
• PostHog: for product analytics and usage tracking. PostHog collects app events, feature usage, and performance data to help us understand how the app is used. If you are signed in, your account email may be associated with your PostHog person record so we can connect activity across web and mobile. PostHog also records session replays: a reconstruction of your visit showing pages viewed, clicks, and scrolling. Text you type into forms is masked. Where session replay is enabled in our mobile app, all text and images are masked. You can decline analytics and session replay entirely through the cookie banner on this website, or with the analytics toggle in the app's Account screen.
• Microsoft Clarity: provided by Microsoft Corporation, for heatmaps and session recordings of this website, so we can see which parts of a page people use and where they get stuck. It records pages viewed, clicks, and scrolling. Clarity is set to its strict masking mode, which masks the page's text and anything typed into a form inside your browser, so the masked content is never sent to Microsoft and a recording shows layout and interaction rather than content. Clarity uses cookies, including third-party cookies that Microsoft says support operational purposes such as advertising, and Microsoft states that Clarity does not sell data. Its script loads on this website only, and does not run in the mobile app. Declining on the cookie banner prevents it from loading at all. Microsoft's privacy statement: privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement
• Sentry: for crash and error reporting in the mobile app. When the app crashes or hits an error, technical details such as the device model, operating system version, and what the app was doing at the time are sent to Sentry so we can find and fix the problem. These reports are tied to a random identifier rather than your email address. You can turn crash reporting off with the toggle in the app's Account screen.
• Google Maps Platform: if you type a street address in the Garden Planner to find a street-level photo of your home, that address is sent to Google's Geocoding and Street View services to locate the building and return the image. We do not store the address after the lookup. Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
• BigDataCloud: a reverse geocoding service used as a fallback to turn your GPS coordinates into a ZIP code when the lookup on your device does not return one. It receives the coordinates for that single lookup. No account information is sent with the request, and we do not store the coordinates afterward.
• Open-Meteo: a weather service that receives your approximate location, but not your account information, so the app can tell you about freezes, drought conditions, and whether your plants need watering.
• Anthropic: when you use Ask Patch, your questions and relevant garden context (such as your region, plant wishlist, and garden setup) are sent to Anthropic's API to generate responses. When you use Patch ID, the plant photo you upload is sent to Anthropic's API to identify the plant. Anthropic's privacy policy governs how they handle this data.
• OpenAI: we use OpenAI's API to generate search embeddings that power Ask Patch's plant matching. Your question text is sent to OpenAI as part of this process.
• Google Gemini: when you use the Garden Planner, the yard photo you upload is sent to Google's Gemini image model to generate your visualization. Photos are used only to produce the rendering and are handled under Google's API privacy terms; we do not use your photos for advertising or sell them to anyone.
• fal.ai: some Garden Planner renderings are produced by image models hosted at fal.ai instead of Google Gemini. When that happens, the yard photo you upload is sent to fal.ai for the same purpose, under the same limits: the photo is used only to produce your rendering, never for advertising, and never sold.
• Pl@ntNet: when you use Patch ID, the photo you take is sent to the Pl@ntNet identification service, which names the plant. If the first result is uncertain we may offer to add a second photo, and that photo is sent to Pl@ntNet too. Pl@ntNet is run by a consortium of French public research institutions.

Each of these services has their own privacy policy governing how they handle data.

What Declining Analytics Actually Stops

On this website, choosing "Decline" on the cookie banner stops Google Analytics, Metricool, and Microsoft Clarity from loading at all, opts you out of all PostHog capture including session replay, and stops Vercel Analytics custom events. One thing continues: Vercel Analytics still counts page views. Those counts use no cookies, are not tied to your account, and are not used to build a profile of you.

In the mobile app, the analytics toggle in the Account screen stops PostHog capture and session replay on your device, and also tells our servers not to record analytics about notifications sent to you. Turning analytics off never stops the notifications themselves, and it does not affect the operational records we keep to run the app, such as the log we use to avoid sending you the same notification twice.

Data Security

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your personal information. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, but cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your data
• Opt out of marketing communications at any time
• Export your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at stephen@thepollinatorpatchgarden.com. We aim to respond to deletion and data-access requests within 30 days. When we delete your account, we remove your account record, garden data, wishlist, stored Ask Patch question history, and the photos you uploaded (your Garden Planner yard photos and renderings, and your Patch ID plant scans) from our active systems. Backups are overwritten on our normal retention cycle. Aggregated analytics that cannot identify you may be retained.

California Resident Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives you specific rights regarding your personal information. In addition to the rights above, you have the right to:

• Know what categories of personal information we collect, the sources, and the purposes for which we use it
• Know what categories of personal information we disclose to service providers (listed in the Third-Party Services section above)
• Request deletion of personal information we have collected from you
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising
• Be free from discrimination for exercising any of these rights

To make a CCPA request, email us at stephen@thepollinatorpatchgarden.com with the subject line "California Privacy Request." We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling the request. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

Children's Privacy

Pollinator Patch is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected such information, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: