Privacy

We keep only what WhenToBird needs to work, never sell it, and you can delete your account yourself at any time.

The website

No advertising, no third-party analytics or tracking scripts. The only cookie is the sign-in cookie, set when you sign in, so the app knows it is you. Our hosts keep standard server logs (IP address, page, time) for security and capacity, and we use them only in aggregate.

Your account

If you create an account we keep your email address, a hashed password, your purchases, and what you sync: your life list, Play progress, and, if you turn them on, your weekly email settings and a display name your friends can see. You can delete your account in the app (Account, then Delete account) or on the web; that removes your email, list, progress, friends and settings. Saved trips and anything you use without an account stay on your device. We keep a record of purchases for accounting and refunds, without your email.

Bird ID

Sound: in the iPhone app, sound ID runs on your phone; the audio is not sent anywhere. On the web, or if the app cannot run it, a few seconds of audio are sent to our ID server, identified, and not kept. Photos: the photo you choose is sent to our ID server, identified, and not kept. Your county and week go with them so the answers fit where you are.

Location

The iPhone app uses your location once, on the phone, to find your county. Your coordinates are not sent to us; the app only loads the public data for your state.

Payments

On the web, payments go through Stripe; in the iPhone app, through Apple. We never see or store card numbers. We receive what a purchase needs: what you bought, when, the amount, and an order id.

What we never do

Sell or share personal data, show ads, or use your data to train AI models. The bird data on this site is aggregated from eBird; we do not publish observer names, checklist ids or individual records.

Questions, or a deletion you would rather we did: hello@whentobird.com.