Effective Date: October 8, 2026
BirdCheck is an iPhone and Apple Watch application designed to help users maintain bird Life Lists, record sightings, track birding outings, and explore their personal birding history.
This Privacy Policy explains what information BirdCheck accesses, how that information is used, and the choices available to users.
BirdCheck stores information users choose to enter, including bird species, Life Lists, sightings, observation counts, outing dates and times, notes, locations, routes, and selected photographs.
This information is used to organize and display the user’s personal birding records, maps, lists, and history.
With permission, BirdCheck uses location services to:
Location updates may continue during an active outing while the app is running in the background, subject to device permissions and operating-system behavior.
Location access is optional. Some mapping and outing features may be limited without it.
Users can manage location permissions through their iPhone and Apple Watch settings.
BirdCheck offers voice-assisted bird recording and natural-language questions about birding information.
When these features are used, BirdCheck may access the microphone and process spoken words using Apple’s speech-recognition technologies.
Audio recorded on Apple Watch is transferred to the paired iPhone for processing. Depending on Apple’s speech-recognition configuration and service availability, some processing may involve Apple-operated services.
BirdCheck AI may also use Apple’s on-device language-model capabilities to interpret requests.
Temporary audio files used for speech processing are removed when processing completes normally.
For troubleshooting, BirdCheck may retain a limited local Speech Debug history containing recognized phrases, matching results, and processing times. Users can clear this history within the app. These diagnostics are not automatically submitted to BirdCheck support.
Users may choose photographs to associate with their birding records. BirdCheck accesses selected photographs for this purpose.
Photo selection is optional.
BirdCheck may access motion information and, with permission, Apple Health step counts to display activity statistics associated with birding outings.
BirdCheck does not add or modify information in Apple Health in the current implementation.
Health information is used for outing-related features and is not sold or used for advertising.
BirdCheck stores personal birding information using Apple’s on-device storage technologies.
When available and enabled, Apple’s iCloud and CloudKit services may synchronize personal birding records between devices.
BirdCheck also provides backup and restore functionality. Exported backups may contain birding records, locations, route information, and saved photographs.
Users control where manually exported backup files are stored or shared.
BirdCheck uses Apple platform technologies that may include Maps, location services, speech recognition, Apple Health, WeatherKit, and iCloud.
Information processed by these services is subject to Apple’s applicable privacy policies and device settings.
BirdCheck does not include third-party advertising or third-party analytics software in its current implementation.
We do not sell personal birding records or use them for targeted advertising.
The BirdCheck website is hosted using GitHub Pages. GitHub may process technical information associated with website visits according to its own privacy practices.
Users can manage or delete their birding records using the available controls within BirdCheck.
Users can also manage permissions through Apple device settings.
Deleting the application does not necessarily remove records synchronized to iCloud or backup files saved separately by the user.
This policy may be updated to reflect changes in BirdCheck’s features or data-handling practices. Any updates will be published on this page with a revised effective date.
For questions about privacy or BirdCheck, please contact:
rbrownapps@gmail.com