Privacy Policy
The doves Lover
This policy explains how this application handles information and how to contact us about privacy.
Information we process
The Doves Lover stores observations you create, including species, date and time, text address, markings, notes, and any bird photos you choose; pet profiles, including names, breed, birth date, feeding and wellbeing notes, photos, and care-log entries; and an automatically issued installation secret. The app also stores local language preferences, care reminders, and copies of your journal and pet data on your device. The service stores journal and pet metadata in PostgreSQL, photos in private object storage, and only a cryptographic hash of the installation secret. When the app contacts the service, Railway and the service may process connection information such as IP address, request path, device or user-agent information, time, response status, and diagnostic logs. The offline species guide is bundled with the app. We do not create user accounts or collect an email address through the app.
How we use information
We use the information to display and edit your journal and pet profiles, synchronize records for the same installation, store and deliver your chosen photos, provide care reminders locally on your device, maintain security, diagnose failures, and operate the service. We do not use the data for advertising, analytics, profiling, or outbound messages.
Service providers and sharing
Railway hosts the application API, PostgreSQL database, and private storage bucket for uploaded photos. Railway may process infrastructure requests and logs to provide and operate these services. These hosting components receive only the information needed for hosting, database, and storage operations. We do not publish private records or photos, sell personal information, or share it with advertisers. The species guide is offline and does not send identification queries to a third party.
Data retention
Your local journal, pet records, preferences, and reminders remain on the device until you delete them or remove the app; an iOS Keychain secret may remain after uninstall. Server records and photos remain while the installation secret is active, unless you delete them. Deleting a record removes its server record and any photo no longer used by another record. Deleting all your data removes active server records and photos and revokes the installation secret; an object-storage failure is reported so deletion can be retried. Service and infrastructure logs may remain under the hosting provider's actual retention settings. We do not set a separate application backup retention period, and any provider-managed backup copies, if present, follow the provider's retention and deletion process rather than disappearing immediately with active records.
Deleting your information
Use Settings > Delete All My Data to remove the installation's observations, photos, pet profiles, and care logs from the service, erase the app's local copies, and revoke the secret. The app reports whether the server deletion succeeded; if it fails, keep the installation secret and retry. Removing the app alone does not send a deletion request to the server. Because there is no account or sign-in, we cannot restore server data after the installation secret is lost and cannot reliably identify it from your email address.
Permissions and your choices
The app asks for camera access only when you choose to take a bird or pet photo, and accesses a photo you select from your library through Apple's photo picker. It asks for notification permission when you enable local care reminders. You can decline or withdraw camera and notification permissions in iOS Settings; existing records remain available, and you can still use the rest of the app. The app does not request location permission or show geographic maps; addresses are text you enter.
Your privacy rights
You can view and correct your observations and pet information in the app and delete individual records or all data from Settings. For privacy questions or requests, contact jago.merriweather@icloud.com. We may need information that lets us locate a particular installation, but please do not send the secret itself by email. Rights under applicable law may include access, correction, deletion, and objection to certain processing; the available rights depend on your location. There is no account email that we can use to find or recover your records.
Security
Private API requests require a random installation secret stored in the iOS Keychain. The server stores only its SHA-256 hash and checks the installation for every private record and photo request. Photos are kept in private object storage and served through the authorized API. HTTPS protects data in transit to the deployed service, and service credentials stay on the server. No security method can guarantee absolute protection; contact us if you believe your installation data has been exposed.
Children’s privacy
The Doves Lover is intended for adults and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly ask children to provide information. If you believe a child has entered personal information in the app, contact jago.merriweather@icloud.com so we can help address it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the app, its storage, or applicable requirements change. The current version and effective date will be available at this page. Material changes will be reflected in an updated policy before or when the related processing begins.