Privacy policy

What the app collects

Eucalypt has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. Browsing does not require an account. Our hosting and data services receive normal network requests, including your IP address and the map area requested. If you share a sighting, we collect what you submit, as described below.

Location

With your permission the app reads your device location to show koala sightings near you and to centre the map. To load nearby records and maps, the app sends the area you are viewing to the relevant data services. Place searches and place-name lookups can send coordinates to Photon or Nominatim, including your location when it is used to find nearby results. If you submit a sighting, its chosen location and the supplied location evidence are sent to our moderation service. We do not use your location for advertising or cross-app tracking.

Data services the app talks to

• NSW BioNet Atlas (NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water) — koala sighting records, licensed CC BY 4.0.
• GBIF and the state wildlife atlases — records from across Australia, served through GitHub Pages snapshots.
• iNaturalist — community koala observations, photos and comments, shown under each observer's chosen licence.
• OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, OpenStreetMap contributors and Esri — map tiles.
• Photon (komoot) and Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) — place search and place names.
• Google News and Bing News — local koala headlines, via the app's own server which caches results and passes no personal data.

Sightings you share

When you submit a sighting we receive the resized photo, a metadata fragment supplied by the app (used to suggest the photo’s date and GPS, without independently verifying where it was taken), the location you chose, the date, your first name and your note. We also keep, for moderation and abuse prevention only: where the location came from (a phone GPS reading reported by the app, the photo's own GPS, or a pin you placed) with its accuracy and time, whether you changed the suggested date or location, an anonymous identifier stored on your device, and a one-way hash of your network address used only to limit submission rates. Submissions wait in a private review store that is not publicly accessible until a moderator approves them. Approved posts show the resized photo, the location, the date, your first name and your note publicly; the moderation details stay private. Rejected submissions are deleted, including the photo and detailed moderation information. A minimal decision record and a private receipt are retained so your device can check the outcome; records older than 90 days are eligible for cleanup when the moderation dashboard is loaded. Evidence for approved posts remains private until the post is removed. Rate-limit records contain a hashed network address and recent request times. We also receive the app’s browser information and an approximate country from our hosting service for moderation. Drafts you haven't submitted, small previews of pending photos and private submission receipts are stored on your device. The app restores dismissed drafts for up to seven days. To have a post removed, email the address below and we will delete it and its photo.

Stored on your device

Your last map position, chosen time range and map style, recent searches, and cached map tiles and records. The iOS app includes a snapshot of sighting records for offline use; maps and photos may be unavailable without a connection. You can clear these by removing the app or clearing website data.

Contact

For help, privacy questions, inappropriate content or a request to remove your sighting, email benpfletcher@gmail.com. Include the sighting’s date and location or its shared link so we can find it.