Privacy Policy
Effective Date: 7 December 2025
🔒 Privacy First: Garden Grow Pilot keeps all your gardening data—plants, tasks, photos, budgets, and notes—stored exclusively on your device. We do not collect, store, or transmit your personal gardening information to any server or cloud service.
Table of Contents
1. Overview
Garden Grow Pilot ("the App", "we", "us", or "our") is developed and operated by Protoswarm Limited (Company No. 15050578, United Kingdom). We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about our data practices.
This Privacy Policy explains how the App handles your information, what data stays on your device, and what limited data may be shared with third-party service providers for essential app functionality.
2. What Data We Collect
2.1 Data You Create (Stays on Your Device)
All of the following data is stored exclusively on your device in a local database and app-managed storage folders:
- Garden Information: Garden names, locations (GPS coordinates), types, descriptions, and settings
- Plant Records: Plant species, varieties, photos, planting dates, health status, notes, and lifecycle data
- Tasks & To-Dos: Task descriptions, priorities, due dates, tags, subtasks, and completion records
- Journal Entries: Activity logs, photos, notes, and timestamps for garden activities
- Budget & Financial Data: Transactions, income, expenses, categories, receipts, and financial reports
- Inventory Records: Supplies, seeds, fertilizers, tools, stock levels, suppliers, and expiry dates
- Photos & Attachments: Images you capture or select for plants, journal entries, tasks, and budget items
- Calendar Data: Scheduled activities and color-coded event markers
- User Preferences: App settings, currency preferences, notification settings, and display configurations
- Backup Files: Database backups you create manually or automatically (stored in locations you choose)
2.2 Data We Do NOT Collect
We do not:
- Upload your gardening data to our servers or any cloud service (unless you explicitly choose to use future cloud sync features)
- Access your personal contacts, messages, or other apps
- Track your browsing history or app usage outside the App
- Sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes
- Store payment card details (handled securely by Google Play Billing)
3. Local-First Storage
Garden Grow Pilot is designed with a local-first architecture:
- On-Device Database: All your data is stored in a SQLite database on your device
- App-Managed Folders: Photos and attachments are stored in app-specific directories (e.g.,
app_documents/app_images/budget/) - No Automatic Cloud Upload: Your data never leaves your device
- Encrypted Backups: Backups are encrypted and can only be restored within the App—they cannot be viewed or accessed by external applications
- In-App Backup Only: Backup files are designed exclusively for in-app restoration and are not readable by other software
- Limited Export: PDF export is available for budget invoices and transactions only; general data export is not currently supported
- Data Deletion: Uninstalling the App removes all local data and renders any backups unusable
Important: Because all data is stored locally and backups are encrypted for in-app use only, we cannot recover your data if you lose your device or uninstall the App. Backup files cannot be opened outside the App. We strongly recommend using the App's backup feature regularly, but understand that backups are only usable for restoration within the App itself.
4. Third-Party Services
While your gardening data stays on your device, the App integrates with third-party services to provide essential functionality. These services may collect limited data:
4.1 Google Maps & Google Places API
- Purpose: Display maps, enable location selection for gardens, and provide geocoding services
- Data Shared: GPS coordinates you select, device location (if you grant permission), and map tile requests
- Privacy Policy: Google Privacy Policy
4.2 Weather Data Providers
- Services Used: Google Weather API and OpenWeather API (with automatic fallback)
- Purpose: Fetch weather forecasts for your garden locations
- Data Shared: GPS coordinates of your gardens to retrieve local weather data
- Data Stored: Weather data is cached locally in the App's database for faster access
- Privacy Policies: Google | OpenWeather
4.3 Google Play Billing
- Purpose: Process in-app purchases and subscription payments
- Data Shared: Purchase tokens and transaction receipts (handled entirely by Google Play)
- Payment Security: We never see your full payment card details—all payment processing is managed by Google
- Privacy Policy: Google Play Billing Privacy
4.4 BigDataCloud Reverse Geocoding
- Purpose: Convert GPS coordinates to location names and detect currency symbols based on location
- Data Shared: GPS coordinates to retrieve location details
- Privacy Policy: BigDataCloud Privacy Policy
5. App Permissions
Garden Grow Pilot requests the following permissions to provide functionality. You can grant or deny these at any time through your device settings:
5.1 Required Permissions
- Internet Access: Required to load map tiles, fetch weather data, display ads, and process in-app purchases
- Network State: Check internet connectivity to manage online/offline features gracefully
5.2 Optional Permissions
- Camera: Capture photos to attach to plants, journal entries, tasks, and budget transactions. You can decline this and still use the App; camera-based features will be unavailable.
- Storage/Photos: Read images from your gallery and save backups, exports, and attachments to your chosen locations. Required for backup/restore and photo import features.
- Location (Fine/Coarse): Pin exact garden coordinates on maps and fetch local weather forecasts. You can use the App without location permission, but map and weather features will be limited.
- Notifications: Send reminders for tasks, due dates, and other alerts you enable within the App. You can disable notifications in system settings.
Permission Management: Declining optional permissions limits related features but does not prevent you from using the core gardening management functionality.
6. Advertising
Garden Grow Pilot displays advertisements through Google Mobile Ads SDK (AdMob) to support free-tier access:
6.1 Ad-Related Data Collection
- Advertising Identifiers: Google Ads may access your device's advertising ID to serve personalized ads
- Device Information: IP address, device type, operating system version, and basic device identifiers
- Ad Interaction Data: Information about which ads you view or click (handled by Google, not stored by us)
6.2 Your Advertising Choices
- Ad Personalization: Manage ad personalization through your device's Ad Settings (Settings → Google → Ads)
- Opt-Out: You can opt out of personalized ads, but you will still see ads—they will be less relevant
- Ad-Free Experience: Upgrade to a premium subscription tier to remove ads entirely
6.3 Important Distinction
Ad Data vs. Your Gardening Data: The advertising network collects device and interaction data for ad delivery—this is completely separate from your gardening data (plants, tasks, budgets, etc.), which never leaves your device. We do not provide your gardening information to ad providers.
Google AdMob Privacy Policy: AdMob Privacy Information
7. Data Security & Backup
7.1 Local Data Protection
- Database Encryption: The App uses SQLite with built-in protection mechanisms
- Schema Validation: Automatic database integrity checks and self-healing mechanisms
- Corruption Recovery: DatabaseProtectionService monitors and recovers from database corruption
- Access Control: Regional access restrictions for certain countries (Russia, Belarus, North Korea) in release builds for compliance purposes
- Automatic Backups: DatabaseBackupService creates automatic backups before major operations
- Manual Backups: You can create manual backups anytime and save them to your preferred location on your device
- Encrypted Backup Files: All backup files are encrypted and formatted exclusively for use within Garden Grow Pilot—they cannot be viewed, opened, or accessed by any external application or software
- In-App Restoration Only: Backups can only be restored using the App's built-in restore function and are incompatible with other applications
- One-Tap Restore: Restore previous backups within the App with validation and safety snapshots to prevent data loss
- No External Access: Backup files are intentionally designed to be unreadable outside the App for security and data protection
- One-Tap Restore: Restore previous backups with validation and safety snapshots to prevent data loss
7.2 Backup & Recovery
7.3 Data Loss Disclaimer
⚠️ Important Disclaimer: Because all data is stored locally on your device, we hold no responsibility for data loss due to device failure, uninstallation, factory resets, or other circumstances. You are solely responsible for creating and maintaining backups of your data. We strongly recommend regular backups to protect your gardening records.
8.1 Access Your Data
- All your data is accessible within the App at all times
- View and manage your data through the App's interface
- Create encrypted backups for in-app restoration purposes
8.2 Modify or Delete Your Data
- Edit or delete any records (gardens, plants, tasks, transactions) directly in the App
- Remove photos and attachments individually or by deleting associated records
- Clear all data by uninstalling the App (this is permanent and cannot be undone)
8.3 Control Third-Party Data Sharing
- Location Services: Disable in device settings to stop sharing coordinates with Maps/Weather services
- Ad Tracking: Opt out of personalized ads in device Ad Settings
- Permissions: Revoke camera, storage, or notification permissions anytime in system settings
8.4 Data Portability (Limited)
- Backup Files: Create encrypted backup files that can only be restored within the App—not compatible with external applications
- Budget PDF Export: Generate PDF reports for budget invoices and transactions within the Budget section only
- No General Export: General data export to CSV or other formats is not currently available
- In-App Only: All data access and management must be performed within the App itself
- Future Features: Additional export functionality and cloud sync may be added in future updates
9. Children's Privacy
Garden Grow Pilot is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information immediately. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at contact@protoswarm.com.
10. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or new features. Material changes will be reflected here with a new Effective Date at the top of this document.
How We Notify You:
- Significant changes will be announced within the App via a notification or splash screen
- Minor updates will be reflected in this document with an updated effective date
- Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy
We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.
11. Contact Information
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
- Company: Protoswarm Limited
- Company Number: 15050578 (United Kingdom)
- Email: contact@protoswarm.com
- Subject Line: "Privacy Policy Inquiry - Garden Grow Pilot"
Last Updated: 7 December 2025
Version: 1.0