Privacy policy

Version 1.0 · Last updated 13 October 2026

Raccollect is a free app for collecting stickers of animals and everyday things you find outside. This policy explains what the app does with your personal data, in plain words. If something is unclear, email us at raccollect@gmail.com.

1. Who we are

Raccollect is made and run by Kev Amir in the Netherlands ("we", "us"). We decide what happens with the personal data described here, so we are the "controller" under the GDPR.

Contact for all privacy questions and requests: raccollect@gmail.com.

2. What we collect and why

Data	Why we use it	Legal basis	Who can see it
Account: email address, password, account ID. Or, if you sign in with Google, the details in section 4.	Signing in, password-reset emails, linking your data to your account.	Contract	Only you. Your password is stored only as a one-way hash; we can't read it.
Profile: display name, @username, avatar and its colour, city (optional), the date you started collecting.	Your collector card, and letting friends find you by name or @username.	Contract	Everyone who uses Raccollect.
Catches: which item you caught, when, and your sticker of it.	Your collection, sets, badges and the feed.	Contract	You. Others only while your profile is public.
Exact place of a catch: coordinates and place name. Only if you allow location.	Your own map and catch details.	Contract	Only you.
Area and country of a catch, for example "Utrecht-Oost", NL.	What others see instead of the exact place; your country count.	Contract	Others, while your profile is public and "Show catch areas" is on, and never for catches inside your home zone or from the "Welcome" and "At Home" sets.
Identification records: for each photo we check, the result (which item, how sure, whether it looked like a screen, a repeat or unsafe content), which service answered, the time, and the catch it led to. Never the photo.	Making sure a catch comes from a real photo, the daily limit, moderation, and checking how well identification works.	Contract; legitimate interest (fair play and safety)	Not shown to others.
Riddles: which item riddles you solved. Your guess is checked on our server but its text is not stored.	Showing the items you unlocked.	Contract	Only you.
Social: who you follow, likes, comments (up to 280 characters), activity items, badges you reached.	The feed, the activity screen and your profile.	Contract	See section 6.
Blocks and reports: who you blocked; reports you send (reason, an optional note, the user or catch, and a copy of a reported comment).	Keeping Raccollect safe and handling reports.	Legitimate interest (safety)	Only us. The person you report is not told who reported them.
Settings: public profile, show catch areas, notification choices.	Applying your choices.	Contract	Only you.
Counters: how many photos you had checked this hour and today, guesses per hour, wrong password tries.	Limits and protection against abuse.	Legitimate interest (security)	Nobody; the app can't read them.
Technical logs: our identification function logs a shortened account ID (first 8 characters), the result, timing and image size. Our hosting provider logs requests, which can include your IP address.	Running the service, fixing errors, security.	Legitimate interest	Us and our hosting provider.

"Contract" means we need the data to give you the app you signed up for (GDPR article 6(1)(b)). "Legitimate interest" means we have a good reason that does not outweigh your privacy (article 6(1)(f)); you can object to it (section 10).

We do not collect your contacts, your photo library, advertising IDs, payment details or health data. The app only uses the camera; on iPhone it asks for permission to save stickers to Photos when you choose to.

3. Photos and identification

1. You take a photo with the rear camera. You can't upload photos from your gallery.
2. First the app checks the photo on your phone: too dark, blurry, the same shot again, a big face, no clear subject, or a document or screen. Nothing is sent for this check. A photo that fails it is deleted.
3. Then the app sends a small copy (at most 1024 pixels on the long side, without location or camera data) over an encrypted connection to our identification function at Supabase.
4. The function asks an AI model from Anthropic (Claude) which item of the current season the photo shows. Anthropic receives only the small photo and the list of items. It does not receive your account ID, email address or location.
5. The answer goes back to your phone, and we save an identification record (section 2). The photo is not stored: it exists only in memory while it is being checked, and is never written to our database, storage or logs.
6. On your phone, the photo is deleted as soon as its answer is handled. If it's a match, the app cuts the item out of the photo on your phone (Android: Google ML Kit; iPhone: Apple Vision) and uploads that sticker to private storage.
7. When you're offline, the daily limit is reached or identification is paused, up to 5 photos wait on your phone. They are deleted once they're handled, or 3 days after they were taken (or after a pause ended). They are not sent anywhere until they're checked.

If we start using our own identification server, we will update this policy before it receives any photo.

4. Signing in

• Email and password. Our provider Supabase stores your email address and a hash of your password. Emails such as password resets are sent by Supabase.
• Guest. You can start without an email address. A guest account is private from the start. If you log out of a guest account, its catches are removed from your phone and you can't get back in. Guest accounts that aren't used for 30 days are deleted automatically. When you save a guest account with an email address, your profile becomes public like any new account; you can make it private in Settings.
• Google. If you choose "Sign in with Google", Google sends Supabase a sign-in token with your name, email address and a link to your Google profile picture. We use your name to fill in your profile name (you can change it) and your email address for your account. We don't use your profile picture. Google knows you signed in to Raccollect; Google's privacy policy applies to that.
• Your sign-in session is stored encrypted on your phone (Android Keystore, iPhone Keychain).

5. Location

• Location is optional. The app asks for it only while you use the app, never in the background.
• We use your phone's location at the moment you take the photo, not location data stored inside a photo.
• To turn coordinates into a place and area name, the app uses your phone's built-in service: Google on Android, Apple on iPhone. They receive the coordinates for that lookup.
• Without location, a catch has no place and no pin. The app may still take the country from your mobile network (Android) or your phone's region setting (iPhone).
• Other people never receive your coordinates. They see the area at most, and you can switch that off with "Show catch areas" in Settings → Privacy.
• Home zone (Settings → Privacy): catches inside a circle you set never show their area to others. The zone itself stays on your phone and is never sent to us.
• The map is loaded from OpenFreeMap. To show it, your phone downloads map pieces of the area you look at, so OpenFreeMap sees your IP address and which area is loaded. It gets nothing else from us.

6. What others see, and sharing

• Other users always see your name, @username, avatar, city and collecting date. While your profile is public they also see your catches, stickers, badges, catch areas (section 5) and follower lists. While it's private, they see none of these. People who block each other don't see each other's catches.
• Comments are shown with your name, @username and avatar to everyone who can see that catch. You and the owner of the catch can delete them.
• Invite links you share open your profile in the app.
• Share cards go through your phone's share sheet to the app you pick. A card shows your @username and, only if you choose, the area. That app's own terms apply.
• Sticker packs for WhatsApp and Messages (iMessage) are made on your phone. When you add a pack, your stickers go to that app on your phone, and its own terms apply.
• Service providers that work for us are listed in section 7.
• We share data with authorities only when the law requires it.

We don't sell data, show ads, or use analytics or crash-reporting tools.

7. Services we use

Service	What for	Data	Where
Supabase	Accounts, database, sticker storage, the identification function, sign-in emails	Everything in section 2; the photo only passes through	Database and storage in the EU (Frankfurt, Germany)
Anthropic	Identifying what a photo shows	The small photo and the item list	United States
Google	Sign in with Google (if you use it); place names and on-device photo tools on Android	Sign-in token; coordinates for a place name	Google's own servers
Apple	Place names on iPhone	Coordinates for a place name	Apple's own servers
OpenFreeMap	Map pieces	IP address and the map area loaded	OpenFreeMap's servers

8. Transfers outside the EU

Our main data stays with Supabase in the EU. Anthropic is based in the United States, and Google and Apple may handle data outside the EU. When personal data goes outside the EU, we rely on the safeguards in that provider's data processing terms, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses. Email us if you want to know more.

9. How long we keep data

Data	How long
Your photo	Not stored by us. On your phone: until its answer is handled, or at most 3 days in the waiting queue.
Catches and stickers	Until you remove the catch or delete your account.
Profile, settings, follows, likes, activity, badges, riddles, identification records, blocks	Until you delete your account (or remove them yourself, where the app lets you).
Comments	Until you or the catch owner delete them, or your account is deleted. A deleted comment's text is removed at once; an empty marker is removed after 7 days.
Reports	Kept as a moderation record. A copy of a reported comment is removed 180 days after the report was handled. When an account is deleted, reports are no longer linked to it.
Counters (section 2)	Old entries are removed when you next use that feature; all of them when your account is deleted.
Guest accounts	Deleted automatically 30 days after they were last used.
Technical logs and backups	Kept for a limited time by our hosting provider, then removed.
Data on your phone	Until you log out (this wipes the app's data on the phone), delete your account or remove the app.

10. Your rights

You have the right to see, correct and delete your data, to limit its use, to get a copy of it, and to object to use based on legitimate interest. In the app you can:

• make your profile private, hide catch areas or set a home zone in Settings → Privacy;
• change your name, @username, avatar, colour or city in Edit profile;
• remove a catch from its item page (this also deletes its sticker);
• block people and report content;
• delete your account in Settings → Delete account. This deletes your stickers, your account and everything linked to it.

For anything else, such as a copy of your data or deleting your account without the app, email raccollect@gmail.com. We answer within one month.

If you think we handle your data wrongly, please tell us. You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

11. Age

Raccollect is for people aged 16 and older. When you start, you confirm that you are 16 or older. If we learn that someone younger has an account, we delete it.

12. Security

• All traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted (HTTPS).
• Database rules make sure people can only read what this policy says. Exact places never leave your own records. Stickers are kept in private storage.
• Your sign-in session is stored encrypted on your phone.

13. Data on your phone

The app keeps a copy of your collection, stickers and feed on your phone so it works offline. Logging out deletes it. On Android, the system may include the app's data in your own Google backup if you turned backups on; your sign-in session is left out of that backup.

14. Changes

We update this policy when the app changes, and change the date at the top. If a change matters for you, we'll let you know before it applies.