Privacy Policy

Local Pick is a community app for finding and sharing edible fruit, herbs, and nuts growing nearby. This page explains what information the app collects, how it's used, and the choices you have.

Local Pick is run by Ngeru Labs Limited, a company registered in New Zealand. When this policy says “we” or “us”, it means Ngeru Labs Limited, which is responsible for (the “controller” of) your personal information. You can reach us at hello@local-pick.com.

Information we collect

• Account information. When you sign up, we collect your email address and the username you choose, via our authentication provider (Supabase). Your username is public: it's shown to other users next to the plants, reviews, and ripeness updates you contribute. Your email address is never shown to other users.
• Email preferences. At sign-up you can choose whether to receive occasional news and updates about Local Pick by email. This is off unless you tick the box.
• Location data you submit. When you add a plant to the map, its location is stored and shown to other users of the app — that's the core purpose of Local Pick. Don't add a location you don't want visible to other users.
• Your device's live location. With your permission, the app uses your device's GPS to center the map on where you are and show your position as a dot on the map. This live location is used only on your device and is not sent to or stored on our servers.
• Photos. Photos you choose to attach to a plant location, a review, or your profile are uploaded and stored so they can be shown in the app.
• Content you post. Reviews, star ratings, notes, and reports you submit are stored and, where applicable (reviews, notes), shown to other users. Reports are only seen by our moderators.
• Stored on your device. To work offline and load faster, the app keeps some data on your phone: a cache of nearby plants and map tiles, photos you've viewed, plants you added while offline that are still waiting to upload, and the map's last position. This stays on your device and is removed if you uninstall the app.
• Tips. If you choose to buy us a coffee in the app, the payment is handled entirely by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your card or bank details: the store only tells the app that the purchase went through, and we don’t store any record of it on our servers.
• Notifications. If you allow notifications, we store a notification address for your phone (a push token from Google Firebase Cloud Messaging), linked to your account, so we can tell you when one of your favourite plants is marked ripe. You can turn these off in your profile or in your phone's settings. Signing out removes your phone's address from your account.
• Crash reports. If the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, it sends a crash report so we can fix the problem: what went wrong in the app's code, the app version, your phone's model and Android version, and a random ID for this installation of the app. Crash reports don't include your account details, plants, or location.
• Advertising identifiers. Local Pick shows ads to support the free version of the app, served through Google AdMob. AdMob and its partners may collect device identifiers (such as your Android advertising ID or, on iOS, your device's IDFA once you've given tracking permission), approximate location, and other technical data to select and measure ads. See "Your choices" below for how to control this.

How we use this information

We use the information above to operate the app's core features: showing the map, letting you add and find plants, displaying reviews and ratings, handling favourites and alerts (including notifications when a favourite is ripe), and moderating reported content. We also use advertising identifiers to show ads through Google AdMob, which helps keep the app free. If you've opted in, we use your email address to send occasional news about Local Pick. We also use your email to send account messages you ask for, such as password-reset links. We don't sell your information.

Legal basis (for users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland). We process your account, contributions, and photos because that's needed to provide the app you signed up for (performance of a contract). We send news emails and show personalised ads only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We review reports and keep moderation records because of our legitimate interest in keeping the community safe and accurate. We collect crash reports because of our legitimate interest in keeping the app working.

Who we share it with

• Supabase, our backend provider, hosts our database, file storage, and authentication, and processes data on our behalf to run the app.
• Mapbox and Esri supply the map imagery the app displays. Loading map tiles from them involves standard network requests (which include your device's IP address), the same as loading any map in any app.
• Google Firebase Crashlytics collects and stores crash reports for us, so we can see and fix problems.
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers our notifications to your phone. It receives your phone's notification address and the notification itself (such as which favourite is ripe), and nothing else from us.
• Google Play and the Apple App Store process in-app tips under their own privacy policies and terms. They handle all payment details.
• Google AdMob serves the ads shown in the app. Google and its advertising partners may process device identifiers, approximate location, and other technical data to select and measure ads, under their own privacy policies. Learn more at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

We don't share your information with anyone else, except where the law requires us to.

Where your data is stored. Our Supabase database and file storage are hosted in Singapore. Google may process advertising data in the United States and other countries. This means your information may be stored and processed outside your own country. We rely on these providers' standard contractual protections (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses) to keep it protected to a comparable standard.

Your choices

• Location permission is optional — you can use the app without it, though the map won't auto-center on you.
• You can edit your profile and username at any time from within the app.
• Email preferences. You can turn news emails on or off anytime from Profile → Edit profile, or by emailing hello@local-pick.com.
• Ad privacy choices. If you're in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you'll be asked to make a consent choice about personalized ads the first time it applies to you. You can review or change that choice anytime from Profile → menu (☰) → About → "Ad Privacy Options." On iOS, you can also control ad tracking permission for Local Pick anytime under your device's Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• You can generally opt out of interest-based advertising at the device level too — on Android via Settings → Google → Ads, and on iOS via Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising.
• You can permanently delete your account at any time — see Deleting your account below.

Deleting your account

You can delete your Local Pick account in either of two ways:

• In the app: go to Profile → menu (☰) → Delete account. Deletion happens immediately.
• Without the app: email hello@local-pick.com from the email address you signed up with, with the subject “Delete my Local Pick account”. We'll delete the account within 5 working days and reply to confirm.

What's deleted: your sign-in, your profile (including your username and profile photo), your reviews and ratings (including their photos), your favourites, and your plant verifications.

What's kept: plant locations you added stay on the map, since other people rely on them, but they're no longer linked to you — they show as added by “Unknown”. Reports you filed are also kept, without your account linked to them, so we have a record of past moderation decisions. Nothing else is kept.

Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your personal data is removed as described in Deleting your account.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy (including in a portable, machine-readable format);
• correct information that's wrong;
• delete your information (see Deleting your account);
• stop or limit how we use it, or object to a particular use.

To make a request, email hello@local-pick.com from the address you signed up with. We'll reply within 20 working days, and usually much sooner. We won't charge you for a reasonable request.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to fix it. You can also complain to your local privacy regulator: in New Zealand, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner; in Australia, the OAIC; in the UK, the ICO; and in the EU, your national data protection authority.

Children's privacy

Local Pick is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. Ads shown in the app are not targeted at children.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, but no method of storage or transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. If a privacy breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you, and the relevant regulator, as soon as we can.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page. If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we'll also let you know in the app.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at hello@local-pick.com.