Privacy Policy

Garden Planner (also shown as AI Garden Planner)

Last Updated: November 5, 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes how Garden Planner ("we," "our," or "us"), developed and operated by Viksva, MB, a company registered in Vilnius, Lithuania, collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use our mobile application and services. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data transparently in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the GDPR. The data controller is Viksva, MB, company code 306082256, Gelažių g. 4C-1, LT-06231 Vilnius, Lithuania (full contact details are in Section 11).

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Plant and Garden Images: Images of plants, seeds, leaves, pests, and garden layouts you submit for identification and analysis
• Garden Data: Garden layouts, planted crops, garden sizes, locations, and planting history you create within the app
• Location Information: Your general location (city/region) that you type in, or, if you choose "Use my location" and grant permission, your device's approximate location. It is used to determine frost dates, climate zones, planting calendars, and local weather
• User Preferences: Garden settings, notification preferences (including the time of day you want reminders), unit system, and display settings
• Chat Messages: Messages you send to the AI garden assistant for gardening advice, and any photo you attach to a message
• Account Information: The app does not ask for your name, email address, or password. We create an anonymous identifier for your installation (see Section 4.4). If you purchase premium features, your subscription status is linked to this identifier
• Support Communications: Your messages and email address, if you contact our support team

2.2 Information We Collect Automatically

• Analytics: The app does not contain Google Analytics, advertising identifiers, or any other analytics or crash reporting SDK. If you have allowed it in your phone's settings, Apple or Google may give us aggregated crash and usage statistics through their developer consoles
• On-Device Counters: Numbers of AI uses, stored on your device to apply free usage limits
• Server Logs: When the app calls our servers, Google Cloud records the time, the app, the function called, technical request details such as IP address and device or app information, and a shortened one-way hash of your anonymous identifier. Our code does not write your photos or chat messages to these logs
• Remote Settings: Firebase Remote Config is read so that the app can tell you when an update is needed
• Push Notification Token: If you turn on reminders, a push token issued by Apple or Google that lets us deliver notifications to your device, together with your device platform (iOS or Android)
• Time Zone and Language: Your device's time zone and app language, used to send reminders at the right local time and in your language
• App Integrity Data: Firebase App Check confirms that requests to our servers come from a genuine copy of the app (using Apple App Attest / DeviceCheck or Google Play Integrity)

2.3 Device Permissions

Camera Permission: We request camera access to allow you to take photos of plants, seeds, leaves, pests, and garden areas for identification and health diagnosis. When you use the camera feature:

• Photos are captured directly within the app for plant identification and health analysis through AI image analysis
• Images are stored locally on your device for access in your garden journal and history
• Photos you scan for identification, diagnosis, or harvest estimates are sent over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) through our Google Cloud server function to Google's Gemini AI
• A photo you attach to a chat message with the garden assistant is sent the same way to OpenAI instead (see Section 4.1)
• We do not store your photos on our own servers
• Google and OpenAI may keep the data they receive for a limited time under their own terms, for example to monitor abuse. We CANNOT delete images that have been sent to these services
• You can delete images stored locally on your device at any time through the app

Storage Permission: We request storage access to save plant images, garden layouts, and identification results locally on your device. These locally stored data can be deleted by you at any time.

Location Permission (optional): If you choose "Use my location", we ask for your device's approximate location. It is used only to set your garden's location and look up local weather, and is not used in the background. You can type your location instead and never grant this permission.

Notification Permission (optional): If you turn on planting reminders (a Pro feature), we ask for permission to send notifications. You can turn reminders off in the app's Settings or in your phone's settings at any time.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information for the following purposes:

• Plant Identification: Processing your plant images through Google's Gemini AI to analyze and provide identification results (EDUCATIONAL/ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY - AI CAN AND WILL MAKE MISTAKES)
• Plant Health Diagnosis: Analyzing images of plants using Google's Gemini AI to suggest possible diseases, pest issues, or nutrient deficiencies (NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis - AI results may be completely incorrect)
• AI Gardening Assistant: Providing AI-generated gardening advice, planting suggestions, and companion planting recommendations through the chat feature powered by OpenAI (EDUCATIONAL/ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY - NOT professional horticultural advice)
• Planting Calendar: Generating personalized planting schedules based on your location and climate zone (APPROXIMATE - always verify with local agricultural extension services)
• Garden Planning: Storing garden layouts and crop data locally on your device
• Weather: Showing local weather and adjusting planting and harvest estimates to recent weather, using your approximate location
• Cloud Backup (Pro): Keeping a copy of your gardens and calendar progress on our servers so they can be restored if you reinstall the app on the same account
• Reminders and Frost Alerts (Pro, optional): Sending push notifications on days with garden tasks, and frost alerts when a frost is forecast near your garden
• Harvest Estimation: Processing harvest photos to estimate weight and yield (APPROXIMATE ONLY - may be significantly inaccurate)
• Service Provision: Delivering core app functionality and premium features
• Usage Limits: Managing usage limits for free users on your device
• Security: Protecting our servers from abuse and fixing faults, using App Check, rate limits, and server logs
• Customer Support: Responding to your inquiries and providing assistance
• Legal Compliance: Meeting legal obligations and protecting our rights

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following service providers. They process data for us under their data processing terms. Apple and Google, as app stores and phone operating systems, also act on their own account under their own privacy policies.

4.1 Google Gemini AI and OpenAI

IMPORTANT: AI can and will make mistakes - identifications, diagnoses, and advice may contain significant errors or be completely incorrect. Which provider receives your data depends on the feature:

• Google Gemini AI (Gemini API and, if that is unavailable, Vertex AI): Receives photos you scan for plant identification, diagnosis, and harvest estimates, and text about your location, crops, and climate that the app sends to create planting calendars, crop advice, and climate estimates
• OpenAI: Receives what you send to the AI garden assistant: your messages, recent chat history, any photo attached to your latest message, and context the app adds, such as your garden's location, frost dates, and crops. Our server settings do not send plant scans to OpenAI
• How it travels: Requests go through our Google Cloud server functions. No name or email is added
• Retention by Providers: Google and OpenAI may keep the data for a limited time under their own terms, for example to monitor abuse. See the Gemini API terms, Google's Privacy Policy and OpenAI's Privacy Policy
• No Deletion Control: Because we do not keep your photos or chat messages on our servers, we CANNOT delete what has been sent to these services

4.2 RevenueCat and Subscription Management

We use RevenueCat, Inc. (United States) as our service provider to manage premium subscriptions and in-app purchases.

• Payment Processing: All payments are processed through your device's app store (Apple App Store or Google Play Store). We and RevenueCat do not receive your card details
• Subscription Data: RevenueCat processes your store purchase receipts, products bought, purchase and renewal dates, price and currency, and basic device and app information
• User Identification: RevenueCat assigns a random customer identifier to your installation. We can see subscription records under this identifier
• More Information: See RevenueCat's Privacy Policy

4.3 Analytics

We do not use Google Analytics or any other analytics service in this app. An earlier version of this policy said that we did.

4.4 Firebase (Google Cloud) — Sign-in, Cloud Backup and Push Notifications

We use Google Firebase, operated by Google, to run our servers. The following Firebase services are used:

• Firebase Remote Config: Provides app update settings
• Firebase Authentication (anonymous): Creates a random identifier for your installation. It is not linked to your name, email, or phone number
• Cloud Firestore and Cloud Functions: For Pro subscribers, store the cloud backup of your gardens and calendar progress, and your reminder schedule (see Section 5)
• Firebase Cloud Messaging: Delivers push notifications to your device through Apple Push Notification service (iOS) or Google (Android)
• Firebase App Check: Protects our servers from abuse by verifying that requests come from the genuine app

Data stored in Cloud Firestore is located in the United States. Processing by Google is governed by Firebase's privacy and security terms and Google's Privacy Policy.

4.5 Open-Meteo (Weather)

To show local weather, adjust planting estimates to recent weather, and check for frost, our servers request forecasts from Open-Meteo. Only approximate coordinates (rounded to about 11 km / 7 miles) are sent for forecasts. If you type a place name, our servers send that text to Open-Meteo to find its coordinates. No identifier, name, or other personal information is added.

4.6 Third-Party Disclaimer

5. Data Storage and Security

• Stored on Your Device: Your garden data, plant images, identification results, and history are stored on your mobile phone. For free users, garden data is kept on the device only and is NOT stored on our servers
• Cloud Backup (Pro subscribers only): While you have an active Pro subscription, a copy of your gardens (layouts, crops, planting dates, past seasons, and garden names and notes) and your calendar progress (completed and rescheduled tasks) is stored in Cloud Firestore under your anonymous identifier. Plant photos are NOT included in the backup
• Reminder Schedule (Pro subscribers only): To send reminders and frost alerts, we store your time zone, app language, preferred reminder time, whether reminders are on, your push notification token, the text of your reminders for about the next 30 days (for example, "Sow carrots"), the dates when frost alerts apply, your temperature unit, and your approximate location rounded to about 11 km
• Access Control: Security rules allow only your installation's anonymous identifier to read or change its own backup and reminder data
• Encrypted in Transit: The app connects to our Firebase servers over encrypted HTTPS, and our servers connect to AI and weather services over HTTPS
• Temporary Transfer: Plant images go to Google's Gemini AI, and chat messages with any attached photo go to OpenAI, only to generate your result
• No Photo Storage by Us: We do not store your plant images or chat messages on our own servers. Garden data is stored on our servers only as the Pro cloud backup described above
• No Deletion Control: We CANNOT delete data that has been sent to Google or OpenAI

6. Data Retention

• Plant Images: Plant images are not stored on our servers at any time. They are stored locally on your device and processed by Google or OpenAI as described in Section 4.1
• Garden Data: Garden layouts, crop information, and planting history are stored locally on your device. For Pro subscribers, a backup copy is also kept on our servers
• Cloud Backup and Reminder Schedule: Kept while you use the app. If the app has not been opened for 180 days, this data is deleted automatically. If your subscription ends, reminders stop, and the backup is deleted after the same 180 days of inactivity or earlier on request
• Push Notification Tokens: Deactivated automatically when Apple or Google reports that a token is no longer valid
• AI Processing: Retained by Google and OpenAI for a limited time under their own terms, which we do not control. We CANNOT delete this data
• Server Logs: Kept for about 30 days, then deleted automatically
• Rate-Limit Counters: Short-lived records under your anonymous identifier, used to limit how often weather and location lookups can be made
• Anonymous Identifier: Kept in Firebase Authentication without a fixed end date. Contact us to have it deleted
• Subscription Data: Kept by RevenueCat and the app stores under their terms, and for as long as we need it for accounting and legal duties
• Local Data: All garden data, plant images, and history are stored locally on your device and can be deleted through the app at any time. Deleting the app removes the data on your device. It does not remove the cloud backup; see Section 7 to request its deletion

7. Your Rights and Choices

If the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to you, you have the following rights regarding your personal information. Similar rights may apply under the law of your country.

• Access: Ask whether we hold data about you and get a copy of it
• Rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Erasure: Ask us to delete your data
• Restriction: Ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases
• Data Portability: Get data you gave us in a portable format, where the law gives this right
• Objection: Object to processing based on our legitimate interests
• Withdrawing Consent: Where processing relies on your consent, withdraw it at any time. This does not affect processing that took place before you withdrew it
• Complaint: Complain to a data protection supervisory authority where you live or work. In Lithuania, this is the State Data Protection Inspectorate (vdai.lrv.lt)

You can turn planting reminders and frost alerts off at any time in the app's Settings or your phone's notification settings. Your photos and local data are on your device, so you can delete them yourself in the app.

To use any of these rights, contact us using Section 11. We answer within one month, as the GDPR requires. To request a copy or deletion of your cloud backup and reminder data, please include the approximate date you last used the app and your device type, because we do not know your name or email address. Deleted data cannot be restored.

8. Children's Privacy

Our app is not directed to children under 13 years of age, or under the higher minimum age for consenting to online services in your country, which in the EU can be up to 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from these children. If you believe we have collected information from a child below that age, please contact us immediately.

9. International Data Transfers

Viksva, MB is in the EU, but your data is also processed outside the European Economic Area, mainly in the United States: Google (AI processing, Firebase, Cloud Functions, and the Pro cloud backup and reminder schedule, which are stored in the United States), OpenAI (assistant chat), and RevenueCat (subscriptions). For these transfers from the EEA or UK we rely on the safeguards in those providers' data processing terms, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision like the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, where the provider takes part in it. You can ask us for more information using Section 11.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy in the app and updating the "Last Updated" date above.

11. Contact Information

12. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to you, our legal basis for processing your personal information is:

• Contract: To provide the app and the scans, chat, planting calendars, weather, Pro cloud backup, reminders, and frost alerts you ask for, and to manage your subscription (Article 6(1)(b))
• Consent: For device location and push notifications, which you can withdraw at any time in your phone's settings (Article 6(1)(a))
• Legitimate Interest: To secure our servers, prevent abuse and fraud, and fix faults, using App Check, rate limits, and server logs (Article 6(1)(f)). You may object at any time
• Legal Obligation: For compliance with applicable laws, such as accounting rules (Article 6(1)(c))

13. Limitation of Liability

Liability that cannot be excluded: Nothing in this Privacy Policy excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, for intent or gross negligence, and your right to compensation under data protection law. If you are a consumer in the EU, EEA or UK, your mandatory statutory rights are not affected. The disclaimers in this policy apply only to the extent the law allows.

14. Indemnification

15. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Privacy Policy and any disputes arising out of or related to it shall be governed by the laws of Lithuania, without regard to conflict of law principles. Nothing in this Privacy Policy limits any rights you have under data protection law or mandatory consumer-protection law that cannot be waived by agreement. If you are a consumer resident in the EU/EEA, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence and keep the protection of that country's mandatory rules. Your data protection rights, including the right to complain to a supervisory authority and to go to court, are not affected.

16. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right to know what personal information we collect and how it's used, the right to delete personal information, and the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information.