Privacy Policy

Introduction

ZooTrack Explorer ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and web service (collectively, the "Service").

By using ZooTrack Explorer, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

ZooTrack Explorer is responsible (the "controller") for processing your personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can reach us at [email protected].

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect information you provide directly, including:

• Email address
• Display name (optional)
• Profile picture (optional): if you upload a profile photo, it is cropped to a square avatar and stored on our servers in the EU. Your original photo is not retained; only the processed avatar is stored. Profile photos are shown to other users (e.g. on leaderboards and your public profile) and can be viewed by anyone who has the link to the image. You can delete your profile photo at any time
• Which version of our Terms of Service you accepted, and when. We use this to show which terms applied to you at any given time.

Usage Data

We collect information about how you use the Service, including:

• Zoos you mark as visited
• Animals you add to your life list
• Your wishlist and favorites
• Community contributions (suggestions, votes)
• Friend connections and friend requests

Friends & Social Features

If you use our friends feature, we collect and store:

• Friend connections (who you are friends with)
• Friend requests you send and receive
• Your profile visibility preference (public, friends only, or private)

Location Data

With your permission, the app uses your device's location to show your position on the map, to find animals near you, and to note whether you were at the zoo when you mark an animal as seen, vote or report a change. For the search for animals near you, your location is sent to our server only while you have the Nearby Animals screen open, and only to answer that request; it is not stored or logged. For the on-site check we store only whether you were on site (yes or no), never your coordinates. You can turn off location access at any time in your device settings.

Technical Data

We automatically collect certain technical information, including device type, operating system, app version, and general usage statistics to improve our Service.

Server Logs

When the app or website communicates with our servers, we log technical details of each request: your IP address, your account ID if you are logged in, the app version and the function used. We use these logs only to keep the Service secure and working: finding errors, preventing abuse such as automated copying of our database, and enforcing usage limits. The logs are stored on our own servers in the EU, are not shared with third parties and are deleted after at most 180 days.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and maintain the Service
• Sync your data across devices
• Display leaderboards and community features
• Display photo credits on the website for users who have enabled a public profile
• Process community contributions and moderation
• Improve and optimize the Service
• Communicate with you about updates or issues
• Enable social features such as friend connections and friends-only leaderboards

We process your data because it is needed to provide the Service you signed up for, because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the Service secure and working (such as server logs, abuse prevention, error tracking and website statistics), or with your consent, such as for the public web page. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate ZooTrack Explorer:

Clerk (Authentication)

We use Clerk to handle user authentication securely. Clerk processes your login credentials and manages your session. View their privacy policy at clerk.com/privacy.

GBIF (Species Data)

We use data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) for taxonomic information about species. No personal data is shared with GBIF.

OpenFreeMap (Maps)

We use OpenFreeMap to display maps within the app. OpenFreeMap provides free map tiles based on OpenStreetMap data. No personal data is shared with OpenFreeMap.

Sentry (Error Tracking)

We use Sentry to monitor and fix errors in the app. Sentry collects technical error and crash diagnostics, such as device type, OS version and app state, together with a pseudonymous account ID. We do not send your name, email address or IP address. This data is used only to improve stability and performance. See their privacy policy at sentry.io/privacy.

Google Cloud Vision (Photo origin check)

To check whether an uploaded animal photo already appears elsewhere on the internet, we send only the photo file of the animal to Google's Cloud Vision API. We do not send your name, account, email address, location or any other data. Google uses the photo only to perform this search, does not retain it and does not use it to train models. Processing may take place outside the EU, for example in the United States, covered by the safeguards in Google Cloud's data processing terms. The result, links to pages where the same photo appears, is only an aid for our moderators when reviewing photos. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in respecting copyright. See their privacy policy at cloud.google.com/terms/cloud-privacy-notice.

Use of AI

We use AI only as a tool to support our moderators, for example the photo origin check with Google Cloud Vision described above. A person always decides. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Community Forum

ZooTrack operates a community forum at forum.zootrack.me. When you use the forum, the following applies:

• Forum posts and replies are publicly visible to anyone, including visitors without a ZooTrack account.
• Your ZooTrack username and profile picture are used on the forum via a secure Single Sign-On (SSO) connection when you log in.
• The forum software (Discourse) is fully self-hosted by ZooTrack on our own servers in the Netherlands. No personal data is shared with a third-party forum provider.
• The forum software processes technical data such as IP addresses and timestamps for security and spam prevention purposes.
• If you delete your ZooTrack account, we also anonymize your forum account: your name, email address and profile picture are removed. Posts you have written may remain visible under an anonymous name to preserve the forum content.

Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored securely on servers located in the European Union. We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.

Website Statistics

To see how many people visit zootrack.me and which pages they read, we run Umami on our own server. It uses no cookies and stores nothing on your device, which is why you do not have to click away a cookie banner.

For each page view we record the address of the page, the site you came from, your browser language, your screen size and your country. Your IP address is used only to determine the country and is never stored. Visitors are counted using a hash of the IP address and browser that is regenerated every day, so after 24 hours the same visitor can no longer be recognised and no profile is built up.

These statistics stay on our own server, are never shared with or sold to third parties, and are never linked to your ZooTrack account. We keep them for at most 14 months. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used. If your browser sends a Do Not Track signal, nothing is recorded at all.

Travel Recap Photos and Drafts

Travel Recap lets you add your own holiday photos to a shareable trip overview. Strict privacy rules apply:

• Photos you add are stored privately on our own servers in the EU. Only you can view them through your own account, they are not visible to other users, nor to moderators or administrators, and no public link to these files exists.
• Photo files may contain hidden metadata (EXIF), such as the GPS location where the photo was taken, depending on your phone settings and the file format. This metadata is removed from the file immediately upon upload. This is separate from your visits and sightings in the app, those remain part of your account as usual.
• Photos and your Travel Recap draft are automatically deleted after 7 days. While you are actively working on a draft, this period rolls forward by 7 days each time.
• You can delete photos and the draft yourself at any time in the app. When you delete your account, they are removed immediately along with it.
• Images you export or share yourself are stored on your own device and fall outside this retention period.

Public Web Page

You can choose to publish a public web page with a summary of your ZooTrack activity, at zootrack.me/u/your-username. This is optional, only available from age 16, and only happens after you switch it on yourself in the app. The legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by switching the page off.

• What is shown: your username, your country (if you set one), the year you joined, your statistics, badges, a map and lists of the zoos you visited, your favourite animals and zoos, and photos of animals you uploaded that were approved. This may grow over time; anything added follows the rules below.
• What is never shown: your name, email address, profile photo or bio, dates or times of your visits, and locations that are not publicly accessible zoos (those only appear as a number).
• Age check: to confirm you are 16 or older, we ask for your birth year and month once. They are only used for this check, are never shown and cannot be changed by you afterwards. They are deleted when you delete your account.
• Search engines: you decide whether search engines may show your page. This is on by default from age 18 and off for ages 16 and 17. It only applies once your account is at least 30 days old and you have visited at least 3 zoos; until then, search engines are asked not to index the page.
• Updates: the page is refreshed once per night, so it never shows where you are right now.
• Switching off: when you switch the page off, or when your account is suspended or deleted, the page disappears immediately and the content prepared for it is deleted. Search engines may take some time to remove an old result.
• Record of consent: we store when you switched the page on and which version of the consent text you agreed to.
• Visitors: the page loads no scripts, cookies or trackers, and we do not keep a record of who visits it.

Your Rights

Under GDPR and other applicable data protection laws, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data
• Export your data in a portable format
• Withdraw consent at any time
• Control whether your username is displayed alongside photos you upload, by managing your public profile setting
• Delete your profile photo at any time from your profile settings

To exercise these rights, for example to receive a copy of your data, email [email protected]. We respond within one month.

If you believe we handle your personal data incorrectly, you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).

Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the Service. Some data may be retained for a longer period where required to comply with legal obligations.

Account Deletion

You can delete your account directly within the ZooTrack Explorer app via the account settings. Upon requesting account deletion, you will be immediately logged out and your account will no longer be accessible.

Your account and your personal data will be permanently removed from our systems within 30 days. This includes your account information, profile photo, visit history, sightings, life list, wishlists, favorites, badges, friends, notifications and Travel Recap photos. Contributions to the shared database (such as zoos, enclosures, animal photos and corrections) remain available to the community, but are disconnected from your identity and attributed to an anonymous account. Account deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

When your account is deleted, authentication data managed by Clerk is also deleted or anonymized in accordance with Clerk's data retention policies.

No Advertising or Tracking

We do not use your personal data for advertising or cross-app tracking purposes. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

Children's Privacy

ZooTrack Explorer is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The optional public web page is only available from age 16. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.