Privacy Policy
Last updated 12 October 2026
Med Herb Lens helps people identify medicinal herbs and browse a catalog of plant species. It is run by Trien Tran, in Australia, as a non-profit project that also supports a PhD research project on plant identification. This policy explains what information the app collects, why, where it is kept, and the choices you have.
In short: you can browse and identify herbs without an account, and identification happens on your device. If you sign in to contribute, we keep your account details, and the photos you share are shown publicly with the place you say they were taken. You can delete your account in the app at any time.
What we collect
When you use the app without an account
- Camera and photos for identification. Images you point the camera at or pick from your photos are analysed on your device. They are not uploaded, unless you choose to share a photo (below).
- Saved herbs and history stay on your device. Earlier versions of the app kept them in our database; the current version copies them to your device once.
- Technical information. Our service providers receive what any app sends when it connects to the internet, such as your IP address and device type. On Android, crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics) include the device model, system version and what the app was doing when it crashed.
Usage statistics
Unless you turn it off (Profile → Share usage statistics), the app sends anonymous usage statistics to Google Analytics for Firebase: which screens are opened, which features are used, and identification results (which species was suggested and how confident the model was). They come with a random ID created for the app installation, the app version and the device model and system; Google estimates the region from the connection. They are not linked to your account, name, email, photos or places, and the app doesn't use any advertising identifier or allow ad personalisation. We use them, in aggregate, to improve the app and for the research it supports, which may publish aggregate results. Google keeps them for up to 14 months.
When you sign in
You need an account only to share photos or models, report what others shared, or suggest common names. You can sign in with Google or, on iPhone and iPad, with Apple.
- Account details: a user ID, and with Google sign-in, your name and email address. Sign in with Apple doesn't share your name or email with us.
- Contributor record: we store your user ID, name and email on your account record, so contributions can be traced to a contributor for research and to prevent abuse.
When you contribute
- Photos you share are reduced in size and uploaded with your user ID and the place they were taken. The photos and their places are public: anyone using the app can see them on the species page, including on a map. You choose the place yourself, either from your device's location or by placing a pin on a map, so you can pick a nearby public spot instead of your home.
- Your location is read only when you tap "Use my location" while sharing photos, and only once. The app doesn't track your location.
- Name suggestions (a common name and its language) are stored with your user ID and read only by the administrator, who may add the name to the catalog, without your name or user ID.
- Models you share from the Train tab are uploaded with your user ID. They are public: anyone using the app can add them, and, unless you untick it when sharing, they are also published in the Med Herb Lens organisation on Hugging Face, where anyone can download them. The Hugging Face page credits "a Med Herb Lens user", not your name. A shared model holds its name, the species names you typed and a compact numerical summary of your photos that lets it go on learning; it doesn't hold your photos, name or email.
- Reports of a photo or a model you send are stored with your user ID and read only by the administrator.
Why we use it
- To run the app: sign-in, showing contributed photos on species pages and maps.
- To improve the herb identification model and the species catalog, and for non-profit research and education. We may publish datasets of contributed photos and their places (without names or email addresses) for non-profit research.
- To keep the service safe: blocking abuse and banning accounts that break our Terms of Service.
- To answer you when you contact us.
We don't sell your information, show advertising, track you across other apps or websites, or use it for marketing.
Where it is kept and who provides the services
| Service | What for |
|---|---|
| Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Remote Config, App Check, Crashlytics, Analytics) | Accounts, contributor records, photo lists, name suggestions and photo reports, app settings, checking requests come from the genuine app, crash reports (Android), anonymous usage statistics |
| Cloudflare (R2 storage and Workers) | Storing and serving shared photos and models, and app content such as the species catalog and identification model |
| Google and Apple sign-in | Signing in |
| Hugging Face | Publishing the models people share, unless they untick it, in the Med Herb Lens organisation (public) |
| GBIF and iNaturalist | Reference photos shown on species pages; the app requests them by species |
| Mapbox (Android) and Apple Maps (iPhone and iPad) | Showing maps |
These providers process information under their own privacy policies and may store it outside your country. We share information only with them, to run the app, or when the law requires it.
How long we keep it
- Your account and contributor record: until you delete your account.
- Shared photos and their places: for as long as they are useful to the catalog and research. When you delete your account they stay, no longer linked to an account.
- Shared models, in the app and on Hugging Face: until you stop sharing them (in the app) or we remove them. When you delete your account, models you still share stay, no longer linked to an account; stop sharing them first if you want them gone.
- Name suggestions: until the administrator has reviewed them.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account in the app: Profile → Delete account. This deletes your account and contributor record and, for Apple accounts, the app's access to your Apple ID.
- Ask us to show you the information we hold about you, to correct it, or to remove photos you shared, by emailing tptrien@gmail.com. We will reply, and explain in writing if we can't do what you asked.
- You can turn off camera, photo and location access for the app in your device's settings at any time, and usage statistics in Profile.
Children
The app is for people aged 13 and over, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, please contact us and we will delete it. Users aged 13 to 17 need a parent or guardian's permission to use the app.
Security
Information is sent over encrypted connections. Database rules limit what each account can read and write, and requests must come from the genuine app. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.
Changes
We will update this page when our practices change and change the date at the top. For significant changes, we will also tell you in the app.
Contact
Questions or complaints about privacy: tptrien@gmail.com. We will always respond. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).