Privacy Policy for Trax

1. Introduction

Trax ("we," "our," or "us") is a wildlife safety and reporting mobile application designed to enhance public safety by enabling real-time reporting and alerting for dangerous animals, lost pets, and general wildlife sightings. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you use our mobile application.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

• Email address - Required for account creation and authentication
• Display name - Optional, for personalizing your experience
• Profile photo - Optional, stored securely in Firebase Storage
• Bio - Optional personal description

2.2 Location Data

• Precise GPS coordinates - Used only when you create wildlife reports or enable location-based alerts
• Device location - Temporarily stored for proximity calculations and safety alerts
• Geohash data - Encoded location data for efficient spatial queries
• Background location - Off by default. You may optionally enable it so we can send you proactive wildlife alerts when you enter a new area and to support features like the heatmap (historical report density). When enabled, we use your location in the background only to update which alert areas apply to you; we do not continuously track or store a history of your background location.

2.3 Wildlife Reports

• Animal type and description - Information about wildlife sightings
• Report location - GPS coordinates where the sighting occurred
• Photos - Images of wildlife or the area (optional)
• Timestamp - When the report was created
• User identification - Your user ID and display name (if you choose to be identified)

2.4 Device Information

• Device ID - Unique identifier for your device
• FCM Token - For push notifications
• Platform information - iOS or Android
• App version - For technical support and updates

2.5 Usage Data

• Report interactions - Comments, likes, and reactions to reports
• Notification preferences - Your settings for alerts and notifications
• App activity - Report creation, viewing, and interaction history
• Feedback submissions - Optional ratings and feedback about the app
• Proximity response data - Your responses ("yes" or "no") to proximity alerts, stored to prevent repeated prompts
• Local cache data - Proximity response data cached locally on your device for faster performance

2.6 Communication Data

• Comments and replies - Public comments on wildlife reports
• Social interactions - Likes, reactions, and engagement with community content

2.7 Crash & Diagnostic Data

• Crash and error reports - We use Firebase Crashlytics (Google) to collect crash reports and non-fatal error data to improve app stability and fix bugs
• Data included - Crash stack traces, error messages, device OS, app version, and session breadcrumbs; when crash reporting is enabled we may associate reports with a non-reversible account identifier (user ID) to help diagnose issues
• Purpose - App stability and reliability only; this data is not used for marketing or advertising
• Your control - You can turn off crash reporting at any time in Settings → Privacy → Send crash reports. When turned off, no new crash or error data is sent. Retention of already-collected data follows our provider's policy (see §7)

2.8 Usage Analytics Data

• Usage analytics - When you have not turned off "Share usage analytics," we use Firebase Analytics (Google) to collect data that helps us understand how the app is used and improve the product
• Data included - Events (e.g. screen views, in-app actions), device and app information (e.g. platform, app version), and when analytics is enabled and you are signed in we may associate this data with a non-reversible account identifier (user ID) for aggregated insights
• Purpose - Product improvement only; this data is not used for advertising or marketing
• Your control - You can turn off usage analytics at any time in Settings → Privacy → Share usage analytics. When turned off, no new usage analytics data is sent. Retention of already-collected data follows our provider's policy (see §7.4)

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 Core App Functionality

• Safety alerts - Send proximity notifications about nearby wildlife sightings
• Report management - Store and display wildlife reports on the map
• Community features - Enable commenting, liking, and social interactions
• User authentication - Verify your identity and secure your account
• Content moderation - Automated analysis of photos and comments using Google Cloud Vision API and Jigsaw Perspective API to detect inappropriate content
• Response tracking - Store your responses to proximity alerts to prevent showing the same alert multiple times

3.2 Location Services

• Proximity calculations - Determine if you're near reported wildlife
• Map display - Show your location and nearby reports
• Alert delivery - Send location-based safety notifications via FCM Topics (Firebase Cloud Messaging topic subscriptions)
• Report creation - Automatically tag report locations
• Geohash-based notifications - Use encoded geohash data to subscribe to location-based notification topics for efficient alert delivery

3.3 Communication

• Push notifications - Alert you about nearby wildlife or app updates
• In-app notifications - Show proximity alerts and social interactions
• Email notifications - Send important app updates (if enabled)

3.4 App Improvement

• Analytics - We use Firebase Analytics to understand app usage (e.g. screen views, events) to improve the product. This data is not used for advertising. You can turn off usage analytics in Settings → Privacy → Share usage analytics; when off, no new analytics data is sent. On iOS we may request App Tracking Transparency only when analytics is enabled; if you turn off "Share usage analytics" in the app, we do not collect usage analytics regardless of your ATT choice. You can also limit tracking in your device settings
• Crash and diagnostic data - We use Firebase Crashlytics to collect crash and error reports when you have not opted out (see §2.7 and §6.4)
• Feedback processing - Improve app features based on user input
• Performance monitoring - Ensure app stability and reliability

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

4.1 Public Information

• Wildlife reports - Your reports are visible to other users (with optional anonymity)
• Comments and interactions - Public comments and reactions are visible to the community
• Profile information - Display name and profile photo (if you choose to make them public)

4.2 Third-Party Services

Firebase/Google - We use Google's Firebase services for:

• Data storage (Firestore)
• User authentication
• Push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging)
• Image storage (Firebase Storage)
• Server functions (Firebase Functions)
• Crash and diagnostic reporting (Firebase Crashlytics) - When you have not opted out, crash and error data are sent to Google to help us fix bugs and improve stability; see §2.7 and §6.4
• Usage analytics (Firebase Analytics) - When you have not opted out, usage events, screen views, and related data are sent to Google to help us improve the app; see §2.8, §3.4, and §6.5

We also use:

• Google Maps - For map display and location services
• Google Cloud Vision API - For automated photo moderation, including SafeSearch analysis, label detection, face detection, and OCR text recognition
• Jigsaw Perspective API - For automated comment and reply moderation, including toxicity detection, threat detection, and spam pattern identification
• Expo - For app development and deployment services

4.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or to:

• Comply with legal processes
• Protect our rights and property
• Ensure user safety
• Prevent fraud or abuse

5. Data Security

5.1 Security Measures

• Encrypted transmission - All data is encrypted in transit using HTTPS
• Secure storage - Data is stored securely in Firebase with access controls
• Authentication - User accounts are protected with Firebase Authentication
• Access controls - Database rules restrict access to authorized users only

5.2 Privacy-First Design

• Minimal data collection - We only collect data necessary for app functionality
• Local processing - Location calculations are performed on your device when possible
• Anonymous options - You can create reports without revealing your identity
• Data minimization - We regularly review and minimize data collection

6. Your Privacy Rights

6.1 Account Management

• Update information - Modify your profile and preferences at any time
• Delete account - Request account deletion (contact us for assistance)
• Data export - Request a copy of your data (contact us for assistance)

6.2 Location Controls

• Location permissions - Control location access through device settings
• Background location - Off by default. You can enable it (in device settings and in the app) if you want proactive alerts when entering new areas and heatmap support. You can turn it off at any time.
• Report location - Choose whether to include precise location in reports

6.3 Communication Preferences

• Notification settings - Control push notifications and email communications
• Quiet hours - Set times when you don't want to receive notifications
• Alert radius - Customize how far away you want to receive wildlife alerts

6.4 Crash Reporting & Diagnostics

Send crash reports - In Settings → Privacy, you can turn off "Send crash reports" at any time. When off, no crash or error data is sent to our crash reporting provider (Firebase Crashlytics). The change takes effect immediately; no app restart is required. For more details see §2.7 and our third-party list in §4.2.

6.5 Usage Analytics

Share usage analytics - In Settings → Privacy, you can turn off "Share usage analytics" at any time. When off, no usage analytics data is sent to our analytics provider (Firebase Analytics). The change takes effect immediately; no app restart is required. On iOS we only request App Tracking Transparency when analytics is enabled; turning off this setting stops all analytics collection regardless of your ATT choice. For more details see §2.8 and our third-party list in §4.2.

7. Data Retention

7.1 Account Data

• Profile information - Retained while your account is active
• Report history - Retained for community safety and historical data
• Comments and interactions - Retained as part of the community record

7.2 Location Data

• Device location - Not stored long-term; used only for real-time calculations
• Report locations - Retained as part of wildlife sighting records
• Background location - When enabled, we use it only for real-time geohash updates to deliver alerts and support the heatmap; we do not retain a continuous log of your background location. When disabled, we do not collect background location.

7.3 Crash & Diagnostic Data

• Crash and error data - Retained by our provider (Google/Firebase Crashlytics) in accordance with their default retention policy. We do not retain this data beyond what is available in the crash reporting dashboard. When you opt out in Settings, no new data is sent.

7.4 Analytics Data

• Usage analytics - Analytics data is retained per our analytics provider's policy (e.g. Firebase Analytics; retention is configurable, often up to 14 months) for aggregated insights. When you turn off "Share usage analytics" in Settings, no new analytics data is sent; retention of already-collected data follows our provider's policy.

7.5 Deletion

• Account deletion - Your account and associated data will be deleted upon request
• Report deletion - Individual reports can be deactivated; deactivated reports are archived after a short period (e.g. photos and comments removed; report metadata may be retained for safety records)
• Automatic cleanup - Old, invalid data is automatically removed

8. Children's Privacy

Trax is not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16.

If you believe we have collected information from a child under 16, please contact us immediately at cornerofficesoftware@gmail.com so we can delete the information.

All features that involve location tracking or user-generated reports are restricted to users 16 and older for safety and legal compliance.

9. International Users

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

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 updated policy in the app
• Sending a notification through the app
• Updating the "Last Updated" date

11. Contact Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: