flocked Privacy Policy

Effective October 6, 2026

flocked is a birding game for iPhone. This policy explains how the app handles information when you identify birds, build your collection, and train your bird companions.

Listening for birds

When you tap the microphone, flocked records up to 60 seconds of nearby sound and analyzes it on your iPhone using an on-device bird-sound model. These listening recordings are not uploaded to our service or to an AI provider. If you keep a recognized bird, a short excerpt may be saved locally with that bird in your collection log. You can play or delete the saved excerpt in the log. Temporary listening recordings are removed when the capture session ends. Listening stops when the app goes into the background.

Bird photos

When you choose to identify a bird, the app sends the photo over an encrypted HTTPS connection to the flocked analysis service. That service uses OpenAI technology to check that a bird is visible and match it to the game's catalog. flocked does not intentionally retain submitted photos after the identification request is complete, sell them, or use them for advertising.

Camera access is used only when you take a photo in the app.

Motion and fitness

On iPhone, flocked can read step counts through Apple's motion and fitness services to award training XP. This gameplay data is processed on the device and is not sent to the flocked analysis service.

Collection and gameplay progress

Your collection and gameplay progress are stored locally on your device. Solo play does not require an account. Optional iPhone social features use the flocked friend service, with Bird Accounts using Sign in with Apple. Signing in does not currently back up your local collection. Uninstalling the app removes locally stored gameplay data.

Friends, battles, and notifications

When you connect a bird account, we store an Apple account identifier, your chosen username and display name, a friend code, accepted friendships, friend requests, blocks, notification preferences, and a device notification token if enabled. We store encrypted Apple authorization tokens and securely verify sign-in; we do not receive your Apple password or request your email address. Activity shares bird names and game attributes, not identification photos or location. Account-based battle teams, submitted moves, and results are stored on our service. Submitted moves are kept private from the opponent until both teams have submitted.

You can mute notification categories per friend, decline invitations, remove friends, or block them. Flock visits require acceptance before a guest appears. Friend requests expire after seven days, accepted visits last up to 24 hours, and the activity inbox retains up to 30 days of activity. Removing or blocking an account-based friend prevents new access to shared social and battle data. Where bird accounts are available, Delete Account in the account screen removes your online profile, friendships, activity, visits, gifts, and account-based battles and revokes Apple authorization. It does not erase the bird collection stored on your device. Deletion can finish in the background if Apple is temporarily unavailable. Processing jobs and notification delivery receipts are retained for up to 30 days after completion and are removed with account deletion. You may also contact us for deletion assistance.

Your Bird Account uses your chosen searchable username and a separate display name. Friends can see up to two eligible friends-of-friends suggestions, containing public names and usernames only. You can turn off “Suggest me to friends of friends” in your account to hide your profile from these suggestions and stop sharing your friend suggestions. Adding a suggested player still requires their acceptance.

Global leaderboards are optional. If you join, your public username, recorded walking-step score, collected species count, evolved species count, sparkling species count, total birds collected, and highest bird level are visible to other signed-in players. Scores are reported by the app, not independently verified. You can remove your scores from the leaderboard screen; deleting your account also removes them.

Apple delivers push notifications, and Supabase and Render host the online services and their storage. You may disable app notifications in iPhone Settings. We use this information for gameplay and delivery, not advertising.

Global catch map and location

If location permission and catch sharing are enabled, a successful capture sends the bird species, capture event identifier, an app-install identifier, and a location to our catch service. The service rounds the location to a grid of approximately 500 metres before storing a public catch point. The map shows bird species, approximate capture locations, and capture times to other players. Catch sharing is anonymous by default. If you enable sharing your username, a catch may also be associated with your signed-in public profile. You can turn catch sharing and username sharing off in the map settings; this stops future sharing. You can revoke location permission in iPhone Settings. Map requests include the geographic area being viewed.

Optional battle recordings

You can optionally record death and victory sounds of up to two seconds for each bird. Microphone access is requested only when you choose to record. Clips are saved on your device. When you lock a team in an account-based friend battle, a copy is uploaded to our battle service, associated with your account and bird, and made available to that battle's authorized opponent for playback. These clips are used for gameplay, not advertising or tracking. You can preview or delete local recordings and mute player recordings in the arena. Deleting a local clip affects future teams, not copies already shared with existing battles. Deleting your bird account removes its account-based battle data. Do not include personal or sensitive information in recordings.

Advertising and tracking

flocked does not include third-party advertising, sell personal data, or track players across other companies' apps and websites.

Service providers

Bird photos submitted for identification are processed by the flocked analysis service and OpenAI solely to provide that feature. Their infrastructure may process technical information needed to deliver and secure the request. We do not use that information to build advertising profiles.

Children

Solo play does not require an account. Social profiles use a display name; do not include a real name or other private details in it. Sign in with Apple does not request your name or email address. If you believe a child submitted personal information in error, contact us.

Changes

We may update this policy as flocked changes. The effective date above will be updated when that happens.

Contact

Privacy questions can be sent to scott@vermilionrock.com.