Privacy Policy
The short version
- Your dive records live on your phone, not on our servers. We never receive your life list, your trips or your backups.
- To identify a photo, a reduced-size copy of it is sent to Google's Gemini AI. We ask your permission before this happens the first time.
- An account is optional. You can use the app as a guest. If you do sign in with Apple, we deliberately do not ask Apple for your name or your email address.
- No advertising identifiers, no ad networks, and no analytics or crash-reporting SDK. Nothing in the app follows you between apps or around the web.
- We never sell or share your personal information. Not to data brokers, not to advertisers, not to anyone.
- You choose whether photo location is sent, on the same screen that explains it — before your first identification, not buried in a settings menu. You can change it any time. The app never asks your device where you are; any coordinates come only from a photo you picked.
This policy explains what MarineLife ID does with information, in plain language. If anything below is unclear, write to us and we will explain it — the address is at the bottom.
Who we are
Yume Unbound LLC, a limited liability company registered in the State of Tennessee, United States, is the controller of the personal data described here. MarineLife ID is our app.
Contact for anything in this policy: Privacy [at] yumeunbound.com
What stays on your phone
MarineLife ID is a local-first app. The following is created and stored on your device, and we never receive a copy of it:
- Your life list — every species you have recorded, with dates and counts
- Your trips — dive sites, dates and any notes you write
- Your dive reports and the trip cards you create
- References to your photos, plus small thumbnails the app generates for display
- Your progress — experience points, level, badges, streaks
- Your backup files, which the app writes into its own folder on your device
A deliberate trade-off you should know about. Backup files are written as ordinary, readable JSON and CSV rather than in an encrypted format we control. That is on purpose: it means you can open, read and move your own records with no special software and no dependence on us.
Being straightforward about the cost: that folder is visible in the Files app under "On My iPhone" and to any computer you connect your phone to, which is how you get your own data out. So anyone with access to your unlocked device — or to an unencrypted computer backup of it — can read those files. They include the coordinates of any dive whose photos carried GPS. If that matters to you, keep your device locked and make sure your computer backups are encrypted.
Your original photos are never copied to us or altered. The app stores a reference to a photo in your library, not the photo itself. Edits you make in the app — rotation, the enhanced look on a trip card — are applied when the image is displayed, and your original file is left untouched.
One thing the app can add to your library: if you tap Save on a trip card, it writes that finished card to your photos as a new image. It only ever adds, and only when you ask it to.
What leaves your phone, and exactly who receives it
The app sends data to two services on its own, plus a third only if you create an account. Two further things can happen, but only when you deliberately start them. All of it is listed below, and there is nothing else.
Separately, and unavoidably, Apple is involved if you use Sign in with Apple or install the app from the App Store. Apple's handling of that is governed by Apple's own privacy policy, not ours.
1. Google — Gemini AI, for identification
When you ask the app to identify marine life, the following is sent to Google's Gemini API:
- A reduced-size copy of each photo you chose to analyse. The image is scaled down before it is sent.
- The dive location you typed in, and your trip notes if you wrote any, as text. Location context genuinely improves accuracy, because many lookalike species do not share a range.
- The photo's GPS coordinates, only if you have left "Use photo location" switched on in Options. See Your choices below.
Purpose: to identify the marine life in the photo and return species names and a confidence level. That is the only use.
Google processes this as our service provider, under the published terms at ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms and Google's privacy policy. Those terms require Google to handle the content only for the purpose we send it for, and to protect it to a standard equivalent to the one described in this policy. We use a paid tier of the Gemini API; Google states that for paid use it does not use content submitted through the API to train or improve its models, and that content may be retained for a limited period for abuse monitoring, accessible only to a small number of authorised Google staff under an internal review process.
We ask before this happens. The first time you use the app, before any photo is sent anywhere, you are shown a screen that names Google, lists what is sent — the photo, the dive site and notes you typed, and your photo's coordinates — and carries the switch that controls whether those coordinates are included. You have to accept it, and you cannot reach identification without passing it.
2. Google — Firebase, for app configuration
The app uses Google's Firebase to read its own settings. On launch, this sends to Google:
- A Firebase installation identifier — a random string that identifies this installation of the app. It is not your name, your Apple ID, or your device's advertising identifier, and we cannot use it to work out who you are. It is replaced if you delete and reinstall the app.
- Basic app and device information, such as the app version and the operating system version.
Purpose: to let us change which AI model the app uses without shipping an app update. This matters because a model name compiled into a released app cannot be corrected when that model is retired, which would otherwise leave anyone who does not update unable to identify anything.
This is covered by the same Google terms and privacy policy linked above, which require Google to protect it to an equivalent standard and to process it only for this purpose.
To be precise about what this is not: Google Analytics for Firebase is not included in MarineLife ID, and neither is any advertising, attribution or crash-reporting component. We have verified this against the app's own build configuration. What is sent is the identifier above and basic version information — nothing about what you do in the app. No screens viewed, no buttons tapped, no species, no dives.
To be precise about what this is not: Google Analytics for Firebase is not included in MarineLife ID, and neither is any advertising or attribution component. We have verified this in the app's own build configuration. These two services send the identifier above and nothing about what you do in the app — no screens viewed, no buttons tapped, no species, no dives.
3. Supabase — only if you choose to have an account
Accounts are handled by Supabase, our authentication provider. If you choose Sign in with Apple:
- The identifier Apple issues for you is exchanged with Supabase to create your account.
- We deliberately do not request your name or your email address from Apple. The app asks Apple for no personal details at all, so there is nothing of that kind for us to hold, lose, or be asked to delete.
Purpose: to give you an account. Nothing else is stored there — not your species, not your trips, not your photos.
Supabase acts as our service provider under its privacy policy and data processing terms, which require it to process this data only on our instructions and to protect it to a standard equivalent to the one described here.
If you choose to use the app as a guest, no account is created and the app works fully. Guest mode is a first-class way to use MarineLife ID, not a trial.
4. Us, if you write to us
If you use Report a Problem in the app, it opens your own email app with a message pre-filled with your app version, iOS version and device model, so we can make sense of the problem. Nothing is sent until you press send, you can edit or delete any of it first, and we see your email address because you emailed us. We use it to reply and for nothing else.
If you share a trip card, iOS hands the image to whichever app you choose. Where it goes after that is between you and that app.
Things we do not do
Stated plainly, because "we respect your privacy" means nothing on its own:
- We do not use advertising identifiers (no IDFA), run ad networks, or show advertising. The app never shows the "Ask App Not to Track" prompt because there is nothing to ask about.
- We do not include an analytics or crash-reporting SDK.
- We never ask your device for your location. The app contains no location permission and no location code. Any coordinates only ever come from a photo you yourself selected, and only with the switch on.
- We do not browse, catalogue or upload your photo library. The app does ask for photo library access, and here is the honest reason: it needs to keep a durable link back to your original photo so your life list can still show it months later. It only ever opens photos you picked, or photos already attached to your own records. It never enumerates your library and never sends anything from it except a reduced-size copy of a photo you submitted for identification.
- We do not receive your life list, your trips, your reports or your backups.
- We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
- We do not build a profile about you, and we do not combine anything we hold with data from other companies.
Your choices
| Choice | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Use photo location | Shown on the consent screen before your first identification, and afterwards in Profile → Options | When it is off, the app stops reading coordinates from photos you add and stops including them in identification requests. ⚠️ Coordinates already saved alongside earlier dives stay in your own records, and could still be sent if you re-analyse one of those older trips. If you want them gone entirely, delete those trips. |
| Use as a guest | First screen | No account, nothing sent to our authentication provider, full use of the app. |
| Export your records | Profile → Backup | Writes your data as JSON and CSV you can open anywhere. Data portability is never restricted or charged for. |
| Delete your account | Profile → Account | Deletes the account record held by our authentication provider. Your dive records stay on your phone, because they are yours and were never ours to remove. |
| Delete everything | iOS Settings | Deleting the app removes its data from your device. Export a backup first if you want to keep it. |
Why we are allowed to do this (legal bases)
For people in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, our lawful bases under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR are:
- Performance of a contract — sending a photo you asked us to identify, and maintaining your account if you created one. Without this we cannot provide the thing you opened the app to do.
- Consent — including your photo's GPS coordinates. The switch controlling this sits on the screen that explains what is sent, before your first identification, so the choice is made at the point it is described rather than left on a default you never saw. You can withdraw it at any time in Profile → Options, with no loss of any other function, and we treat an objection as decisive.
- Performance of a contract — the dive location you typed and any notes, because that is part of the request you asked us to make and materially improves accuracy: many lookalike species do not share a range.
- Legitimate interests — the Firebase installation identifier, used to keep the app able to reach a working AI model. We consider this proportionate because the identifier is not linked to you and carries nothing about your activity.
Sending data outside your country
We are a United States company. Google and Supabase process data in the United States and potentially other countries where they operate. Where data is transferred out of the UK or the EEA, those providers offer transfer mechanisms such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, participation in the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework. We rely on those mechanisms rather than operating our own.
How long things are kept
| What | Kept for how long |
|---|---|
| Your dive records, life list, backups | Until you delete them. They are on your device and under your control, and we hold no copy. |
| Photos and text sent for identification | We keep none. Google may retain them briefly for abuse monitoring under its own terms. |
| Your account record | Until you delete your account. |
| Firebase installation identifier | Held by Google for the service's operation, and reset if you delete and reinstall the app. |
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the personal data we hold, to have it corrected or deleted, to receive a portable copy, to object to or restrict our processing, and to withdraw consent you previously gave.
In practice, most of this is already in your hands rather than ours: your records are on your phone, the export button gives you a portable copy whenever you want one, and Delete Account removes the only account record that exists. For anything else, write to us at the address below and we will respond.
If you are in the UK or EEA and are unhappy with how we have handled a request, you may complain to your national data protection authority. If you are in California, you additionally have the right to know what personal information is collected, to delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing — and we will not treat you differently for exercising any of them. We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, so there is no "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" process for us to operate.
Children
MarineLife ID is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, or under the minimum age of digital consent in their country where that is higher. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, write to us and we will delete it.
Security
Everything the app sends travels over encrypted HTTPS connections. Data on your device is protected by iOS and your device passcode. Our authentication provider holds account records on managed infrastructure with encryption at rest.
No system is perfectly secure, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. The honest summary of our security posture is that we hold very little — there is no server of ours containing divers' photos or life lists, because we deliberately never built one.
About the identifications themselves
Species identifications are produced by artificial intelligence and can be wrong. They are a starting point for your own judgement, not an authority. Never use MarineLife ID to decide whether a creature is safe to touch, approach, handle or eat. Many marine animals are venomous, and several dangerous species closely resemble harmless ones. Our Terms of Service covers this in full.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If a change materially affects what we do with your information, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect rather than relying on you to re-read this page.
Contact
Yume Unbound LLC
Tennessee, United States
Email: Privacy [at] yumeunbound.com (replace [at] with @)
We read everything that arrives there.
We are established in the United States and do not currently have a representative in the European Union or the United Kingdom. If you are in either and would prefer to raise something through a local authority, you may contact your national data protection authority directly.