Privacy

Last updated 16 September 2026

Sorrel is built so that we hold as little about you as possible. This page says exactly what we collect, why, and who else sees it. No lawyer-speak.

Photos you scan

When you identify a plant, the photo is sent to our server, which passes it to our identification provider and returns the answer.

Before a photo leaves your phone we resize it and re-encode it, which removes the embedded metadata cameras attach — including the GPS coordinates of where it was taken. For houseplants that is usually your home, so we strip it rather than ask you to trust us with it.

We keep a fingerprint of each photo so that re-scanning the same plant returns the previous answer instantly, without using up one of your identifications.

What we store about you

• An identifier for your install. It is worked out on your device from the identifier iOS gives apps from the same developer, and what we receive is a one-way hash of it. It is not your Apple ID, not a hardware serial number, and cannot be used to follow you into anybody else's apps. It survives reinstalling, which is how the free allowance cannot be reset by deleting the app.
• How many identifications you have used in the current seven-day window, so the free allowance works and cannot be reset by reinstalling.
• No email address and no password. Sorrel has no sign-up: the only account is the anonymous one tied to the identifier above. That is also why your collection lives on this phone rather than on our servers — export it from Settings before you delete the app, because deleting the app deletes it.

What stays on your phone

Your plant collection lives on your device, not our servers. That includes nicknames, the room you keep each plant in, your notes, your photo journal and your watering history. It works with no signal, and we cannot read it.

Your settings — units, hemisphere, toxicity warnings, reminders — are also stored locally.

Who else sees anything

• Our identification provider receives the photo in order to identify it. It does not receive your identifier, your collection, or anything else about you.
• Our hosting providers store the database and run the server. They do not use the data for anything of their own.
• If you subscribe, our payments provider handles the subscription. Card details go to Apple, never to us — we never see them.

That is the complete list. There are no advertising networks, no data brokers, and no third-party trackers in this app.

Your data is yours

Settings has a button that exports everything we hold, and a button that deletes it. Deleting removes your plants and your account data. No email, no waiting, no support ticket.

Children

Sorrel is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect anything from them. If you believe a child has given us information, email sorrelaiplant@outlook.com and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change what we collect or who receives it, we will update this page and the date at the top, and tell you in the app before the change takes effect.