Privacy Policy

Eggonomics is an app for backyard chicken keepers to log eggs, track costs and keep records of their birds. It is operated by Emberly Apps ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the app collects, why, who processes it on our behalf, and the choices you have. It applies to the Eggonomics apps for iPhone and Android and to this website.

1. What we collect

Records you enter

Your flock and birds (names, breeds, hatch dates, photos, status and history), egg counts, expenses, egg sales, health and care events, medication and withdrawal records, care reminders and notes. These are stored in your account so they are backed up and available on your other devices.

Photo checks

If you use the AI photo check, the photo you agree to send, the subject you pick, and a small record of each check. Section 5 explains exactly what is sent, to whom, and what is kept.

Account details

• Guest accounts. When you first open the app we create an anonymous account with a random identifier. No name, email or phone number is needed. Your records are backed up to it from the start.
• Saved accounts. If you save your flock with email and password, Google or Apple sign-in, we receive your email address and, if provided, your name. With Apple you may choose to hide your email; we then receive Apple's relay address. Passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication; we never see or store them.
• The display name you choose, which household members see (see section 4).

Location (ZIP code only)

If you enter a US ZIP code for your flock, it is stored with your flock. The app does not use your phone's GPS or location permission.

Subscription status

If you subscribe to Eggonomics Pro, we receive your subscription status (active or not, product, renewal or expiry date) so Pro can unlock on all your devices and for your household. We never receive your card or bank details.

Device and diagnostics data

• Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics): the app version, device model, operating system version, a stack trace and a random installation identifier when the app crashes or hits an error.
• Usage events (Google Analytics for Firebase): a small set of events such as "eggs logged" or "birds added" (counts only, never the contents of your records), with an app-instance identifier and device information, so we can see whether the app is useful.
• App integrity (Firebase App Check): your device's attestation service (Apple App Attest or DeviceCheck, Google Play Integrity) confirms requests come from the genuine app.

Feedback and problem reports

If you send feedback or report a problem from Settings, we receive what you type, the email address you give for a reply (optional), the app version, your phone model and operating system version, and, with a problem report unless you untick it, the app's activity log from your phone: the screens you opened, the errors the app saw, and when it started, paused and resumed. The log is kept on your phone (about 1 MB at most) and leaves it only in a report you send. It never contains your names, notes or egg counts. We also keep your answer if the app asks whether you are enjoying it, so it does not ask again.

2. How we use it

• To provide the app: store, back up and sync your records across your devices and your household, and calculate cost per egg, trends and summaries.
• To add weather to your logged days (section 3).
• To unlock and manage Eggonomics Pro.
• To send the emails you ask for: address verification and password reset.
• To fix crashes, prevent abuse and understand which features are used.
• To read and answer your feedback and problem reports.

We do not use your data for advertising, sell it, or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similar effects.

3. Who processes your data

Zippopotam.us and Open-Meteo are contacted by our server, not by your phone, and never receive your name, email or account identifier. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or as part of a transfer of the app to a new operator, who would be bound by this policy.

4. Household sharing

If you join or create a shared household (an Eggonomics Pro feature), every member can see the household's flock and records, and each egg, cost and health entry shows the display name of the member who logged it. Members see each other's display names and the owner sees members' roles. When you invite someone by email address, the person signed in with that address sees your household's name and your display name in their app. Leave a household at any time from Settings > Household; entries you logged there stay with that household.

5. AI photo check

Eggonomics Pro lets a keeper with a saved account photograph a bird, droppings or an egg and get general, informational observations. Guests, keepers without Pro and view-only household members cannot run a check. This is what happens:

• Consent first. Before a photo is sent, the app shows where it goes and what is kept, and asks you to agree. If you choose "Not now", nothing is sent. Our server records which version of that text you agreed to and when, and asks again if the text changes.
• Metadata removed on your phone. The app re-encodes the photo (at most 1280 pixels on its longest side) and removes location (GPS), camera and other embedded details (Exif, XMP, IPTC and comments) before it leaves your phone. A photo that still carries any of them is not sent. Our server removes any such details again before the photo goes further.
• Where the photo goes. It travels over an encrypted connection to the Eggonomics server (Google Cloud Functions) and from there to Google's Gemini API, which looks at it and writes the observations. Our server then removes anything that reads like a drug name, a dose, a withdrawal period or a link before you see the result.
• No photo kept unless you save it. Eggonomics does not store the photo on its servers. Google may keep request data for a limited time as its Gemini API terms allow, for example to detect abuse. If you save the result and keep the photo with it, the photo is stored with that health entry like any other health photo.
• What our server keeps for each check. A record with the time, the model, the disclaimer and consent versions, the subject, the urgency band, whether our safety filter changed the answer, and the photo's size in bytes. It holds no photo and none of the observation text. We also keep a monthly counter of the checks you have used (20 a month unless the app says otherwise, reset on the 1st of each month, UTC). The records, the counter and your consent are kept until you delete your account.
• Saved results. A result you save becomes part of that bird's or the flock's health log. Like your other records it is backed up, visible to your household, and included in your export.
• Not veterinary advice. Results are informational observations. They cannot diagnose or treat a bird. If you are worried about a bird, contact a vet.

6. How long we keep data

• Your records are kept until you delete them or delete your account.
• Photo check records (section 5): the per-check record, the monthly counter and your consent are kept until you delete your account. No photo from a check is kept unless you save it with a health entry.
• Guest accounts that are never saved to an email, Google or Apple account and go unused for 90 days are deleted automatically, together with their records.
• Feedback and problem reports are kept with your account until you delete it. The emailed copy stays in the developer's mailbox only as long as needed to answer you and fix the problem.
• Crash reports are kept for up to 90 days. Analytics events are kept for the retention period set in Google Analytics, no longer than 14 months.
• After you delete your account, Google Firebase may hold deleted data in short-lived internal backups until they are overwritten.

7. Your choices and rights

• Access and export: export all your records to CSV from Settings at any time, free.
• Correct: edit or delete any record in the app.
• Delete: Settings > Account > Delete account and all data deletes your account and records from our servers and your phone. You can also ask us by email.
• Notifications: reminders are local to your phone and can be turned off in the app or in your phone's settings.

Depending on where you live (for example California, Virginia or Colorado), you may have rights to know, access, correct, delete and port your personal information, and to not be discriminated against for using them. We do not sell or share personal information as those laws define it. To use any of these rights, email support@eggonomics.app. We will verify the request comes from the account holder and answer within 45 days.

8. Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest by Google Firebase. Access is limited by security rules to you and the members of your household. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach that affects you, we will notify you as the law requires.

9. Children

Eggonomics is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Not veterinary advice

Eggonomics is a record-keeping tool. Nothing in the app, including health records, medication withdrawal flags and the AI photo check, is veterinary advice. Always consult a veterinarian about your birds' health and medication.

11. Changes

We will post any change to this policy on this page with a new "Last updated" date, and tell you in the app if a change is significant.

12. Contact

Emberly Apps, Eggonomics. Email support@eggonomics.app.