Last updated: November 2, 2026 · Applies to the Ornivox app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, including its beta on TestFlight.

1. The short version

Ornivox identifies birds on your device. It has no server, no account, no analytics and no advertising, and I receive no data from it. Your journal stays on your devices and, if you use iCloud, in your own private iCloud. The app goes online only to fetch the weather for a journal entry from Apple, and when you open a map or a link.

2. Controller / contact

Natalia Andrzejewski
Johannestr. 24
53844 Troisdorf, Germany
Email: natiosdev@gmail.com

3. The microphone

While you listen, Ornivox analyzes sound in three-second windows, in memory, on your device, using the BirdNET models. Windows are not uploaded. Any window in which Ornivox hears a human voice is discarded straight away and never stored, and by default listening stops when people talk. Of everything it hears, Ornivox keeps only the clearest three-second clip of each bird it saves to your journal, never a window with voices in it.

4. Your location

Ornivox uses your approximate location to work out which birds are likely around you this time of year; that calculation happens on your device. The place where a bird was heard is saved with its journal entry, and the last place found is remembered on the device so the app works under trees, where a GPS fix can take a while. Location access is optional: you can choose a place by hand, or use the app without one.

5. Your journal

Each journal entry holds the species, the date and time, how sure Ornivox was, the place, the weather, the three-second clip, and any notes and photos you add. Photos you choose are resized and their location data is removed before they are saved. The journal is stored on your device. If you are signed in to iCloud, it syncs between your devices through your own private iCloud database (CloudKit), which only you can access; I have no access to it. Deleting an entry, or the app, removes it from your device; entries synced to iCloud can be managed in your iCloud settings.

6. Weather

To add the weather to a journal entry, Ornivox asks Apple Weather (WeatherKit) for the conditions at the hour the bird was heard, at a location rounded to about a kilometre. The request goes to Apple, not to me, and contains no identifier of you or the bird. Apple processes it under its own terms; see Apple's privacy policy and the Apple Weather data sources linked in the app.

7. Apple Watch, Siri, Spotlight and Apple Intelligence

The Apple Watch app identifies birds on the watch and sends the ones it hears straight to your paired iPhone, which adds them to the journal. When you ask Siri about your birds, or find them in Spotlight, the answers come from your device; the Spotlight index stays on your device. Summaries, suggested notes and Describe a Bird use Apple Intelligence on your device; nothing is sent to a server for them.

8. Links and maps

The field guide's descriptions, facts and photos are built into the app. Wikipedia articles, photo sources on Wikimedia Commons, and places in Apple Maps open only when you tap them, in Safari or Maps, under those services' own terms.

9. Permissions

Ornivox asks for the microphone (to hear birds) and for your location while you use it (to know which birds to expect). Photo access is only through the system photo picker, for photos you choose to add. Each permission is used solely for the purpose stated in its prompt and can be changed at any time in Settings.

10. Third parties

The app embeds no third-party SDKs, trackers or advertising frameworks. If you install Ornivox through TestFlight or the App Store, Apple processes data under its own terms. TestFlight may share crash reports and feedback you choose to send with me as the developer, including your device model and the app version; see Apple's privacy policy.

11. Children

Because Ornivox collects no personal data, it is suitable for birders of any age, including children.

12. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection, and the right to complain to a supervisory authority. Since I hold no personal data from Ornivox, the practical answer to any data request is: your data exists only on your devices and in your own iCloud, where you can view and delete it. For any questions, email me.

13. Changes

If a future version of Ornivox changes any of the above, this policy will be updated here before that version ships.