Privacy Policy
Last updated: 7 July 2026
Bug Club is an iOS app made by Joshua Green that lets you photograph real insects, identify them with AI, and collect them as illustrated cards. This policy explains what information the app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have. The short version: we collect the minimum needed to make the club work, we don't run ads, and we never sell your data.
Information you provide
- Account details — an email address, a username, and a password. Passwords are stored only in securely hashed form by our authentication provider. You can use most of the app without an account; an account is needed for scanning, friends, and the leaderboard.
- Profile photo (optional) — if you set one, it is stored on our servers and is visible to other Bug Club members next to your username.
- Photos you scan — when you scan an insect, your photo is sent to our server and passed to our AI providers to identify the creature and generate card artwork. Your photos are not stored on our servers and are never shown to other members — only the resulting cartoon illustration of the species is kept, in a shared archive used by all members.
Information collected automatically
- Location (optional) — with your permission, the app records where each catch happened so your cards can show a map pin and your profile can count places explored. If you publish cards to your collection (automatic when signed in), the catch location and place name are included and visible to other members who view your collection. You can decline location access in iOS Settings at any time; the app works fully without it.
- Collection and score data — your caught cards (species, invented card details), collection statistics, and score are stored on our servers and are visible to other members via your public profile and the leaderboard.
- Scan counts — we count how many scans your account makes per day to enforce a fair-use limit.
Who processes your data
Bug Club uses three service providers, each receiving only what's needed for its job:
- Supabase — hosts our database, authentication, and file storage (accounts, profiles, follows, published cards, avatars, and the shared illustration archive).
- Anthropic (Claude) — receives your scanned photo to identify the insect and write the card's details. Photos are processed per Anthropic's API data policies and are not used to train their models.
- Google (Gemini) — receives a cropped image of the insect to generate the card's illustration.
We do not use advertising networks, analytics trackers, or data brokers, and we never sell personal information.
What other members can see
Bug Club is a social collecting game. If you create an account, other members can see your username, profile photo, score, rank, collection statistics, your published cards (including the general area where each was caught, if location was enabled), and whether you follow them. Your email address, exact device data, and original photos are never visible to anyone.
Data retention and deletion
Your data is kept while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Settings → Delete Account), which permanently removes your account, profile, follows, published cards, and profile photo from our servers. Cards saved on your own device stay on your device and are removed by deleting the app.
Children
Bug Club is a family-friendly app, but accounts are not intended for children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country) without a parent or guardian's consent. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; if you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (including under UK and EU GDPR), you may have rights to access, correct, export, or erase your personal data, and to object to its processing. Most of these you can exercise directly in the app; for anything else, email us and we'll respond within 30 days.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, we'll update this page and note it in the app. The "last updated" date at the top always reflects the current version.
Contact
Joshua Green
joshua.kasyoka.green@gmail.com