Privacy Policy
Effective 3 October 2026
In short: The Standard Botanical app does not collect or share any personal data. There are no accounts, ads, analytics, or trackers. Everything you enter in the app, and every photo you add, stays on your own device. If you choose to email us, for example to ask us to add a plant, see “If you email us” below.
Who we are
Standard Botanical is a houseplant care app developed and published by Sebastian Lassen. In this policy, “we” and “us” refer to the developer.
Questions about this policy can be sent to privacy@standardbotanical.com.
Information stored on your device
To work, the app keeps the following on your device:
- The plants you add: plant type, the nickname you give each plant, and an optional location label you type yourself (for example “Kitchen windowsill”). This is free text, not your GPS position.
- Photos you add to your plants. The app keeps its own resized copy of each photo in its private storage.
- The light level you set for each plant.
- Care schedules, such as how often each plant should be watered and when it is next due.
- Your care history, such as when you marked a plant as watered, and your answers when the app asks about watering (for example “Not yet”).
- Your settings: which hemisphere you live in, and whether you have cats or dogs at home.
- Your Plantdex progress and unlocked achievements.
This information never leaves your device through the app. We cannot see it, and it is not sent to us or to anyone else.
Photos, the camera and the light sensor
- Taking a photo of a plant uses your camera. The app asks for permission the first time.
- Choosing a photo from your album uses your phone’s own photo picker. This needs no permission: the app receives only the photo you pick and cannot see the rest of your library.
- Either way, the app saves a resized copy in its own storage. The original in your photo album is never changed or deleted.
- The app does not read the location or any other information stored inside your plant photos.
- The light check estimates how much light a spot gets. On Android it reads the phone’s light sensor, which needs no permission. On iPhone it takes one picture of a sheet of white paper with the camera, reads only the exposure settings from it, and deletes the picture straight away. Only the light level you choose is saved.
Information we collect
None. The Standard Botanical app does not:
- require an account or ask for your name, email address, or other contact details;
- use analytics, advertising, crash-reporting, or tracking services;
- upload your photos, your plants, or any other data;
- access your location, contacts, or microphone;
- sell, rent, or share any information with third parties.
If you email us
The app can open a ready-made email asking us to add a plant or a variant that is missing. It only opens your own mail app with the text filled in: you decide whether to send it, and the app itself sends nothing.
If you send it, or any other email, we receive what you write: your email address, the plant’s name and any photos you attach. We use it to answer you and to add the plant to the app, and we do not share it with anyone else.
A photo you attach goes into the app’s Plantdex only if you took it yourself and said yes to that in your email. It is then credited to the name you gave. No answer means no. You can ask us at any time to remove your photo or your name from the app, or to delete your emails.
We use what you send to answer you and to add the plant because we have a legitimate interest in answering the requests you send us. We show your photo and your name in the app only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time; we then remove them.
We delete a plant request email once it is handled (the plant is added, or we decide not to add it), and at the latest 12 months after we receive it. If you said yes to using your photo, we keep that yes, your name and the date for as long as the photo is in the app, as the record of your permission.
Permissions
On Android the app requests the permissions below, with each one’s Android name in brackets.
- Camera (
android.permission.CAMERA): to take photos of your plants. You can say no; the rest of the app still works, and you can choose photos from your album instead. - Storage, on Android 12 and older only (
android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE): declared by the libraries the app uses for photos and files. On Android 9 and older the camera needs storage access to save the picture it takes, so the app asks for it together with the camera. The app only uses the photo you take or pick; it does not browse your files. - Notifications (
android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS,android.permission.VIBRATE,android.permission.WAKE_LOCK): to show watering reminders, let them vibrate, and deliver them while the phone is asleep. Reminders are scheduled locally on your device; no notification service receives your plant data. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings. - Run at startup (
android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED): lets the app restore your scheduled reminders after your device restarts. - Internet access (
android.permission.INTERNET,android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE): included by the app framework and used only to open web links you choose to tap, such as this policy. The app does not send your data anywhere. - Added by libraries the app is built with. The app does not use these to access any of your data:
- Push messages (
com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE): lets an app receive messages from a server through Google. Standard Botanical has no server and never signs up for push messages; all its reminders are created on your device. - Install referrer (
com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE): would let an app ask Google Play how it was found. Standard Botanical never asks. - App icon badges and shortcuts: let the home screen show a number on the app icon, on phones whose launcher supports it (
android.permission.READ_APP_BADGE,com.android.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS,com.android.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS,com.android.launcher.permission.INSTALL_SHORTCUT,com.android.launcher.permission.UNINSTALL_SHORTCUT,com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.READ,com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.WRITE,com.htc.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS,com.htc.launcher.permission.UPDATE_SHORTCUT,com.sonyericsson.home.permission.BROADCAST_BADGE,com.sonymobile.home.permission.PROVIDER_INSERT_BADGE,com.anddoes.launcher.permission.UPDATE_COUNT,com.majeur.launcher.permission.UPDATE_BADGE,com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.CHANGE_BADGE,com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS,com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS,com.oppo.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS,com.oppo.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS,me.everything.badger.permission.BADGE_COUNT_READ,me.everything.badger.permission.BADGE_COUNT_WRITE). - An internal permission that only the app itself holds, so its own parts can pass messages to each other privately (
com.sebastianlassen.standardbotanical.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION).
- Push messages (
Choosing photos from your album and reading the light sensor need no permission. On iPhone the app asks only for the camera (for plant photos and the light check) and for notifications.
Device backups
If backups are turned on for your device (for example Android backup to your Google account), your operating system may include the app’s data, including your plant photos, in that backup so it can be restored on a new device. These backups are created and stored by your device’s platform provider under its own privacy policy. We have no access to them.
This website
This website is hosted on GitHub Pages. GitHub keeps visitors’ IP addresses in its server logs for security, under GitHub’s privacy statement. We have no access to those logs, and the site uses no cookies.
Deleting your data
Removing a photo in the app, or deleting a plant, deletes the app’s copy of its photos straight away. The original in your photo album stays where it is.
When you delete a plant, the app hides its other details (nickname, location, schedule, and care history) but keeps them on your device. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in your device settings, permanently removes all of its data from your device. To remove data from a device backup, manage your backups in your Google account or device settings.
The app gives us none of your personal data, so there is nothing from it for us to access, correct, export, or delete on your behalf. If you have emailed us, you can ask us to see, correct or delete those emails, and to remove a photo of yours and its credit from the app. You are always welcome to contact us with any privacy question.
Children
Standard Botanical is not directed at children under 13. The app does not collect personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes to this policy
If we add other features that handle personal data, such as user accounts or cloud sync, we will update this policy before those features are released and change the effective date above. Material changes will also be announced in the app or on its store listing.
Contact
Sebastian Lassen
Email: privacy@standardbotanical.com