Privacy Policy

Overview

Cambium is a plant-identification and care application provided by MaskedSyntax. A Cambium account is optional for free use on iOS and Android; new purchases require sign-in. Existing App Store purchases can still be restored without an account. Your guest Garden is stored locally. When you sign in, sync turns on for your account Garden across supported devices using the same Cambium account; you can turn sync off in Settings. Plant photos are sent for analysis only when you choose to identify a plant or check its visible health. This policy describes what Cambium does today.

Information we process

• Account information: if you choose to sign in, Firebase Authentication processes your email address, provider account identifier, Firebase user identifier, and any name you choose to share through Apple or Google. Cambium uses the Firebase identifier to connect purchase access to your account and, when you sign in, to keep each Garden separated under the correct account.
• Plant photos and scan results: every photo submitted for identification or diagnosis is sent from the app to CambiumRelay (our server), which forwards it to OpenAI's API to produce a result. This happens for every scan — Cambium does not identify plants on your device. CambiumRelay does not intentionally retain the submitted image after completing the request. OpenAI's handling of the image while processing it is governed by OpenAI's own API data usage policies, which are separate from this policy; under OpenAI's standard API terms, data sent through their API is not used to train their models.
• Garden data: plant names, care information, photos, diagnoses, notes, treatment progress, and scan history are stored in private app storage on your device. When you sign in, account Garden records and normalized Garden photos are also stored in Google Cloud Firestore and Firebase Storage under your Firebase account so they can synchronize across supported iOS and Android devices. Your guest Garden stays local until you choose to add it to the account, and Cambium never replaces either Garden silently. You can turn sync off in Settings. An export leaves the app only when you explicitly share the generated file.
• Usage information: a randomly generated installation identifier and monthly scan counts are sent to CambiumRelay to enforce free-plan limits and prevent abuse. Identification, diagnosis and recovery re-check counts enforce the applicable plan limits. Signed-in usage is associated with your Firebase account; free guest usage uses the installation identifier. If you have an active Apple purchase, its App Store receipt can be sent so the relay can confirm your access. It identifies the product and expiry, but contains no card or bank details; the relay verifies it and discards it rather than storing it. Cambium can also send optional aggregate product events such as onboarding completion, scan success, or a broad error category. These events do not include photos, plant names, results, diagnoses, notes, account identifiers, advertising identifiers, or the installation identifier, and can be disabled in Settings where that control is available.
• Purchase information: Apple processes iOS purchase payments and Google Play processes Android purchase payments. Cambium and RevenueCat receive the product, purchase status, trial status, store, and expiry needed to unlock paid features. They never receive your card or bank details. Existing purchases can still be verified directly from Apple without an account.
• Support messages: if you contact support, we receive the information you choose to include. The app pre-fills its version and platform in a support email draft; you can edit or remove those details before sending.

Website analytics

On this website, Vercel Web Analytics measures aggregate page visits and referral sources. When someone follows an App Store or Google Play link, a small Cloudflare endpoint records the store name and website page path as an aggregate click count. We do not send plant photos, Garden data, account identifiers, or form contents to website analytics. This website measurement is separate from the Cambium mobile apps.

What Cambium does not do

Cambium does not sell personal information. The mobile apps do not include advertising SDKs, third-party analytics SDKs, or crash-reporting SDKs. Firebase Authentication and RevenueCat are used for account and purchase functionality, not advertising or cross-app tracking. Optional first-party aggregate product events do not create a behavioral profile and are retained for no more than 30 days. We do not use your photos to train a Cambium model. Watering and care reminders are scheduled entirely on your device; no notification content or push token is sent to a server.

How information is used

We use this information to identify plants, provide visible-health and care guidance, operate purchases, synchronize the account Garden for signed-in users unless they disable it, enforce usage limits, respond to support requests, and protect the service.

Service providers

Cambium relies on Cloudflare for CambiumRelay, usage counters, and aggregate website store-click counts; OpenAI for image-based plant analysis; Apple for iOS distribution and payment processing; Google for Android distribution and payment processing; Google Firebase for optional accounts and account-based Firestore/Storage Garden sync; and RevenueCat for purchase entitlement management. Cambium sends OpenAI a hashed safety identifier rather than its installation UUID and requests that API responses are not stored. These providers process information only as needed to provide their services and under their own applicable terms and privacy policies.

Retention and deletion

Local Garden data remains on your device until you delete it or uninstall the app. If Garden sync is enabled, synchronized data remains in Firebase until you delete the Garden everywhere or delete your Cambium account. CambiumRelay keeps monthly counters associated with a random installation identifier only as long as needed to enforce the free tier.

You can delete a Cambium account in Settings after confirming your identity. This removes the Firebase authentication account and Cambium's RevenueCat customer record and clears its cached entitlement status, synchronized Garden records, and synchronized Garden photos. Account deletion does not cancel or erase a purchase record held by Apple or Google Play. See our data deletion instructions. Support messages remain in our support mailbox as needed to respond and maintain ordinary business records.

Your choices

• Use scanning and local Garden storage without an account.
• Sign in with Apple, Google, or a passwordless email link and link providers with your consent.
• Turn account Garden sync off or back on, and choose whether to add an existing guest Garden.
• Remove an account Garden from one device or delete its synchronized copy everywhere.
• Delete your Cambium account from Settings.
• Export your Garden from Settings (Export my data on iPhone or Export Garden on Android).
• Delete local Garden data or reset the usage identity from Settings.
• Disable notification permission in your device settings.
• Manage or cancel a subscription through Settings → Manage subscription on iPhone or Manage purchase on Android, or directly in the App Store or Google Play account used to buy it.

Children

Cambium is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes and contact

We may update this policy when the product or legal requirements change. The updated date will be shown above. Questions or privacy requests can be sent to [email protected], or see our Support page.