Privacy Policy

Effective November 9, 2026

Fernwell is a houseplant care app for iPhone. You keep your plants and their care schedules in the app, and you can ask Sprig, an AI assistant, for help. This policy explains what information the app handles, where it is sent and how long it is kept. Fernwell is made by an individual developer; “we” and “us” mean that developer.

In short

• Your plants, photos, care history and Sprig conversation are stored on your iPhone. We do not receive, back up or sync them.
• Your account exists only on your iPhone. There is no Fernwell server account.
• Sprig sends data only when you ask it something and have given consent. It sends your recent messages and, unless you turn it off, a short summary of your plants. Our server uses DeepSeek to write the answer. Photos never leave your iPhone; only text and labels recognized on the device are sent.
• No advertising, no tracking across other companies’ apps or websites, and no sale of data.

Data kept on your device

Each account has its own private database in the app’s storage on your iPhone. It holds:

• your plants: nickname, species, room, light, watering and feeding intervals, acquired date, health, notes and any photo you add;
• care tasks, the history of care you logged, and check-ups (Sprig’s diagnoses);
• your conversation with Sprig, including small thumbnails of photos you attached and the suggestions Sprig made.

The app also stores the following in its settings on your iPhone:

• the profile of each account used on the device: a random account id, display name, email address, sign-in method and the date it was created;
• which account is signed in;
• for each account, your AI consent and the “Share my plants with Sprig” choice, whether the AI tour has been shown, and Sprig’s latest action and applied schedule changes (so you can undo them).

Several people can use separate accounts on one iPhone, and each account sees only its own plants.

Signing in

You can choose Apple, Google or email on the welcome screen. In the current version of Fernwell, each of these creates or opens an account that is stored only on your iPhone. Your sign-in details are not sent to us, and the app does not use passwords.

• Apple or Google: the app creates a local account with a random id and a placeholder name and email address. You can change the name in Me › Account › Name.
• Email: you enter your email address and a 6-digit code to confirm it. The code expires after 10 minutes. In the current version no email is sent; the code is shown in the app. Your email address and name (taken from the address) are stored on your iPhone.

Photos and permissions

You can add a photo to a plant, or attach up to four photos when you ask Sprig (for example a nursery tag or a leaf). Photos are chosen with the iOS photo picker, so the app receives only the photos you pick and does not ask for access to your photo library. Fernwell does not use the camera, your location, contacts, health data or notifications.

Plant photos stay in the app on your iPhone. When you attach a photo to a Sprig message, the app reads it on your iPhone with Apple’s Vision framework to find printed text and image labels (such as “houseplant”). Only that text and those labels are sent, never the photo itself. A small thumbnail is kept on your iPhone in the conversation. If nothing can be read, the app tells you before anything is sent.

Sprig, the AI assistant

Sprig answers only when you ask it something, type a message, tap one of its commands or use “Ask Sprig about this plant”. Before the first request on each account, the app shows a consent page that explains what is sent and that DeepSeek processes it. Nothing is sent unless you tap Agree & Continue.

Each request sends the following to our server:

• the most recent messages of your Sprig conversation (up to 16, including Sprig’s replies). Tapping a command sends its prompt as a message;
• unless you turn off “Share my plants with Sprig”, a summary of your plants: the current month; for each plant (up to 30) its name, species, room, light, watering and feeding intervals, days since last watered, days until the next watering, health, how long you have had it and any open issue; the care tasks due today, overdue or due in the next 7 days (plant name and task title); care counts and on-time rates for the last 30 days and this month; and your last 5 check-ups. Plant notes and photos are not included;
• for photos you attach (up to four), the text and labels recognized on your iPhone;
• your random account id, so our server can apply the daily message limit.

Our server sends the conversation, plant summary and photo text to DeepSeek, which generates Sprig’s answer. DeepSeek acts as our AI service provider and processes this data under its own terms and privacy policy. Our server returns the answer to the app and does not store your messages, plant summary or Sprig’s answers.

To run the service, our server keeps a few technical records:

• a count of Sprig messages per account id per day, used for the daily limit and held only in the server’s memory;
• a log line for each answer with the first characters of your account id, the response time and the number of suggestions;
• if an answer cannot be read, a short excerpt (up to 160 characters) of the AI’s output, and error messages returned by DeepSeek, to diagnose problems.

Sprig’s suggestions (plants, care tasks, check-ups and schedule changes) are saved to your plants on your iPhone, and you can undo the latest one. Dashboards are calculated on your iPhone; Sprig only chooses what to show.

Your choices

• Me › AI & Privacy › “Share my plants with Sprig”: turn it off and only your messages and any photo text are sent.
• Me › AI & Privacy › Withdraw AI Consent: Sprig stops sending anything and asks again before your next message.
• Sprig’s Plant Clinic › New: clears the conversation stored on your iPhone.

What we don’t do

• No advertising and no advertising identifiers.
• No analytics or tracking across other companies’ apps or websites, and no sharing with data brokers.
• We don’t sell or rent your data.
• Your plant database is not uploaded to us. Only the summary described above is sent with Sprig requests.

Our server and providers

Like any online service, our server and its hosting and network providers receive your IP address when the app connects to them. Sprig’s answers are generated by DeepSeek.

International processing

Our server and DeepSeek may be located in a different country from yours. DeepSeek may process requests on servers outside your country, including in the People’s Republic of China. By using Sprig after giving consent, you understand that the data described above is transferred for this purpose. You can use the rest of Fernwell without Sprig, and nothing is sent in that case.

How long data is kept

• On your iPhone: until you delete it, delete the account in the app, or delete the app.
• Sprig requests: our server does not keep them after the answer is returned.
• Daily message counts: held only in the server’s memory and not written to a database.
• Server logs: kept only as long as needed to run and troubleshoot the service.
• Data processed by DeepSeek: under DeepSeek’s own policies.

Deleting your data

Me › Account › Delete Account removes the account and its whole database from your iPhone: plants, photos, care tasks and history, check-ups and the Sprig conversation. A few small per-account AI settings listed above may remain in the app’s settings until you delete the app. Deleting the app removes everything the app stored on your iPhone. See Account deletion.

Your requests

Because your data is stored on your iPhone, you can view, change or delete it in the app at any time. We hold no account or plant data on our server. If you have a question or request about your data, email phamthanhhai9152@icloud.com.

Children

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

Changes

We may update this policy as the app changes. The effective date at the top shows when it was last updated.

Contact

Questions or requests: phamthanhhai9152@icloud.com.