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Fledge

Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 5, 2026

1. Overview

Fledge (“we”, “our”, or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use the Fledge iOS app and website.

2. Data We Collect

  • eBird CSV data: Your birding observations that you voluntarily import into Fledge. The CSV is parsed in the iOS app or your browser; the resulting observation records are then sent to Fledge's server for account-scoped storage and personalized features.
  • Species saved in Fledge: Birds marked as seen or saved from Sound ID sync their scientific and common names to your account so recommendations on the web can exclude them. An opaque source identifier and revision keep devices and offline changes in sync. This sync does not upload sighting dates, coordinates, notes, or audio, and does not submit sightings to eBird. Those sighting details remain on your device. Species names are not sent as analytics properties. Account deletion removes the synced names.
  • Account identity: Fledge authenticates you through Clerk (email address or a connected sign-in provider) — this is the only credential that controls access to your account. An eBird username is never a password or a way to sign in.
  • Analytics identity: Fledge uses PostHog (a third-party analytics processor) for product analytics. Before you sign in, PostHog assigns your browser a persistent anonymous id (stored in local storage) so we can measure the signed-out marketing site. Once you sign in, PostHog identifies you with your stable Fledge account ID (not your Clerk ID or eBird username) — and, per PostHog's standard identify behavior, that anonymous browser's prior history may be associated with your account at that point, not kept permanently separate. From then on, every subsequent page view and in-app interaction in that browser is linked to your account identity — not just the feedback described below, and not merely anonymously aggregated. Every real sign-out path on the website (Settings, the app sidebar, and account deletion) resets that identity before your session actually ends, so the browser reverts to a fresh, unlinked anonymous id rather than continuing to report activity under your account after you've signed out.

3. Analytics & Monitoring

Fledge uses these third-party analytics/monitoring service providers on the website, configured as follows:

  • PostHog (product analytics): page views, feature usage, and the in-app feedback form described below. See “Analytics identity” above for exactly when this is account-linked versus anonymous.
  • Sentry (error monitoring and performance tracing) on the website: unhandled errors and logs, and a sample of page-load/ navigation performance traces (10% of sessions in production, all sessions in development). Sentry also records a sample of Session Replay — a visual, DOM-level recording of what happened on screen — for 10% of sessions and 100% of sessions that hit an error. On the Likely Birds page, Fledge removes coordinates embedded in page URLs from Sentry request URLs, navigation breadcrumbs, transaction names, and replay recording URLs before they leave your browser. Sentry is configured to not attach default personal information (name, email, IP address) to events.
  • Vercel Analytics & Speed Insights (Vercel, a third-party service provider): anonymized page views and Core Web Vitals/performance metrics, not linked to your Fledge account or identity.

The Fledge iOS app uses Sentry too, but with its own separate configuration — do not assume the website's rates above apply to iOS. The iOS app sends crash reports, error captures, and automatic breadcrumbs (a trail of recent in-app actions leading up to an error) to Sentry, along with a sample of performance traces at a 20% rate. The iOS app does not use Session Replay.

We don't control exactly how long each service provider (PostHog, Sentry, Vercel) retains raw event data on their own infrastructure; contact privacy@fledgebird.com if you have questions about a specific provider.

4. How We Use Your Data

  • To generate personalized birding insights, stats, and visualizations.
  • To cross-reference your observations with public data sources (GBIF-hosted eBird frequency data, AviList, Open-Meteo, NOAA Tides & Currents, National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, IUCN Red List) for enriched context.
  • Aggregated vs. identified analytics: We analyze product analytics (page views, feature usage, and error rates) in aggregate to improve the app and fix bugs. Aggregate analysis does not mean the underlying signed-in events are de-identified: after PostHog identifies you, those events are account-linked as described above. Feedback submitted through the in-app form also sends your verbatim free-text response tied to your account ID so we can act on it. Please don't include passwords, payment details, or other sensitive information in feedback text; it may contain personal information and is used for product improvement, not resold or shared with advertisers.

5. Data Storage & Security

Your birding data is stored securely using industry-standard encryption. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. Your eBird CSV data remains yours — you can delete your account and all of it at any time from Settings, or email privacy@fledgebird.com to request an export.

6. Third-Party Data Sources

Fledge integrates publicly available data from the following sources to enrich your experience:

  • GBIF-hosted eBird Observation Dataset (EOD), sourced from Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CC BY 4.0) — the basis of Fledge's species frequency and seasonal timing data
  • AviList — Taxonomic data (CC BY 4.0)
  • Open-Meteo — Weather data
  • Google Routes — Web driving route and traffic estimates
  • NOAA Tides & Currents — Coastal station metadata and tide predictions
  • National Park Service — Official park destinations and visitor alerts
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Refuge boundary names and locations
  • IUCN Red List — Conservation status data

Species-frequency, seasonal-timing, taxonomy, and conservation-status reference data is fetched periodically and cached in Fledge's own database. When you select a Trip Targets destination, Fledge may send that destination's coordinates—not your observation history—to Open-Meteo and NOAA to request current weather context and tide predictions. On the website, when you choose “Use my location” or refresh a driving route, Fledge requests your current location and sends its coordinates and the selected destination's coordinates through Fledge's server to Google Routes for a drive-time estimate. Your observation history is not sent with that request. If official NPS destination search is enabled and you use it, Fledge sends your search text to NPS through Fledge's server. After you explicitly choose an NPS-labelled result, Fledge sends only its stable park code to request current visitor alerts. Ordinary map results and imported checklist locations are not silently matched to an agency property. Refuge boundary data identifies nearby USFWS-managed land but does not establish that an area is open to visitors. This reference and conditions data is never sold or shared for advertising.

7. Your Rights

  • Deletion: You can permanently delete your account and all associated data at any time, self-service, from Settings → Danger Zone.
  • Access & portability: Fledge doesn't yet have a self-service page to view or export everything we store about you. Email privacy@fledgebird.com and we'll get you a copy.
  • Correction: Fledge doesn't yet have a self-service page to edit stored account details. Email privacy@fledgebird.com to correct inaccurate information.

8. Cookies & Tracking

The Fledge website sets essential cookies for authentication and session management (via Clerk). Product analytics (PostHog) is configured to use your browser's local storage instead of cookies. Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights are cookieless by design. We do not use third-party advertising trackers or sell data to advertisers.

9. Children's Privacy

Fledge is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. Continued use of Fledge after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@fledgebird.com.