Privacy Policy for Terne

Last updated: July 29, 2026

Terne is a birding app developed by Smilio ("we", "us"). This policy explains how Terne handles your information. In short: your photos, sightings and notes stay on your device, and we don't collect any personal data. Terne has no accounts, no ads, and no analytics or tracking.

Information we collect

None. Terne does not ask for your name, email, or any other personal information, and it does not require an account. We operate no servers and receive no data about you.

Your photos and sightings

When you record a bird, Terne saves the photo, the species, your notes, the date and the place locally on your device. Bird identification runs on your device using Apple's on-device machine learning — your photos are never uploaded to us or to anyone else. Your collection, journal, map and field guide all work offline, and everything is removed if you delete the app.

Location

If you grant location access, Terne uses your location for two things:

• To tag a sighting with where you saw the bird. This is stored only on your device.
• To show which birds have been seen near you, by asking public birding databases what has been observed in your general area (see below).

Location access is optional. If you decline it, the rest of the app works normally.

Public birding databases

The "seen near you" feature queries public wildlife observation databases — GBIF, and eBird if you choose to add your own free eBird API token. These requests contain only an approximate geographic area and no identifying information about you, and are used solely to fetch nearby bird observations. Your photos, notes and collection are never included. These services are operated independently of Smilio and have their own privacy policies.

API keys you provide

If you choose to add an API token in Settings, it is stored in the iOS Keychain on your device and is sent only to the service it belongs to. We never see it.

Analytics, tracking, and advertising

Terne contains no analytics, no tracking, no advertising, and no third-party advertising SDKs. We do not track you across apps or websites, and we do not build any profile about you.

Children's privacy

Because Terne collects no personal information from anyone, it collects none from children. The app is safe for birders of all ages in this respect.

Changes to this policy

If this policy ever changes, we will update this page and revise the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be reflected here before they take effect.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at smilio.app@gmail.com.