Last updated: August 16, 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 collect nothing about you. Terne has no accounts, no ads, and no analytics or tracking. To answer "what is near me", the app does send your approximate position directly to a few public nature and weather services — those are listed in full below.
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 — nothing you do in Terne is sent to Smilio. The app talks only to the independent public services listed under Services Terne contacts.
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.
If you grant location access, Terne uses your location for three things:
Location access is optional. If you decline it, the rest of the app works normally — you can still identify birds, keep your collection and browse the field guide.
Terne has no servers of its own, and we never receive your data. The app does talk directly to a small number of independent public services. Each is listed below with exactly what it is sent. Your photos, notes and collection are never included in any of these requests.
Your exact position never leaves your phone. Before any request goes out, your coordinates are rounded to about a kilometre — enough to answer "what is near me" and to place you on a weather forecast grid, but not enough to say which street or building you are on. Your full-precision location is used only on your own device, to pin a sighting on your map.
These services are operated independently of Smilio and have their own privacy policies. As with any internet request, they will see the IP address your device connects from.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Questions about this policy? Contact us at hello@smilio.app.