Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2, 2026

Litterbug helps people log litter pickups, review detections, share cleanup activity, post cleanup spots, and send optional tips or bounties. This policy explains what information Litterbug collects and how it is used.

Contact: ehb@peas.phd

Information We Collect

Account information

• Email address, username, user ID, profile statistics, and account creation date.
• Authentication session data needed to keep you signed in.

Litter and cleanup activity

• Litter item records, including container type, detected brand when available, confidence, time, and location when location permission is enabled.
• Cleanup sessions, cleanup spots, spot claims, spot completions, validation status, and related notes.
• Public community posts, comments, reactions, hashtags, cleanup photos, and generated share cards you choose to post.

Camera, photos, and machine learning review data

• Camera frames are used to detect litter while scanning.
• The app may save still images of logged litter for your review/training queue, including OCR text, model summaries, correction status, and related artifacts.
• Photos you choose for cleanup posts or completions may be uploaded and shown publicly when attached to public content.

Location data

• Foreground location may be used while scanning or using the map to tag litter, center the map, create cleanup spots, and estimate walking movement.
• Some cleanup spot locations are public map pins by design.
• Session sharing lets you choose whether to include broader location context, exact coordinates, or route-style map output.

Payments and payouts

• Tips and bounties use Stripe. Litterbug stores transaction IDs, amounts, fees, payment status, payout status, and Stripe customer or connected-account identifiers.
• Card, bank, identity verification, and payout destination details are handled by Stripe.

Feedback and support

• Feedback submitted in the app, support messages, and related metadata needed to respond.

Diagnostics and beta testing

• App/build context, device/OS context, scan performance samples, battery/thermal indicators, and error states used to troubleshoot beta issues.
• TestFlight and App Store diagnostics may also be handled by Apple.

Password safety check

• During signup, Litterbug checks whether a password appears in Have I Been Pwned's Pwned Passwords database using k-anonymity. The app sends only the first five characters of the SHA-1 hash of the password, not the password itself.

How We Use Information

• Create and manage accounts.
• Log litter pickups and cleanup sessions.
• Show leaderboards, profiles, badges, maps, and public community content.
• Improve litter detection and brand recognition.
• Process optional tips, bounties, payouts, and related reconciliation.
• Inform litter management, cleanup planning, environmental research, public-interest reporting, and applications for external funding or grants.
• Prevent duplicate counts, abuse, unauthorized access, and payment misuse.
• Respond to support requests and beta feedback.
• Diagnose crashes, performance, and launch-readiness issues.

Public Information

Some information is public by design:

• Usernames, profile totals, leaderboard totals, public community posts, comments, reactions, cleanup spot pins, cleanup completion content, and public photos attached to those surfaces.
• Litter item aggregate/detail records may be visible in app surfaces such as leaderboards and public activity features.

Do not post a cleanup spot, photo, comment, or exact location if you do not want it to be visible to other users.

Sharing With Service Providers

Litterbug uses service providers to run the app:

• Supabase for authentication, database, backend functions, and realtime app data.
• Cloudflare R2 for media/object storage.
• Stripe for payments, tips, bounties, connected accounts, identity/payment compliance, and payouts.
• Apple services including TestFlight, App Store, Apple Pay where enabled, maps/location platform services, and system diagnostics.
• Have I Been Pwned Pwned Passwords API for signup password safety checks.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not use third-party advertising or cross-app tracking.

Data Retention

We keep account, activity, payment, cleanup, and community records as long as needed to operate Litterbug, maintain public cleanup history, comply with payment/legal obligations, prevent abuse, and improve detection quality.

Some public content may remain visible until deleted, hidden, or moderated. Payment and payout records may need to be retained for accounting, fraud prevention, dispute handling, and legal compliance.

Your Choices

• Decline camera, photo, motion, or location permissions, though some features may not work.
• Choose what location detail to include in share output.
• Delete your own community posts or cleanup spots when the app allows it.
• Sign out at any time.
• Contact support to request account deletion or data access.

Children's Privacy

Litterbug is not directed to children under 13. Because Litterbug can collect account information, location data, photos, public community content, and payment-related records, children under 13 should not create accounts or submit information through Litterbug unless and until a parent/guardian consent process is in place. Parents or guardians may supervise cleanup activity and may use an adult-controlled account themselves while supervising a child.

Changes

We may update this policy as Litterbug changes. The updated policy will include a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

For privacy or support requests, contact ehb@peas.phd.