Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Yellowstone Wildlife Scouts ("the App") is a wildlife tracking application for use at Yellowstone National Park. This Privacy Policy explains how information is handled when you use the App.

We take privacy seriously — especially for young users. The App is designed to function completely offline. We do not operate servers that receive personal data, and we have no interest in collecting or monetizing user information.

2. Information We Collect

Data Stored Locally on Your Device

The App stores the following data exclusively on your device using local storage (Hive database). This data never leaves your device and is never transmitted to us or any third party:

• Scout profile names and avatar/theme preferences you choose
• Wildlife sighting logs (species, date, and count)
• Earned badge records
• App settings and preferences
• Optionally cached NPS Junior Ranger PDF (if you choose to download it)

Data We Do NOT Collect

We do not collect, access, or receive any of the following:

• Real names, email addresses, or any personally identifiable information
• Location or GPS data
• Device identifiers, advertising IDs, or IP addresses
• Usage analytics or crash reports
• Camera, microphone, or contact data
• Photos or any media from your device

3. How We Use Information

Because no data is transmitted to us, we do not use your information for any purpose beyond what the App performs locally on your device. The locally stored data is used exclusively to:

• Display your scout profiles and progress
• Track wildlife sightings and scores between sessions
• Show earned badges and achievements
• Remember your app preferences

We have no access to this data whatsoever.

4. Network Usage

The App is fully offline for all core features. The only optional network request the App may make is a one-time download of the National Park Service (NPS) Junior Ranger Newspaper PDF, which is a publicly available document hosted by the U.S. National Park Service at nps.gov.

This download is entirely optional, requires an explicit user action, and does not involve any transmission of personal data. The downloaded file is then cached on-device for offline viewing.

No other network requests are made by the App under any circumstances.

5. Children's Privacy

Yellowstone Wildlife Scouts is designed for use by children and families. We are committed to protecting the privacy of young users.

The App complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar laws by design: we do not collect any personal information from children or anyone else. No account creation, age verification, or parental consent process is required because no personal data is ever collected or transmitted.

Parents and guardians can review all data stored by the App by using the "Scout Mode" feature within the App, which provides full visibility into stored profiles and sightings. All stored data can be completely removed by deleting the App from the device.

6. Data Security & Retention

All data associated with the App is stored in the device's local application storage, protected by the device's built-in security mechanisms (such as iOS Data Protection or Android's encrypted storage).

Because we receive no data, there are no servers to breach and no databases to protect on our end.

Data is retained on-device until you either delete the scout profile from within the App, use the "Hard Reset" feature, or uninstall the App. Uninstalling the App removes all associated data from your device.

7. Third-Party Services

The App does not integrate with any third-party analytics platforms, advertising networks, social media SDKs, or tracking services.

The App does not use Firebase, Google Analytics, Crashlytics, Facebook SDK, AppsFlyer, Amplitude, Mixpanel, or any similar service.

The optional NPS Junior Ranger PDF is served by the U.S. National Park Service (nps.gov). We have no control over the NPS's own privacy practices. Accessing that URL is subject to the NPS Privacy Policy available at nps.gov.

8. Your Rights

Because we do not collect or store any personal data on our systems, there is no data held by us for you to access, correct, export, or delete.

You retain full control over all data on your own device. You can delete individual scout profiles from within the App at any time, or uninstall the App to remove all associated data.

If you are a resident of California, the EU/EEA, or another jurisdiction with applicable data rights, your rights under those laws are respected by default — our data minimization approach means no personal data exists to process.

9. Changes to This Policy

If we update this Privacy Policy, the new version will be posted at this URL with a revised effective date. We will not change this policy in a way that reduces user privacy without clearly communicating that change.

Any future version of the App that introduces data collection would require a new privacy policy and, where applicable, user consent before any collection begins.