Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 April 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Kagn ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use the Kagn wildlife journal application ("the App").

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

Account information: Email address, first name, and last name when you create an account.
Sighting data: Species observed, dates, notes, and trip details that you record.
Photos: Images you upload as part of your sightings.
Location data: GPS coordinates associated with your sightings, if you choose to include them.
Device information: Basic device type and browser information for compatibility and troubleshooting purposes.

2. How We Use Your Information

App functionality: To provide your personal wildlife journal, lifelist, and sighting records.
Community features: To display sightings on community maps and species pages, attributed to your display name.
Species photos: Photos you upload may be selected as representative species images (thumbnails, reference photos) visible to all App users, with attribution to your display name. See our Terms of Service for details.
Aggregated data: Sighting data may be aggregated and anonymised for community features such as species distribution maps and hotspot identification.
Account management: To send sign-in links, service notifications, and important updates about the App.
AI identification: Photos submitted for AI identification are sent to a third-party AI service for processing and are not stored beyond the request. We do not use your photos to train AI models.

3. Data Storage

Your data is stored locally on your device and, if you create an account, synchronised to our cloud infrastructure hosted on Cloudflare services.
Photos are stored in Cloudflare R2 object storage.
Account and sighting data is stored in Cloudflare D1 databases.
All data transmission is encrypted via HTTPS/TLS.

4. Data Sharing and Third-Party Services

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
We do not share your data with advertisers or data brokers.
Your sighting data may be visible to other Kagn users through community features (sighting maps, species pages). On the free tier, all sightings are shared publicly. Paid subscribers (Plus or Pro) can control sighting visibility through the App's settings.
We may share anonymised, aggregated data for conservation or research purposes.

We use third-party service providers to operate the App, including cloud hosting and storage, AI processing, email delivery, payment processing, and wildlife data providers. These providers process your data only as necessary to deliver their services to us.

5. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Access: View all data associated with your account through the App.
Export: Export your sighting data at any time using the App's export functionality.
Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us.
Correction: Update your personal information through the App's profile settings.

6. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days. Anonymised, aggregated data may be retained indefinitely for community features.

7. Cookies and Local Storage

The App uses browser localStorage to store your preferences, session information, and offline sighting data. We use Google Analytics 4 to measure aggregate product usage and marketing performance. GA4 receives a randomly-assigned client identifier, your approximate country (IP-derived, not stored), the pages you visit, and conversion events (e.g. sign-in, trial start, purchase). It does not receive your email, name, sightings, or photos. We do not load GA4 for visitors from the EU, UK, or EEA. You can opt out by enabling 'Do Not Track' in your browser or by using an analytics-blocking extension.

8. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed and stored at Cloudflare data centres outside of South Africa. By using the App, you consent to this transfer. We ensure that our service providers maintain appropriate security measures to protect your data.

9. Sensitive Species Data

To protect endangered wildlife, the App automatically strips GPS coordinates from sightings of certain sensitive species (such as rhinoceros) before storing them on our servers. This data is not shared with other users or third parties.

10. Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

11. POPIA Compliance

This Privacy Policy is intended to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) of the Republic of South Africa. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe your personal information has been mishandled.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will make reasonable efforts to notify users of material changes. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise your data rights, or to contact our information officer, please email [email protected].