Privacy Policy

Lithoscout

Developer: Scribbaware Contact: info@scribbaware.com Last updated: October 9, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the Lithoscout app (“the app”), developed by Scribbaware (“we”, “us”), handles information. Lithoscout is a field logbook for people who look for rocks, minerals and fossils. By using the app you agree to this policy. If you have any questions, contact us at info@scribbaware.com.

1. Information we collect

We do not collect any personal information or usage data. The app has no user accounts, and we do not operate any server that receives data from the app. We never see who you are, where you are, what you find or how you use the app.

The logbook works fully offline. The only things that leave your phone are the requests to the online services you switch on (section 4), and the files you choose to share or save yourself (section 6).

2. What the app stores on your phone

To work as a logbook, the app stores the following in its private storage on your phone:

• Sites: name, short code, type, location, notes, whether the site is marked private, collecting rules and safety notes.
• Finds: kind, group, name, site, layer or formation, size, condition, confidence, notes, position, date and time, storage place, catalog number and, if you use them, the weather and sea conditions at the time of the find.
• Outings: title, date, duration, a summary and the people you went with, as you type them in.
• Photos you take or add for a find (see section 5).
• Downloaded information from the online services in section 4, such as weather, geology and fossil records per site, and map images, so they still show without signal.
• Settings, such as language, theme, date and time notation, paper size, the collector name for labels and your chosen backup folder.

This data stays on your phone and is not accessible to us. Other apps cannot read the app’s private storage. It is deleted when you delete it in the app, clear the app’s data or uninstall the app.

3. Location data

If you grant location permission, the app can fill in your current position when you record a site or a find. The position is read from your phone’s own location service and works without a data connection. You can also pick a location on the map or type it in, or leave it out. Your location:

• is only read when you ask the app to fill in a position;
• is stored with the site or find you are recording, on your phone;
• is never sent to us;
• is only sent to the services in section 4 if you switch them on, and then rounded where described there;
• is not used for advertising, profiling or any other purpose.

Sites are marked private by default. Granting location permission is up to you, and you can revoke it at any time in your device settings. Your phone’s location service itself is provided by your device maker or operating system under their own privacy terms.

4. Optional online services

The app has a few features that need information from free online services. Each one is off until you agree to it, and you can switch it off again at any time. The app contacts these services directly from your phone over a secure (HTTPS) connection. We (Scribbaware) do not receive or see any of these requests.

As with any internet request, these services receive your phone’s IP address and a short app identifier (the app name and version). Requests never contain your name, an account, an advertising ID, or the names, codes, notes, photos or finds in your logbook. Each service processes requests under its own terms and privacy policy.

• Map images from OpenStreetMap. Your own map shows your sites and finds without any download. Only when you choose to load the map does the app fetch map images (tiles) from the OpenStreetMap tile server. The server sees which area you are looking at, but not your sites or finds. Map images are kept on your phone for a week. See the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy.
• Weather, sea and tide from Open-Meteo. To show search conditions for a site, and to save the weather at the time of a new find, the app sends a position rounded to two decimals (about one kilometre). See Open-Meteo’s terms and privacy policy.
• Geology from Macrostrat and fossil records from the Paleobiology Database. To show the rock layers and known fossils around a site, the app sends the site’s position rounded to two decimals (about one kilometre). For fossil records it asks for an area of about 20 kilometres around that rounded position.

If you do not switch these features on, the app makes no internet connections for them.

5. Photos

You can take a photo with your phone’s camera app or pick an existing image from your phone. The app then keeps its own copy of the photo in its private storage. Photos are not uploaded anywhere by the app.

Please note that photos taken with a phone camera can contain hidden details (EXIF data), such as the date and the place the photo was taken. The app keeps these details as they are. They stay on your phone, but they travel along when a photo file leaves the phone, for example in an export or backup (section 6), or when you share a photo in another way.

6. Labels, reports, exports and backups

The app can make files from your logbook. Nothing is sent anywhere automatically: you decide where each file goes.

• Labels and find reports are PDF files that you can print or share through your phone’s share menu. Labels can include the collector name you set in Settings.
• Export saves your logbook as a zip file with your finds, sites, outings and photos, to share or save where you choose.
• Automatic backup is optional. If you pick a backup folder, the app saves a full backup there once a month, including locations and photos. If that folder is synced to a cloud service, such as Google Drive, the backup is stored there under that service’s terms.

Labels, reports and exports have an “Include locations” switch. It starts off, unless every site involved is marked as not private. Once a file has left the app, the app no longer controls who can see it.

QR codes on labels contain a link with only the find’s catalog number (for example lithoscout.scribbaware.com/c/CHR-0001). Scanning it with the app installed opens that find on your phone. The link contains no location or other details of the find, and your logbook is not online, so the link does not reveal your find to anyone else. You can turn QR codes off in Settings.

7. Backups and moving to a new phone

The app switches off Android’s automatic cloud backup, so your logbook is not copied to a Google account by the app itself. Use Export or the automatic backup (section 6) to keep a copy you control. Without one, your logbook cannot be restored if you lose your phone or uninstall the app.

When you move to a new phone with a direct device-to-device transfer (for example by cable), Android may copy the app’s data to the new phone. That transfer happens between your own devices and does not involve us.

8. Links to other websites

The app contains a few links that open in your browser, such as the websites of the data sources in section 4 and our Ko-fi page for voluntary donations. The app does not send any information along with these links. What happens on those websites falls under their own privacy policies. Donating is entirely optional and is handled by Ko-fi, not by the app.

9. Data sharing and selling

We do not collect any data, so we have nothing to share. We do not share, sell, rent, trade or otherwise disclose any user data to third parties. The only data that leaves your phone is described in sections 4 and 6, and always starts with a choice you make.

10. Advertising, analytics and tracking

The app contains no advertising, no analytics tools, no crash-reporting services and no other third-party SDKs that collect data. We do not use cookies, tracking pixels, advertising IDs or any other tracking technology.

11. Data retention and deletion

We do not retain any user data, because we do not collect any. Data stored by the app (see section 2) remains under your control. You can delete sites, finds, outings and photos in the app, or delete everything at once by clearing the app’s data in your device settings or by uninstalling the app. Files you exported or backed up yourself are not deleted with the app.

12. Security

Your data is kept in the app’s private storage, which other apps cannot access. All requests to online services use encrypted HTTPS connections. Your logbook is as safe as your phone, so we recommend using a screen lock.

13. Permissions

• Location: used only to fill in the position of a site or find (see section 3). Optional.
• Internet access: used only for the optional online services in section 4, after you switch them on.
• Camera: the app does not use the camera directly. When you take a photo, your phone’s camera app opens and hands the photo back to Lithoscout (see section 5).
• Photos: when you add an existing image, Android’s photo picker gives the app access to only the image you choose.
• Backup folder: if you set up automatic backup, Android gives the app access to only the folder you pick.

14. Children’s privacy

The app is not directed at children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will make sure it is deleted.

15. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the European Union), you may have rights to access, correct or delete your personal data. Since we do not collect or hold any personal data about you, there is no data for us to provide, correct or delete. Everything the app stores is on your own phone and under your control. For requests the online services in section 4 received, please contact that service. You are always welcome to contact us with any privacy question.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when the app gains new features or uses new online services. Any changes will be published on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. If a change significantly affects how the app handles data, we will mention it in the app’s release notes.

17. Contact us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or the app, please contact us:

Scribbaware
Email: info@scribbaware.com
Website: www.scribbaware.com