MyGarden
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 13 November 2026
In short
- Your garden – its location, layout, plants, photos and watering log – is kept on your phone. There are no accounts, and we don't have a copy.
- There are no adverts, no analytics and no tracking.
- To show the weather and the hills around you, the app sends your garden's approximate location to a weather service.
- If you identify a plant from a photo, only the picture is sent: its hidden details, such as where it was taken, are removed first.
- The maps in the app come from Google (Android) or Apple (iPhone).
Who we are
MyGarden is made by Daniel McCarron, an independent developer in the United Kingdom, who is the “controller” of the little personal information described here under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
Questions or requests about your privacy: mygarden@danm.cc.
What stays on your phone
Everything you set up in MyGarden is saved on your phone and nowhere else:
- your gardens' locations and place names;
- boundaries, surfaces, trees, buildings and other things you draw;
- the plants you add, your own plants and their details;
- photos you take or choose of your plants;
- your watering log, reminder settings and app preferences.
We never receive this information. Removing a garden in the app deletes it, and uninstalling the app deletes everything.
Phone backups. If your phone backs itself up (Google's backup on Android, iCloud on iPhone), your MyGarden data may be included in that backup, in your own Google or Apple account. You control this in your phone's settings.
When the app contacts other services
Some features need information from online services. Like any internet connection, each one also sees your phone's IP address (a network address, which can show roughly where you are).
Weather
Sent toOpen-Meteo (OpenMeteo GmbH, Switzerland)
WhatYour garden's location, rounded to about 1 km. Sent at most about once an hour while you use the app, and every few hours in the background if you've turned on reminders, so they can take the weather into account.
WhyTo show the forecast and recent weather, and to work out watering.
KeptOpen-Meteo says its server logs, which can include locations and IP addresses, are deleted after 90 days. See its terms and privacy.
Hills around your garden
Sent toOpen-Meteo, as above
WhatPoints on the map around your garden (from which its position to about 100 m could be worked out). Sent once for each place; the result is then kept on your phone.
WhyTo work out when nearby hills hide the sun.
Maps and finding your garden
Sent toGoogle (on Android) or Apple (on iPhone)
WhatThe maps you look at are loaded from Google Maps or Apple Maps, which see the area shown. If you ask the app to find your garden from where you are, it uses your phone's location – only at that moment, and only with your permission – and your phone's own place-name service (Google or Apple) to name the place.
KeptUnder Google's privacy policy or Apple's privacy policy.
Identifying a plant from a photo
Sent toMyGarden's own server (run on Cloudflare), which passes the photo on to Pl@ntNet, a plant-identification service run by French research institutes.
WhatOnly the photo you choose. Its hidden details – where and when it was taken, the camera and so on – are removed on your phone before it's sent. Pl@ntNet doesn't see your IP address, only our server's.
WhyTo suggest what the plant might be.
Kept
- Pl@ntNet says photos sent for identification are not stored in its database: they're held in memory only while being identified. See its API terms.
- Our server doesn't keep the photo. To limit how many identifications each person can make a day, it keeps a count against a scrambled form of your IP address that changes every day and can't be turned back into the address. Counts are deleted automatically after 2 days.
- Cloudflare keeps technical logs of requests to our server, which can include IP addresses, for up to 7 days, to keep the service running and secure.
Sharing a garden
If you choose to share a garden with someone, the app makes a file containing that garden's location and place name, its layout, its plants and any of your own plants it uses (not your photos). You decide where that file goes. Because it shows where the garden is, treat it like your address and only share it with people you trust.
Permissions the app asks for
- Location (only while you're using the app): to place your garden on the map from where you are. You can pick the place on the map instead.
- Camera and photos: to add pictures of your plants and to identify plants. Photos stay on your phone unless you identify a plant.
- Notifications: for watering and gardening reminders. These are made on your phone; nothing is sent to us.
You can turn any of these off in your phone's settings; the rest of the app keeps working.
Our legal basis
Where the services above handle personal information (your approximate location, photos you choose to send, your IP address), they do so because it's needed for the features you ask for – our legitimate interests in providing the app – and, for your location, camera and photos, with the permission you give on your phone.
Where information goes
Open-Meteo is in Switzerland and Pl@ntNet in France, both recognised by the UK as protecting personal information to an adequate standard. Cloudflare runs servers worldwide, including in the United States; it protects personal information transferred from the UK under recognised safeguards, described in its privacy policy.
How long information is kept
| Information | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your gardens, plants, photos and settings | Your phone | Until you delete them or uninstall the app |
| Approximate garden location, IP address | Open-Meteo's logs | Up to 90 days |
| Photos sent for identification | Pl@ntNet | Not stored (only while being identified) |
| Daily identification count (scrambled address) | Our server | 2 days |
| Technical request logs, including IP address | Cloudflare | Up to 7 days |
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask to see, correct or delete personal information about you, object to how it's used, or ask for it to be restricted. As MyGarden keeps your garden only on your phone, you can see, change and delete all of it in the app yourself. We hold nothing that identifies you – the identification counts can't be linked back to you – but you're welcome to contact us at mygarden@danm.cc with any request or question.
If you're unhappy with how your information is handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Children
MyGarden is a general gardening app and isn't aimed at children under 13. It doesn't knowingly collect personal information from anyone.
Changes to this policy
If the app changes how it handles information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Significant changes will also be mentioned in the app's update notes.