Privacy Policy
Last updated: 23 October 2026. This policy covers Fossilise 2.0 and later.
Introduction
Fossilise ("we", "our" or "us") helps you identify fossils from a photo. This policy explains what the app sends to us, what we keep and for how long. Fossilise has no accounts, no adverts and no tracking.
What Stays on Your Device
Your collection, photos, notes and any find locations are stored only on your iPhone or iPad. We never receive them unless you choose to identify a photo or ask a question, as described below. Deleting the app deletes this data.
Information We Process
Photos you identify
When you identify a fossil, the app sends that photo to our server, which passes it to Google's Gemini AI and returns the result. We do not store the photo. We keep the text result for up to 24 hours so a dropped connection can be retried without using another scan, then delete it.
Questions you ask
When you ask about a find, the question and the details of that find are sent the same way. We do not store the question or the answer.
An anonymous install ID
The app creates a random ID the first time it runs. We use it, with a daily count of scans and questions, to apply the free daily allowance and stop abuse. We also keep a one-way coded form of your IP address, which cannot be turned back into the address, to limit how many new installs one network can register. None of this is linked to your name, email or Apple ID.
How We Use It
We use your photos and questions only to give you an identification or an answer. We do not sell them, share them for marketing or use them to train AI models.
Third-Party Services
Photos and questions are processed by Google's Gemini API under Google's paid service terms. See Google's Privacy Policy. Our server runs on Cloudflare. Pictures in the fossil guide come from Wikimedia Commons and are built into the app.
Data Security
Everything the app sends travels over an encrypted connection. Our crash and error reports leave out photos, questions, notes and places. They are stored on our own error-tracking server.
Your Rights
You can delete everything on your device by deleting your finds or the app. To have your install ID and usage counts removed from our server, email us from Settings in the app, which includes the ID, and we will delete them.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy? Email support@fossilise.co.uk.