Privacy

Your collection belongs to you.

Effective 15 July 2026

Rock Hound is a geology identification and collection app in the Mashr app series. Collections are private by default and may be made public only by their owner. Mashr is responsible for the processing described here.

What Rock Hound collects

• Your shared Mashr sign-in identifier and, depending on the sign-in method, email address.
• Specimen photographs and collection details you choose to add, such as names, tags, collection numbers, find dates, visible traits and private notes.
• Optional precise location. You can use the app without adding it.
• Support messages and private beta signup requests you send us. Beta signup email addresses are used only to deliver the requested invitation and related access/support messages.
• Basic service records such as request time, network address, account identifier, quota activity and error details needed for security, abuse prevention, fault diagnosis and operation.

Rock Hound does not ask for date of birth or age and does not create an age profile.

Identification processing

Reduced working copies of specimen photos, safe visible-trait answers and, if supplied, an approximately 10 km location area may be sent to OpenAI to generate an identification. Exact coordinates and your private notes are not included in that request. Candidate names may be checked against geological and palaeontological reference catalogues.

Storage and optional public sharing

Original specimen records and photographs are stored in private owner-scoped cloud storage. If you explicitly enable a public collection, Rock Hound creates a separate limited public copy containing your chosen display name, handle and bio, an approved display image, identification names and classification, visible traits, tags, confidence and publication dates.

Public copies never include your email, account identifier, exact or approximate location, capture or find date, private notes, collection number, favourite status, clarification answers, raw model reasoning or storage keys. Following someone does not provide access to their private records. You can keep individual specimens private or turn the public collection off.

Public pages may be indexed by search engines and copied or shared by other people. Turning sharing off removes Rock Hound access promptly, but copies made by others or search-engine caches can take longer to disappear. We do not sell personal information or use it for cross-app advertising.

We use Google Firebase for account authentication, Amazon Web Services for hosting and private storage, and OpenAI for identification processing. These providers process only the information needed to supply their service to us. We may also disclose information when required by law or to protect users and the service.

Location

Location is optional. When you save exact coordinates, they remain in the private specimen record. External identification receives only a deliberately coarsened area, never the exact coordinates.

Retention and deletion

Specimen data is retained until you delete that specimen, your Rock Hound data, or your Mashr account from Settings. Operational logs are generally retained for up to 30 days. Deleted database records may remain in encrypted point-in-time backups for up to 35 days before aging out. We may retain limited records longer only where reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention or law.

You can delete the shared Mashr sign-in and associated Rock Hound, Valuer and Classifier data inside the app. If you no longer have the app, use the account deletion page.

Your choices

You may request access to or correction of your personal information, withdraw optional location permission, remove a saved location, make your collection private, keep individual specimens private, block another collector, delete specimens, or delete your data and account. Contact privacy@mashr.ai if you need help.

International processing and children

Our service providers may process information in Australia, the United States and other countries where they operate. Rock Hound is a general-audience app and is not directed to children. A child who cannot consent to an online account under applicable law should use it only with a parent or guardian.

Security and important limits

We use encrypted transport, private object storage and owner checks. No service can guarantee absolute security. Identifications are AI-assisted and may be wrong; do not rely on them to decide whether a material is safe to touch, cut, grind, taste, heat or otherwise test.

Contact

Questions or deletion help: privacy@mashr.ai.