Sow & Tell Privacy Policy
Last updated October 8, 2026
Sow & Tell is made by Czerwonka Studios LLC, an Illinois company ("we" or "us"). This policy explains what the Sow & Tell app collects, where it goes and the choices you have.
The short version
- Your garden lives on your phone. Your plantings, beds and pots, journal, harvests, photos, notes, expenses and reminders are saved on your device.
- Some things leave your phone only for a feature to work. Your ZIP code is used to look up your growing zone and weather. If you turn on garden sharing or Google backup, your garden records are stored in Google Firebase. If you use Garden Detective, the photo you pick is sent off to be identified.
- We don't sell your data, show ads, or use tracking or advertising tools.
- The app never asks for your precise GPS location. It only uses the ZIP code you enter.
- You can ask us to delete anything we hold by emailing support@czerwonkastudios.com.
What leaves your phone, and why
Nothing below is sent unless you use the feature listed.
| Feature | What is sent | Where it goes | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growing zone and frost dates | Your ZIP code, and the map location of that ZIP code's area | phzmapi.org and NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information | To find your hardiness zone and typical frost dates |
| Weather, rain and Frost Guard | The map location of your ZIP code's area | The U.S. National Weather Service (weather.gov) | To show forecasts and alerts and warn you about frost |
| Garden sharing (optional) | Your garden records, the first name you enter, and a small copy of your profile picture, if you set one | Google Firebase | So phones you invite see and update the same garden. Garden photos stay on the phone that took them. |
| Google sign-in and backup (optional) | Your Google account's email and name, plus your garden records | Google Firebase | To back up your garden and bring it back on a new phone |
| Garden Detective photo ID (Premium) | The photo you choose, shrunk, and a count of how many IDs you've used | Our Firebase cloud function, then Kindwise (plant.id) | To identify a plant, weed or plant problem. We don't save the photo. |
| Premium subscription | Purchase and subscription status | Google Play | Google Play handles payment. We never see your card details. |
| Exporting and sharing | Only the file or picture you choose to share | Wherever you send it | Spreadsheets, the yearbook and recap pictures are made on your phone |
| Emailing us | Whatever you write | Our support inbox | To answer you |
When you use sharing, backup or Garden Detective, Firebase gives your copy of the app a random ID so the right garden reaches the right phones. That ID isn't your name or email.
Service providers
These companies and agencies handle data only to provide the features above, under their own privacy policies:
- Google Firebase: sharing, backup and the photo ID service. Firebase privacy
- Google Play and Google sign-in: subscriptions and signing in. Google Privacy Policy
- Kindwise (plant.id): Garden Detective identification. kindwise.com
- U.S. National Weather Service: forecasts and alerts. weather.gov
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: frost-date climate data. ncei.noaa.gov
- phzmapi.org: hardiness zones by ZIP code. phzmapi.org
Phone permissions
The app asks only for what a feature needs, and you can turn each one off in your phone's settings.
- Camera and photos: to take or pick photos of your plantings, Grow-lapse and Garden Detective.
- Notifications: for harvest, watering, frost and other reminders, which are scheduled on your phone.
- Calendar (optional): to add garden dates to a calendar you choose.
- Internet: for zone, weather, sharing, backup and photo ID.
- Run at startup: so your reminders and Frost Guard keep working after the phone restarts.
Keeping and deleting your data
- On your phone: your garden stays until you delete it. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in your phone's settings, erases it from that phone.
- Garden sharing: tap Stop sharing on the profile page to unlink a phone. Your name and picture are removed from the shared garden.
- Google backup: your backed-up garden stays in Firebase while you use backup, so it's there if you change phones.
- Delete it yourself in the app: open My profile, then Account & sharing, then Delete my online data. It removes your garden backup, any invite codes you made, your sign-in with the app, and your place in any shared garden right away. Your garden on your phone stays.
- Or ask us to delete everything we hold online: email support@czerwonkastudios.com from the address you'd like us to reply to. Tell us your Google account email if you used Google backup. We'll delete your online garden and account data within 30 days and confirm when it's done.
- Garden Detective photos are not stored by us after the ID is returned.
Security
Data sent by the app is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Shared and backed-up gardens are protected by access rules, so only phones in that garden can read or change it. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.
Children
Sow & Tell is a general gardening app and isn't directed to children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email support@czerwonkastudios.com. We won't treat you differently for asking.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how your data is used, we'll also tell you in the app.
Contact
Czerwonka Studios LLC, Illinois, USA
support@czerwonkastudios.com