App data privacy
Plain language
Sow keeps your journal on your device and, if you choose, in your private iCloud account. Your journal is not public, and you choose what to share with other people.
Garden Walks, spoken plant memories, Ask, plant identification, and generated share writing use OpenAI through Sow’s service. Apple and RevenueCat handle purchases and subscription access. The details below explain what each feature sends and what we keep.
01
Saved walks, memories, plant details, questions, answers, photos, and annotations live on your device. Optional iCloud storage lets Apple sync journal content through your private account. Sow’s operational database is not a copy of your journal.
02
OpenAI processes recordings and text for Garden Walks and Ask. Identification sends a cropped plant photo. Ask can include a photo, the selected plant, and your saved garden location name. Generated share writing can include the selected memory, plant details, and a photo.
03
Apple handles payment. RevenueCat uses a Sow account identifier and purchase information to verify and restore access and report subscription activity. We do not send your journal, photos, or recordings to RevenueCat, and Sow does not receive your payment-card details.
04
We keep account and installation identifiers, access status, and technical records such as request outcomes, recording length, and upload size. These records can be linked to a Sow account. Aggregate service reports use totals rather than journal content.
05
You can change device permissions, journal storage, and recording retention in Settings. You can delete saved content or your Sow account, and contact us about other privacy requests. Deleting your account does not cancel an Apple subscription.
06
Sow does not sell or rent personal information, show third-party advertising in the app, or use your garden content to build advertising profiles. Sow does not opt in to using its OpenAI API content to train OpenAI’s models.
OpenAI API data controls
“Data sent to the OpenAI API is not used to train or improve OpenAI models unless you explicitly opt in.”Read the source
The formal version
The full policy explains the data used by each feature, our service providers, and your choices about storage and deletion.
Last updated: September 20, 2026
Sow is operated by Luke Cassady-Dorion (“Sow”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). This policy covers the Sow iPhone and iPad app and the services that support it. For privacy questions or requests, email luke@sow.garden.
Information you submit through the website, including contact messages, TestFlight requests, newsletter signups, and plant-illustration requests, is covered by our separate Website Submissions Privacy Policy.
Your journal can contain garden and plant names, notes, locations, walks, recordings, transcripts, memories, photographs, annotations, questions, AI answers, weather snapshots, and generated share writing. Sow stores saved journal content on your device.
If you choose iCloud storage and iCloud is available, Apple syncs journal content through your private iCloud account. Recordings can also be stored in your iCloud Documents. Apple’s storage, backup, and account terms apply to that processing.
Sow can keep temporary recordings, upload files, and processing results on your device while a request is being saved or recovered. These files help preserve your work if a connection is interrupted.
Garden Walks and spoken plant memories: Sow sends the recording through its API to OpenAI for transcription. It also sends relevant plant names and vocabulary to help recognize your words. The transcript and relevant plant context are processed by OpenAI to organize the recording into journal entries.
Ask: a spoken question is sent to OpenAI for transcription. To answer the question, Sow sends the question text, the selected plant’s saved name and optional botanical name, and, when available, your saved garden location name. If you attach a photo, a reduced copy is also sent. Ask does not send your entire journal or previous question history with each question.
Plant identification: adding and cropping a plant photo can automatically request a name suggestion once your account is set up. Sow sends a reduced copy of the cropped photo and language information through its API to OpenAI. You can enter a plant name manually without using photo identification. The photo upload used for identification and Ask is re-encoded to remove the original image metadata.
Generated share writing: when you request AI-written share content, Sow sends details from the selected memory and its plant. These can include its title, summary, notes, date, location text, saved weather description, and a reduced photograph. Generating the writing does not publish it; sharing with another app is a separate action.
The generated text returns to Sow for you to review and save. Anything you include in a recording, question, note, or photo can form part of the feature’s input. Camera and photo-library permission is separate from sending a photo for AI processing.
Sow uses the OpenAI API for the features described above. OpenAI states that API content is not used to train its models unless the customer opts in. Sow does not opt in to that training use.
Processing by OpenAI is not the same as processing only on your device. OpenAI may retain content and related records under its API data controls, including for abuse monitoring, security, and legal requirements. Retention varies by feature and account settings. We do not promise zero retention or immediate deletion from every provider when you delete something in Sow.
Sign in with Apple and Apple App Attest help verify your account and app installation before the service processes requests. Sow’s sign-in flow does not request your Apple name or email address. Apple supplies credentials that our service verifies.
Our service stores a Sow account ID, one-way keyed representations of Apple account and installation identifiers, and records needed to validate requests and prevent misuse. We also store an encrypted Apple authorization token when available so we can revoke the connection during account deletion. The app keeps access credentials in the device Keychain.
These are pseudonymous records: they use identifiers instead of your name, but they still let Sow recognize the same account or installation. They are not anonymous data.
Apple handles App Store payment. RevenueCat verifies purchases and restores, maintains purchase history and subscription status, and provides billing reports. We send RevenueCat a stable Sow account ID so purchases can be associated with your account. RevenueCat also processes store transaction information and technical information such as app and operating-system versions.
Sow keeps a record of verified access, including subscription status and an expiry date where applicable. Purchase records may include an offer or redemption associated with a transaction. Sow does not send journal content, recordings, or photos to RevenueCat, and does not receive your payment-card details from Apple.
Your first free week is tracked by Sow’s service. It does not itself create an Apple subscription or charge you. An Apple subscription starts only when you confirm a purchase. Manage renewals and cancellation through Apple’s subscription settings.
Sow’s API records account and installation identifiers, request and operation identifiers, timestamps, access status, recording duration, byte and image counts, processing outcomes, and limited error information. Provider usage records can include the model, request identifier, processing time, and token or audio usage. These records support security, access control, recovery, reliability, and cost monitoring.
The operational database does not store the contents of your journal, uploaded photos, recordings, questions, transcripts, or generated answers. The service still receives and processes the inputs described in this policy, and providers may keep their own records.
Sow combines service events into daily totals and duration ranges. These aggregate reports exclude journal content and individual account identifiers. Account-level technical and purchase records remain separate from those aggregate reports.
Sow uses the microphone to record spoken notes and questions, and the camera or photo picker when you add photographs. You can change device permissions in iOS or iPadOS Settings. Removing a permission may limit the feature that needs it.
When enabled, location helps attach local weather to your garden. Apple WeatherKit receives the location needed for the weather request. Garden location and weather information can be saved with your journal. Sow does not continuously track your location in the background.
A saved location name or location text can also be included in Ask or generated share writing, as described above. A location mentioned in your own recording, writing, or photo may be included when that content is sent for AI processing.
If you share a card, image, recording, or text using the system share sheet, it is sent to the app or destination you choose. That destination handles the shared copy under its own terms. Deleting the original in Sow does not delete copies you have shared elsewhere.
If you contact support or choose to copy and send troubleshooting information, we receive what you send. This may include a request identifier, app version, technical status, screenshots, or details you add to your message. Send only what is needed to explain the problem. Website support submissions are covered by the Website Submissions Privacy Policy.
Saved journal content stays on your device and, if enabled, in iCloud until you delete it. Device backups and copies on other devices are also subject to Apple’s controls and sync availability. Turning off iCloud storage does not itself erase an existing cloud copy.
For completed Garden Walk recordings, the default retention choice is three days; Settings also offers one week, 30 days, or keeping recordings indefinitely. Sow removes eligible recordings during app housekeeping rather than at an exact scheduled instant. Recordings needed for unfinished processing or recovery may be kept longer. Removing audio does not remove the saved transcript or memories.
We retain account, access, and technical records while reasonably needed to operate and protect the service, resolve support issues, or meet legal obligations. We do not currently publish a fixed automatic deletion period for all service records. Aggregate reports that no longer identify your account may remain after account deletion.
Use Delete Account and Data in Sow’s Settings to request account deletion. The flow confirms your Apple account, deletes the Sow API account and associated operational records, and removes the journal data available to the app. Deletions in an iCloud-synced journal depend on sync completing. Copies in backups, on disconnected devices, or previously shared with others may remain.
Deleting your account or uninstalling Sow does not cancel an Apple subscription. Cancel any renewal through Apple’s subscription settings. Account deletion also does not automatically erase transaction or processing records held separately by Apple, RevenueCat, OpenAI, or other providers. Contact us about those records or if you cannot use the in-app deletion flow.
Apple provides the App Store, payments, Sign in with Apple, App Attest, optional iCloud storage, WeatherKit, and device services. OpenAI processes AI inputs. RevenueCat handles purchase verification and subscription records. Vercel hosts Sow’s API, and Supabase stores its account and operational records.
These providers may process data in countries outside your country of residence, including the United States, under the arrangements and protections applicable to their services. Hosting and network services may receive technical information such as an IP address while handling a connection. Our statement that the journal is stored locally does not mean these providers receive no data.
Sow uses access controls, encrypted connections, and protected credential storage to limit access to personal information. No system can guarantee absolute security. We do not sell or rent personal information or use journal content for third-party advertising.
You can review and edit saved journal content, delete items, change device permissions and storage choices, and stop using AI features. To withdraw permission for future AI processing, stop using the features that send content; you can continue reading your saved journal. This does not undo processing that has already taken place.
Depending on the law where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, obtain a copy of, delete, restrict, or object to processing of your personal information, withdraw consent where processing relies on it, or complain to a data-protection authority.
Email luke@sow.garden with your request. We may need information to verify your authority and locate the relevant account or record; we do not ask you to send an Apple password. We will explain any information we must retain for legal, security, or dispute-resolution reasons.
Sow is not directed to children under 13. If you believe a child has supplied personal information to Sow, contact us so we can review and address it.
We may update this policy as Sow changes. We will show the revised date here and provide additional notice or request permission where required for a change in how personal information is used. Privacy questions can be sent to luke@sow.garden.