Privacy policy

Last updated 19 October 2026 · Applies to Hearbird 1.0 and later, on iPhone and Android

Data collected by us

None. Hearbird has no account and no sign-up, uses no cookies and no crash reporting, and never sends anything that identifies you or your phone to us. The app does not contact any server operated by us; there is no such server. Two third-party services receive data, described below.

Advertising

Hearbird is free and shows advertisements through Google AdMob, never while you are listening: after a session, in the diary, on species pages and occasionally between screens. Before the first advertisement, the app asks for your consent where the law requires it (the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), through Google's consent form. If you decline, you still get the whole app, with non-personalised advertisements. You can change your choice at any time under About → Ad preferences.

To serve and measure advertisements, Google receives the advertising identifier of your device (on iPhone only if you allowed that; on Android unless you deleted it in your phone's settings), an app-scoped identifier (the identifier for vendors on iPhone, the app set ID on Android), a coarse location derived from your IP address, and technical data about the ad request. On iPhone, Hearbird does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission. Hearbird does not track you across other companies' apps and websites. How Google uses this data is described in Google's privacy policy.

Install counts

The app uses RevenueCat to count installs and active users. On first launch the RevenueCat SDK creates a random, anonymous identifier for this installation and sends it, with your device type, operating system version and app version, to RevenueCat. Hearbird has no in-app purchases, so no purchase data exists. This identifier is not linked to you, is not shared with advertisers and is not used for tracking.

What the app uses on your phone

• Microphone. When you tap Start, Hearbird listens through the microphone to recognise birds. Recognition runs on your device with a model that is built into the app. The app keeps short clips of 5 seconds of the birds it recognised in your diary, on your device, so you can listen back to them. Nothing is uploaded, and the microphone is off as soon as you tap Stop.
• Location. After you tap Start, the app asks once for your location. It uses it to tell you whether a bird is common or rare where you are, and to group sessions at the same place under one name such as "Garden". Your location is stored with the session on your device only. The app works without it; you only lose the "common here / rare here" labels.
• Photos. Only when you choose "Add your own photo" on a bird. The photo you pick is copied into the app's own storage on your device. Hearbird never browses your photo library; the system photo picker of iOS or Android hands over just the photo you chose.

Network access

Recognition works offline. The app itself makes no network requests; the advertising and install-counting services above do. "Read more on Wikipedia" on a species page opens Wikipedia in your browser; Wikipedia's own privacy policy applies there.

Permissions

• Nothing at first launch. Opening the app, browsing the species list and reading species pages needs no permission.
• Microphone, asked when you tap Start for the first time.
• Location (while using the app), asked once after Start, optional.
• Photos, only through the system picker, only when you add a photo yourself.
• Notifications (Android only), asked together with the microphone. Android shows a notification while Hearbird is listening, so you can see and stop a session from outside the app; nothing else is ever notified.

All permissions can be revoked at any time in Settings. Apart from that listening notification on Android, Hearbird does not request notifications, nor contacts, camera, Bluetooth, tracking or background location.

Your data, your control

Your diary, sound clips and photos live in the app's own storage on your phone and in your device backups (iCloud Backup or your computer on iPhone, your Google account backup on Android, according to your own settings). Deleting a session or an observation in the app deletes its clips and photos; deleting the app deletes everything. Clips older than twelve months are removed automatically, except the first clip ever of each species at each place.

This website

This policy is about the app. The website montobleu.com uses Clicky, a web analytics service, to count visits and see which pages are read. That data is aggregated visitor statistics and is not linked to anything you do in the app.

Children

Hearbird collects no personal data from anyone, including children. Advertisements are limited to content suitable for all audiences, and the app is not directed at children.

Changes

If this policy ever changes, the new version will be published at this address with an updated date.

Contact

Monto bleu, Heidebergstraat 14, 3120 Tremelo, Belgium.
Questions about privacy or the app: [email protected].