Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 26, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how EarthSort, LLC, a California limited liability company ("EarthSort," "we," "us"), collects, uses, shares, and retains personal information. It covers the EarthSort iPhone app, the EarthSort Android app, and the website at earthsort.com, including www.earthsort.com (together, the "Services").

By using the Services, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

"Personal information" means information that identifies you, relates to you, or could reasonably be linked with you. It includes the categories in this policy. A User ID is personal information when it is linked to your scans, photos, location, or any name or email you provide.

1. Personal information we collect

We collect these categories:

Identifiers. A User ID created for your account, an optional first name, and an optional email address. Server logs can include an IP address. We do not collect a zip code.
Photos. Photos you submit, stored with your User ID.
Location. If you allow location, or if you provide an address, we use it to select local recycling rules and to record where a scan was made. We store the scan location rounded to three decimal places, about 100 meters, with your User ID. We do not store the phone's full GPS reading. We also save the city and region for that service area, without your User ID.
App and website activity. Your scan history, tied to your User ID, and technical information such as the time of a request, app or browser type, and error details. We may use a campaign code to measure an advertisement or a download link. That code does not include your name, email, or User ID.

If you do not provide a name or email, we cannot identify you by name. The User ID remains linked to your scans, photos, and scan location. If you provide a name or email, we link it to that User ID.

We do not ask for a Social Security number, a government identification number, or a payment card number. We do not use your name, email, or User ID to target advertising.

2. How we use it

To identify the material in a photo and to show the recycling guidance for your area.
To save your scan history to your User ID.
To operate, secure, and fix the Services.
To contact you, or to find your account if you ask us to delete it, when you have given us an email address.
To prepare aggregated statistics for local recycling programs, as described in Section 4.
To improve identification. We keep photos so that EarthSort may train its own models and tune the prompts used for identification. That training may include the recycling provider for a scan. It does not include the stored scan location.

3. Service providers

We use these providers to operate the Services:

Google Firebase creates the User ID, receives crash reports in release builds, and collects app analytics. Crash reports do not include your photos.
Google Gemini receives the photo so we can identify the material. We do not send your name, email, or User ID with the photo. Google does not use these photos to train its models. Google may keep the photo for a limited period to detect abuse.
Google Maps receives a location so we can determine a city and region.
Google Cloud stores account records, scan records, photo files, and logs in the United States.
Google Fonts. Some website pages load fonts from Google. That sends the visitor's IP address to Google.

These providers process information for EarthSort. We do not authorize them to sell your personal information.

Authorized EarthSort personnel may review photos to operate the Services and to improve identification.

Our website and apps do not respond to browser Do Not Track signals. We do not track you across other websites.

4. Sharing

We may share aggregated statistics with the recycling jurisdiction, hauler, or Producer Responsibility Organization that serves an area. Examples include material mix, confusion rates, and scan counts by city or provider. Those reports do not include photos, User IDs, names, emails, or scan location. They are not intended to identify a resident. EarthSort does not attempt to re-identify a person from those reports.

EarthSort does not sell personal information. EarthSort does not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. EarthSort does not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing.

5. Disclosures required by law, and business transfers

We may disclose personal information if we believe in good faith that the disclosure is required by law, regulation, legal process, or a lawful request from a public authority. We may also disclose personal information when we believe it is needed to protect the rights, property, or safety of EarthSort, our users, or the public.

If EarthSort is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of all or part of the business, personal information may transfer with that transaction. The recipient will be bound by this policy, or we will give notice as described in Section 13 before a material change in use.

6. Where we store personal information

EarthSort stores account records, scan records, and photo files on Google Cloud in the United States. A photo sent for identification is also processed by Google's Gemini API. That API does not let us choose a United States-only processing region. A location sent for a city lookup is processed by Google Maps.

7. How long we keep it

Name and email. Kept until we complete a deletion request that we can match to the account.
Photos. Kept to identify materials and so that EarthSort may later train its own models and tune prompts. There is no automatic time limit. Photos stay tied to the User ID until we delete the account.
Scan location. Kept for the same period as the photo. We do not use it to train models.
Logs. Kept to run the Services, fix problems, and protect them. We do not use logs to advertise. Routine server logs are kept for 30 days. Performance logs and website campaign logs are kept until we delete them. Deleting an account does not erase logs.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information, including encryption in transit and at rest. Access to photos and account records is limited to authorized EarthSort personnel and the service providers named in this policy. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

9. Children

The Services are general audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have, we delete it. A parent or guardian may contact privacy@earthsort.com.

10. Requests to know, delete, or correct

You may ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. Email privacy@earthsort.com from the email address stored on the account. We use that match to verify the request. We respond within 30 days.

Accounts are anonymous unless you provided an email address. If you did not, we cannot match a request sent from outside the app to your User ID.

When we can match the email, deletion removes the account, the photo files stored for that User ID, the scan locations stored for that User ID, and the name or email on the account. Deletion does not erase server logs.

We will not deny the Services, or charge a different price, because you make a request under this section.

11. California residents

If you are a California resident, you may use Section 10 to request to know, delete, or correct personal information. The categories, purposes, and recipients are those in Sections 1 through 4.

The scan location we store is rounded to three decimal places, about 100 meters. California law treats device location at that precision as precise geolocation. We use precise geolocation only to provide the Services you request. We do not use that location to train models, and we do not use it to target advertising. The recycling provider for a scan may be used when EarthSort trains its own models or tunes prompts.

We verify a request by matching the email address on the account. We respond within 30 days. This section describes our practice. It is not a statement that the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to EarthSort.

12. Photos of people and other living things

We reject a photo when a person or other living thing is the main subject. We still send that photo to Google for the check. EarthSort does not store a rejected photo.

You agree not to submit images that contain illegal, explicit, or otherwise inappropriate content. If we detect such content, we delete it. We may also suspend the account and disclose the matter as described in Section 5.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will post the revised policy at https://www.earthsort.com/privacy.html and change the effective date at the top of the page. The revised policy applies from that effective date.

If a change materially changes how we use personal information, and you have given us an email address, we will email that address before the change takes effect.

14. Contact

EarthSort, LLC
455 Market St Ste 1940
PMB 345657
San Francisco, California 94105-2448
United States

Privacy questions: privacy@earthsort.com

Support: support@earthsort.com

Website: https://www.earthsort.com