Privacy Policy

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information: your phone number and/or email address (at least one is required), name, your chosen role on the platform, a securely hashed password, and the date and time you accepted our Terms and Conditions and this Privacy Policy. We never store your password in plain text.
• Verification and identity documents: a profile photo, a National ID (NID), and, for Field Surveyors, identification documents or a birth certificate (for student Field Surveyors), where you choose to upload them.
• Location and plantation data: GPS coordinates of planted trees, the boundaries of the fields/plots they belong to, planting dates, tree species, and periodic measurement check-ins (e.g. height, girth, survival status), along with photos taken during submissions. When you record a tree or a measurement in the mobile app, we collect your device's precise GPS location, its accuracy, and whether the location came from a mock-location provider, the compass heading the camera was facing, and the photos you take with the app's in-app camera.
• Data stored on your device: the mobile app stores tree records, measurements, and photos on your phone so you can keep working offline, along with project data you recently viewed. Records and photos are removed from your phone once they are uploaded, and this data is removed when you log out.
• Project, donation, and payment records: your role within projects, areas of interest and ministries you are associated with, and ledger entries recording donations and payment dispatches between donors, administrators, landowners ("Plot Partners"), and Field Surveyors. Plant Scholar records these transactions; we do not process card or bank payment details ourselves.
• Usage and device data: standard technical data such as IP address, device and browser type, and request timestamps, used for security, abuse prevention, and troubleshooting.

• To create and maintain your account and enforce role-based access to the Service.
• To verify your identity where identity documents are required for your role.
• To track and monitor tree plantation, survival, and growth, including GIS- and satellite-based monitoring.
• To operate the submission review and approval workflow between Field Surveyors, Project Managers, Administrators, and Donors.
• To record donation and payment-dispatch history and generate impact reports and dashboards.
• To send you one-time verification codes (OTP), service notices, and account-related communications.
• To secure the Service, prevent fraud, and comply with our legal obligations.

The Service uses role-based access control. Depending on your role (Super Admin, Administrator, Project Manager, Field Surveyor, Donor, Landowner/Plot Partner, or General User), you can only see and act on the subset of data your role permits - for example, a Field Surveyor can see the fields and trees they are assigned to, while a Donor can see the projects they support and the submissions awaiting their approval. We do not grant broader access than a role requires.

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only with:

• Other users of the Service, limited to what their role requires (see Section 3), such as a Project Manager reviewing a Field Surveyor's submission.
• Service providers who process data on our behalf, including our satellite/GIS monitoring partner, our SMS and email providers (used only to deliver OTP codes), and our cloud infrastructure and file storage providers.
• Map and location services used by the mobile app: Google Maps, to display maps; and OpenStreetMap Nominatim, which receives the address or place name you type into an address search. QR codes are scanned on your device using Google ML Kit.
• Law enforcement or regulators, where required by applicable law.
• A successor entity, in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.

We retain your information for as long as your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterward where needed to maintain accurate donation and payment records, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or comply with legal obligations. When you delete your account (see Section 6), it is closed and we permanently erase your personal data 30 days later, except for the records described there. Environmental impact records already tied to planted trees (e.g. species, location, and survival data) may be retained in de-identified or aggregate form after account deletion, since they document publicly verifiable environmental outcomes rather than information about you personally.

If you use our mobile app, you can delete your account directly from within it: open Settings, then tap Delete account in the Danger Zone and confirm. This takes effect immediately - your account is closed and you are signed out right away. Once your account is closed, you can no longer sign in and your account is hidden from everyone. If you do not have access to the app, you can instead request deletion by contacting us at info@plantscholar.org.

Either way, 30 days after your account is closed we permanently erase your personal data - your name, phone number, email address, password, date of birth, institution details, identity documents, and profile photo - except where we are permitted or required to retain certain records, such as:

• Donation and payment-dispatch ledger entries needed to preserve the accuracy of other users' financial and donation history;
• Records we must keep to comply with legal, tax, or audit obligations, for the statutory period; and
• Trees, measurements, and photos of trees you recorded, which remain part of the project's records but are no longer linked to your name or contact details (see Section 5).

Until your personal data is erased, the phone number and email address on your account cannot be used to create a new account.

Copies of your personal data in our server backups are overwritten within 35 days after it is erased.

Deletion through the app closes your account immediately. For deletion requests made by email, we close your account within 30 days of verifying your identity; your personal data is then erased 30 days later. For step-by-step instructions, see Delete your account.

Plant Scholar does not knowingly collect personal information from, or permit account registration by, anyone under the age of 13. By creating an account, you confirm that you are at least 13 years old. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information and the associated account as soon as reasonably possible.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 13 has created an account or provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at info@plantscholar.org so we can investigate and remove it.

We use industry-standard safeguards to protect your information, including encrypted connections, hashed password storage, httpOnly authentication cookies, and role-based access controls. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

• You can review and update most of your profile information from within the Service.
• You can request a copy of, correction to, or deletion of your personal information by contacting us.
• You can switch between English and Bangla at any time from within the Service.

The Service is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the European Union, in the Frankfurt, Germany region (eu-central-1), so your information is stored and processed outside Bangladesh. We take steps to ensure your information continues to receive an appropriate level of protection.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you through the Service.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, contact us at info@plantscholar.org. For our Terms and Conditions, see Terms and Conditions.