Privacy Policy
FamBees Stories
This policy explains how this application handles information and how to contact us about privacy.
Information we process
FamBees Stories is a personal beekeeping archive without user accounts. Apiary names, regions or addresses, descriptions, selected photographs, captions, custom collections, hive cards, dated observations, story drafts, published stories and microphone recordings are stored on your iPhone in Core Data and app-owned files. Preferences are stored locally. Photos selected with the system picker are limited to your selection; the app re-encodes imported photographs and does not intentionally copy their location metadata. If you enable optional cloud backup, an encrypted snapshot of this archive, including photos and audio, is sent to our Railway-hosted service. The service stores a random installation identifier, an authentication-token digest, its creation time, the encrypted backup and its update timestamp. The separate encryption key and the access token are stored in the iOS Keychain. Requests to the service and to this public website also expose normal connection information, such as network address, request route, time and response status, to the hosting infrastructure. The application does not include analytics, advertising, location tracking, maps or social sign-in.
How we use information
Local data provides your offline archive, photo organization, hive inspection history, narrated story editing and playback. Camera and microphone access support the actions you initiate. Optional encrypted backup lets the same installation save and restore its archive, or restore using a recovery code you previously exported. Installation authorization prevents other installations from accessing your backup. The server processes short-lived rate-limit counters and hashed network-address or installation keys to limit abuse. Health and operational information keep the service running. There is no email delivery, marketing or account-registration system.
Service providers and sharing
The optional backup and this website are hosted on Railway, which processes network and operational information to provide its infrastructure. Our server retains encrypted archive content and authorization metadata; it does not receive the separate client encryption key or intentionally log access tokens or archive bodies. Ordinary hosting logs may contain connection and request metadata under Railway's infrastructure practices. The native app uses Apple's operating-system frameworks and does not embed third-party analytics or advertising SDKs. When you choose the system share menu or save to Photos, the selected image, audio file or recovery-code file goes to the application, person, location or library you choose. Those destinations apply their own practices. A shared recovery code grants access to your cloud archive, so share it only with a destination you trust. We do not sell your archive or disclose it for advertising.
Data retention
Local archive data remains until you remove individual content, delete all local data in Settings, or remove the app, subject to iOS device-backup behavior. The latest successful cloud snapshot is retained until you replace or delete it; turning cloud backup off does not delete the existing copy. The service keeps installation authorization metadata to recognize its secret even after you delete only the cloud backup. Rate-limit records are removed during later API activity after their window becomes more than two hours old. Our application does not configure scheduled Railway volume backups. Infrastructure logs and any provider-managed snapshots follow the provider's practices; we do not assert a specific retention period or immediate erasure of infrastructure copies. Exports and copies in Photos, Files, other apps or device backups remain until you manage them there. Keychain credentials may survive an app reinstall; that behavior is controlled by iOS and is not a guaranteed recovery method.
Deleting your information
Abandoned app-owned media imports are removed after the local archive opens successfully and when you delete all local data. Files are preserved if the archive cannot be opened. Delete an apiary to remove its associated photos, hive cards, observations, stories and owned recordings from the local archive, or use Delete all local data in Settings. Deleting local data turns automatic backup off and leaves the cloud copy available unless you separately choose Delete cloud backup. Deleting content while automatic backup is enabled updates the cloud snapshot on the next successful upload. Delete cloud backup removes the stored encrypted snapshot from the active service database and turns backup off; installation authorization remains so you can back up again. The API also supports deleting installation authorization and its snapshot with the installation token. SQLite secure deletion and a WAL checkpoint are used, but active readers or infrastructure copies may delay physical erasure. We cannot delete exports you sent to another destination. If you lose both the Keychain secret and your exported recovery code, the service cannot identify or decrypt your archive for recovery. For privacy questions or deletion assistance, contact InglebyOakenshaw@icloud.com without sending your recovery code or private recordings.
Permissions and your choices
Camera permission is requested when you take a photograph and microphone permission when you record voice commentary. The system photo picker grants access only to images you select and does not require broad photo-library permission. Saving an exported image requests add-only Photos permission. You can decline these permissions and continue using other archive features. Change or withdraw camera, microphone or Photos permission in iOS Settings; withdrawal prevents future use but does not automatically remove content already imported or recorded. Optional backup can be disabled in the app. The app does not request location, contacts or notification access.
Your privacy rights
You can review and edit your local content, export selected photographs and recordings with the system share menu, restore an available encrypted backup using its secret, and delete local or cloud content using the controls described above. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, erase or restrict processing of personal information, or complain to your local data-protection authority. Direct privacy inquiries to InglebyOakenshaw@icloud.com. This address is a public privacy contact, not an account identifier or an in-app support or email-delivery feature. Please describe your request without sending your private recovery code. Our ability to locate an encrypted installation archive is limited when its installation credentials have been lost.
Security
Cloud requests use HTTPS. The client encrypts the entire backup with AES-GCM and a randomly generated 256-bit key that is stored separately from the server-issued authorization token. Both are kept in the device Keychain with this-device-only access protection. The encryption key is not sent to the backend. The server stores a SHA256 authentication digest, checks authorization on every private archive request, uses parameterized SQLite operations, validates timestamps and payload sizes, and limits requests. Local app-owned files and the Core Data store use iOS file protection available after first unlock. Recovery-code export contains the credentials needed to access and decrypt the archive; protect that file like the archive itself. No storage or network system can be guaranteed completely secure, and operating-system backups and shared copies are outside the app's direct control.
Children’s privacy
FamBees Stories is intended for beekeepers and is not directed to children. It has no social network, advertising, messaging or account-registration features. Do not place sensitive information about children or other people in photographs, voice recordings or notes without an appropriate basis. If you believe a child's information has been improperly processed, contact InglebyOakenshaw@icloud.com; do not include the child's private media or a recovery code in an initial inquiry.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the application's features or processing practices change. The current policy is published on this page with its effective date and is linked from the app's Settings. Review the current version before enabling new optional processing. Material changes will be reflected in the app or this policy as appropriate; no email account or notification subscription is required.