Aquarium Notebook works entirely on your device. There is no account, no login, and no server that receives your records. Your aquariums, livestock, breeding history, photos, notes, and finances stay on your iPhone or iPad.
What stays on your device
Everything you enter into the app is stored locally and is never transmitted to us. This includes:
- Aquarium details, dimensions, and settings
- Livestock records, species, counts, and life events
- Breeding and lineage records across generations
- Photos you add to albums, generations, or tank timelines
- Notes, reminders, and the expense and income ledger
- App preferences such as language, theme, and units
We have no ability to read, retrieve, or restore this data. If you delete the app without exporting a backup first, the data is gone.
Photos
When you add a photo, iOS shows you the system photo picker. The app receives only the images you select — it has no access to the rest of your photo library and does not request full library permission.
Selected images are copied into the app's private storage on your device. They are not uploaded anywhere. Photos included in a PDF report are written to a file that you choose to save or share.
Notifications
Birth countdowns, maturity reminders, maintenance reminders, and monthly planning notifications are scheduled locally by iOS. Nothing is sent through a push server, and no notification content leaves your device. You can disable notifications at any time in iOS Settings.
Advertising
The free version of the app shows advertising supplied by Google AdMob. This is the only component of the app that communicates with the internet.
Two ad formats appear: a banner on some screens, and an optional rewarded video that you can choose to watch in exchange for exporting a PDF report without a purchase. Rewarded ads never start on their own.
What Google may collect
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Device identifiers | Serving and measuring ads, limiting repetition, fraud prevention |
| Approximate location | Derived from your IP address, used for ad relevance and legal compliance |
| App interaction data | Measuring whether an ad was shown, viewed, or tapped |
This data is collected by Google, not by us. We never receive it in a form that identifies you. Google's handling of it is described in the Google Privacy & Terms and the list of advertising partners.
Tracking permission
On first launch, iOS asks whether you allow the app to track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you decline, the advertising identifier is not used and you will see non-personalised ads instead. Declining does not restrict any feature of the app. You can change this decision at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
Consent in Europe and the UK
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, a consent form appears before ads are loaded, as required by Google's EU user consent policy. You can reopen it at any time from the Ad preferences button in the app's settings screen, and withdraw or change your consent.
Removing ads
The one-time Pro purchase removes all advertising. Once Pro is active, the advertising SDK is not initialised and no ad-related data is collected.
Purchases
The Pro upgrade is processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see your payment card, billing address, or Apple Account details. What the app receives is a signed confirmation from Apple that a purchase exists, which it uses to unlock Pro features on that device.
Restoring a purchase on a new device works through the same Apple mechanism. Apple's handling of transaction data is covered by the Apple Privacy Policy.
What we do not do
- No account creation, email collection, or sign-in of any kind
- No analytics or usage-tracking SDK
- No crash reporting service
- No cloud sync and no server-side copy of your records
- No selling or sharing of personal information to third parties for money
- No contacts, microphone, camera roll browsing, or precise location access
Backups
The app can export your data, including photos, to a file you choose. Where that file goes is entirely your decision — a local folder, Files, or any destination you pick in the iOS share sheet. We do not receive it.
If iCloud Backup is enabled on your device, iOS may include the app's data in your device backup. That backup is governed by Apple's privacy policy, not ours.
Deleting your data
You are in control of removal at all times:
- Delete individual records inside the app at any time.
- Use Delete all data in the app's settings to erase everything, including stored photos.
- Delete the app from your device to remove all of its local data.
Because we hold nothing on our side, there is no separate deletion request to submit. If you would still like written confirmation of this, write to us at the address below and we will reply.
Children
Aquarium Notebook is a record-keeping tool for aquarium hobbyists and breeders. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information through this app, contact us and we will look into it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to the processing of your personal data, including under the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act. Because the app stores your records only on your own device, you already exercise most of these rights directly through the app.
For the advertising data described above, the controller is Google. Requests concerning that data can be made through Google's privacy tools, or you may contact us and we will point you to the right place.
Changes to this policy
If the app's data practices change — for example if a new service is added — this page will be updated and the effective date at the top will change. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes on the App Store.
Contact
Happy Guppy (hbuapps)
Halil Uyduran
Email: hbuapps@gmail.com
Write in English or Turkish. We aim to reply within a few days.