Your Spots. Your Secret.
We built Mushroom Tracker for foragers who understand that some locations are meant to stay private. Your spots are private by default. On the free plan they stay on your device; with Premium they are also backed up to your own account, where only you can read them. They are never shared unless you choose to share them.
Private by DefaultThe "Spot Burning" Problem
Every experienced forager knows the pain: you share a productive location on social media or with the wrong person, and within weeks it's picked clean. Overharvesting has made some species locally extinct.
Social media and location-tagging apps have accelerated this problem. Places where wild plants like ramps used to grow abundantly have been decimated. Chanterelle patches that produced for decades are gone. This isn't just about losing "your" spots - it's about sustainable foraging for everyone.
Your Spots. Your Secret.
We believe your finds belong to you. We don't analyze your locations to find patterns, and we don't put your pins on a public community map.
- Private location storage on-device
- Nothing is shared unless you explicitly choose to
- Approximate sharing (1km blur) for when you do share
- Cloud sync backup with Premium
- GDPR-compliant right to deletion
Choose Your Privacy Level
You control exactly how much you share:
On This Phone Only (Free plan)
All spots stored locally on your device. No cloud backup, no sharing — your pins, photos and notes don't leave your phone. No account needed.
Private with Cloud Backup (Premium)
Local storage plus cloud backup and sync to your own account. If you lose your phone, you don't lose years of spot data. Database access rules mean only your account can read your spots — no other user can see them.
Community & Marketplace (Opt-in)
Join a foray, submit a find for identification review, or list a harvest in the marketplace. Only what you post is shared, and community posts carry a coarse region code rather than your coordinates.
Approximate Public (Opt-in)
Contribute to community science with coarsened location data. Species sightings are shared on a coarse regional grid rather than as coordinates — useful for research, too vague to burn a spot.
Private by
Default
Canadian
Data Hosting
GDPR
Compliant
No Data
Selling
"If you find a good spot, don't tag it on social media. Seasoned foragers are wary of sharing for good reason."- Advice commonly shared in foraging communities
How We're Different from Other Apps
iNaturalist
Public by default. Your observations go on a global map. GPS coordinates visible to researchers and the public. Great for citizen science, terrible for keeping spots secret.
Social Media
Even "friends only" posts get shared, screenshotted, and spread. Geotagged photos reveal locations through metadata. No real privacy controls.
Generic GPS Apps
Most require cloud accounts. Your waypoints sync to company servers. Often terms of service allow data analysis. Not built with forager privacy in mind.
Mushroom Tracker
Purpose-built for foragers. Local-first storage. Cloud backup to your own account with Premium. Approximate sharing. We understand why privacy matters to foragers.
Technical Privacy Details
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Local SQLite Database
All pins stored in a local SQLite database on your device, not on a shared server. Your phone's own full-device encryption protects it at rest.
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No Analytics on Location Data
We use analytics for app usage (button clicks, feature usage) but never analyze where you forage.
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Cloud Backup and Sync (Premium)
Premium backs up your pins, pin photos and favorites to your account over an encrypted connection. Per-account access rules on our database mean only your account can read them. We never sell, share or analyze where you forage.
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Open Data Export
Export your data in standard formats (CSV, GPX) anytime. Your data is never locked in our ecosystem.
Keep Your Spots Secret
Download Mushroom Tracker and start building your private foraging logbook. Your locations stay on your device on the free plan, and in your own account with Premium — never anyone else's.