Privacy Policy

PICK ("the App") is a community cleanup tracking app operated by John Larkin Verbiest, known publicly as Jake Verbiest ("we", "us"). This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

What we collect

Account information. When you sign up we collect your display name, email address, neighborhood/zone name, and optional team or event name.

Cleanup session data. When you start a cleanup session, the App records: the number of pickups detected, session duration, estimated and self-reported trash weight, the date and time of the session, and GPS location data — including your walking route and the approximate locations of detected pickups. Route and session data are stored in our cloud database (Google Firebase) so your history, stats, maps, and leaderboards work across devices.

Motion sensor data. The App uses your phone's accelerometer and gyroscope to detect pickup motions. Raw sensor readings (individual accelerometer/gyroscope samples) are processed on your device in real time and are never transmitted or stored anywhere — only a compact summary of each detected motion event (its strength, duration, and whether it was accepted as a pickup) is kept, alongside the route and session data described above.

Device and carry position. Each cleanup also records which iPhone model and iOS version the walk was recorded on (for example, "iPhone14,3 (iPhone 13 Pro) / iOS 18.5") and, where the App could tell, whether the phone was carried in a pocket or in your hand during the walk — the App works that out from the same motion sensors described above, and records nothing at all when it isn't confident. Both are kept only to make the pickup-detection accuracy work described below meaningful: how well detection performs depends heavily on which phone it runs on and on where that phone rides, and without these two facts one tester's results can't be told apart from another's. The device field is a hardware model string — never your device's name, which you set yourself and which is often a real person's name.

Session power mode. Each cleanup also records whether you were using the App in the foreground (screen on) or background (screen off) during that cleanup. Background location tracking needs "Always" location access to keep working with the screen off; when that permission isn't granted, the App has to keep the screen on instead. This is kept only to measure how often that happens, so we know whether it's worth building around.

Weight calibration data. If you weigh your collected trash and enter the measurement, it is stored on your device to improve weight estimates. This data stays on your device.

Apple Health. If you enable it, the App writes each cleanup to Apple Health as a walking workout, so your trash pickups count toward your activity rings and exercise minutes (duration, distance, calories). The App does not read any data from Apple Health — the read permission iOS asks for is only requested because Apple requires it alongside the write permission; PICK does not use it. You can disable this in Settings at any time.

Photos. You can attach a photo to a cleanup post — for example, a before/after shot of the spot you cleaned. That photo is stored in our cloud storage (Firebase Storage). If you post it to the community feed or share it, it becomes visible to other users or wherever you shared it; photos you don't post stay private to your account. You choose whether to attach a photo at all — the App works fully without one.

Feedback. If you use "Send feedback" in Settings, we collect your message, your display name, your email address, your app version, and a timestamp. This is used only to read and respond to your feedback and to fix problems — it's read internally and is never shown publicly.

Crash and error reporting. PICK uses Sentry to catch crashes and errors so we can fix them. Sentry receives your device and app version and a technical stack trace of what the App was doing when it crashed — no cleanup content, location history, or account details beyond what's needed to diagnose the crash.

What we do not collect. No contacts, microphone audio, or advertising identifiers. We do not sell your data and do not show ads. Location is only tracked during an active cleanup session.

How we use data

To operate the App: counting pickups, drawing route maps and neighborhood coverage, calculating stats, streaks, badges, team totals, leaderboards, and challenges. Your display name and aggregate stats may appear on leaderboards visible to other users. Street-cleaning status (which sidewalk segments were cleaned, and when) is shared across all users to power the community coverage map.

To improve pickup detection. We also analyze cleanup session data — the motion-event summaries described above, how many pickups the App detected compared with the total you confirm at the end of a cleanup, your walking pace, and the device model and carry position described above — to measure and improve the accuracy of pickup detection. This is internal engineering work: the results are never shown to other users, and this analysis is not used to profile you or to make any decision about you. If you'd rather your cleanups weren't used this way, email hello@pickglobal.org and we'll exclude your account.

Legal basis for processing (EU/UK/EEA users)

If you're in the EU, UK, or EEA, data protection law requires us to name the legal basis for each way we process your personal data:

Contract necessity. Your account information and cleanup session data (display name, email, GPS route, pickup counts, motion-detection summaries, timestamps) are processed because they're what the App needs to provide the service you signed up for — tracking your cleanups, drawing your route, and keeping your stats and history in sync across devices. We can't run the App without this data.
Consent. Features you switch on yourself are processed on the basis of your consent: writing cleanups to Apple Health, attaching a photo to a post, sharing a post to the community feed, and connecting Bluesky auto-post. You can withdraw consent at any time by turning the feature off (or deleting the post) in Settings, without affecting the rest of the App.
Legitimate interests. The public aggregate impact map and city-level stats, leaderboards, public profile pages, the shared street-cleaning coverage map, Sentry crash diagnostics, and the pickup-detection accuracy analysis described above are processed on the basis of our (and, for the community features, other users') legitimate interest in running a functioning, social cleanup-tracking app and in making its pickup detection more accurate. Where a feature shows your identity to other users (leaderboards, public profile), it has its own opt-out in Settings, and you can object to this processing at any time — see "Your rights" below.

We do not process any special category data (health, biometric, genetic, or similar data under GDPR Art. 9). Motion-sensor data is used only to detect a pickup motion, not to identify or profile you.

What the public map shows

The public impact map at pickglobal.org/map shows aggregate counts and totals only — kilometre-scale zones with no personal attribution. Your individual route is never published there.

Where data is stored

Account and session data are stored in Google Firebase (Firestore), subject to Google's security practices. A local copy is cached on your device so the App works offline. Calibration samples and login state are stored only on your device.

International transfers. This project's Firebase database runs in Google's us-central1 region (United States). If you're using PICK from the EU, UK, or EEA, this means your data is transferred to and stored in the US. Google's Cloud Data Processing Addendum for Firebase and Google Cloud Platform — which applies automatically to every Firebase project, including this one — incorporates the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) as the safeguard for this transfer.

Your choices

Delete your data: Settings → Danger Zone → "Clear All Data".
Delete your account: Settings → Danger Zone → "Delete Account" — removes your account and all associated data permanently, in the App, with no email required.
Location permission: deny or revoke in your phone settings; the App still counts pickups but cannot map routes.
Leaderboards: opt in or out at any time in Settings.
Export: any session's data can be exported from the App.

Your rights (EU/UK/EEA users)

GDPR/UK GDPR gives you these rights over your data. Where the App already has a built-in way to exercise one, we've pointed at it directly rather than just naming the right:

Right to erasure: "Delete Account" above deletes your account and everything tied to it — profile, posts, likes, cleanups, badges, adoptions, follows, challenge contributions, live-walk presence, handle, avatar, feedback, reports, and Storage-hosted photos — immediately, in the App, with no email required. This already goes further than the law's "without undue delay" standard.
Right to data portability: every cleanup can be exported individually — the "Export session" button on a walk's summary screen, or "Export" on any past cleanup in your Activity history, copies that cleanup's full data (route points, pickup counts and locations, timestamps, and more) to your clipboard as text you can save or send elsewhere. There's no single "export everything" button yet, but every cleanup you've logged can already be pulled out this way.
Right of access and rectification: most of your data — profile, display name, settings, cleanup history — is already visible and editable directly in the App. For anything you can't see or fix yourself, email hello@pickglobal.org and we'll provide or correct it.
Right to restriction and right to object: turn off a specific feature in Settings (Leaderboards, public profile, Apple Health, Bluesky, community sharing) rather than deleting your account outright, or contact us to request broader restriction of a specific use of your data.
Right to lodge a complaint: you can complain to your local data protection supervisory authority if you believe we've mishandled your data.

Children

PICK is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

We will post any changes to this policy here and update the date above. Material changes will be announced in the App.

Contact

Jake Verbiest — hello@pickglobal.org