Privacy policy

Last updated October 17, 2026

Draft — under legal review. This page may change before launch.

Plant Sitters connects people who are going away with local sitters who look after their plants. This policy covers the app and theplantnetwork.com. It says what we collect, why, who sees it and how to delete it. We collect only what the current features need. We don't sell your data and we don't show ads.

What we collect

• Account. Your email address and the side you use, owner or sitter. Sign-in runs through WorkOS.
• Name and phone. Your name, and a mobile number so you and the other person can reach each other about a sit. We confirm the number with a code sent by text message.
• Your home and how to get in. For owners: your neighborhood, home address and entry details (key handover, lockbox or smart lock code).
• Plants. For each plant: its name, species, room, light, watering instructions, notes and a photo, and, if you log it, when you watered or checked it.
• Sits and visits. Dates, number of visits, price, the sitter matched, and at each visit a dated photo of every plant with the sitter's note.
• Messages. What an owner and their matched sitter write to each other in the app, and any photos they send there.
• Reviews. Ratings, whether you would rebook, comments, and how each plant did after the sit. Owners can also write one line for the sitter's profile.
• Sitter applications. Your name, the neighborhoods you'd cover, your plant experience, a short bio and, if you add one, a photo of you. Our team sees the photo when we review your application. Once you're approved, it is your profile photo, shown to signed-in owners who can book you. Other sitters and people who aren't signed in can't see it.
• Identity checks (sitters). Stripe Identity checks your ID document against a live selfie. Stripe handles the images. We receive the result and a reference to the check, not copies of your ID.
• Payments and payouts. Owners pay through Stripe; we never see your full card number. Sitters set up payouts with Stripe Connect, which collects the bank and tax details. We keep payment references, amounts and dates.
• Waitlist. On this site: your email, owner or sitter, and your city.

Photos and location

Phones store where a photo was taken inside the file. The app removes that location and other camera metadata on your phone, before a photo is uploaded. We don't track your location. The time of each visit photo is recorded, because that is the proof of the visit. Photos sent in messages are cleaned the same way and kept in private storage that only the people below can open.

Who sees what

• Your sitter sees your plants and care instructions once matched. Your address and entry details are shown to them only during the sit window, then hidden again.
• Owner and sitter see each other's first name once the sit is paid, until a week after it ends. Each other's verified phone number shows only on a paid sit, from the day before it starts to the day after it ends. Before payment, they can write to each other in the app, but not share phone numbers or emails there.
• Owners see the visit photos and notes for their own sits.
• Signed-in owners who can book a sitter see that sitter's first name, neighborhoods, profile photo, if they added one, the About you and plant experience they wrote in their application, and ratings.
• Messages, text and photos, are seen by the owner and the matched sitter on that sit, and by our team when we answer support or look into a message someone reported.
• Anyone using the app can see the line an owner chose to share on a sitter's profile, signed as an owner in that sit's neighborhood, never by name. It is shown only while the owner leaves it switched on, and turning it off removes it.
• Our team sees what we need to review sitters, match sits, pay sitters and answer support.

Services we use

These companies process data for us under their own privacy terms:

• Cloudflare hosts the app's server, database, photos and this site.
• WorkOS handles sign-in.
• Stripe processes payments, sitter payouts and identity checks.
• Resend sends our emails.
• Twilio sends the text message that confirms your phone number. It receives only the number and the code.
• Pl@ntNet identifies a plant from its photo when you add one. We send only the photo, and we don't keep a copy of it from this step.
• Google Fonts serves this site's fonts, so your browser asks Google for them.

We share data with others only when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.

Cookies and tracking

This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or ad trackers. The app keeps your sign-in token in your phone's secure storage.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. When you delete your account we delete or anonymize your personal data within 30 days. We delete your email, first name, phone number, plants and their photos, sitter application, ID check result, unpaid bookings and the comments in your reviews. Past sits (dates, neighborhood, plants and visits) and ratings stay, without your name or email. Visit and plant photos from your past sits are kept for 30 days after you delete your account, or until 120 days after the sit's last visit if that is later, so we can answer a payment dispute about the sit. They stay longer only while a dispute about that sit is still open. Photos a sitter took at visits stay with the owner's sit and follow the owner's account. Messages you sent stay in the other person's thread marked as removed, without their text or photos. We keep payment and payout records for as long as tax and accounting law requires, and Stripe keeps its own records under its terms. Waitlist emails are kept until we open in your area or you ask us to remove them.

Your choices

• Delete your account in the app, from your account settings. Or email us and we'll do it.
• See, correct or get a copy of your data: email us.
• Leave the waitlist: email us from the address you signed up with.

California residents have the right to know, correct and delete their personal information and to not be discriminated against for asking. We don't sell or share personal information for cross-context advertising. Residents of other US states with similar laws can use the same rights by emailing us.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Access to addresses and entry codes is limited to the sit window, and we never write tokens, addresses or entry codes to our logs. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects you, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Children

The service is for adults 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from children.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Contact

Email support@theplantnetwork.com. Plant Sitters is based in Berkeley, California.