Drox Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Drox ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal information when you use our mobile and web application — your personal fermentation laboratory for tracking kimchi, kombucha, sourdough, and all your home fermentation projects. We built this policy to be transparent, not overly legalistic, and aligned with the values of curious home fermenters who want to keep their creative process private while enjoying structured journaling for their live cultures.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect information that is necessary to deliver the fermentation tracking features you use:

1.1 Information You Directly Provide

• Fermentation batch details you input: ferment type (kimchi, kombucha, sourdough, etc.), start dates, temperature and humidity logs, aroma notes, observation tags, manual progress adjustments, and ferment completion statuses
• All photos you upload to document fermentation stages, from initial brine mixing to final bloom
• Account credentials you choose to provide (email address, username) if you sign up for cloud sync features

1.2 Automatically Processed Information

• Anonymous usage data: how you interact with app features (filtering timelines, comparing batches, using Morphoscope AI) to help us improve usability and prioritize new features
• Morphoscope AI processing data: when you use our AI growth projection tool, we process visual features from your uploaded photos to generate maturity insights. If you have local AI processing enabled, your original photos never leave your device. If cloud AI is enabled, photos are only processed temporarily and not stored permanently unless you opt in to cloud backup.

1.3 Optional Information

If you choose to share your fermentation logs publicly to the Drox community, any content you mark as public will be visible to other Drox users. You can adjust your sharing settings or remove public content at any time.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Deliver core app functionality: generate your visual fermentation timelines, calculate maturity insights, enable side-by-side batch comparisons, run Morphoscope AI growth projections, and store/sync your records across devices if you enable cloud backup
• Improve our service: refine AI prediction accuracy, fix bugs, develop new ferment type support, and optimize the purple lab workspace experience for all users
• Send essential communications: service outage alerts, security updates, and responses to support requests you submit
• Send optional updates: if you opt in, we will share fermentation tips, new feature announcements, and community highlights. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time.
• Prevent misuse: detect and stop fraudulent or abusive use of the Drox platform to keep the service safe for all fermenters

We will never use your private fermentation logs, photos, or notes for marketing purposes without your explicit written consent.

3. Information Sharing & Disclosure

We never sell, rent, or lease your personal information to third parties for commercial purposes. We only share your information in these limited circumstances:

• Trusted Service Providers: We share limited data with third-party vendors who help us run the Drox service (cloud storage providers, AI infrastructure partners, support tools). All vendors are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and may only use your data to deliver services to us, not for their own purposes.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required by applicable law, regulation, or legal process. We will provide you with advance notice of any disclosure where legally permitted, unless we are prohibited from doing so by law.
• With Your Consent: We will share your information with third parties only if you explicitly give us permission to do so, for example if you choose to enter a fermentation contest and share your batch details with contest organizers.

4. Your Rights & Choices

• Access & Export: You can export all your Drox data (batch records, photos, AI insights, notes) at any time in standard CSV/JSON formats, for personal use or to transfer to another service.
• Edit & Delete: You can edit any of your batch records, notes, or tags, delete individual batches, or request full deletion of your account and all associated data. When you request account deletion, we will permanently erase all your data within 30 days, except for any data we are required to retain by applicable law.
• Privacy Controls: You can opt to store all your data locally on your device only, with no cloud sync, so no data is ever sent to our servers. You can also disable Morphoscope AI features entirely, or adjust your public sharing settings at any time.
• Communication Preferences: You can opt out of non-essential marketing communications at any time through your account settings or the unsubscribe link in our emails.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including end-to-end encryption for data in transit, AES-256 encryption for data at rest, strict access controls for our team, and regular security audits. Data stored locally on your device is protected by your device's built-in security features.

While we take all reasonable precautions to protect your information, no security system is completely impenetrable. We will notify you and applicable regulators of any data breach affecting your personal information as required by applicable law.

6. Children's Privacy

Drox is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from users under 13. If we become aware that we have collected information from a user under 13, we will immediately delete all associated data.

7. Policy Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy occasionally to reflect changes to our service or applicable regulatory requirements. For material changes, we will provide you with 30 days advance notice through in-app notification or email. Your continued use of Drox after the updated policy takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the changes.