App Privacy
The Snarky Leaf app, privacy policy
Last updated: 25 October 2026
The Snarky Leaf app is made by The Snarky Leaf, a small business in Ontario, Canada. This policy covers the app. The shop at thesnarkyleaf.com has its own policy.
The short version: your game is saved to your account so you can get it back on a new phone, the app counts how it gets used but never who is using it, there are no ads, and nothing about you is sold to anyone.
Your save
Everything in your game is one save: your plant and what you did each day, the flowers in your book, your coins, what Leaf is wearing, your settings, and the small things Leaf knows about you (below). The save lives on your phone, and a copy goes to the app's server a little after each change, so it can be restored on a new phone or after a reinstall. It is tied to your account and nobody else can read it. Deleting your account removes it.
What Leaf knows about you
Leaf has a few traits of its own, rolled once for your save, and it keeps a short list of moments from your game: the first flower you found and the kind of place it was in, the name of your first friend, a day you went out in the rain, how long you were away, and so on. Now and then Leaf asks you a small question with two answers, like cats or dogs, and keeps the answer so it can bring it up later. All of that is part of your save, is only used by Leaf's lines in your app, and goes when your account does.
Your account
Signing in uses your email address, which is used to send you a one time code, or your Apple or Google sign-in if you choose one. The app keeps the name and username you chose and your plant's look, meaning its pot, glaze and props, so friends see it dressed. There is no password.
Signing in with Google or Apple
If you choose to sign in with Google, Google shares three things with the app: your name, your email address and your Google account ID. If you sign in with Apple, Apple shares your email address (or a private relay address, if you choose that) and your Apple account ID. The app uses these only to create your account, sign you in, and let you get your Leaf back on a new phone. They are stored with your account by the app's sign in service, are never shown to other players, are never sold or shared, and are never used for ads or for training anything. The app does not ask Google or Apple for your contacts, photos, calendar or anything else. Deleting your account deletes them. You can also remove the app's access at any time from your Google or Apple account settings.
Your age
When you first open the app it asks for the month and year you were born. Your birthday isn't kept. The app only keeps whether you are 13 or older, or, for a child, the month they turn 13, so the kids' limits can come off by themselves.
Friends
Friendships are by consent: you ask, they accept or decline. A friend can see your chosen name, your plant's look, your friendship level with them, and what passes between you: gifts and parcels, flowers you trade or ask for, notes, and games of four leaf. A flower you give a friend carries the day it was found and the name of the town it was found in. Nobody but that friend can see any of it.
Friends can also see when you're in the app (a small "here now" dot) and how you did on the Daily Wilt. Two things are shown more widely, and both can be switched off in Settings: friend suggestions, where friends of your friends can see your @username, your plant's look and the names of the friends you share; and everyone's boards, where your @username, your plant's look and your best game scores can be seen by anyone who plays. Kids' accounts are never shown in either.
If you report someone, the report and what it was about are kept so it can be looked into.
A note goes to the friend you sent it to and to no one else. It sits on the app's server until they read it, and clearing or replying removes it. Notes aren't read by anyone else, and nothing you type in the app is used to train anything.
Location, the map and the weather
The map is drawn around where you are, so while the map is open the app reads your position. The streets and parks it draws come from OpenFreeMap, which receives the area you are looking at and nothing about you. The phone's own map service is asked, once in a while, for the name of the town you are in, so the map can say it. Your position is used in the moment and is not stored, except as said next. The app never asks for background or "always" location.
If you turn the weather on, the app reads your position when it opens and uses it for one forecast. The forecast service receives a position and nothing about you. The save keeps your latitude rounded to a whole degree, which is about a hundred kilometres and far too coarse to be a town, so the app knows which season you are in, along with the day it last snowed where you are.
The camera
The camera is used only when you tap scan, and only to read a QR code: a friend's, so you can ask to be friends, or one from the shop, so it can be redeemed. Nothing is photographed, kept or uploaded, and you can always type the code by hand instead.
Notifications
Off is absolute. If you turn them on, a token identifying your phone is stored so they can reach you. Most of the app's own knocks are scheduled on your phone: one the morning after a bud opens, one when it's your move in a game, one when the traveller comes home if you ask for it, and one if the app hasn't been opened in three days. That last one goes out once and not again until you next open the app, and it is covered by the same switches as the others. A friend's phone sends a knock when they send you something or ask to be friends. Now and then a knock comes from the app's server too: a reminder when gifts from friends have been waiting a couple of days, or news about an event, like a new season. Turning notifications off stops all of it.
How the app gets used
The app counts how often things get used: how many phones opened it in a day, which tabs were opened, how many buds were picked, how many games played. The counts are added up as daily totals with no account, name, device or address attached to them, and they are sent in small batches. They show which parts of the app earn their place and nothing about any one person.
The shop
Opening the shop asks thesnarkyleaf.com what is on the tables. That request carries nothing about you. Your basket lives on your phone, and checking out hands it to thesnarkyleaf.com as a list of items. Paying happens on thesnarkyleaf.com, under its own terms and privacy policy. No card number, address or email is ever typed into the app.
If you join as a member, a customer record is created for you in thesnarkyleaf.com's system, marked as a member, with your own 10% discount code. If you tick the box to hear about new drops and member perks, you can unsubscribe from any email.
Updates
The app checks for a new version. That request carries the app version and nothing about you.
Who else handles this information
A small number of services help run the app, and each one only receives what it needs:
- a database and sign in service, which holds your account, your friendships, your notes, your save and the usage totals
- an app update and notification service
- a weather service, which receives a position and nothing else
- a map service, which receives the area the map is showing and nothing else
- thesnarkyleaf.com, for the shop, member records and all payment
- Apple and Google, who distribute the app
Your information isn't sold, rented or shared with anyone else.
What the app doesn't do
No ads. No trackers. No third party advertising identifiers. No analytics beyond the totals described above. The app does nothing in the background.
Children
Children under 13 can only play with a parent's or guardian's permission. A grown-up signs in at thesnarkyleaf.com/pages/parents with their email, reads what is kept, agrees, and gets a family code for each child. The app keeps the parent's email, when they agreed and the words they agreed to, and sends them one follow-up email a day later.
A kids' account is made to share as little as possible: no email, a name picked from a list rather than typed, chat picked from ready-made lines only, friends added only by code, and never shown on public boards or in friend suggestions. They can't join the shop's member club, which needs an email. Their game is saved like anyone's, location is used only on the phone, and nothing is sold or used for ads.
A parent can come back to that page at any time to see their child's picked name, last visit and friends, remove a friend, pause the account, or turn the code off, which deletes the child's account and save straight away. They can also email for a copy of what is held or to have it deleted. The month a child turns 13, the kids' limits come off and the parent's code is retired.
Anyone under 13 who hasn't been set up by a grown-up can't play. If you believe a child is using the app without a parent's permission, email hello@thesnarkyleaf.com and the account will be deleted.
Your choices
Tap delete my account in settings and everything on the server is removed immediately: your account, your friendships, your notes and your save. The game on your phone stays yours. You can also ask for a copy of what is held about you, or ask for it to be corrected, by emailing the address below.
Where it's stored
The services the app uses may store information on servers outside Canada, including in the United States, where it is protected by those services' own security and may be subject to local law.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it, and anything significant is announced in the app's what's new card.
hello@thesnarkyleaf.com