Your privacy

Updated 5 October 2026 · Version 2026-10-05

Who holds your information and why

Caleb Alexander Rhodes Kendall, trading as ARMEDIA, operates Tipu and is the contact for privacy requests at [email protected]. Our online business contact is https://tipu.kiwi and the support email above.

Tipu stores your name, username, verified email, protected password hash, household and room names, plant setup, care events, sitter passes, access records and subscription references. We use these to run your account, calculate care reminders, allow authorised care sharing, send verification/recovery emails, administer billing and investigate problems. Account and setup fields needed for those features are required; AI photo checks are optional. If you choose not to provide a photo, manual care still works.

Photos and AI

Only after you tick the AI consent box, Tipu sends the selected photo, entered notes and plant setup (species, light, soil and pot size) to OpenAI. Tipu resizes the image and removes image metadata before sending it. Tipu stores the assessment and allowance record, rather than a photo journal or retained copy of that upload. Avoid photos containing people, addresses or private documents.

The API request disables stored Responses state. This does not mean zero provider retention: OpenAI may retain API content in abuse-monitoring logs under its applicable data controls. OpenAI states that API data is not used to train its models by default. Provider processing can occur outside New Zealand. OpenAI processes these requests as a service provider under its applicable API terms and data controls.

Optional care reminders

Reminders are off until you enable them. Tipu stores your chosen daily time, time zone and channel preferences. Phone reminders also store a browser push endpoint and encryption keys. Encrypted notifications pass through your browser’s push provider, such as Apple, Google, Mozilla or Microsoft, which may process data overseas. Lock-screen alerts contain a care-check count, without plant names or photos. Email reminders go only to your verified account email through our email service. Delivery status records are kept for up to 30 days. Disable reminders in the app, disconnect devices to remove their stored subscriptions, or use the unsubscribe link in each care email. Account verification and recovery emails remain separate.

Sharing, billing, email and hosting

An active sitter can see the plant-care information in the shared household and record care. Sitter access does not reveal your billing details, password or owner settings. An NFC link does not grant owner access by itself.

Stripe handles payment details. Tipu keeps Stripe customer/subscription references, status and billing event records; it does not store card numbers. Cloudflare carries public website traffic and sends verification/recovery emails. Support mail forwards to the operator's Outlook inbox. These providers may process relevant data overseas. Tipu's primary app database is on the operator's New Zealand home server, with local backups. We do not sell personal information or use advertising in the launch app.

Cookies, security and retention

Essential session cookies keep owners and sitters signed in. Access is checked on the server. Sitter expiry/revocation and password-recovery session invalidation limit continued access. No system can promise absolute security.

We keep account and care records while needed for the service and legitimate legal, security or billing purposes. Archiving a plant hides it from active care; it is not permanent deletion. Ask support for account closure, access, correction or deletion. We verify identity before releasing or changing private information. Financial records may have to be retained by law. Daily backups may retain earlier records after removal from the active service. Deletion requests include a review of retained backups; we will explain any retention required for legal or security purposes. Removal from the active app does not promise immediate erasure from every backup.

Your rights and complaints

Contact [email protected] to request access, correction, closure or deletion, or to raise a privacy complaint. We will respond within applicable legal timeframes and explain any lawful reason information cannot be supplied or removed. You may also contact New Zealand's Office of the Privacy Commissioner. We will update this notice when the service or its data use changes materially.