Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

ReefMind, LLC (“ReefMind,” “we,” “us”) provides aquarium monitoring, controller integrations, reef-keeping dashboards, AI-assisted aquarium insights, camera/coral-analysis tools, and related support services through https://www.reefmind.ai and our mobile applications. ReefMind, LLC is responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to support@reefmind.ai. You may also call or text ReefMind support at 443.253.3922.

2. Information we collect

Account and contact information

• Name, email address, login identifiers, account settings, support messages, and communication preferences.
• Authentication data needed to sign you in and keep your session secure.

Aquarium, controller, and equipment information

• Tank names, tank type, volume, livestock/coral context you choose to enter, equipment, dosing settings, feeding/maintenance notes, and custom parameter ranges.
• Water-parameter readings, trends, alerts, controller status, probe/sensor names, source metadata, and historical aquarium data.
• Read-only integration data from supported aquarium systems such as Neptune Apex, Hydros/CoralVue, Aquarino, Focustronic, Jebao, and similar devices or services when you connect them.
• A location or ZIP code you enter for local weather context. We send it to our weather provider to look up conditions.

Collector, camera, diagnostics, and app activity

• ReefMind Collector identifiers, heartbeat/status, version, network reachability, local device diagnostics, and error logs needed to keep integrations working.
• Camera snapshots, live video while you are watching it, coral photos, and analysis results when you enable camera or coral-analysis features. Section 4 explains exactly what we capture and how long we keep it.
• App, browser, and device diagnostics such as pages visited, feature use, crash/error reports, IP-derived security data, and performance telemetry. Section 7 explains our cookies and analytics.
• Whether you opened an email we sent you. Our emails contain a small image that tells us when the email was opened, along with the device/browser type and a one-way scrambled (hashed) form of the IP address.

Captain Chris voice

If you use voice with Captain Chris, what you say is turned into text, and that text is handled like a message you typed, including being saved in your Captain Chris conversation history. ReefMind does not store the audio of your voice or the audio of Captain Chris's replies. See section 6 for how voice works.

Payment and subscription information

Payments, subscriptions, and checkout are processed by Stripe or other payment providers. ReefMind receives limited payment-related records such as customer identifiers, plan/subscription status, receipts, order status, and shipping details for hardware orders. We do not store full payment-card numbers on our servers.

Discord community connection

If you choose to connect your ReefMind account to Discord, Discord shares your Discord user ID, username, and display name with us. We ask Discord only for its basic "identify" permission, so we do not receive your Discord email, password, server list, or messages.

3. How we use information

• Provide your dashboard, charts, alerts, reports, and aquarium history.
• Connect read-only controller and device integrations and troubleshoot collector/device health.
• Generate Captain Chris AI summaries, recommendations, weekly reports, and support context based on your aquarium data.
• Process subscriptions, hardware orders, receipts, and customer support requests.
• Send service emails, such as weekly tank reports and camera fix-it emails. You can unsubscribe from these; billing, password, and order emails are always sent.
• Improve reliability, security, performance, user experience, and product features.
• Detect abuse, protect accounts, satisfy legal obligations, and enforce our terms and policies.

4. Cameras

Camera features are optional. They only run when you add a camera to ReefMind. Point your cameras at your aquarium, not at people; the Terms of Service explain your responsibilities for camera placement.

• What we capture. Your ReefMind Collector takes still snapshots from cameras you add, at regular intervals. Live View streams video from your camera to your app only while you are watching it. We do not record Live View or store video clips.
• Video only, no audio. ReefMind turns camera audio off. Snapshots are captured without audio, and Live View asks your camera for video only. We do not record or store camera audio.
• How video travels. Live View passes from your Collector through an encrypted tunnel (provided by Cloudflare) and through ReefMind's servers to your app. Our servers pass it along without saving it.
• No facial recognition. ReefMind does not use facial recognition, does not try to identify people, and does not create face geometry, voiceprints, or any other biometric identifier from camera images. Our camera AI looks at the aquarium: livestock, corals, algae, water clarity, and equipment. If a person happens to be in a frame, that snapshot is handled like any other and deleted on the same schedule.
• AI analysis. Snapshots and coral photos are sent to Google Gemini on Google Cloud Vertex AI for image analysis. See section 5.
• How long we keep it. Camera snapshots, and the analysis written about each one, are deleted automatically 48 hours after they are taken. Your camera keeps a short summary of its latest analysis and a record of which livestock it has seen, until the next analysis replaces it or you remove the camera. If you confirm what the AI spotted, we keep a small cropped image of that animal so the AI recognizes it next time, until you remove it or delete your account. Coral photos you upload are kept until you delete your account. If a snapshot or photo appears to show illegal activity, we may keep it longer than these periods where the law requires, or to report it to the authorities.
• Camera passwords. Camera passwords and stream addresses that contain passwords are encrypted before we store them.
• Who can see your cameras. Your snapshots, Live View, and coral photos are visible to you. Sharing a tank with another ReefMind user does not share its cameras. ReefMind staff do not watch camera feeds. A small number of authorized ReefMind administrators can sign in to view your account as you see it when that is needed to support you, fix a problem with your account, or protect security, but they cannot see your cameras, snapshots, Live View, coral photos, or livestock and inspection photos unless you turn on Support Access with cameras included. You choose Support Access in Settings: either your data only, or your data and cameras, for 1, 4, or 24 hours. You can end it at any time, and it ends on its own when the time runs out. While it is on, a notice at the top of every dashboard page tells you so. In an emergency, staff can unlock your cameras and photos for 1 hour without your Support Access only after writing down the reason and getting approval from at least two ReefMind leads. Staff sign-ins to your account, staff opening your cameras or photos, blocked attempts, changes you make to Support Access, and emergency approvals, with their reason, are logged, and the most recent entries are shown to you in your Support Access log in Settings.

5. AI processing

ReefMind may send relevant aquarium context, readings, trends, notes, images, and support context to AI service providers to generate Captain Chris responses, reports, summaries, and analysis. We limit the information sent to what is reasonably needed for the feature and do not intentionally send payment-card data to AI providers.

• Google Gemini on Google Cloud Vertex AI generates Captain Chris chat answers, tank analysis, weekly reports, and camera snapshot and coral photo analysis. This is a paid Google Cloud service. Under Google Cloud's terms, Google does not use this data, including your images, to train its AI models.
• Images you attach to a Captain Chris chat are used for that one answer and are not stored.
• Captain Chris's spoken voice uses Google's Gemini API, as described in section 6.
• ReefMind does not use your camera snapshots or photos to train AI models. The cropped images of animals you confirm (section 4) are only shown to the AI as a reference when it looks at your own tank.

6. Captain Chris voice

Voice is optional. It is off unless you choose to use it: nothing listens until you open voice from the microphone button in the Captain Chris chat and tap to talk. The first time you do, a notice explains how voice works before listening starts. Voice is included with Plus and Pro.

• Speech to text happens in your browser. ReefMind uses your browser's built-in speech recognition. Your browser vendor may process your audio to turn it into text — for example Google for Chrome or Apple for Safari — under that vendor's own privacy terms. ReefMind receives only the resulting text, never the audio, and does not store raw audio.
• Your microphone level stays on your device. While Captain Chris is listening, the app reads your microphone volume only to animate the on-screen listening indicator. That audio is not sent to ReefMind.
• Captain Chris's spoken replies are made by Google Gemini. To give Captain Chris a natural voice, ReefMind sends the text of his final answer, a sentence or so at a time, to Google's Gemini API to turn it into speech. Only his answer text is sent, with a fixed voice and speaking style. We do not send what you said, your name or email, or your account or tank identifiers, although his answer can mention details you or your tank data gave him. Google handles that text under its own Gemini API terms, which may allow Google to use it to improve its products. ReefMind plays the audio and does not store it or log the answer text for this step.
• Live voice (Beta). If your account is in the live voice Beta, your microphone audio streams through ReefMind's servers to Google's Gemini Live model so Captain Chris can answer as you talk, along with your tank context. ReefMind does not store that audio. Google handles it under its own Gemini API terms, which may allow Google to use it to improve its products. The written transcript is saved in your Captain Chris conversation history like a typed message.
• Device voice fallback. If the Gemini voice is unavailable or you reach your daily or monthly voice minutes, Captain Chris reads his answer with your browser's or device's built-in voice instead.
• You can stop at any time. After Captain Chris answers, the microphone reopens so you can keep talking. You can end voice at any time by tapping to stop, saying "stop", or closing voice mode. The microphone also closes on its own after about 20 seconds of silence, and a voice session ends after 10 minutes.

To measure usage and keep costs in check, ReefMind records how many seconds of voice audio each account uses and technical details about each voice request, such as timing, success or error, and estimated cost. These records do not include your words or Captain Chris's answer.

7. Cookies, analytics, and Do Not Track

• Sign-in. We use a secure sign-in cookie, and your browser's local storage, to keep you signed in for up to 90 days. Short-lived cookies also protect sign-in with Apple or Google and linking other accounts. These are needed for ReefMind to work.
• Google Analytics. Our website and app use Google Analytics to understand which pages and features are used. Google Analytics sets cookies and receives information such as pages viewed, events like sign-up and controller connection, device and browser type, and approximate location derived from your IP address. Google processes this under its own privacy policy. We do not use Google Analytics for advertising. You can block it with your browser's privacy or content-blocking settings, or with Google's Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• ReefMind usage events. When you are signed in, the app also records which pages and features you use, with the page, referring source, and device type, so we can improve ReefMind. We delete these records after 90 days.
• Do Not Track. Browsers can send a “Do Not Track” signal. There is no common standard for how to respond to it, and ReefMind does not currently change its behavior when it receives one. We do not track you across other companies' websites for advertising.

8. Research

ReefMind supports the Paletta coral research study. Taking part is voluntary and separate from your ReefMind account. Photos and information you submit through the Paletta research form are used for that research under the consent shown on the form, and are shared publicly only if you tick the separate photo-sharing box. We do not add your ReefMind camera snapshots to research. Your ReefMind coral records are linked to Paletta research only when you ask us to as part of your participation.

9. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We may share information with service providers that help us operate ReefMind, including:

• Cloud hosting, databases, storage, logging, analytics, security, and notification providers, including Google Cloud/Firebase services, Google Analytics, Grafana Cloud (Collector diagnostics), and Apple and browser push-notification services.
• Cloudflare, which carries Live View video from your Collector.
• Payment processors such as Stripe.
• Email, support, and communication providers, such as Postmark for email delivery.
• AI service providers used to provide Captain Chris and related analysis features: Google Gemini on Google Cloud Vertex AI, and Google's Gemini API for Captain Chris's voice.
• Shipping/fulfillment providers, such as Shippo, when you order hardware.
• Weather providers, such as Open-Meteo, which receive the location you enter for weather lookups.
• Sign-in and device services you choose to connect, such as Sign in with Apple, Google sign-in, Discord, and your aquarium controller or camera vendors.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect ReefMind, users, or others, or as part of a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition, or asset sale.

10. Controller credentials and third-party integrations

Some integrations require credentials, tokens, delegated access, or account identifiers so ReefMind can retrieve read-only aquarium data. We use this information to operate the integration and support your aquarium dashboard, and we encrypt stored passwords and tokens. For delegated integrations such as Hydros, ReefMind may ask you to share access with a ReefMind account rather than providing your password.

Third-party services may have their own privacy policies and terms. Your use of those services remains subject to their rules.

If you connect Discord, we use your Discord user ID to give you ReefMind community roles that match your account, such as trial, customer, or Collector owner. We recheck these roles regularly so they change when your access changes. We only add or remove the roles ReefMind manages; we never change other roles or remove you from the server.

11. Data retention

We keep each kind of information for a set period, or until you delete it:

• Account, tanks, readings, dosing history, and notes: until you delete them or your account. Aquarium history is the core of ReefMind, so we do not expire it on our own.
• Camera snapshots and their analysis: 48 hours. Other camera data is described in section 4.
• Coral photos: until you delete your account.
• Captain Chris conversations: the most recent 25 conversations per tank, and the most recent 30 turns in each conversation. Older ones are deleted automatically, and you can clear a conversation at any time.
• Collector logs: 30 days.
• App usage events and controller-setup diagnostics: 90 days.
• AI usage and cost records: 90 to 180 days.
• Email-open records: until you delete your account.
• Billing, order, and deletion audit records: as long as we are required to keep accounting and transaction records, or need them to resolve disputes.
• Backups: deleted information can remain in encrypted database backups until those backups expire on their rolling schedule.

12. Your choices and rights

• You can update many tank, controller, camera, and account settings in ReefMind.
• You can permanently delete your account and its data yourself, from inside ReefMind — open Settings → Danger Zone → Delete My Account and retype your sign-in email to confirm. This is available on the web and in the ReefMind mobile app, needs no email to support, and cannot be undone. It erases your account and everything stored under it: tanks, readings, dosing history, corals, cameras, uploaded photos and snapshots, Captain Chris conversations, and your device push-notification registrations. It also revokes your Collector's credential, so a Collector you keep powered on can no longer send data.
• Two things deliberately survive that deletion. We keep a deletion audit record (who deleted the account, when, and the billing linkage) because we are required to retain accounting and transaction records; and deleting your account does not cancel a paid subscription — cancel that separately so you are not billed again. If we delete an inactive unpaid account under our inactive-account rule, its audit record also keeps a copy of the account profile, with passwords and keys removed, so a mistaken deletion can be undone.
• You can also request access, correction, export, or deletion of your personal information by emailing support@reefmind.ai.
• You can disconnect controllers, cameras, or integrations from the app or by contacting support.
• You can disconnect Discord at any time in Settings → Connections → Discord. This deletes the stored link and removes the roles ReefMind gave you.
• You can unsubscribe from weekly reports and other non-essential emails with the link in any of those emails.
• You can manage paid subscriptions through the checkout, billing portal, app store, or support path used for your purchase.

13. United States privacy rights

Depending on where you live, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, and other states with privacy laws, you may have the right to:

• know what personal information we have about you, and get a copy of it;
• correct information that is wrong;
• delete your personal information;
• opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, or its use for targeted advertising or profiling. ReefMind does not sell or share personal information for those purposes;
• appeal if we decline your request.

To make a request, email support@reefmind.ai from your account email, or have an authorized agent contact us for you. We will verify your identity before acting on a request and answer within the time the law allows, normally 45 days. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our answer, and we will respond to the appeal within the time the law allows.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information, such as biometric identifiers, for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you.

14. Users in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area

If UK or EU data protection law applies to you, ReefMind, LLC is the controller of your personal information. We rely on these legal bases:

• Contract: to provide your account, dashboard, integrations, cameras, Captain Chris, subscriptions, and orders.
• Legitimate interests: to keep ReefMind secure, prevent abuse, understand how it is used (including with Google Analytics), and improve it.
• Consent: for optional features such as voice and research participation. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: to keep accounting records and respond to lawful requests.

You also have the right to object to or restrict our processing, to data portability, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Your information is processed in the United States, as described in section 17.

15. Security and breach notification

We use technical and organizational safeguards intended to protect your information, including access controls, encrypted transport, encrypted storage of passwords and tokens, cloud security tools, monitoring, and limited staff access. No online service can guarantee perfect security.

If we learn of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you, and regulators where required, without undue delay and within the time required by applicable law. We will tell you what happened, what information was involved, and what you can do.

16. Children

ReefMind is intended for reef aquarium owners and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate action.

17. International users

ReefMind is operated from the United States. If you use ReefMind from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States or other locations where our service providers operate.

18. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as ReefMind changes. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date and may notify users through the app, website, or email.

19. Contact

ReefMind, LLC
Email: support@reefmind.ai
Website: https://www.reefmind.ai
Phone/Text: 443.253.3922