YOUR MEMORIES. YOUR CHOICES.

Privacy Policy

Effective October 6, 2026

Your journal is personal. This page explains what Field Chapters stores, what sharing reveals, and the choices you have.

1. Information we collect

• Account details: your name, email address, a password hash, email-verification status and account/session records. We do not store your password in readable form.
• Your content: outings, dates, species, methods, companions, conditions, observations, stories, harvest and release counts, uploaded photos, city/state, area descriptions and optional precise coordinates.
• Sharing and books: invitation recipients, membership choices, companion contributions, saved book drafts with captions and chapter choices, and the finished digital editions you save in Field Library.
• Contact messages: your name, email, optional phone, inquiry type, message and the complete page URL where you submit the form. A-Town JAM’s communication system receives these details to route and respond to your request.
• Technical information: session cookies, security and request records, and information received by our hosting and analytics providers, such as IP address, browser/device information and page activity.

Original photo files can contain embedded metadata, including the time and place they were taken. Field Chapters does not currently strip that metadata. Review or remove sensitive metadata before uploading or sharing photos.

2. Guest journals and account storage

Guest outings and photos are stored on the device and browser you use. Clearing browser storage or changing devices can make those entries unavailable. Signing in does not automatically upload guest entries; you choose whether to import them. Guest book drafts also stay in this browser until you remove them or clear browser storage. Signed-in book drafts are private to your account and can be resumed across devices. Drafts reference current outing content; they do not preserve a finished snapshot. Signed-in outings, photos and saved books are stored on our hosting service so you can access them across devices.

3. How we use information

We use information to operate your journal and Field Library, store and display photos, send account and invitation emails, manage shared outings, protect accounts, resolve support requests and understand which product features work well. We do not make your journal a public feed or sell your stories and photographs.

Optional weather lookup uses the selected state, date and a nearby airport station to retrieve public observations from Iowa Environmental Mesonet. The archive receives those station/date requests, not your name, stories or exact outing coordinates. Your recorded weather is saved with the outing and can be included in shared outings, exports and books. Weather times use the displayed station time zone; nearby station observations may differ from your actual conditions.

4. Shared outings and book copies

When you invite someone to an outing and they accept, they can see the outing’s information, including any saved exact location, its photos, and companion contributions. Their own contributions are visible to the owner and accepted participants. Invitations use the recipient’s email address and can identify the inviter and outing title.

A companion can choose to include a shared outing in their journal and make a book copy. Leaving an outing or removing a participant stops their future access through the shared-outing feature. It cannot recall an edition already saved to someone’s Field Library or a file they downloaded, shared or printed. Deleting your own saved book does not delete other people’s copies. Review stories, photos and locations before inviting companions or creating a book.

You may create a reading link for a finished book in Field Library. Anyone with that link can read, copy or forward its contents, including the photos, companion contributions and locations you selected. Links can expire or be revoked; removing the saved book also revokes its link. Revocation stops future access through the link but cannot recall an already opened edition or retained copies. Reading links are not listed publicly or intended for search indexing. Review the complete edition before sharing it.

5. Providers and external services

These providers operate under their own terms and privacy practices. Our portfolio badge links to A‑Town JAM; following it takes you to a separate website. Physical printing and checkout are not connected yet. We will explain the information sent to a print or payment partner before those features launch.

6. Cookies and analytics choices

Necessary session cookies support sign-in and security. Browser storage also holds guest journals and your analytics preference. Optional Google Analytics measures public-page visits, navigation, filters and feature actions. Our event code does not send journal text, photos, names, email addresses, exact locations or authentication tokens as analytics properties. Most public page URLs sent by our code omit query parameters and fragments. Successful contact-form events include the complete submitting page URL, as does the contact message itself. Please avoid placing personal or sensitive information in page URLs.

You can allow or decline optional analytics, and change that choice using Analytics choices in the footer. Analytics is off until you allow it. A browser Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal keeps analytics off. Declining analytics does not prevent you from using Field Chapters. Google’s practices are explained in its Privacy Policy.

7. Retention and deletion

We retain account content to provide the service while your account is in use. Removing an outing from your journal currently hides it rather than permanently erasing its underlying record. Photos removed from an entry can remain in account storage. Removing a saved book from Field Library removes that stored edition, although copies outside your library and provider backups may remain.

Contact us to request account closure or permanent deletion of account information. We may verify your identity before acting. Some records may need to be retained for security, resolving disputes or legal obligations, and deletion from provider backups may take additional time. This page does not promise that deleting an entry immediately removes every copy.

8. Your requests and choices

You can edit your outings, export your journal and photos, control shared-outing participation, omit maps or companion memories from a book, and download or remove your saved editions. You may also contact us to request access, correction or deletion of account information, or to raise a privacy concern. Additional rights may apply under the law where you live; we will review requests under applicable law.

9. Security, location and children

We use authenticated access and security measures to protect private content, but no service can guarantee perfect security. Our hosting and providers can process information in the United States or other places where they operate. Field Chapters is not directed to children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided account information, contact us so we can review it.

10. Changes and contact

We will update this policy as the service changes and change the effective date above. Material changes will be communicated through the service or appropriate account notices. For privacy requests, contact the Field Chapters team or email hello@atownjam.com. Do not include your password or exact outing coordinates in a support message.