Privacy policy

What TurOwl knows about you, why it needs it, and what it never collects.

Last updated 24 October 2026

The short version. We hold your email address, your name, what you have bought, and the few other things listed below. What you listen to stays on your device, and so do your searches unless you ask us to note your interest in a place we do not cover yet. We do not run advertising, we do not sell or share anything about you, and there are no third-party analytics or advertising trackers in the guide.

Who we are

TurOwl is operated by Serophin, ABN 88 280 015 794, PO Box 330, Annandale NSW 2038, Australia ("we", "us"), which is responsible for the personal data described here. You can reach us at support@serophin.com or through our contact page.

What we collect

Your email address. It comes from Google, from Apple, from you when you sign in, or from Stripe when you buy on the website. If you buy in the app without signing in, we hold no email address.
Your name. The name Google or Apple gives us when you sign in with them. If there is none, we use the part of your email address before the @. It is kept with your account.
An anonymous account id. If you buy in the app without signing in, we create an anonymous account on that install. We share its id, and a store account token derived from it, with Apple and Google so a purchase can only be claimed by the account that made it. Neither reveals anything about you.
When you joined and when you were last signed in.
Your email preferences. Which of the emails below you want.
Your purchases. Which country, city or place you bought, and when. We need this to unlock the right audio.
App Store and Google Play transaction ids. For a purchase made in the app, so the same purchase cannot be used twice.
Interest notes. When the guide does not cover where you are and you ask us to note your interest, we keep what you typed and the names of the city and country, with your account. We do not keep your coordinates.
Messages you send us. Your name, email address and message, kept so we can answer it.
Basic technical data. The usual logs a request to our servers produces, such as your IP address, kept for about 30 days for security and to fix problems.

Emails we send

We send the emails your account needs, such as sign-in codes and links, a welcome, and confirmation when you close your account. If you buy on the website without signing in, we email you either "Your TurOwl account", when the purchase created an account, or "A purchase was added to your account", when your email already had one. We send at most three of these a day to one address. You cannot switch these off while you have an account. We may also send two other kinds of email:

Product announcements. New features and important changes. These are on until you switch them off.
Marketing. Offers and newsletters. These are off unless you switch them on.

You can change either one at any time under Email Preferences in your profile, on the website or in the app.

On your device

Some things stay on your device and never reach our servers: what you played and when, the searches you run (unless you ask us to note your interest, as above), your narrator, theme and distance unit choices, and a copy of the search index. In the browser they are kept in its local storage. In the app they are kept on the phone, and your sign-in is kept in the phone's secure storage.

To show names and pictures on your listening history, the guide sends the ids of what you played to our servers, which look them up and keep nothing. Clearing your listening history or your browser data, or deleting the app, removes it. Because it lives on the device, it does not follow you to another browser or phone.

Stories and offline maps you download in the TurOwl app are stored on that phone. Removing a download or deleting the app deletes them.

Cookies

We use one cookie. It keeps you signed in so our servers can check what you own before they play it. It is strictly necessary for the guide to work. There are no advertising cookies, no third-party analytics and no trackers that follow you across other sites.

Location

If you allow it, the guide reads your location from your browser or from your phone to find the city you are standing in and the places nearest to you. That happens on your device, and your location is not sent to our servers. We do not build a history of where you have been. If you say no, you can still find everything by searching.

Payments

On the website, payments are taken by Stripe. In the apps, they are taken by Apple or Google. Your card details go to them, not to us. We only receive confirmation that a purchase succeeded and a reference for it.

Who processes data for us

Only the services that make the guide work:

Amazon Web Services. Runs our servers and database, and sends our emails.
Cloudflare. Delivers the website, the audio, the photos and the offline maps.
Stripe. Takes payments on the website.
Apple. Sign in with Apple, App Store purchases, and the maps in the iPhone app.
Google. Sign in with Google, Google Play purchases, and the maps in the Android app. Through Google Workspace it also holds the messages you send us. The website's font is served by TurOwl itself.
CARTO. Draws the maps on the website. It sees your IP address and the area of the map you are looking at.
Unsplash. Some photos load straight from Unsplash, so it sees your IP address.

Each handles your data under its own privacy policy and only for the service it provides to us. We will also disclose data if the law requires it.

Where your data is stored

Your account and purchase records are stored with Amazon Web Services in the United States (Oregon). Cloudflare, Stripe, Apple and Google also handle data outside Australia, mostly in the United States. If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom, these transfers rely on the safeguards those providers offer, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses and the UK's equivalent.

Why we may use it

Where the law asks us to name a legal basis, these are ours:

To provide the service you asked for. Your account, sign-in, purchases, account emails and answering your messages.
Our legitimate interests. Logs and security, noting interest in places we do not cover yet, and product announcements, which you can switch off.
Your consent. Marketing emails and your location. You can withdraw either at any time.
The law. Where we must keep or disclose data.

How long we keep it

We keep your account, purchases, email preferences and interest notes while your account is open. Logs are kept for about 30 days. Messages you send us are kept as long as we need them to answer you.

An anonymous account made when you buy in the app is deleted 30 days after it was created if it has no purchase. When you sign in while using one, we copy its purchases into your account, and the anonymous account can no longer be used.

When you close your account we delete your account, your purchase records and your interest notes. We keep only the App Store and Google Play transaction ids, no longer linked to you, so the same purchase cannot be used again. Stripe, Apple and Google keep their own payment records under their own policies.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of what we hold, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Depending on where you live you may also be able to object to certain processing, ask us to restrict it, or ask for your data in a portable form. Write to support@serophin.com or through our contact page and we will answer within a month.

Delete your account

You can delete your account and the data that goes with it without the app:

Sign in at turowl.com with the same email you use in the app.
Open Profile, then Account Settings.
Choose Delete account. We email you a six-digit code.
Enter the code from that email within 15 minutes to confirm. We email you again when your account is deleted.

In the app, the same steps start from Profile, then Account Settings. You can also write to support@serophin.com from the email address on your account and we will delete it for you. Deleting your account ends your access to everything you bought, including App Store and Google Play purchases.

Delete an anonymous account

If you bought in the app without signing in, open Profile and choose Delete purchases on this device, then confirm. The anonymous account and its purchases are deleted at once, with no email step, and cannot be restored.

Complaints

Please tell us first, and we will try to put it right. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to a regulator:

In Australia, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
In the European Union, the data protection authority where you live or work.
In the United Kingdom, the Information Commissioner's Office.

We do not sell your data

We do not sell or share your personal information, including as those words are used in US state privacy laws. We do not run advertising and we do not track you around the web.

Children

You must be 13 or older to use TurOwl, or 16 or older in the European Union and the United Kingdom unless a parent or guardian agrees. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think a child has given us their data, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes we update the date at the top. Where a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you by email before it takes effect.

Contact

For questions about this policy, or any request about your data, email support@serophin.com or use our contact page.