Binomen (“the app”), at binomen.app, is a free tool that tries to identify plants, animals and fungi from your photographs. It is operated by [operator name] (“we”). By using the app you agree to these terms. They are short because the app does very little with your data, and we would like to keep it that way.
1. What the app does
You choose up to three photographs. The app compares them against a reference set of about 10,000 species and shows you its best guesses, together with how confident it is. When it cannot name a species with confidence it will say so, or name only the genus.
2. Your photographs
Depending on how the app is configured, identification happens in one of two places. The app tells you which, next to every result.
Through our service. Your photograph is sent to our server to be identified there. When that happens it is processed in memory and discarded as soon as the identification is complete. It is not saved to disk, not stored, not backed up, not used to train or improve anything, and not shared with anyone. Before sending, the app reduces the photograph to at most 1024 pixels on its longest side and removes embedded metadata such as location.
On your device. When this is enabled and your browser is able, the identification runs entirely inside your browser. Your photograph is not uploaded, not transmitted, and never leaves your device. The first time, your browser downloads the identification model (about 190 MB) and keeps a copy so it does not have to download it again.
3. Accuracy, and what not to rely on
Identifications are made by a machine-learning model and can be wrong, including confidently wrong. In our testing the first suggestion was correct about nine times in ten for species the app knows. It does not know cultivated varieties, hybrids, or species outside its reference set, and it cannot tell you that a photograph is not of a living thing at all.
Do not use the app to decide whether something is safe to eat, touch or handle. Never eat a plant, mushroom or berry, or handle an animal, on the strength of an identification from this app. Consult a qualified expert.
4. Usage information we collect
We record a small amount of anonymous information about how the app is used, so we can see whether it works and where it fails. For each identification we record: whether it ran on your device or on our service and why; how long it took; how many photographs were used; how confident the result was; and whether the app named a species, a genus, or nothing. When it named only a genus, we record which genus. We also record whether the model download started, finished or failed, and how long it took.
We do not record: the photograph; the species named; your IP address; a user, session or device identifier; your browser’s identification string; or anything that could be used to recognise you or connect one use of the app to another. These records are kept for 90 days and then deleted.
5. Cookies and local storage
The app sets no cookies. It uses your browser’s local storage for two things only: to remember whether you prefer light or dark mode, and — when on-device identification is enabled — to keep the downloaded model so it need not be fetched again. Both stay on your device, are never sent to us, and can be cleared at any time through your browser’s site-data settings.
6. Third parties
The app is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the United States. To show you a short description of a species or genus, our server asks Wikipedia for its summary of that name; only the name is sent, never your photograph. Wikipedia’s text is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence and is shown with a link to the original article.
7. Acceptable use
Use the app for its purpose. Do not attempt to overload it, to interfere with it, or to use it to identify, locate or collect protected or endangered species in breach of any law.
8. Availability and changes
The app is provided free, as is, and may be changed, interrupted or withdrawn at any time without notice. We may update these terms; the date at the top will change when we do, and continued use after a change means you accept it.
9. Liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any loss or harm arising from use of the app or reliance on any identification it gives, including the consequences of eating, touching or handling anything on the basis of a result. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
10. Credits
Identification uses the BioCLIP 2 model by the Imageomics Institute (MIT licence). The reference set is derived from the iNaturalist 2021 dataset. Species descriptions are from Wikipedia.
11. Governing law and contact
These terms are governed by the laws of [jurisdiction]. Questions about the app or these terms: [contact email].