Swiss Mushrooms: Look-alikes

Swiss mushrooms: look-alikes, canton rules, season — entirely on your device

Privacy policy

Last updated: 5 September 2026

Swiss Mushrooms: Look-alikes is a reference app about mushrooms in Switzerland. It works entirely on your device: no server, no user account, no analytics, no advertising. We as the developer receive none of your data. Please read the safety and liability notice first.

Important: safety and liability notice

The app is a reference and learning aid. It does not identify mushrooms, does not declare anything fit to eat and makes no diagnosis. Species that are considered edible are labelled exclusively “considered edible – only after an official mushroom inspection”. The emergency card only lists emergency numbers and general instructions; it does not replace an assessment by a doctor or a poisons centre.

The app is independent. It is not affiliated with VAPKO (the Swiss association of official mushroom inspectors), Tox Info Suisse, WSL, GBIF, swisstopo or any cantonal authority, and it is not an official body. Cantonal collecting rules are shown with the date they were checked and their source; only the cantonal and municipal regulations in force are binding.

We compile the content with care. To the extent permitted by law we accept no liability for damage arising from collecting or eating mushrooms; mandatory liability — in particular for intent and gross negligence — remains reserved. Details are in the terms of use. Please report any error in the app to info@babala.ch.

Privacy in short

Swiss Mushrooms collects no data. No server, no user account, no login. No analytics, no statistics, no advertising, no trackers, no third-party libraries, no crash reports to us. All of the app’s content (species, photos, season and canton data) is built into the app and works offline.

What data does the app process on your device?

Only what you enter or allow yourself. Everything stays in the app’s protected folder on your device:

• Find journal: date, selected species, your notes (e.g. the result of the mushroom inspection), canton and — only if you wish — the find location as coordinates.
• Photos of your finds: taken with the camera or picked from your photos. The app stores its own copy in the app folder, without the original image metadata; it saves nothing to your photo library.
• Emergency note: a free text field on the emergency card (e.g. what was eaten when), stored on the device only.
• Settings: selected canton, ticks of the safety checklist, the time and version at which you confirmed the safety notice, display options.

Mushroom find locations may be valuable to you personally. They are not shared or published anywhere; the app has no function for sharing with other users.

Permissions

Every permission is voluntary and can be revoked at any time in the iOS settings; the app remains usable afterwards.

• Location (only while using the app): to determine on the device which canton you are in — the canton boundaries (swisstopo) are built into the app and your location is compared with them offline, never transmitted — and, if you wish, to save the find location of a journal entry. Without this permission you choose the canton manually. There is no background location access.
• Camera: to take photos of your finds for the journal.
• Photo picker: the app uses the iOS photo picker. It receives only the pictures you explicitly select there and has no access to your library.

When does anything leave the device?

The app itself never connects to us. In the following cases functions of Apple or other providers are used — always only when you open the respective function:

• Map in the find journal (Apple Maps / MapKit): when the map is shown, iOS loads map tiles from Apple. Apple receives your device’s IP address and the visible map region — which may be close to your find locations. Your journal entries and find locations themselves are not transmitted. Apple’s privacy policy applies (Apple Distribution International Ltd., Cork, Ireland / Apple Inc., USA). If you do not want this, use the journal’s list view.
• Calls: tapping 145, 144 or 112 hands the number to the Phone app; the call runs through your mobile operator.
• Links: links to the inspection office finder (vapko.ch), cantonal regulations, photo sources and licences open in Safari, where the terms of the respective website apply.
• “Report an error”: opens your mail app with a prepared message to info@babala.ch (app version, language, content version and, if applicable, the species concerned). It is sent only if you tap “Send” yourself.
• Export: if you export the journal as CSV or GPX, the file contains your entries including find locations. Where you pass it on via the share sheet is entirely up to you.

Backups: if iCloud Backup is enabled on your device, the app’s data may be included in it. This is a setting of your device; the app itself syncs nothing with iCloud, and we have no access to your backup.

Your rights and deletion

Access, rectification, erasure and data portability are addressed to the party that processes the data. We hold no data from Swiss Mushrooms — you exercise your rights directly in the app:

• view and change journal entries,
• export them as CSV or GPX — which is also your data portability,
• delete individual entries including their photos (swipe left in the list → “Delete”), clear the emergency note, reset the checklist,
• delete everything by removing the app.

Step-by-step instructions are under “Delete data”.

Responsible

Responsible for the app, its content and this policy is:

Sources and contact

Occurrence data: SwissFungi (WSL), Swiss National Fungi Databank, via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0 (DOI 10.16904/envidat.136). Canton boundaries: swisstopo, swissBOUNDARIES3D. Names: Wikidata (CC0). Photos: contributors to iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA; author and licence are shown in the app with every photo.

Questions about the app or this policy: info@babala.ch. Please do not send us find locations or health information — we do not need them. In an emergency do not contact us; call 145 or 144.

Last updated: 4 October 2026. We adapt this policy when the app or the legal framework changes; the version published here is the applicable one.