Terms of use

Version 1.0, effective 1 September 2026

This is a translation of the French original. In case of discrepancy, the French version prevails.

Animal Odyssey is a wildlife observation application. You photograph an animal, an artificial intelligence suggests a probable identification, and you build up a collection of observations.

Article 1 — Purpose

These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) govern access to and use of the Animal Odyssey mobile application and the associated services (together, the “Service”).

The Service is published by a private individual, on a non-professional basis (the “Publisher”, referred to herein as “Animal Odyssey” or “we”). In accordance with Article 1-1, II of French Law No. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy, the Publisher has provided its identification details to the Service’s host, whose contact details are set out in the legal notice.

These Terms constitute a contract between the Publisher and any person using the Service (the “User”, “you”).

Contact: contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com. This address is also the single point of contact within the meaning of Articles 11 and 12 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (the “DSA”), and may be used in French, English and Spanish.

Article 2 — Definitions

• User Content: any photograph, text, comment, username, profile picture or other item published by you on the Service.
• Observation: the record of an encounter with an animal, consisting of one or more photographs, a date, a location and a species identification.
• Species Page: the encyclopaedic page devoted to a species, comprising biological data, a descriptive text, illustrations and the photographs published by the community.
• Identification: the species suggestion generated automatically from a photograph.

Article 3 — Acceptance of the Terms

Acceptance of the Terms is a prerequisite for creating an account. It is given by a positive and explicit action, separate from the submission of the registration form.

Acceptance is recorded together with the date, the time and the version number of the Terms accepted.

In the event of a substantial amendment to the Terms, you will be asked to accept them again under the conditions set out in Article 19.

Article 4 — User account

Creating an account requires a valid e-mail address and a username. You undertake to provide accurate information and to keep it up to date.

The account is personal. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for any activity carried out from your account. Inform us without delay of any unauthorised use.

The username and profile picture must not infringe the rights of third parties or contravene Article 12.

Article 5 — Description of the Service

The Service makes it possible, in particular:

• to photograph or import the image of an animal and obtain a species identification suggestion generated by an artificial intelligence system;
• to record Observations and build up a personal collection;
• to consult Species Pages containing biological data, descriptive texts, illustrations and the community’s photographs;
• to take part in a gamified progression system (points, levels, badges, rankings);
• to interact with other users (news feed, profiles, friendships);
• to access a map of other users’ observations (approximate location, accurate to within about 1 km, to protect users and species).

The basic version of the Service is provided free of charge. Certain features may be reserved for a paid subscription under the conditions set out in Article 15.

The Service is a discovery and leisure application. It has no scientific, veterinary or safety purpose.

Article 6 — Identification, encyclopaedic content and no warranty

6.1 Nature of the identification

The Identification suggested is the result of automated processing based on the analysis of an image. It is a probabilistic estimate, which may be inaccurate, incomplete or wrong. It constitutes neither a scientific determination, nor an expert opinion, nor a warranty of any kind whatsoever.

You remain solely responsible for verifying the species and for the use you make of the Identification.

6.2 Content of the Species Pages

The biological data, descriptive texts, distribution ranges and other information appearing in the Species Pages are compiled from third-party sources and automated processing. They are provided for information and popular-science purposes. They may contain inaccuracies, approximations or out-of-date information.

Some illustrations in the Species Pages are generated by artificial intelligence. They are for illustrative purposes and do not constitute documentary photographs of the species.

6.3 Excluded uses

The Service must under no circumstances be used to make a decision involving your safety or health, or that of a third party or an animal. In particular, you must not rely on the Service to:

• determine whether an animal is dangerous, venomous, aggressive or harmless;
• decide whether to approach, handle or remain close to an animal;
• assess the edibility or toxicity of an animal or a species;
• make a diagnosis or administer care, whether to an animal or to a person;
• base a professional, regulatory, commercial or scientific decision.

If in doubt about a species or a situation, contact a qualified professional (veterinarian, naturalist, competent authority, emergency services).

Article 7 — User safety and respect for wildlife

7.1 Principle of observation from a distance

Animal Odyssey is an observation service. It does not invite or encourage you to approach, touch, feed, capture, pursue, bait or disturb an animal, or to enter private property or a protected, regulated or dangerous area.

The use of optical or digital zoom and observation from a distance constitute the normal way of using the Service.

7.2 Your responsibility

You use the Service in the environment of your choice, at times and under conditions over which we have no control and of which we have no knowledge. You remain the sole judge of:

• the safety of your situation and your physical fitness;
• the distance to be kept from an animal;
• your attention to your immediate surroundings, in particular on public roads, near water, in the mountains or in isolated areas;
• compliance with the rules governing access to places and with local regulations.

Any wild animal, even one that appears harmless, may bite, sting, scratch, charge or transmit a disease.

7.3 Protection of wildlife

You undertake not to disturb wildlife and, in particular, to comply with the regulations applicable to protected species and their habitats, including the prohibitions on deliberate disturbance laid down by European Union law and the applicable national laws.

It is prohibited to use the Service to locate, pursue, capture, take or trade in a protected species, or to facilitate such acts.

7.4 Gamified progression

The system of points, levels and badges rewards the diversity and rarity of the species observed. It in no way rewards proximity to an animal, risk-taking, or the observation of dangerous species as such. No element of the Service is to be interpreted as an incentive to expose oneself to danger.

7.5 Reminders

A safety message is shown to you when you first log in, and reminders appear within the Service, in particular on the camera screen and on the result screens. These reminders form an integral part of these Terms.

Article 8 — User Content: your undertakings and warranties

By publishing User Content, you represent and warrant:

1. That you hold all the rights necessary in that content, or have the required authorisations;
2. That the content does not infringe any third-party rights, in particular copyright, image rights, the right to respect for private life, trade mark rights or property rights;
3. That any persons who may be identifiable in a photograph have consented to its publication;
4. That the content was obtained in compliance with the law, in particular the rules governing access to places, the regulations on species protection and, where applicable, the rules applicable to remotely piloted aircraft;
5. That the content complies with Article 12.

You shall indemnify Animal Odyssey against any claim, action or judgment resulting from a breach of these undertakings, up to the amount of the loss directly resulting therefrom.

Article 9 — Rights granted in your User Content

You remain the owner of your User Content. These Terms do not entail any assignment of your copyright. You grant only the licences described below, on a non-exclusive and royalty-free basis.

9.1 Licence to use within the Service

To enable the very operation of the Service, you grant Animal Odyssey, for each item of User Content published, a licence covering the following rights, each mentioned separately:

• right of reproduction: storage, copying, backup, caching, creation of thumbnails and optimised versions;
• right of representation: display and dissemination within the application and on the Service’s website;
• right of technical adaptation: cropping, resizing, compression, format conversion, orientation correction, addition of a watermark or of the Service’s logo.

Purpose: the operation, display and running of the Service, to the exclusion of any separate commercial exploitation.

Scope: display on your profile, in the news feed, in the galleries, and on the corresponding Species Page.

Territory: worldwide. Duration: the period during which the content is published within the Service, plus the technical time needed to remove it and the retention period of backups.

Important note. The animal photographs you publish appear on the Species Page concerned and are visible to other users, including when your profile is set to limited or private mode. The profile visibility setting determines access to your profile, your statistics and your activity; it does not make your species photographs invisible. If you do not want a photograph to appear on a Species Page, you must delete the corresponding Observation.

9.2 Communication and promotion licence

Separately from Article 9.1, you grant Animal Odyssey, on a non-exclusive and royalty-free basis, the right to use your animal photographs in its external communications, on the following terms.

Rights granted, each mentioned separately:

• right of reproduction: reproduction on any digital or printed medium;
• right of representation: dissemination and communication to the public;
• right of adaptation: cropping, colour retouching, overlaying of text, the logo or graphic elements, inclusion in a montage or a video, subject to Article 9.3;
• right to sub-license these rights to third-party dissemination platforms, to the extent strictly necessary for publication (the terms of use of those platforms requiring a sub-licence to be granted to them).

Media covered: the Service’s social media accounts, website, app store listings, newsletters, presentation materials, press kits, online and offline advertising materials.

Purpose: the promotion and corporate communications of the Service, to the exclusion of any assignment to a third party for its own use and of any promotion of a third-party product or service.

Territory: worldwide.

Duration: ten (10) years from the first publication of the photograph on the medium concerned.

Exclusions: only photographs that do not show any identifiable person may be used. Each photograph is checked beforehand; any photograph showing an identifiable person is discarded.

Practice of seeking prior consent: as a general rule, we seek the author’s consent before publishing their photograph on our communication media. This is a practice that we endeavour to follow; it is neither a condition of validity of the licence granted under this Article nor a contractual obligation on our part.

Remuneration: this licence is granted free of charge, which you expressly accept. You acknowledge that the consideration lies in access to the Service and in the visibility given to your photographs, which are published under your username in accordance with Article 9.3.

Right to object: you may object at any time, without having to give reasons and free of charge, to the use of all or some of your photographs under this Article, by simple request sent to contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com. We will acknowledge receipt and cease any new use within 30 days.

Removal: in the event of an objection, deletion of the photograph or deletion of your account, we will cease any new use within the period stated above and remove the publications still under our control. You acknowledge that content already disseminated on third-party platforms, reshared by third parties or appearing in printed materials cannot always be removed or recalled.

9.3 Moral rights

Your moral rights as author are inalienable and remain intact.

Any publication under Article 9.2 mentions your username, unless you expressly ask us not to be credited. No adaptation may distort your photograph or alter its spirit.

9.4 No obligation

Animal Odyssey is under no obligation to use, publish or retain any User Content.

Article 10 — Access to the Service and minimum age

The Service is reserved for persons aged at least 16 years. This limit applies whatever your country of residence, including where local law allows a lower age.

By creating an account, you declare that you are at least 16 years old. We reserve the right to suspend or delete without notice any account that we have serious reason to believe was created by a person under that age.

Access to the Service requires a compatible device and an internet connection, the cost of which remains your responsibility.

Article 11 — Visibility, profile and observation data

11.1 Profile visibility

You may at any time set the visibility of your account in the settings (public, limited public, private). This setting determines other users’ access to your profile, your statistics, your progression and your activity.

It does not apply to photographs published on Species Pages, under the conditions set out in Article 9.1.

11.2 Location

When you record an Observation, its precise location is recorded. It is visible to you alone.

Other users see an approximate position, randomly offset within a radius of about one kilometre. This position appears on the observations map and on the map of the Species Page concerned, together with the photograph of the Observation. This applies whatever the visibility of your profile. At low zoom levels, Observations are shown in aggregated form, without individual positions.

The location is also used to compile statistics on species distribution and to improve the Service.

No postal address is requested or recorded. If you take photographs from your home, however, the approximate position may reveal the area where you were.

We reserve the right to hide, degrade or further round the location of Observations of protected or threatened species or species sensitive to disturbance.

11.3 Personal data

The processing of your personal data is described in the Privacy Policy, a document separate from these Terms.

Article 12 — Prohibited content and conduct

It is prohibited to publish, transmit or disseminate via the Service any content:

Relating to animals:

• depicting acts of mistreatment, cruelty, killing or animal suffering;
• depicting an animal captured, restrained, handled or baited for the purpose of the photograph;
• depicting acts of poaching, unlawful taking or trade in protected species, or facilitating them;
• revealing the precise location of a protected, threatened or sensitive species.

Relating to persons:

• depicting an identifiable person without their consent;
• depicting a minor, without the consent of their legal representative;
• of a sexual or pornographic nature;
• depicting a minor in a sexual context: such content will be reported immediately to the competent authorities and will result in the permanent deletion of the account, without notice;
• invading privacy, harassing, threatening, defamatory or insulting.

In general:

• unlawful, or contrary to public policy or morality;
• inciting hatred, violence, discrimination or terrorism;
• infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties;
• constituting advertising, solicitation or spam;
• not depicting a genuine observation (photograph found online, generated image, screenshot, photograph of a captive animal presented as wild).

Prohibited conduct: cheating on or manipulating the progression system and rankings; creating multiple accounts to circumvent a sanction; mass extraction of the Service’s content by any automated means (scraping); attempting to access non-public parts of the Service, to alter its operation or to circumvent its technical measures; impersonating a third party.

Article 13 — Reporting, moderation and sanctions

13.1 Reporting mechanism

In accordance with Article 16 of the DSA, any user or third party may report content or a profile that they consider to be illegal, using the reporting features built into the Service or by writing to contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com.

The report must specify the content or profile concerned, the reasons why it is considered illegal and, except in the case of an offence referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU, the contact details of the notifier.

13.2 Moderation measures

We implement the following measures:

• Automated measure: when content or a profile reaches a threshold of separate reports, it is automatically made invisible to other users, as a precautionary measure and without prejudging whether it is illegal.
• Human review: any precautionary measure is reviewed by a natural person, who confirms it, lifts it or decides on an additional measure.
• Handling of manifestly illegal reports: prompt handling, irrespective of any threshold.
• Automatic filtering: the application automatically blocks photos of dead animals.

13.3 Sanctions

In the event of a breach of these Terms, we may, depending on the seriousness and repeated nature of the breach: remove the content concerned; make it invisible; temporarily suspend your account; permanently delete your account.

13.4 Information to the User

Any decision to remove, restrict or suspend is notified to you electronically, stating the facts complained of, the grounds for the decision, the use of automated processing where applicable, and the means of challenging it.

13.5 Challenges

You may challenge any moderation decision by writing to contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com, within six (6) months. The challenge is reviewed by a natural person and receives a reasoned response. The judicial remedies and out-of-court dispute settlement procedures provided for in Article 20 remain available.

Article 14 — Animal Odyssey’s intellectual property

The application, its graphic identity, its interfaces, its texts, its illustrations, its badges, its databases, its trade marks and its logos are protected and remain the exclusive property of Animal Odyssey or its licensors.

You are granted a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable right of use, limited to using the Service in accordance with these Terms. Any reproduction, extraction, reuse or representation, in whole or in part, for other purposes is prohibited without prior written authorisation.

Third-party data and content incorporated into the Service remain subject to the licences of their respective holders, listed in the “Sources and credits” section of the legal notice.

Article 15 — Subscription and paid features

Article applicable from the launch of the paid features.

15.1 Subscribing

Certain features are available by subscription. The main characteristics, the price including all taxes, the duration and the renewal terms are indicated before subscribing.

Subscriptions are taken out and billed via Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store, whose payment, renewal and refund terms apply in addition to these Terms.

15.2 Renewal and cancellation

The subscription is renewed automatically on expiry, unless cancelled before the renewal date. Cancellation is carried out from the subscription settings of your app store. It takes effect at the end of the current period, without pro rata refund.

15.3 Right of withdrawal

You have a period of fourteen (14) days in which to exercise your right of withdrawal.

However, when you request immediate access to the digital content, you are asked to give your express consent to immediate performance and to acknowledge that you waive your right of withdrawal. This waiver is obtained explicitly at the time of subscribing.

15.4 Changes to the offers

We may change the offers and prices. Any price change is notified to you at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect and applies only to subsequent subscription periods. You may cancel before it takes effect.

Article 16 — Availability and changes to the Service

The Service is provided as is, under a best-efforts obligation. We endeavour to ensure its availability and security, without guaranteeing continuous, uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Access may be suspended for maintenance, updates, technical constraints or force majeure.

We may develop, modify or remove all or part of the features. In the event of the removal of a substantial feature or the discontinuation of the Service, you will be informed at least thirty (30) days in advance and will be given a means of exporting your Observations.

Article 17 — Liability

17.1 Liability of Animal Odyssey

We may be held liable only in the event of a breach of our own obligations, under the conditions of applicable law.

No provision of these Terms has the object or effect of excluding or limiting our liability in the event of personal injury, gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or in cases where applicable law prohibits it.

We cannot, however, be held liable for:

• User Content published by users, of which they are the sole authors and for which they are solely responsible;
• the consequences of an inaccurate Identification or of erroneous information in a Species Page, subject to the second paragraph above;
• the circumstances in which you choose to observe or photograph an animal, or the places you go to;
• the relationships you form with other users;
• malfunctions attributable to your device, your connection, the network or a third-party service;
• a case of force majeure.

17.2 Liability of the User

You are responsible for the use you make of the Service, for the User Content you publish, and for complying with these Terms and with applicable regulations.

Article 18 — Term, deletion of the account

18.1 Deletion by the User

You may delete your account at any time, without giving reasons and free of charge, from Profile > Settings > Data and security > Delete my account, or from the Delete your account page.

Deletion is immediate and permanent. It erases:

• your profile, your profile and cover images;
• your Observations and their photographs, including those displayed on Species Pages and on the observations map;
• your comments, including those published on other users’ Observations;
• your progression (points, levels, badges) and your friendships.

No restoration is possible, including on request.

The following are retained:

• aggregated and anonymous species distribution statistics, which do not allow you to be identified;
• data that the law requires us to retain, for the period provided for in the Privacy Policy;
• where applicable, copies held in technical backups, until they are purged in accordance with their normal cycle.

Content already used in our external communications is removed under the conditions and within the limits of Article 9.2.

18.2 Termination by Animal Odyssey

We may delete your account in the event of a serious or repeated breach of these Terms, under the conditions of Article 13, or in the event of discontinuation of the Service, under the conditions of Article 16.

Article 19 — Amendments to the Terms

We may amend these Terms, in particular to take account of legal, technical or functional developments.

Any substantial amendment is notified to you at least thirty (30) days before it comes into force, electronically or within the application, and is subject to a new explicit acceptance.

If you refuse the new terms, you may delete your account before they come into force. Continued use of the Service after acceptance constitutes agreement to the new version.

Successive versions of the Terms are archived and available on request.

Article 20 — Governing law and dispute resolution

20.1 Governing law

These Terms are governed by French law.

This choice of law cannot have the effect of depriving a consumer residing in another State of the protection afforded to them by the mandatory provisions of the law of their country of habitual residence.

20.2 Prior complaint

If you encounter any difficulty, contact us first at contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com. We undertake to respond within a reasonable time.

20.3 Consumer mediation

Applicable from the launch of the paid features.

In accordance with Articles L.611-1 et seq. of the French Consumer Code, you may use the following consumer mediation service free of charge: name and contact details of the mediator, to be appointed.

20.4 Jurisdiction

Failing an amicable resolution, the dispute may be brought before the competent court in accordance with the ordinary rules of law. The consumer may, at their choice, bring proceedings before any of the courts having territorial jurisdiction or before the court of the place where they resided at the time the contract was concluded or the harmful event occurred.

Article 21 — Miscellaneous

Partial invalidity. If any provision of these Terms is held to be void, unlawful or deemed unwritten, the other provisions shall remain in full force.

No waiver. Failure to invoke a breach does not constitute a waiver of the right to invoke it subsequently.

Assignment. We may assign these Terms, in particular in connection with a transaction involving share capital or a transfer of the Service, without this affecting your rights. You will be informed.

Languages. These Terms are available in French, English and Spanish. In the event of any discrepancy in interpretation, the French version shall prevail, without this depriving the consumer of the protection of the official language of their country of residence where the law so requires.

Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy and the legal notice constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the Service.