Sugar Makers Harvest — Stoic Software Solutions
Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 2026
Introduction
Welcome to Sugar Makers Harvest (SHMU), developed and published by Stoic Software Solutions, a Wisconsin software company. The app is built and tested at Hootin’ Owl Sugar Shack, the developer’s own sugarbush in Wisconsin, and is offered to maple syrup producers generally. This Privacy Policy explains how the Sugar Makers Harvest app handles information in connection with your use of the application. Sugar Makers Harvest is a personal and hobby-use tool designed to help maple syrup producers track sap collection, evaporation runs, equipment, sales, and journal entries. We are committed to being transparent about our practices. By using this app, you agree to the terms described in this policy.
Information We Collect
Sugar Makers Harvest collects and stores only the data you choose to enter directly into the app. This includes: production logs (sap collection volumes, evaporation records, and batch yields); sap measurement data (daily sap volumes, sugar content, and collection notes); equipment records (taps, lines, evaporators, and other production equipment details); sales data (syrup sales quantities, pricing, and transaction notes); journal entries (personal notes, observations, and attached photos or videos from your device); and weather data (conditions you record or that are associated with your production entries). All data is entered voluntarily by you and remains entirely under your control.
How We Use Your Information
All information collected by Sugar Makers Harvest is used solely to provide the features and functionality of the app. Specifically, your data is used to: display and organize your maple syrup production history; calculate yields, ratios, and production summaries; allow you to review past seasons and journal entries; and present equipment and sales records for your personal reference. We do not use your data for advertising, analytics, profiling, or any commercial purpose. The app is intended for personal and hobby use only.
Data Storage and Security
Sugar Makers Harvest stores all of your records locally on your device. Your production logs, sap measurements, equipment records, sales data, journal entries, and photos are kept on your device and are not stored in any account, cloud database, or remote server operated by Stoic Software Solutions. The limited exceptions, described in the ‘Third-Party Services’ section below, are the optional features that send data to an external service to fulfill a request you make. Because your data lives on your device, you are responsible for securing your device with appropriate passcodes, biometrics, or other access controls. We strongly recommend keeping your device’s operating system and the app updated. Use the app’s built-in Backup feature to export a copy of your data; if you delete the app or clear the app’s data without a backup, all stored information will be permanently lost.
Sharing of Information
Stoic Software Solutions does not sell, rent, trade, or share your information with advertisers, data brokers, or any other third party for their own purposes. We do not maintain user accounts and we do not keep a copy of your records. The only information that leaves your device is what is needed to complete a feature you actively use, as described in the ‘Third-Party Services’ section below. Your data belongs entirely to you.
Photos and Media
Sugar Makers Harvest lets you attach photos and videos to journal entries. These media files are accessed from your device’s camera or photo library only when you actively choose to attach them, and they are stored locally on your device alongside your other app data. Attached media is not uploaded anywhere. Separately, the app offers an optional Photo Import feature: if you choose to import photos of handwritten or printed production records, those specific images are sent to our server and passed to an artificial intelligence service so that the numbers and notes in them can be read and turned into app entries. Those images are used only to fulfill that single request, are not retained by us after processing, and are not used to train any model. If you prefer not to send any images off your device, simply do not use the Photo Import feature and enter your records manually.
Location Information
Sugar Makers Harvest asks for your device location on two screens. On the sugarbush map, it reads your position only at the moment you tap the control that captures it. On the Emergency Info screen, the “where I am now” reads your position continuously for as long as that screen is open, so the coordinates you give a 911 dispatcher are current and become more accurate as the fix settles. That live position is held in the phone’s memory only: it is never written to your saved records, never replaces your sugarbush location, and is gone as soon as you leave the screen. It goes nowhere except into the text you chose to copy, share or read aloud. The app requires precise accuracy for a safety reason. Sugarhouses sit on large rural properties that are often addressed only by a fire number, which directs emergency services to a driveway entrance that may be a long way from the building itself. Evaporators run at high temperature over an open fire and a pan fire develops in seconds. The app therefore stores your sugarhouse coordinates to six decimal places and displays them on an Emergency Info screen, so you can give responders an exact location instead of a driveway. The same stored coordinates are used to look up daily high and low temperatures for that sugarbush, which is how the app helps you anticipate sap runs. Your coordinates are saved locally on your device. There is no background collection — the app never reads your position while it is closed or in the background — and no location history beyond the sugarbush locations you deliberately save. Nothing about your location is ever associated with a name, an email address, or an advertising identifier, and you can decline the location permission entirely and type an address instead.
Third-Party Services
Sugar Makers Harvest does not integrate with any analytics platforms, advertising networks, data brokers, tracking SDKs, or social media services, and we do not track you across other apps or websites. The app does use three outside services, each only when you use the feature that depends on it. First, sugarbush location lookup: when you enter a sugarbush address, that address is sent to the OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocoding service to convert it into map coordinates. Second, weather: when you request weather for a log entry, the sugarbush’s latitude and longitude are sent to the Open-Meteo weather service to retrieve daily high and low temperatures. Third, photo import: when you use the Photo Import feature, the images you select are sent to our server and on to an artificial intelligence service to extract the records they contain. No name, email address, account identifier, or advertising identifier is sent with any of these requests, and none of these services receive your production records, sales figures, or journal entries.
Children’s Privacy
Sugar Makers Harvest is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The app has no user accounts, no sign-up, and no way to submit a name, email address, or other personal identifier, so we do not receive identifiable information from any user, including minors. If you are a parent or guardian and have concerns about your child’s use of the app, we encourage you to monitor their device usage and app activity directly, and you may contact us at the address in the ‘Contact Us’ section below.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the app’s features or applicable laws. When we make changes, we will update the ‘Last Updated’ date at the top of this policy. The current version of the privacy policy is always available at sugarmakersharvest.com. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of Sugar Makers Harvest after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding this Privacy Policy or the Sugar Makers Harvest app, please contact Stoic Software Solutions by email at [email protected], or through the website at sugarmakersharvest.com. We are happy to address any privacy-related inquiries and are committed to handling your concerns promptly and transparently.