About

Why Feraust exists.

Ethics First, Photos Second.

Why this exists

Thank you for taking the time to explore and learn about Feraust (fare AWST). I am a photographer and the solo developer of this tool. It started as an experiment to build the kind of tool I wanted to plan my own trips. It has transformed into a tool I hope many people will enjoy and find utility using.

I've always used multiple tools to research and plan trips, and that won't completely change. Some tools that do one good thing are better than tools that try to do it all, but I wanted a tool that can both get me started and be a place for me to put everything together in a structured plan that I can take with me and access online or offline.

The result is "Feraust" — from the Latin "fera" (wild creature) and "augur" (one who reads nature's signs). Built for photographers, birders and wildlife observers who plan their trips the way Roman augurs read the sky: by paying attention to what the wild world is already telling them.

The ethics stance

Everything here is built around a single principle: the welfare of the animal comes before seeing the animal or taking the photo. In practice that means a few concrete things, not slogans.

  • Tiered location blur

    Free accounts see a 1 km blur radius on any pinned animal they share. Pro drops that to 250 m. Sensitive species — regardless of tier — are always blurred to 10 km, because a precise coordinate of a breeding raptor or a denning predator is a gift to the people you least want reading it. You can't opt out of the 10 km floor for flagged species. It's not a bug.

  • No sighting leaderboards. No rare-species gamification.

    There is no "life list" race, no streaks, no "first in your region" badges, no public ranking of users by rarity. Every sighting app that adds this feature ends up with the same problem — coordinated harassment of rare birds and mammals by people chasing a number. I'm not building that engine.

  • Safety over social broadcasting

    The safety check-in emails your emergency contact if you miss your timer. It is not a social feature. Nothing broadcasts your location to other users in real time. If you want to share a coordinate, you do it on purpose, with whom you choose.

  • Minimum distances are the default

    When you pin a species on the map, Feraust shows the recommended minimum approach distance and, where it applies, the nest or den buffer. Before you go, not after you're already too close.

Where the data comes from

Feraust doesn't generate its own biodiversity or weather data. It composes public and licensed sources, and the honest way to build trust with you is to name all of them.

Two additional data providers — iNaturalist and eBird — are wired in but turned off by default. Their terms of use allow integration but require explicit opt-in and careful attribution. I would love to add these resouces in the future, but they will only become active if and when I can meet those terms in full, and if the added value is worth the complexity.

What this will never be

The shape of an app is as much about what it doesn't do. These are the features you will never find here, and I'd rather lose a user to a competitor than add them.

  • I will never sell observation data.

    Your pins, your trips, your life list — none of it goes to data brokers, ad networks, or training data licensees. Pro revenue exists so this one doesn't have to.

  • I will never leaderboard rare species.

    No "top 10 sightings this month", no "rarest bird spotted", no "users who saw the most endangered species". The consequences of those features to the animals are documented and I'm not going to relearn them.

  • I will never sell or expose sensitive-species coordinates.

    The 10 km blur floor for flagged species is enforced at every layer — UI, API, database. There is no "premium tier" that unlocks finer precision. This is a non-negotiable.

  • I will never use dark patterns to re-engage you.

    No streak-shaming push notifications. No "you haven't opened the app in 3 days" guilt. No notification spam. You come back because Feraust is useful, not because you're being emotionally managed.

  • I will never hide the data sources.

    You just read the full list of upstream providers. Any new one gets added to that list before it ships.

Give back

Feraust exists because wildlife photography is only worth doing if the wildlife is still here. These are organizations I personally support — each is independent, accepts direct donations, and works on the problems this app quietly depends on. No affiliate deals, no kickbacks. Pick one and send them ten bucks.

Suggestions only. Research any org before you give — Charity Navigator and ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer both publish their financials. If you'd like an organization added or removed, email me.

Where we are, where we're going

Feraust is in beta. Today it's a solid planning and safety tool — map with tiered blur, offline regions, species minimum distances, trip planner with AI drafts you can edit or skip, timed safety check-in with email escalation, three-tier sensitive-species sharing with mandatory EXIF stripping, and a free tier that is genuinely free. The piece that's still in front of me: a photo-to-species ID feature so it becomes useful during a shoot, not just before one. Community features — life lists, shared trips, social — come later, if they come at all. They're exactly the features that reward patience and punish haste.

Contact

This is a one-person operation, so response times are human-scale. The fastest way to reach me about anything in the app is the feedback button in the corner — it goes directly to my inbox. For everything else, my email is below.

support@feraust.com