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Terms of use

Version 2026-09-30

Draft — not yet complete.The text is fully drafted, but some points still need to be settled before it applies.

This is a translation of the German version, provided for convenience. In the event of any discrepancy, the German version prevails.

Fruit Pin is operated by:

Fruit PinInh. Eray YilmazEuroparing 9053757 Sankt AugustinGermanyEmail: info@fruitpin.com

These terms govern your use of Fruit Pin — the website, the map and all related features. By creating an account you agree to them. To simply view the map you need no account and enter no contract with us; the rules in section 4 and the notes in section 3 nevertheless apply.

Use is free of charge.

Fruit Pin is a map of locations. Users add places where, in their assessment, publicly accessible fruit, nuts, berries, herbs or wild greens grow, and back this up with a photo.

Fruit Pin expressly is not:

  • not an identification aid. We do not tell you which plant is in front of you.
  • not a recommendation to consume anything.
  • not a verified database. We check no single entry for accuracy — neither the species, nor the accessibility, nor how current it is. Information comes from users.
  • not legal advice on whether you may collect at a particular place.

This is not a formality but the core of the service: a photo shows that someone was there and saw something. It does not show that the species is correctly identified, that the place is publicly accessible, or that anything still grows there today.

We do not owe you any particular availability. We may change or discontinue features; we will announce significant changes if you have an account.

Identify every plant yourself with certainty before you eat it. Information on this map comes from users and is not verified by us. When in doubt, do not consume it.

Some edible species have poisonous look-alikes where confusion can have severe consequences. Where we know of a risk of confusion for a species, we show a note. That note is an aid, not a substitute for your own reliable identification. Mushrooms are deliberately not on Fruit Pin.

What you must check yourself, every time:

  • Whether you may enter the place. You may not enter someone else's private property. Fruit on a tree belongs to the owner of the land — including when a branch hangs over the pavement, and including when the fruit is already on the ground.
  • Whether you may collect there. In Germany, section 39(3) of the Federal Nature Conservation Act (the "Handstrauß" rule) allows anyone to take wild-growing fruit and tea and medicinal herbs if all four conditions are met: in places not subject to an access ban · in small quantities · for personal use · carefully, without damaging the plant. Commercial collecting requires official authorisation. Stricter rules apply in protected areas and for specially protected species. Outside Germany, different law applies — check locally what is permitted there.
  • Whether the place can be reached safely. Traffic, embankments, ladders and fences are your risk. Near roads, plants may be contaminated by exhaust fumes and tyre wear.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account and upload contributions. You confirm this when registering. Fruit Pin is not directed at children.

If we learn that an account is held by a younger person, we will block it and delete the associated data. If you notice such an account, please report it.

You are responsible for keeping your password safe and for what happens through your account. Do not share your credentials. If you suspect misuse, tell us.

An account is personal. You may hold only one account per person unless we permit otherwise.

Your display name must not infringe third-party rights, must not be offensive, and must not suggest that you are another person, a company or a public authority.

These rules are the restrictions within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act, "DSA").

Only places that are freely and publicly accessible — for example at the roadside, in parks, on common land, or on land where the owner has expressly permitted you to use it.

When adding a spot you must state how the place is accessible and confirm that it is not on someone else's private property. If you are unsure, do not add the place.

Do not place spots at your own home address. The position is public.

  • No recognisable people. Not even in the background. We may not publish images of other people, and you will usually not have their consent.
  • No number plates, house numbers, doorbell labels or name plates.
  • No content that infringes third-party rights or is offensive, threatening, discriminatory, sexually explicit, harmful to minors or unlawful.
  • No advertising, no links to commercial offers, no bulk or spam entries.

With every upload you confirm that:

  • You took the image or video yourself or hold all necessary rights to it.
  • No recognisable people appear in it.
  • For buildings and artworks you observe the limits of freedom of panorama (section 59 of the German Copyright Act): permanent works visible from public paths, streets or squares may be photographed.
  • Your details about the place are correct to the best of your knowledge.

Fruit Pin is intended for personal use. Do not use the service to organise commercial collecting — that requires official authorisation under section 39(4) of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, which you must obtain yourself.

No automated scraping of our content, no rebuilding of our database, no circumventing of access restrictions, no interference with operations.

"Thanks" is the only reaction to a contribution. It is a counter, not a rating and not a statement about whether the contribution is accurate. Who gave a "thanks" is not shown publicly. Do not use the function to promote contributions artificially — for example through additional accounts or automatically.

Your saved list of species and spots is visible only to you (see the privacy policy, section 5.5). You can have reminders sent to you in season; that is voluntary, can be set for each saved item individually and switched off at any time. A saved item is not an assurance that the spot still exists. Where it is removed — for example because the landowner has contacted us — the reminder for it stops immediately.

Badges describe what you have done. Three points, so there is no misunderstanding:

  1. A badge is not a statement about content. "Confirmer" describes you, not whether a spot is accurate. A spot from someone with a badge is not verified either.
  2. There is no entitlement to a badge. We may change the conditions, add badges or discontinue them entirely. Badges are free of charge, have no monetary value and are not transferable.
  3. We may withdraw a badge where its basis subsequently falls away — for example because the spot it was based on has been removed — or where it was obtained through abusive behaviour. Where the withdrawal follows from our removal of one of your contributions, you will learn the reason in the statement of reasons under 8.3.

You keep all rights in your photos, videos and texts. We acquire no ownership and no exclusive rights. You remain free to use your content anywhere else.

So that we can display your contribution at all, you grant us a non-exclusive, unlimited in time and territory, royalty-free right of use, limited to the following purposes:

  1. Displaying your contribution within Fruit Pin, including the map, the detail view and your profile.
  2. Technically necessary reproduction for storing, caching and delivering.
  3. Editing where technically required: conversion to other file formats, changing resolution, compression, cropping for thumbnails, and removing the embedded location and metadata from the file.
  4. Passing on to our technical service providers insofar as they operate the service (storage, delivery) — for that purpose only.

No transfer to third parties for other purposes takes place. We do not pass your contributions on as a dataset, do not sell them and do not license them to third parties.

If we would like to show one of your contributions outside the service to promote Fruit Pin — for example on an advertisement, in a social media post or in press material — we will ask you first and obtain your permission for that specific case. That permission is voluntary, you do not have to give it, and you can withdraw it at any time with effect for the future. The grant of rights under 7.2 does not cover such advertising use.

The grant of rights does not extend to types of use that do not yet exist. Section 31a of the German Copyright Act requires a written agreement for those, which cannot come about this way.

If you delete a contribution, the right of use ends for the future and we remove it. Technically required copies in caches may persist briefly.

If you delete your entire account, one point applies that you should know in advance: your spots and the cleaned photos and videos remain, but with no link to you whatsoever — other people have made their own contributions to these places and rely on them. If you want individual contributions removed entirely, delete them before deleting your account. See the privacy policy, section 5.4.

These statements are made under Article 14(1) DSA.

We review content when prompted — that is, when we receive a report or become aware of content ourselves. There is no prior review of all contributions; spots and images appear without approval.

On automated means. The final decision on a report is always made by a person. Three processes do run automatically, and two of them directly affect content:

  1. Checking and cleaning uploaded files. A file is rejected without any human involvement if it is empty, the format is wrong, the size or length limit is exceeded, or the embedded location and metadata could not be removed. If it is accepted, we remove that data automatically and publish only the cleaned version.
  2. Precautionary hiding based on the reason selected. If someone selects "private property" or "recognisable person" when reporting, the spot is hidden immediately — solely on the basis of the reason selected, before a person has looked at the case. This protects the rights of the person concerned while the case is open; it is not a decision against the contributor. A person then decides the outcome.
  3. Fixed species catalogue. The species cannot be entered freely but must be chosen from a catalogue. Species with a risk of confusion for which we have no documented source are not offered at all. This automatically limits what can be entered.

What we do not use: no duplicate detection, no rate limiting, no spam or abuse filter, no automatic image or text recognition, no matching against hash lists, and no automatic account suspension.

Where a measure is taken using automated means, we say so expressly in the statement of reasons under 8.3. This applies in particular to the precautionary hiding under number 2.

If content breaches these terms or is unlawful, we may hide or remove it. For repeated or serious breaches we may temporarily block or close your account. We choose the least intrusive suitable measure and take your rights into account, in particular freedom of expression.

One case we deliberately handle quickly: if someone reports as the owner of a piece of land, the spot concerned is hidden immediately, before we review it. This is not a decision against the contributor — it protects rights in the land while the case is open.

If we take a measure against your content or account, we tell you with a clear statement of reasons as soon as we have your contact details (Article 17 DSA). It states: which measure we took and how long it applies · the facts we rely on and whether a report prompted it · whether automated means were involved · for unlawful content the legal basis, for breaches of these terms the rule concerned · what remedies are available to you.

Anyone can report content — including without an account. You will find the report button on every spot and every contribution. This is the procedure under Article 16 DSA.

To handle a report we need: the content concerned, the reason, an explanation of why you consider it unlawful or in breach of the rules, and your confirmation that your information is correct and complete to the best of your knowledge. Your email address is optional — without it we cannot send you an acknowledgement or a decision.

What happens next: if you provided contact details, we confirm receipt without undue delay. We review the report in a timely, diligent, objective and non-arbitrary manner and inform you of our decision together with information on remedies.

For landowners: choose the reason "private property". The spot is then hidden immediately, before we review it.

Contact info@fruitpin.com stating the content concerned and your reasons. We will look at the case again — by a person, not automatically — and reply with reasons. If we consider our decision wrong, we will reverse it.

For damage to life, body and health we are liable without limitation under the applicable law. The same applies to intent and gross negligence, fraudulent concealment of defects, any guarantee we have given, and under the German Product Liability Act. We neither can nor wish to limit this liability.

For simple negligence we are liable only for damage arising from breach of a material contractual obligation — an obligation whose fulfilment makes using Fruit Pin possible in the first place or on whose observance you were entitled to rely. In that case our liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical of this type of contract.

Otherwise our liability for simple negligence is excluded.

What this means in practice: we are not liable for the accuracy of other users' information, for anything actually growing at a spot, for a species being correctly identified, or for whether you may collect at a place. These are third-party statements that we do not verify — see sections 2 and 3. Nobody can take your own reliable identification before eating off your hands.

The user relationship runs for an indefinite period. You can delete your account yourself at any time without giving reasons — the function is in your profile.

We may terminate with 30 days' notice. In the event of serious or repeated breaches of these terms we may terminate without notice; you will still receive the statement of reasons under section 8.3.

For the consequences for your contributions, see section 7.5.

We may change these terms where necessary for legal or technical reasons or where we change features. We will inform you of significant changes if you have an account (Article 14(2) DSA), at least 30 days in advance. If you disagree, you may delete your account before they take effect. The current version is always on this page with the date at the top.

German law applies. If you are resident in another Member State of the European Union, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your country of residence remain unaffected (Article 6 Rome I).

On consumer dispute resolution: we do not participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration body and are not obliged to. We are exempt from the information duty under section 36(1) no. 1 of the German Act on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Consumer Matters by virtue of section 36(3), because we employ ten or fewer people; we state it nonetheless so that you know.

DSA contact points — for authorities under Article 11 and for users under Article 12 — are set out in the imprint. Enquiries there are handled by people, not solely by automated means.