There's a rule every mushroom hunter learns early: you don't tell anyone about your locations. Not to your neighbor, not to your brother-in-law, and sometimes not even to the person who took you there the first time.
Then you download a mushroom app, and the first thing it does is put your finds on a map for everyone to see. MushScout is the other way around.
What you find is yours. Period.
In short
- GPS coordinates are never shared.
- The diary and the season are yours alone.
- No public maps, no community feeds.
GPS coordinates are never shared
You'll find it written on the first screen, before you've even registered a mushroom. The coordinates of each find are never shared: no public map, no feed, no other users seeing where you've been.
No "look how many mushrooms they found near you." That stuff, for a true mushroom hunter, is the problem, not the function.
GPS coordinatesNever shared🔒 In practice: Every place you bookmark stays on your phone. No one else can see it, and it doesn't end up on any shared map.
The diary is yours, and it remains yours.
Everything is fine output that you record It ends up in your diary: route, duration, elevation gain, what you found and where. It's your personal log, not a post to showcase.
No one comments, no one likes, no one sees the chestnut grove where you filled up on Sunday.
Your diaryPrivate, yours aloneYour season, for you
At the end of the season, you have the picture: how many mushrooms, how many species, how many outings, how many kilometers. The first porcini mushroom of the year, the best day. Stuff you need.
If you want, you can share it, when, and with whom. Otherwise, it stays where it belongs: with you.
Your seasonYou share itEven when you go out with a friend
There's a way to go out with your partner: you can see where your partner is on the map in real time. It's handy for not getting lost in the woods. But your whereabouts remain secret.
The friend sees you, not your saved finds. Even the personal forecast It starts from your data, and stays there.
ForecastFrom your dataThe SOS that doesn't cost you privacy
In case of trouble: GPS coordinates, a message to your emergency contact, an alarm, and a flashlight. Security doesn't mean you have to sacrifice privacy.
You set up the emergency contact, and it stays on your phone. It's there to save you on a bad day, not to track you.
Your routesOn your phoneWhy I did it this way
I've been mushroom picking all my life, in Garfagnana. I know what it means to find the right spot and know it's yours. An app that asks you to share your finds to "build a community" hasn't quite grasped the way a mushroom hunter thinks.
I wanted the tool I wanted for myself: one that helps me know when and where to go, and that keeps my mouth shut about where I've been. Privacy here isn't a checkbox in the settings. It's the way the app is designed, from top to bottom.
— Federico, MushScout
