Question 1

Is CSI Ocean really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. There is no paid tier, no premium dataset, and no advertising. The project is funded by Nat Geo, so the app can stay free for the people doing the work.

Question 2

Do I need to be a scientist to use it?

Accepted Answer

No. The capture wizard is designed for first-time observers. You'll be guided through every step, with optional advanced fields you can skip until you want them. If you have scientific training, the metadata is rich enough for research-grade observations.

Question 3

How accurate is the microplastic detection?

Accepted Answer

The detection model flags suspected microplastic particles and assigns a confidence band: high, medium, or low. It is intended as a screening aid, not a substitute for laboratory confirmation. Researchers using observations for analysis can filter by confidence and by data-quality tag (Casual, Needs ID, Research).

Question 4

Can I use the app offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The full capture wizard works offline. Observations queue locally with a visible status indicator and sync automatically when you reconnect. Every scientific lookup the wizard needs (sample types, environments, equipment, contamination protocols) is cached on first launch.

Question 5

What happens to my photos?

Accepted Answer

Photos are uploaded to the project's secure cloud storage and stored privately. They appear in the public dataset attached to your observation, with detection bounding boxes drawn over them. The image URLs you see are signed and short-lived, they expire after 24 hours, so a leaked link cannot be reshared indefinitely. If you delete the observation, the photos are removed from public view.

Question 6

Can I export my data?

Accepted Answer

You can export individual observations as polished PDFs from the observation detail screen, including cover page, metadata, and image pages with detection overlays.

Question 7

Who can see my observations?

Accepted Answer

By default, every approved observation appears in the public feed and on the explore map. Your username, sample photo, location, sample type, and detection count are public. Your private profile fields (email, phone, date of birth) are not.

Question 8

Does CSI Ocean support languages other than English?

Accepted Answer

Not yet. The app currently ships in English only.

Question 9

I forgot my password. How do I reset it?

Accepted Answer

Tap Forgot password on the sign-in screen, enter your email, and we send a six-digit code valid for five minutes. Enter the code in the app and choose a new password. We never send password resets by SMS, and the response you see is the same whether or not your email is on file, so a stranger cannot probe whether you have an account.

Question 10

How do I delete my account?

Accepted Answer

Open Profile, then Settings, then Delete account. You'll be asked to confirm with your password and pick what happens to your contributions: keep them in the dataset anonymously, or remove everything you ever submitted (including the photos). We email you to confirm the request, and your account is scheduled for permanent removal 30 days later. If you change your mind, sign back in within those 30 days from the Restore account screen and we put everything back.

Question 11

What happens to my observations after I delete my account?

Accepted Answer

You choose at the time you request deletion. If you pick keep my contributions anonymously, your observations stay in the public dataset, but your name, email, photo, and contact details are scrubbed from your profile. If you pick delete everything, your observations and all uploaded images are permanently removed from the dataset and from cloud storage during the final processing step. Either way, you get an email when the deletion is finalised.

Question 12

Where is the data stored?

Accepted Answer

Observation media is stored on Amazon S3. Database records are stored on the project's primary cloud-hosted database.

The people behind
the app.

Claire Gwinnett

Rachael Z Miller

Benhur Bakhtiari Bastaki

Professor Mohamed Sedky

Joseph Ballan

Adeniyi (David) Onasanya

Get CSI Ocean.
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The people behindthe app.