Write any time. Say which iPhone and which iOS version, and if it is about a diagnosis, say what the lawn actually turned out to be — that is the most useful thing anyone can send.
Common questions
Rye won't say what's wrong with my lawn
That is deliberate, and it is the point of the app.
Sward names a most likely cause only when the evidence genuinely favours one. When two or three causes remain close, it says so, shows the shortlist, and tells you the one physical check that separates them — tugging a patch to see whether the roots have been cut, for instance. An app that always picks a winner is guessing on the days it doesn't know, and you cannot tell those days apart from the rest.
Answering the extra questions, or photographing the edge of the damage rather than the middle of it, usually settles it.
It says nothing is wrong, but something looks wrong
Try a photo from lower down and closer in, with the damage filling the frame, in daylight rather than in direct midday sun. If it still finds nothing, add the patch again and choose "Something looks wrong" so the questions start from that.
The camera won't work
Sward needs camera permission: Settings → Sward → Camera. If a photo cannot be taken or is refused, the app continues into the questions and still reaches a diagnosis — a scan that fails is not a diagnosis that fails, and a failed scan does not count against your free ones.
There's no weather, or reminders never arrive
Reminders are driven by the forecast, and the forecast needs a location: Settings → Sward → Location → While Using the App. Everything else — the diagnosis, both calculators, the journal, the log — works without it.
At most one reminder is sent a day across all your patches, on purpose. Rain counts as watering, a drizzle does not count as rain, and a lawn that has gone dormant in the heat is never told to water.
I can only add one patch
One patch is the free tier. A subscription lifts the limit. Nothing you have already created is ever removed or disabled.
What do I get for paying?
- Unlimited photo diagnoses (three a month are free)
- The full treatment plan on every diagnosis
- Rye's chat
Reminders, logging, the journal, the health trend and both calculators are free and uncapped, and always will be. They cost nothing to run.
I paid and it still says I'm on the free tier
Settings → Restore a purchase, on the same Apple Account that bought it. If that does not do it, write, and say roughly when you bought it.
How do I cancel?
iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Sward. Sward cannot cancel it for you; Apple owns the subscription. Cancelling leaves everything you have logged in place, and you keep three diagnoses a month.
Can I get my data out?
Everything is already on your phone — there is no server copy to export. It is included in your iPhone backup. Deleting the app deletes all of it, permanently.
Where does the weather come from?
MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, under CC BY 4.0.
Privacy
The privacy policy is here: /privacy
Short version: no accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. Your patches, photos and conversations stay on your device. A photo you ask to have diagnosed is sent for analysis with its metadata stripped, and is not stored. Your location is rounded to about a kilometre before it is used to fetch a forecast.