Privacy Policy
Heartstrings is a private app for two people in a relationship to plan dates, keep memories and stay in touch. This policy explains what the app collects, why, who can see it, and how to delete it.
Who we are
Heartstrings ("we", "us") is an independent app. This policy covers the Heartstrings iPhone app, its home screen widgets, this website, and the services behind them.
What we collect
We collect only what you give the app, plus what it needs to work on your phone. Most of it is content you create to share with your partner.
| What | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Your email address, or your Apple ID sign-in (Apple may give us a private relay email) | To sign you in |
| Profile | First name, profile photo, time zone | So your partner sees who you are, and notifications arrive at sensible times |
| Couple details | Together-since date, home time zone, invite codes | To pair you and show your days together |
| What you write and plan | Dates, ideas, itineraries, places, memories, your takes, comments, hearts, letters, lists, gift ideas, important dates, tags, answers to questions, quizzes and check-ins, feedback you send | This is the app: it's stored so you and your partner can see it |
| Photos you add | A resized copy and a small preview of each photo you choose, with when it was taken. Where it was taken only if "Save photo locations" is on | To show your memories and the home screen widget |
| Photo fingerprints | For "Photos from this day": a short code describing what each photo from a date looks like, a scrambled photo ID, the time taken and the size. Never the photo itself | To work out which photos your partner doesn't have |
| Location | Your approximate position, only when you use place search or add a memory, and only with your permission | To suggest nearby places and guess where a memory happened |
| Links you paste | The web address, and the title, description and image from that page | To show a preview of an idea |
| Device | Push notification tokens, phone model, iOS version, app version | To send notifications you've turned on, and to fix bugs you report |
Some things stay on your phone and never reach us:
- Your photo library. The app looks at photos from a date's day on your phone to suggest them; only photos you pick are uploaded.
- Face ID. Unlocking private notes is handled by iOS; we never see biometric data.
- Your calendar. The app can add your dates to your phone's calendar and look for days that might have been dates; your calendar events are never uploaded.
What we don't do
- No ads, and no advertising or tracking tools in the app.
- No selling or renting your information, ever.
- No tracking you across other apps or websites.
- No third-party analytics. We don't build profiles of you.
- We don't read your shared space for any purpose other than running the app, fixing a problem you report, or when the law requires it.
- We don't use your content to train AI models.
How we use it
- To run the app: store what you create, show it to your partner, and keep your phones in sync.
- To send the notifications you've turned on, like a new photo, a nudge or a reminder before a birthday.
- To keep the service safe: rate limits, preventing abuse of invite codes, and investigating errors.
- To answer feedback and bug reports you send from the app.
- To meet legal obligations.
Who can see what
Your shared space is visible to you and your partner, and no one else. Some things stay private even from your partner:
- Just-me items: ideas, notes and lists you mark as private are visible only to you.
- Surprises: a date you plan as a surprise is hidden from your partner until it's revealed.
- Answers: your partner sees your answer to a question or quiz only once they've answered it too.
- Photo fingerprints: your partner sees how many of your photos they don't have, never the photos, until you choose to send them.
On our side, access to your data is limited to running and fixing the service. We only look at a specific couple's data when needed to fix a problem you report, or when the law requires it.
Services we rely on
These companies process data for us to run the app. They may only use it to provide their service to us.
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, file storage, sign-in, sign-in emails, server functions | Everything stored in the app |
| Apple | Sign in with Apple, push notifications, maps | Sign-in details, push tokens and notification text, map views |
| Expo | App updates and push delivery | Push tokens and notification text, app version |
| Google Maps Platform | Place search and nearby places | What you type into place search, and your approximate location when you use it |
| Cloudflare | Hosts this website and forwards email sent to us | Standard web request details, and emails you send us |
Place search results come from Google. Your data is stored in the United States. If you're elsewhere, it's transferred there with appropriate safeguards.
How long we keep it
We keep your information while your account and pairing are active, and delete it on these timelines:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| You delete a photo, note or other item | Removed straight away; photo files are cleared within a day |
| You or your partner unpair | Your shared space closes for both of you at once. It's kept, unreadable, for 90 days so you can restore it if you both ask, then permanently deleted |
| You delete your account and have a partner | You're signed out and can't sign back in. Your partner can still view and download your shared space for 14 days. Then everything, including your account, is permanently deleted |
| You delete your account with no partner | Everything is permanently deleted straight away |
| Backups | Deleted data can remain in encrypted database backups for up to 7 days before it's overwritten |
| Downloads you request | The download file is deleted after a day |
| Notification records | Kept up to 400 days to avoid sending duplicates, then deleted |
Service providers may keep short-lived technical logs, such as request logs with IP addresses, under their own retention policies.
Your choices and rights
- Download your data: Settings › Storage & data › Download our memories gives you a zip of your photos and everything you can see.
- Delete your account: Settings › Account › Delete my account. See the timelines above, and how deleting works.
- Unpair: Settings › Account › Unpair.
- Notifications: turn each kind on or off in Settings, or set quiet hours.
- Photo locations: turn "Save photo locations" off in Settings to stop saving where photos were taken.
- Permissions: photos, location, calendar, camera and Face ID can be changed any time in iOS Settings. The app works without them; some features won't.
- Correct your information: edit your name, photo and anything you've written in the app.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK or California), you may have rights to access, correct, delete or port your data, or object to how it's used. Most can be done in the app; for anything else, email privacy@heartstrings-app.com. We don't sell or share personal information as defined by California law.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Every request is checked against database rules so each person can only reach their own couple's data. Photos are stored privately and shown through short-lived links. The app's offline copy on your phone is stored in an encrypted file. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting you, we'll tell you as the law requires.
Children
Heartstrings is for adults. It isn't meant for anyone under 16, and we don't knowingly collect information from children. If you think a child has an account, email privacy@heartstrings-app.com and we'll delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we make a meaningful change, we'll update the date at the top and tell you in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions or requests: privacy@heartstrings-app.com.